by Kate Kaliner
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.
-- My First Summer in the Sierra (John Muir, 1911)
John Muir was born in Dunbar Scotland on April 21st, 1838, before he and his family immigrated to the United States in 1849, where he became one of the earliest proponents for the preservation of our country’s wilderness. Muir saw man’s role as
playing a part of the larger whole of the natural world, not at its’ center, and he saw nature as a spiritual resource.
John Muir traveled across the world and the United States, including a thousand-mile walk from Indianapolis to the Gulf of Mexico. His writings on his adventures and philosophy have been published in 300 articles and 10 books, and inspire readers even today.
Muir was most struck by California's Sierra Nevada and Yosemite, where his geological and ecological theories on the region earned him widespread recognition. His voice and work led to the establishment of the U.S. National Park System, (including, during his lifetime, Yosemite, Sequoia, Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, and other parks). In efforts to protect Yosemite National Park, Muir and his supporters founded the Sierra Club in 1892, of which Muir served as president for the rest of his life, and which remains our country’s leading grassroots organization for protecting wilderness and the environment.
When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty.
- Travels in Alaska by John Muir, 1915, chapter 1, page 5.
Sources
Hoagland, Edward. (2002). John muir's alaskan rhapsody. The American Scholar v. 71 no. 2 (Spring 2002) p. 101-5
Muir, John. (1911). My First Summer in the Sierra. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company
Sierra Club. (2006). John muir: A brief biography. Retrieved March 29, 2007 from John Muir Exhibit: Sierra Club Web site: http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir
_exhibit/
Wood, Harold W., Jr. (2005). Earthkeeper hero: John muir. Retrieved March 29, 2007 from Earthkeeper Heros: My Hero Website: http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=
j_muir
2 comments:
There is an artist, Andy Goldsworthy, who is an environmental sculptor and his work can be related to all that is being presented in this eLecture (which by the way is very impressive!). He only uses living things to create his pieces and at times finds himself defeated in the creation process by the same force in which he is trying to work with, nature. Here is a link to his site:
CLICK HERE
Also, if you get a chance, check out his documentary called "Rivers and Tides"--it is truly inspiring.
Nice biographical background on an exemplary and important figure in the history of environmentalism.
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