A Land ethic is a philosophy that seeks to guide the actions when humans use or make changes to the land. The term was coined by Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) in his book A Sand County Almanac (1949). He wrote that there is a need for a "new ethic", an "ethic dealing with human's relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it". Although Leopold is credited with coining this term, specific land ethics were in place prior to his writing Sand County Almanac. For example, Leopold himself defines and argues against an economic land ethic.