A Land Ethic Evolving in the Minds of a Thinking Community

Published on Mon, Apr 22, 2013 (2:12 p.m.)

Submitted by Aldo Leopold Foundation

As the future of the conservation / environmental movement is being redefined on a continuous basis, the battle between hope and despair seems to have found its mirror image in documentaries about the environment, and probably within the general population, as well.

Through Aldo Leopold's land ethic, we feel that hope is quintessential in answering the question so often heard "What should I do?" And in our program, there are many examples of Leopold's legacy living on in restoration projects around the world.

Starting this month, our documentary "Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for our Time" will be airing on PBS stations across the country. In Las Vegas, Green Fire is scheduled to air at least 4 times:

KLVX-Jackpot! Thursday 4/25/2013 10pm
KLVX-Jackpot! Friday 4/26/2013 3am
KLVX-Jackpot! Friday 4/26/2013 8am
KLVX-Jackpot! Friday 4/26/2013 1pm

April 22, 2013 (Baraboo, Wis.) —Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time will make its national public television debut on stations all over the country for Earth Day 2013. Major cities showing the film include Las Vegas, Orlando, Atlanta, Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C., New Orleans, and Houston. Currently the film is scheduled to air on stations in over 40 states, with more being added daily. In 2012, Wisconsin Public Television began broadcasting the one-hour program statewide. A slightly longer version has screened in theaters and at over 2,000 community venues since the film's premiere in February of 2011.

Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time was honored with an Emmy® award for Best Historical Documentary at the 54th annual Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in November 2012.

Green Fire is the first feature-length documentary about the great conservationist Aldo Leopold (1887-1948). He is the father of the national wilderness system, and a key figure in developing the fields of wildlife management, restoration ecology and sustainable agriculture.

The film was produced by the Aldo Leopold Foundation, the U.S. Forest Service and the Center for Humans and Nature.

“Aldo Leopold’s legacy lives on today in the work of people and organizations across the nation and around the world,” said Aldo Leopold Foundation Executive Director Buddy Huffaker. “What is exciting about Green Fire is that it is more than just a documentary about Aldo Leopold; it also explores the influence his ideas have had in shaping the conservation movement as we know it today by highlighting some really inspiring people and organizations doing great work to connect people and the natural world in ways that even Leopold might not have imagined.”

“The making of Green Fire has been a process of discovery,” says Curt Meine, the film’s on-screen guide. Meine’s doctoral dissertation was a biography of Aldo Leopold, published as Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work (University of Wisconsin Press, 1988). To give the film its modern perspective of Leopold’s influence in the conservation movement today, Meine was charged with conducting hundreds of interviews with people practicing conservation all over the country. “Meeting all those people has really yielded new connections between Leopold and nearly every facet of the environmental movement, including ocean conservation, urban gardening, and climate change—issues that Leopold never directly considered in his lifetime but has nonetheless affected as his ideas are carried on by others,” said Meine.

The Aldo Leopold Foundation is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization based in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The foundation’s mission is to inspire an ethical relationship between people and land through the legacy of Aldo Leopold. Leopold regarded a land ethic as a product of social evolution. “Nothing so important as an ethic is ever ‘written,’” he explained. “It evolves ‘in the minds of a thinking community.’” Learn more about the Aldo Leopold Foundation and the Green Fire movie at www.aldoleopold.org.

See the film:
Visit www.greenfiremovie.com or www.aldoleopold.org/greenfire/publictv.shtml for a current list of upcoming screening dates and locations.

The following people are available for interviews about Green Fire. Contact Alana DeJoseph to set up an interview appointment.
• Buddy Huffaker, Aldo Leopold Foundation Executive Director
• Curt Meine, Leopold scholar, conservation biologist, and the film’s narrator
• Susan Flader, Leopold scholar, environmental historian, featured in the film
• Steve & Ann Dunsky, US Forest Service filmmakers, directed and edited Green Fire. Also worked on the acclaimed film about the US Forest Service, The Greatest Good.