What are our Successes?: Visionaries

John Muir—(1832-1914):

     

        Ecologist, writer, environmentalist, scientist, geologist, leader, and Christian. All these words define John Muir’s character. Through out his life, Muir stressed the preservation and conservation of the environment. His ecological outlook encouraged others to look ahead and to link the effects of today’s actions with tomorrow’s consequences.

 

        Born and raised in the outer parts of Scotland, Muir grew up interacting and learning about wildlife. He remembers inspecting bird’s nests and studying flowers. After his education in America, his interest for nature grew to the extent that he knew he wanted to pursue this field for the rest of his life. And that is what he did. Muir loved to travel around the country learning about the different ecosystems of each place he visited. To add to his impressive outdoor education, he decided to travel from Indiana to Florida on foot, a trip which took about a year to complete. During  this time, he studied the wilderness and its inhabitants, expanding his knowledge.  His trek taught him first-hand how nature works and how we should treat it. After this, he traveled to California where he was immediately drawn to the magnificent beauty of the Sierra Mountains and the Yosemite Valley. He spent a great portion of his life there studying and analyzing nature, animals, and their habitats. He eventually founded the Sierra Club with a group of other environmentalists, becoming the club’s first President. He made a large impact on all national environmental preserves by advising and educating Theodore Roosevelt about environmental parks. Muir went so far as to convince the president that all these preserves should be controlled by national management.   

 

        During his life, he publicly expressed his observations and discoveries by publishing them in essays, books, and in photography. This man was one of the first conservationists recognized as being substantially progressive and a contributor to the world of environmental science. He incorporated his Christian faith into all his works, believing humans are made to live on this earth to preserve and be good stewards of God’s creation. With his positive outlook, genuine care for nature and the effects he’s had on it, John Muir will always be known as the greatest environmentalist of his time.
 

Steven Parish—(1945-current):
  

        Steven Parish can be thought of as a modern day John Muir. As a child, he loved going to the zoo and observing the lions and underwater creatures. Just like Muir, he had little interest in schools. Instead, he preferred an outdoor education, where he learned from ecosystems and nature. His passion for nature grew when he started to dive and photograph underwater nature. From there, Parish was impressed with anything to do with nature, and he studied any environmental thing he could get his hands on. Like Muir, he set out on a long journey to learn by experiencing nature. Many of his books are based on what he learned on this journey. His writings include subjects such as Australian mountains, rivers, animals, and the outback. Throughout his life, he has been a photographer as well as a writer and environmentalist. He wanted to bring the beauty of nature to the public so everyone will realize what a beautiful world we live in.
  

        Much of his work focuses on the younger generation. He says he finds talking to modern day kids very refreshing because they seem to care about what is going to happen to their newly inherited earth. As a result, a large portion of his work focuses on educating the next generation about the environment. 

 

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Sources:

 

“John Muir and the Sierras”. America’s Story.  Accessed 10 March 2008. <http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/recon/muir_1>

 

Sierra Club. John Muir Exhibit. 14 December 2007  Accessed 10 March 2008. <http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/>

 

Steve Parish Publishing Company Pty Ltd. 21 August 2007. Accessed 10 March 2008.<http://www.steveparish.com.au/meet_steve/index.php>  

 

Wood, Harold. “Earth Keeper Hero: John Muir”.  The My Hero Project.  Accessed 10 March 2008.  

<http://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=j_muir>

 

Photograph 1:

Sierrian. “John Muir Wildness trail head”. Flickr.com. 28 March 2005. < Accessed 10 March 2008.  <http://flickr.com/photos/sierrian/7711490/>

Used under the Creative Commons License. <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en>

 

Photograph 2:

Imageo. “Breakfast with the Birds”. Flickr.com.  22 May 2007. Accessed 10 March 2008.  <http://flickr.com/photos/imageo/509335160>

Used under the Creative Commons License. <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en>