How Buddy Huffaker Of Aldo Leopold Foundation Is Helping to Promote Sustainability and Climate Justice

An Interview With Monica Sanders

Bring a sense of humor and humility. Perhaps it is the old adage “laugh or cry,” but again, this movement is about changing hearts and minds, so it requires vision, persistence, and patience, and I think enough humor and humility to allow others to engage whenever and wherever they can on their own personal journey.

According to the University of Colorado, “Those who are most affected and have the fewest resources to adapt to climate change are also the least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions — both globally and within the United States.” Promoting climate justice is an incredibly important environmental responsibility that is slowly becoming more and more recognized. In this interview series, we are talking to leaders who are helping to promote sustainability and climate justice. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Buddy Huffaker.

As part of my series about what we must do to inspire the next generation about sustainability and the environment, I had the pleasure of interviewing Buddy Huffaker, Executive Director of the Aldo Leopold Foundation, located in Baraboo, Wisconsin.

Buddy has represented conservationist Aldo Leopold’s legacy and land ethic for over 25 years. In this time, he has personally engaged the Leopold family, stewarded over 4,000 acres in and around the Leopold Shack and Farm National Historic Landmark, brokered the translation of Aldo Leopold’s seminal work A Sand County Almanac into new languages, produced the Emmy Award-winning film Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and A Land Ethic for Our Time, and participated in three White House Conferences on conservation and environmental education. Buddy has helped make environmental ethics relevant, accessible, and more engaging.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?

Growing up, my family would camp, but I wasn’t particularly interested in the environment. I was much more interested in sports. In high school, about the time I realized being a professional athlete was not in the cards for me, I stumbled into a job at a soil testing laboratory. This job opened my eyes to agriculture and soil science, sparking my interest in a whole world I had never considered, let alone considered its importance or potential as a profession.

Everyone has a cataclysmic moment or marker in their life which propels them to take certain actions, a “why.” What is your why?

A couple of twists led me to study landscape architecture in college, where I took a class titled “Wildlife in America,” and was first introduced to A Sand County Almanac by a professor who absolutely loved the book. Honestly, I wasn’t that impressed with the book on my first read. Nevertheless, the class further expanded my world by opening my mind, and my heart, to ecology and conservation. I started exploring other voices for the environment: Wendell Berry, Jens Jensen, Rachel Carson, Ian McHarg, Wes Jackson, and Baird Callicott, to name a few. Then, during an internship at an architectural firm in Atlanta, Georgia — where I was stuck on the computer all day — we had a client who destroyed a wetland. It was just as the “No Net Loss of Wetlands” legislation was passed, so the developer had to create a functioning wetland as a replacement, which at the time, nobody really knew how to do. I thought this might be an emerging field where I could connect my landscape architecture background with my growing interest in ecology and conservation.

You are currently leading an organization that is making a difference for our planet. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change?

The Leopold Foundation is working to catalyze a land ethic movement that expands humanity’s concept of community. As Leopold writes in his best-selling book A Sand County Almanac, “When we see land as a community to which we belong, we will be to use it with love and respect.”

This sounds so simple, but it truly is as radical as Copernicus’s theory that the Earth revolves around the sun, not the other way around. It is a paradigm shift from how, at least Western societies, conceive of people “apart from” the biotic community rather than “a part of” the biotic community.

If we aren’t asking the right questions, we won’t get the right answers.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?

I’m not sure there is a single event or story that stands out, rather it is the thousands and thousands of people I’ve met from all over the world that find grounding and meaning in growing an ethic of care for all people and all places. The fact that people from Indiana to India are trying to catalyze action to care for the Earth’s natural systems for our fellow organisms’ sake, and for our own, is critically important. It is humbling, and an honor, to help lead such a massive mission.

None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?

I’ve been fortunate to have so much support from family, friends, mentors, and colleagues over the years. But none as important or inspirational as Nina Leopold Bradley. I arrived at Nina’s dining room table ready to start my conservation career as Nina, the daughter of Aldo and Estella Leopold, was readying for her second retirement. For the first twenty years of retirement, Nina and her husband Charlie led ecological research and restoration work that helped launch the Aldo Leopold Foundation. Then in 1984, Nina and her siblings — all amazing conservationists and scientists — recognized that their father’s legacy was continuing to grow and was more relevant than ever. They founded the Aldo Leopold Foundation and entrusted it with their family farm and now famous ‘Shack’, the icon for his land ethic, and assigned the rights to their father’s published and unpublished writings to the foundation. I think it is important to point out that they gave “the farm” away — to all of us — to the world so that it could continue to be the wellspring of the conservation movement for future generations.

Nina was the warmest, most thoughtful, gracious individual I’ve ever met. She had this wealth of knowledge and experience but always made you feel like the most important person in the world with something important to share with, or to do for the world. She is also the first person I ever witnessed in such a multitude of roles: board member (i.e. boss), friend, scientist, spouse, mother, grandmother, sister, sage, mentor, …, and the list could go on. She had this amazing ability to embrace each of these roles but also not be defined by anyone, but rather by the totality of her life and being.

It was her patience, friendship, tutoring, mentorship, trust, and confidence that provided me the opportunity, interest, and early ability to step into the role of executive director at the Leopold Foundation way before I had the experience or knowledge.

Thank you for that. Let’s now move to the central part of our discussion. Let’s start with a basic definition of terms so everyone is on the same page. What does climate justice mean to you? How do we operationalize it?

It is important to remember that our assault on Earth’s ecological integrity and resilience resulting in climate change and species extinction is driven by the same forces that result in human enslavement, inequities, and injustice. It is driven by worldviews, and thus social systems, that are driven by oppression and greed. Climate justice communicates a shift to a worldview that recognizes how humanity is intertwined in the ecological world and that we cannot address environmental problems without also addressing societal inequities and injustices.

Science tells us that we have 7–10 years to make critical decisions about climate change. What are three things you or your organization are doing to help?

The Leopold Foundation has numerous initiatives that are designed to mitigate and adapt to climate change and grow an ethic of care for all people and all places, here are some of our most important:

1. Restoring the Health of the Land: We are working to restore and maintain 4,000 acres of land known as the Leopold Pines Conservation Area to a healthy grass-based ecosystem that helps sequester carbon, filter surface and groundwater flowing into the Wisconsin River, and provide critical habitat for imperiled grassland birds and pollinators.
2. Cultivating Leadership for Conservation: Much of our work is advanced by our Leopold Fellows, who are young adults seeking to launch careers in conservation. This twelve-month program integrates professional development experiences through actively managing land and interpreting the historic Leopold Shack and Farm for visitors. The program also follows a curriculum that focuses on skills for conservation leadership, including communications, natural history, non-profit management, modern conservation, and more. The program models how Aldo Leopold taught his graduate students — and children — who all went on to become conservation leaders. If you are interested, please visit www.aldoleopold.org to learn how to apply!
3. Catalyzing a Land Ethic Movement — Complimenting all of these more practical efforts, we also open people’s hearts and minds to why we must care for all people and all places. This happens through our online programs and communications in which we profile current conservation voices, writers, and experts, to help us re-interpret society’s ever-evolving and important relationship to the natural world. All of this content can be accessed through our monthly e-newsletter; sign-up at www.aldoleopold.org

What three things can the community, society, or politicians do to help you in your mission?

First, read, or re-read, A Sand County Almanac. If more people read this and other nature writers it would help provide a positive frame of reference and shared vocabulary about how we as individuals, organizations, and communities can move from caring about the natural world all around us to caring for the natural world that supports all of our wealth and health.

Second, create any and all incentives to get people outside. There is so much data emerging that documents the individual and community health benefits of having access to the outdoors and natural settings. This is the first step in learning about the world around us which is a critical step to caring about and then ultimately caring for each other and nature. Parents, grandparents, and all mentors can be intentional about getting their families outdoors. Businesses can create wellness programs that recognize and reward active lifestyles. Governments can invest in urban forests, county parks, state natural areas, and national wildlife refuges that provide access and wild habitats for wildlife and people alike.

Third, Care More — sounds simple, right? But caring — about a butterfly, a plant, or your new neighbors — is a choice. The writer Wallace Stegner once wrote that a land ethic is not a task but rather an act. This means we can’t just “get it”; we have to “do it.” I think this is so powerful because we must constantly work to align our actions with our values. All important skills in life require practice, even caring!

How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?

The Aldo Leopold Foundation is a not-for-profit, so our business model is different from a for-profit business. But for any entity that expects to be in business for decades or generations, sustainable practices absolutely intersect with financial stability. The best example for our foundation is the construction of the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center, a LEED Platinum Certified facility. As a result of energy-saving design and efficient mechanical systems, it uses 80% less energy than a typical building its size. And these savings go on year after year. This results in $15,000+ savings in operational costs each year, which are some of the hardest dollars to raise for not-for-profits. And, our donors and supportive community made this happen!

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started promoting sustainability and climate justice,” and why?

1 . This work is a marathon, not a sprint. When advancing an environmental ethic and pushing for climate justice you have to be in it for the long haul.

2 . Embrace heartbreak. Promoting sustainability and climate justice is paddling into strong headwinds created by deep selfish self-interest in maintaining the status quo. Unfortunately, it can feel like the losses only grow, and the wins come few and far between.

3 . Celebrate the victories. Because the work is hard and long it is really important to pause and celebrate important accomplishments. Celebrating successes along the journey keeps people motivated and engaged to keep pushing for serious and significant change.

4 . Come for the mission, stay for the people. Those who gravitate toward promoting sustainability and climate justice are genuine, caring individuals looking to serve others and the world as a whole. Working with such colleagues is enriching in its own right.

5 . Bring a sense of humor and humility. Perhaps it is the old adage “laugh or cry,” but again, this movement is about changing hearts and minds, so it requires vision, persistence, and patience, and I think enough humor and humility to allow others to engage whenever and wherever they can on their own personal journey.

Is there a person in the world or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Personally, I’d love to sit down with Shaquille O’Neal, aka Shaq, at the Leopold ‘Shack’! As I mentioned, sports has always been a passion, and I love the energy and passion he brought to the court and continues to bring to life. Through a friend, he signed a copy of A Sand County Almanac for me, but I’d love to know if he caught the connection. Plus, I’d love to see how small the Leopold Shack looks with him inside!

Professionally, it would be amazing to sit down with Jane Goodall. Her energy, commitment, and passion for growing people’s love of and care for the natural world are unequaled. The opportunity to listen and learn from her would be immensely valuable.

How can our readers continue to follow your work online?

Visit www.aldoleopold.org and sign up for the Leopold Foundation’s e-newsletter, where we profile the land ethic through contemporary voices and efforts to grow an ethic of care for all people and places. We have virtual programs and an amazing lineup of speakers for Leopold Week, which occurs annually in the first week of March, where our guests will enrich and advance their own land ethic. If you are a teacher or community organizer, we have many resources, written and video, to help you share Leopold’s legacy, writings, and the land ethic with your audiences.

I’d also recommend a visit to the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center and the Leopold Shack and Farm National Historic Landmark, where you can learn about and see in practice the past, present, and future of the land ethic movement.

Finally, as a not-for-profit, all of our work is possible thanks to the generosity of our supportive community — so your donation supports the maintenance of the historic site, our ongoing land stewardship work, and the Fellowship Program, and connects you to all of our announcements and registrations for upcoming programming. But most importantly, your donation energizes the effort to elevate the need for an ethic of care. Please consider supporting a growing land ethic by making a donation at www.aldoleopold.org/donate

This was very meaningful; thank you so much. We wish you continued success in your great work!