DAVID MARVIN ON THE IMPORTANCE OF A LAND ETHIC
(Editor’s note: The following comes from the recent Vermont Folklife Center exhibit, Portraits in Action: Pioneers in Renewable Energy, Environmental Conservation, and Land Use Planning. For more, visit their website.)
[D]avid Marvin, founder of Butternut Mountain Farm and longtime environmental advocate, reflects on the environmental challenges Vermont has faced over the course of his lifetime—listen below—then read his response to the question: What will bring us to the next level in meeting the energy and environmental challenges we are facing today?
What will bring us to the next level in meeting the energy and environmental challenges we are facing today?
We face environmental, energy, and climate challenges that are all interrelated and daunting. How can we possibly address them and have our legacy be as promising as our heritage suggested it could be?
I believe that fundamentally we need a land ethic and a stewardship ethic that recognize humans must not be conquers of the Earth, but need to co-exist with and respect all biota and the communities that support them. We need to seek understanding of the complexity and interconnections of us, them, earth, water, and sky. This is necessary for our mutual survival and demonstrates the humanity in humankind.
We cannot expect the earth to sustain us if we abuse it any more than we can expect a person we abuse to respond with kindness. I believe we should be conservative in how we use our resources and use economy in how we sustain our communities. In all our endeavors we should first do no harm and behave as if our lives depend upon that principle, because they do.
If future generations look back and find we have been needlessly cautious and thrifty, let them decide if their legacy can be spent down a bit. I doubt that will be the case.”
David Marvin
Founder, Butternut Mountain Farm
Longtime environmental advocate
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Portraits in Action: Pioneers in Renewable Energy, Environmental Conservation, and Land Use Planning brings together a diverse cross section of twenty-five pioneers, activists, and leaders in renewable energy, environmental conservation, and land use planning, and invites them to speak to the issues at hand. It is both an oral history and a call to action.
The Vermont Folklife Center’s mission is to broaden, strengthen, and deepen our understanding of Vermont and the surrounding region; to assure a repository for our collective cultural memory; and to strengthen communities by building connections among the diverse peoples of Vermont. For more, visit us.
