"...the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts." (Leopold 59)

                                      (https://www.google.com/search?q=community&es_sm=93&source)

This quote is very important because it describes how people fit into society. Every person has a purpose and contributes in different ways. Of course we know this because we are a part of this contribution. I am going to school to eventually become a software engineer, at school my professors educate me because they acquired the skills to teach through schooling, etc... This quote was a great introduction to the rest of the reading because we know everything we experience in life is a cycle, and this includes nature. We need to see that nature incorporates itself into our cycle and is just as (if not more) important than we are in this cycle. 

"The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land." (Leopold 60)

As I hinted on in the previous paragraph, this quote tells us that the "land ethic" broadens the definition of community to include various parts of nature. This combines both the human cycle of life (such as attending school to get a job) with nature life cycles (the water cycle). Because we inhabit this beautiful planet we must attempt to share it with nature in order for both of us to thrive. 

                                               (https://www.google.com/search?q=nature&es_sm=93&source)

"...a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it." (Leopold 60)

     

               (https://www.google.com/search?q=men+conquering+land&es_sm=93&source)

This is arguably the most important quote in the entire passage. As humans it is our natural instinct to conquer. If we are eating a sandwich and 3/4 of it has already satisfied our hunger we still feel the need to finish it, if we are driving somewhere we feel the need to speed and run traffic lights in order to get there sooner, etc... We always want more and never want to lose. Is this a bad thing? This is a matter of opinion but we need to know the limits of how much we can safely conquer. Nature is something we must coexist with see as part of our life cycle. 

"In human history, we have learned...that the conqueror role is eventually self defeating." (Leopold 60)

This quote sums it all up. All great conquerors have eventually lead to their own demise and we are no different. If we attempt to conquer nature past its limits it would lead to self destruction. WE NEED NATURE. It is as simple as that, and unfortunately, nature does NOT need us so we must not take it for granted and respect it. Just like economics we must weigh the opportunity cost of decisions we make. For example cutting down 5 trees in order to free up space to build a house that will support 5 people would be well worth it where dozing an entire forest to build a parking lot would not. Due to the fact that we are dependent on nature we must not attempt to conquer it and begin to coexist with it. 

(https://www.google.com/search?q=conquerors+falling&es_sm=93)