Leopold

First, I want to acknowledge Leopold's beautiful rhetoric. Some of his prose rings with a note of poetry that makes this sort of reading more memorable and easier to swallow.
What struck me about his argument, is in hindsight, a rather obvious concept, one that perhaps Taylor could have used to make his concepts easier to dissect. The community concept is one that makes perfect sense to me why nature may have inherent value. A biological community is simply an extension of our human communities, where we (probably should) care about people we don't know, even though they may have no instrumental value to us, or even in some cases, possess negative instrumental value. While this doesn't clear up any talk about equal inherent value, and the concept is still difficult to dissect, thinking about all life in the Berkshires as part of my community is a nice thought.
After writing this post, I realize once again that the demonstration of inherent value is still somewhat elusive, but it is rewarding to me use this idea, and in that sense, this community concept is bringing me an immediate instrumental value.

Food sources on campus

Turns out, there's way more edible food on campus than I first realized. There are four ginkgo trees, whoseeaves are rich in antioxidants, when dried and turned into tea. There are also elm trees which produce brown/black colored fruits, which contain a seed very rich in nutrients. In addition, there are several maple trees as well as birch, which can be harvested for their tapped sap. By the library, there are some thornapple trees, which provide a seedy, yet fruitful source of deliciousness. This tour provided me insight into just how many wild edible plants are on campus, and if anyone wishes to further identify these sources, I am open for explanation.

Conventional Burial

 Conventional burial is a frequently overlooked environmental hazard. Wooden caskets currently require about 45 million board feet of hardwood lumber every year, although 75% of caskets are steel. "Vaults" are also frequent in some cemeteries, which keep the ground level, and are usually made up of over a ton of concrete. Finally, 3-6 gallons of formalin are used to embalm most corpses, which may leak out over time and contaminate groundwater supplies. In addition to all of the pollution being put into the ground, the manufacture of caskets also produces significant waste.
So the solution may be to add to one's will the request to be buried in a green cemetery, which is a cemetery that accepts biodegradable caskets, shrouds, or no body covering at all. Green conservation cemeteries also function as a land conservation tool as well.

Responsible smoking

Cigarette butts are the most commonly littered item in the United States. We've all seen it, smokers just tossing their butts on the ground or out the window of a car as if it wasn't litter. Even normally environmentally conscious individuals are frequently guilty of this behavior. As it turns out though, the filters themselves cause more harm to the environment than meets the eye. A cigarette filter takes between 18 months and ten years to break down, and even then the acetate that the filter is made of is then present in the environment. What's worse however, is the tar and other toxins in filters that were absorbed from the tobacco. It's no secret that some of the most harmful toxins known to humanity are present in major cigarette brands. When it rains, it pours, since these toxins easily wash out of the filter and into the ground, possibly contaminating water sources. So if you are a smoker, take the effort to find a trashcan. If you need another reason to quit, consider the effects of cigarettes on the environment.

Corn subsidies

The degree to which our country subsidizes corn is massive. As such, it should be thoroughly questioned and understood. Despite popular knowledge that corn is subsidized to a great extent, the exact implications are not often mentioned. These corn subsidies receive financial support from public funds, which excites a trend towards overproduction. I have read that corn actually is below cost, that is, it costs less to buy than to produce. As a result, corn is in pretty much everything, sometimes cleverly disguised. Even the meat we eat is corn-fed, which is not as nature intended.
While the cons of subsidized corn are a more lengthy list than I have room for here, I wish to ask more questions regarding the pros and our future. The subsidization occurred as an attempt to help poor farmers during the depression, but what use does this system have now? What will happen to corn farming and subsidization over the next decade or two? By subsidizing corn and other foods, what does the Food Mafia have to gain? What do our farmers, our nation, and the rest of the world have to lose?