Land Ethic^® Live!

For author and naturalist John Muir Laws, attention is love. When constant headlines, advertisements, and social media posts leave us in a digital daze, the simple practice of nature journaling can help us reclaim our attention and refocus on the incredible world around us.

In this Land Ethic Live! conversation, Carolyn Finney invites us to reconsider conservation at a pivotal moment—asking not only how we protect land, but who conservation has been for, and who it must become for in the future. In this conversation, we will explore belonging, power, and historical memory as essential elements of an ethical relationship with land. This program challenges us to imagine a land ethic rooted in justice, inclusion, and shared responsibility for the world we inherit and shape together.

Tune in for a presentation and conversation with Dr. Jennifer Grenz (@jennifer_grenz), assistant professor and Indigenous Scholar at the University of British Columbia and author of the best-selling book Medicine Wheel for the Planet: A Journey Toward Personal and Ecological Healing. Grenz will share fascinating stories from her work to address environmental challenges like wildfire recovery and food security alongside Indigenous knowledge keepers and community members, highlighting how connecting Western and Indigenous sciences can both heal the land and the communities who depend on it.

Join a conversation with Dr. Dacher Keltner, a leading scholar in the study of emotions and author of Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. Keltner will share how experiencing awe in nature—whether looking out at a stunning vista or simply watching an interesting bird—can make us happier, kinder humans and better stewards of the land.

Join us on Land Ethic Live for a conversation with Pam Houston, author of Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country and Cowboys Are My Weakness, on the life-changing lessons she has learned from a life spent among animals both wild and domestic, tales from stewarding for a ranch in the high country of Colorado, ecological grief, and more. Plus, enjoy an exclusive reading from her brand new book Animals Taught Me Everything, forthcoming in October 2026! our forests, rivers, prairies and forests seemed inexhaustible and opposition seemed insurmountable. The consensus building skills of those who advocated for public lands and overcame innumerable setbacks are especially worth revisiting as we navigate another period of uncertain destiny. 

Conservation spaces haven't always felt welcoming to everyone. But what if inclusion was not an afterthought, but the foundation? In this engaging, story-driven presentation, Dexter Patterson (@wiscobirder) shares how the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin is reimagining what conservation culture can look like. Through the lens of community birding, Dexter explores how joy, accessibility, and intentional design can break down barriers and invite more people outdoors.  

This event is a fundraiser for the Aldo Leopold Foundation, open only to new and existing donors. Make a gift of $25 or more to gain access.

From deer camp and fishing trips to walks through the woods, spending time outdoors is a quintessential part of Midwestern culture. And no one knows that better than Wisconsin’s own Charlie Berens—a comedian, best-selling author, and journalist known for his wildly popular sketch and stand-up comedy that spotlights the Midwest (Manitowoc Minute). Join us for a donor-exclusive special edition of Land Ethic Live where we’ll talk with Charlie about how he uses comedy to connect people, how he explores —and exploits— Midwestern culture, and how his own land ethic is evolving. Laughs and learning guaranteed—it'll be a hoot – Oh, yeah, you betcha!

You’ve read A Sand County Almanac a million times. You can practically recite “Good Oak” and “Thinking Like a Mountain” from memory. Perhaps you have even made your pilgrimage to the original Leopold Shack. But what would it have felt like to be one of the Leopold children arriving at that worn-down chicken coop for the first time?  

In her book “Aldo Leopold’s Shack: Nina’s Story,” Author Nancy Nye Hunt answers this question in rich detail. Chalk-full of Leopold family stories and little-known facts drawn straight from the source, Hunt’s book paints the Shack story from the perspective of her friend and mentor Nina Leopold—the eldest daughter of Aldo and Estella Leopold, who spent her formative years planting pines, restoring prairie, and fixing up the Shack alongside her family.

What started as a retreat from city life became so much more, transforming Nina and her family into astute observers, environmental advocates, and lifelong lovers of the land. Join us for the final Land Ethic Live! show of the year for a special presentation and conversation with author Nancy Nye Hunt and Nina Leopold’s daughter, Trish Stevenson. The two will share the fascinating research process behind the book, stories about the exceptional women of the Leopold family, and the lessons that Nina’s story can teach us about loving the earth in challenging times.  

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‍Born and raised in Wisconsin, Nancy Nye Hunt spent her childhood exploring nature on her grandparents’ land in rural Cedarburg. She holds a B.S. degree in agricultural education from UW-Madison, worked at the state capital as a legislative liaison, was a children’s literature specialist at Madison’s Pooh Corner Bookstore, and was a substitute elementary teacher in Monona, Wisconsin. She currently volunteers as a tour guide at the award-winning Driftless Historium Museum in Mt. Horeb and writes from her home in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area which she shares with her husband, Tom, a professor emeritus of restoration ecology.
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Trish Stevenson is Aldo and Estella Leopold’s granddaughter and the daughter of Nina Leopold. Based in Black Earth, WI, she is a talented metalsmith, gardener and business owner. She has previously served on the board of the Aldo Leopold Foundation and currently serves on the board of the Aldo Leopold Nature Center in Monona, WI—a nature center and school dedicated to fostering children's connections to the natural world.  

Join us for the November Land Ethic Live! event featuring renowned environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author Paul Hawken in a moderated conversation about his latest work, Carbon: The Book of Life. In this visionary book, Hawken reframes carbon not as a villain of the climate crisis but as the essential element of all life—offering a bold, life-centered perspective on how we relate to the natural world. With his signature blend of scientific insight and poetic clarity, Hawken invites us to see carbon not just as a molecule, but as a teacher—one that holds deep lessons about reciprocity, regeneration, and the interdependence of all living things.

In this live conversation, we’ll explore how carbon connects us—through soil, atmosphere, food, water, and story—and what this means for ethics, ecology, and climate action in the 21st century. Together, we’ll unpack how a shift in worldview—from extraction to kinship—can inspire new pathways for healing our planet and ourselves. Whether you’re a conservationist, educator, policymaker, or concerned citizen, this program offers a rare opportunity to hear from one of the most thoughtful voices in environmental leadership today.

Dr. Winifred Frick, Chief Scientist at Bat Conservation International (BCI), will share the ecological importance of bats, the urgent need for their conservation, and the power of storytelling to drive environmental action. In this talk, Dr. Frick will highlight the vital roles bats play in ecosystems across the globe providing critical services to nature and people alike. Yet, despite their value, bats remain among the least understood and most threatened mammals, facing mounting pressures from habitat loss, climate change, and disease.

Through science, collaboration, and community engagement, Bat Conservation International works to shift perceptions of bats from fear to fascination, while advancing solutions that protect biodiversity and promote sustainable development. This work connects to the mission of the Aldo Leopold Foundation, emphasizing how fostering a sense of awe and appreciation for the natural world deepens our connection and responsibility to conserve it. This alignment underscores the importance of emotional engagement in environmental work—not just scientific understanding. A central theme of the talk will include how bats inspire action.

Dr. Frick is a central character in the forthcoming independent film, The Invisible Mammal, a documentary that brings bats—and the women scientists working to protect them—out of the shadows and into the public eye. By showcasing bats as charismatic, ecologically essential, and threatened with extinction, the film creates a moving narrative that builds empathy and motivates stewardship. Ultimately, Dr. Frick will make the case that protecting bats is not just a scientific imperative but also a cultural one. By connecting science with story, and conservation with community, we can share the value of bats and inspire collective action to safeguard the natural systems on which we all depend.

When Paula Whyman first climbs a peak in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in search of a home in the country, she has no idea how quickly her tidy backyard ecology project will become a massive endeavor. Just as quickly, she discovers how little she knows about hands-on conservation work.

‍Bad Naturalist is a memoir about Paula Whyman’s attempts to restore native meadows on a 200-acre mountaintop--about the obstacles she encountered, the mistakes she made, the failures and the all-important successes, and the discoveries she made along the way.

In conversation, Whyman will share the story of her efforts to restore the land, and how her land ethic evolved in the process.

Douglas Tallamy, founder of the Homegrown National Park movement, on Bad Naturalist: "How can someone who knows nothing about ecological restoration successfully rehab 200 acres of retired farmland? In Bad Naturalist, her self-deprecating, humorous, and thoroughly engaging book, Paula Whyman tells us exactly how. She describes the many pitfalls, explains how she triumphed over them, and details the many benefits of persevering, both for herself and for her mountaintop ecosystem. Why should landowners read this book? Because they own—and need to restore—most of the landscape, an awesome responsibility whose meaning Whyman has distilled for us.”

When author Jeffrey Ryan set out to write a book about Aldo Leopold and the other founders of The Wilderness Society, his journey unexpectedly led him back to the 1830s where he discovered the tale of a failed writer and fruit farmer who would go on to become the most prominent advocate for public lands of his generation.  

Ryan came to see that the arc of America’s conservation movement from the establishment of Yosemite as a park in 1864 to the signing of The Wilderness Act in 1965 hinged on two generational “baton passes” — both requiring the most prominent leaders of the cause to entrust the growth and refinement of public spaces on the very people they hired. Of special interest to Ryan is how the philosophical, physical and emotional needs for protected lands played a central role in their creation and protection — even at a time when the scale of our forests, rivers, prairies and forests seemed inexhaustible and opposition seemed insurmountable. The consensus building skills of those who advocated for public lands and overcame innumerable setbacks are especially worth revisiting as we navigate another period of uncertain destiny. 

Richard (Dick) and his wife, Kim, co-own the Cates Family Farm LLC in Wyoming Township, Iowa County, with their son Eric and his wife, Kiley, and their daughter Shannon and her husband, Dan.

Dick is a life-long farmer who grew up working on his family’s beef cow-calf farm, a neighbor’s dairy farm, Montana ranches, and in large-scale dairy forage and grain crop production overseas.

Dick pursued professional studies in soil science and agronomy and earned an MS (1979) in soils from Montana State University and a PhD (1983) in soils and plant health from the University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences while serving a Leopold Fellowship.

Dick began taking over the family farm management in 1987 and then, along with Kim, purchased a portion of the land to build their own farming business. Dick and his family are members of the Iowa County Uplands Farmer-Led Watershed Project and the Lowery Creek Watershed Initiative, where they share information about and demonstrate conservation practices with other landowners and the public.

The Cates family has been recognized for their soil and water conservation work, receiving many awards including their most cherished recognition of receiving the 2013 Sand County Foundation Wisconsin Leopold Conservation Award. Dick authored the book Voices from the Heart of the Land: Rural Stories That Inspire Community (University of Wisconsin Press, 2008), a children’s book An Adventure on Sterna’s Hill (2019), and A Creek Runs Through This Driftless Land: A Farm Family’s Journey Toward a Land Ethic (Little Creek Press, 2024).

Eric and Kiley manage the family farm now, with a “A Commitment to Conservation.”
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How do we nurture the wild world in these trying times?
How might our relationships—with nature, land, wild beings and humanity—deepen and converge?

As policy and partisanship stress conservation ethics, now is the most critical time for us to speak with passion and purpose towards the essential mission of a land ethic. In this interactive session with J. Drew Lanham and Krissy Kludt, co-directors of Writing the Wild, we'll conjure words and phrases from head and heart to embolden the work of land conservation and environmental stewardship. Bring your pen and paper, or keypad and screen, and prepare to get soul-deep in the sacred work of nurturing our relationships with the Earth.

If you’d like to attend, a gift of $25 or more unlocks access to this special event—and helps us grow the Land Ethic movement far into the future.

‍If you have already made a gift to our Spring 2025 Endowment Campaign, a link to this event will automatically be sent to you via email.
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Joe Lamp’l is the creator and host of The joe gardener® Show podcast and founder of joegardener.com and the joegardener® Online Gardening Academy™. He’s also the creator, host, and executive producer of the Emmy-winning national public television series Growing a Greener World®, now available on YouTube.

A longtime advocate for organic gardening and ecological stewardship, Joe has shared his expertise as the host of Fresh from the Garden on DIY Network and as an on-air contributor for The Today Show, Good Morning America, and The Weather Channel. His work has earned numerous accolades, including the American Horticultural Society’s B.Y. Morrison Communication Award for outstanding and inspirational garden education across multiple platforms.

Joe’s latest book, The Vegetable Gardening Book, offers a practical, comprehensive guide to growing food successfully—whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned gardener. Through his podcasts, courses, and extensive online resources, Joe continues to educate and inspire a new generation of gardeners.
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“Only those who love trees should cut them,” writes forester and author Ethan Tapper. Tapper is a forester, birder, naturalist and popular digital creator, and the bestselling author of How to Love a Forest. He has been recognized as a thought-leader and a disruptor in the forestry and conservation community of the northeastern United States and beyond, winning multiple regional and national awards for his work. In How to Love a Forest, he asks what it means to live during a time in which ecosystems are in retreat and extinctions rattle the bones of the earth. How do we use our species' incredible power to heal rather than to harm?

Joining Ethan in a discussion, Mike Chaveas is the Forest Supervisor of the Hoosier National Forest—205,000-acres of rolling forested hills of south-central Indiana. Mike will share his firsthand experience with oak-hickory restoration and explore the values and mindsets involved with land stewardship efforts in this public/private intersection. A significant slice of his work managing the forested lands involves working with communities and partner organizations to develop a shared vision of stewardship focused on restoring, maintaining, and interpreting the cultural and natural resources of the Hoosier.

Tapper says that the actions we must take to protect ecosystems are often counterintuitive, uncomfortable, and even heartbreaking. He will show how bittersweet acts—like loving deer and hunting them, loving trees and felling them—can be expressions of compassion.Join us April 10 to listen as Tapper and Chaveas explore a land ethic in action for a modern, thriving natural world.
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Zoë Schlanger is a staff writer at the  Atlantic, where she covers climate change. She is the author of The Light Eaters, a New York Times bestselling book about the world of plant-behavior-and-intelligence research, published by HarperCollins. The Light Eaters is a New York Times bestseller that has been dubbed a groundbreaking work of popular science that probes the hidden world of the plant kingdom. It is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence.
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Science journalist Florence Williams will discuss the latest research on why getting outside is good for human health, well-being, and creativity. She draws from neuroscience, environmental psychology, cognition studies, epidemiology and medicine around the world. Learn why our current epidemic disconnection from nature threatens our communities and what we can do about it.
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