Where do we stand in this community?

As I read through Leopold’s article I kept coming back to the same question, “If we are members of this community are we equals or is there a hierarchy of value?” Luckily my answer was at least addressed in the more philosophic paper by Callicott but still not entirely fleshed out. Toward the end of this essay he explores the objections of many philosophers who have encountered the land ethic and come to the conclusion that it is a, horror because of its emphasis on the good of the community and its deemphasis on the welfare of the individual members of the community.”(p182) After taking enough philosophy courses I can see the fear. Philosophy is for the individual and for the individual to discover and then live the best way of life. This best way of life has the necessary good of living on this earth but to say that non-rational beings are on equal terms as the human would be absurd. I would have to agree and therefore I could not understand the claim of the land ethic. Callicott tries to explain that in the same way as being part of a larger political community does not stop you from being part of the small community of your family the community described in the land ethic will not stop you from being part of our “family community” of humankind. However encouraging that this statement might be it is not an answer to the question of hierarchy of moral value. He, like Leopold continues to call upon upon ancient civilizations to aid us in our understanding of how to live in this community. Does that mean we are to take step backward, destroy all that our human capabilities have created through technology? Or does it mean that we have to limit our endeavors and if so when so that we don’t limit our humanity?