This was the site of early attempts to recreate historic ecological communities, such as tallgrass prairies and maple forests, an effort led by the famed conservationist Aldo Leopold.

Jordan defines shame, which he distinguishes from guilt, as the emotional response to the self’s awareness of its dependence on others, including animals and plants—in having, for example, to kill and eat them to survive.

Frederick Turner argues that ritual and the fine arts (which Jordan terms the “technologies of the imagination”[3][12]) provide the tools humans need to deal productively with this aspect of experience.

[13] In Jordan's recasting, ritual and the arts offer a way to foster values such as community and beauty that Leopold made the foundation of his land ethic.

"[14] Jordan argues that the lack of such shared rituals, typical of modern societies, is the crucial factor limiting progress toward realization of a sound ethic of relationship between humans and the rest of nature.

Considering ecological restoration from this perspective, Jordan proposes its development as a modern version of the "world renewal" rituals characteristic of many traditional societies.