Human beings often play favorites with nature, with animals, plants, and even land.  We like dogs, cats, pandas, polar bears, and penguins, but most people are averse to centipedes, spiders, and snakes.  We like to have roses in our garden and lush bluegrass for our lawn, but most hate to see the invasive types of vines strewn across our flower beds.  We love living on a hill with an ocean- or lake-front view but shun the arid desert.

• If that is our human tendency, shouldn’t we just follow Baxter’s anthropocentric approach to the environment?

• What would be the implications of approaching the environment exclusively in terms of human interest and preference?

• What are some of the problems with the human tendency to play favorites with nature?

• How do you think Leopold would address our tendency to play favorites with species in the natural world?  And how would he respond to Baxter in terms of his own land ethic?

That said, you have seen the weaker animals such as deer torn to pieces by leopards in TV documentaries about the wild.  Contra Leopold, how can that be “esthetically right”?  How can such happenings preserve the “beauty” of the biotic community?  It sounds farfetched to say that seeing zebras mauled by lions is a “beautiful” scene.  What do you think “esthetically right” should mean–from the human perspective or from some other perspective?