Our Purpose and approach
Our name and our purpose come from Aldo Leopold’s essay “The Land Ethic.”
Many conservationists remember his definition of such an ethic: “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
But fewer may recall the lead-in: "The ‘key-log’ which must be moved to release the evolutionary process for an ethic is simply this: quit thinking about decent land-use as solely an economic problem. Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and esthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right….”
Thus, if we are to have any hope of doing right by the land community, we have got to understand economics in its proper context: not as THE decision regarding land and natural resources, but as one among multiple disciplinary perspectives and normative guides. We’re here, therefore to help organizations, agencies and communities use a broader ecological-economic approach to examine what is truly expedient and, by keeping even that evolved economic approach in perspective, to make room for what is more wholly right.
We also take great inspiration from Wendell Berry, who in his essay “Think Little,” writes:
"…when the government…again proves too stupid or too blind or too corrupt to see the plain truth and to act with simple decency, I intend to be there, and I trust that I won’t be alone. I hope, moreover, to be there, not with a sign or a slogan or a button, but with the facts and the arguments. A crowd whose discontent has risen no higher than the level of slogans is only a crowd. But a crowd that understands the reasons for its discontent and knows the remedies is a vital community, and it will have to be reckoned with. I would rather go before the government with two men who have a competent understanding of an issue, and who therefore deserve a hearing, than with two thousand who are vaguely dissatisfied."
Key-Log Economics works with our clients to develop the facts and the arguments that make for a competent understanding of today’s conservation, environmental, and sustainability challenges. With those facts, you will deserve a hearing. We will go with you, and we will have to be reckoned with.
Many conservationists remember his definition of such an ethic: “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
But fewer may recall the lead-in: "The ‘key-log’ which must be moved to release the evolutionary process for an ethic is simply this: quit thinking about decent land-use as solely an economic problem. Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and esthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right….”
Thus, if we are to have any hope of doing right by the land community, we have got to understand economics in its proper context: not as THE decision regarding land and natural resources, but as one among multiple disciplinary perspectives and normative guides. We’re here, therefore to help organizations, agencies and communities use a broader ecological-economic approach to examine what is truly expedient and, by keeping even that evolved economic approach in perspective, to make room for what is more wholly right.
We also take great inspiration from Wendell Berry, who in his essay “Think Little,” writes:
"…when the government…again proves too stupid or too blind or too corrupt to see the plain truth and to act with simple decency, I intend to be there, and I trust that I won’t be alone. I hope, moreover, to be there, not with a sign or a slogan or a button, but with the facts and the arguments. A crowd whose discontent has risen no higher than the level of slogans is only a crowd. But a crowd that understands the reasons for its discontent and knows the remedies is a vital community, and it will have to be reckoned with. I would rather go before the government with two men who have a competent understanding of an issue, and who therefore deserve a hearing, than with two thousand who are vaguely dissatisfied."
Key-Log Economics works with our clients to develop the facts and the arguments that make for a competent understanding of today’s conservation, environmental, and sustainability challenges. With those facts, you will deserve a hearing. We will go with you, and we will have to be reckoned with.