Green Fire Documentary Film
Green Fire was a film made in 2011 about the legacy of Aldo Leopold, produced by the Aldo Leopold Foundation, the United States Forest Service, and the Center for Humans and Nature. The film explores Leopold’s life and achievements in detail, and links his philosophy to the environmental challenges that we face in the 21st century. The documentary involves numerous conservation experts, policy leaders, scientists, and scholars, including Leopold’s children, all of whom provide commentary about how Leopold has impacted a wide range of fields and issues. For more information, visit the official film website.

The name of the film comes from a famous quote by Leopold (1966, pp. 137—139), in the essay “Thinking Like a Mountain”:

“Only the mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of a wolf. […] My own conviction on this score dates from the day I saw a wolf die. […] We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes—something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.”

Below is a short excerpt from the film. In it, several commentators talk about the Land Ethic, focusing on how humans need to see that we are part of an interconnected community, and that our actions greatly affect our neighbors and nature in general.

Aldo Leopold: Learning From the Land
This documentary aired in 1999, and features commentary by Leopold’s daughter, Nina. It was produced by Wisconsin Public Television. In the film, Leopold’s environmental philosophy is explained, along with accounts of his family life, as well as dramatic readings from A Sand County Almanac that were filmed at the “Shack” itself.

The documentary can be watched in full for free, courtesy of WPT.