Running head: JOHN MUIR 1 John Muir and his Conservation Legacy Kimberly Homsey Nebraska Wesleyan University
JOHN MUIR 2 John Muir and his Conservation Legacy John Muir is most well known for his conservation efforts. When the word conservation is used, the name John Muir is not too far behind it. There were many conservationists who were actively involved in the struggle to save the beauty and wonder that lies within the United States, so what is so unique about John Muir s efforts that allowed him to be remembered centuries after his death? To understand why John Muir is so well remembered, it would be wise to start with his background and where he came from. Our past allows us to understand the kind of people we become later on in life and how we appear to others. John Muir lived in Scotland before his father took his family over seas to the United States. At the time of his arrival, the United States was at the brink of a civil war and the Gold Rush had recently occurred. His father, Daniel, took his family to Wisconsin to buy a farm. They did not buy the greatest farmland but his father was stubborn and worked hard to produce crops (Worster, 2008). Being around his father and observing his stubborn nature may have created the very same nature in John. When he went on his long adventures he never seemed to give up but instead continue trekking, keeping one foot in front of the other. He never let an obstacle keep him at bay for long. During John s stay in Wisconsin an internal struggle started to develop. He had a passion for nature but also had a drive to control it. He started to learn about anything that he could. His father prohibited such things and wanted John to aid him with the farm and expected him to take it over when the time came. John became a brilliant inventor and knew quite a bit about how mechanics worked (Woster, 2008). At first glance this mechanic nature and his passion for the wild may appear to be separate, but one can look at nature with a mathematical eye and see that
JOHN MUIR 3 nature is just one giant mechanism. John seemed to want to have some control over this mechanism but also just wanted to observe it in action. As previously stated, his father did not approve of John s enthusiasm for learning. Daniel was a very religious man and would not have those non-religious books scramble his son s brain. This disapproval made it difficult for John. John, however, did not let this stop him. He would stay up well into the night to absorb the teachings of every book he could sneak into the house. He kept with his chores as to not draw attention to his late night studies. His mother on the other hand seemed to be okay with what John was doing and did not see it as an issue. Soon, John left his family to seek out an opportunity to show is inventors at a fair (Muir, 1997; Worster, 2008). While John was growing up he worked on his chores and then would study for long periods of time, perhaps this may be the reason he was a bit of a socially awkward individual. Once John was on his own he began to explore what the country had to offer. It could be seen even in his early adventures, how much he loved nature and how nature greatly impacted how he viewed the world. When John came upon the Calypsco borealis he came to tears of its beauty and when he went to the Niagara Falls he described it as the greatest sight in all the world (Worster, 2008, p. 96). Soon he started to work with the Trout family and during his stay there he started to forget who he was; I sometimes almost forget where I am, what I m doing, or what my name is (Worster, 2008, p. 98). During his stay, he struggled with integrating his job and his love for nature. I believe that during his stay he started to question who he was and thus, he began thinking about his roots. He eventually left and came across the ocean, One breath from the sea restored his lost memories of Dunbar (Muir, 1997, p. 818). Nature provided him with the motivation to continue his trek as well as helped him discover himself as an individual (although this does not occur for some time).
JOHN MUIR 4 John Muir was very attentive to what was going on during his explorations. He picked up things that perhaps many people would miss. The way he would describe the world around him opened people s eyes. When John visited Kentucky he described it as the greenest state I have seen Here is Eden, the paradise of oaks (Worster, 2008, p. 125). When he arrived to Florida and set eyes on the palm trees there he was overwhelmed with the religion that nature provided. Those trees held a power of expression and the trees told him of grander things than I ever got from [a] human priest (Worster, 2008, p. 134). He learned while there that all creatures great or small, nonhuman or human, no matter how useless or ugly they might seem, had a moral claim on humans and everything in creation had a right to live (Worster, 2008, p. 134). John stated later when working on his essays that Every carpenter knows that only a dull tool will follow the grain of wood. Such a tool is the glacier Mighty as its effects appear to us, it has only developed the predestined forms of mountain beauty which were ready and waiting to receive the baptism of light (Worster, 2008, p. 199). He describes nature as a religion and thus, got people to think about nature in a new way. During his trips to Alaska he had a couple obstacles that brought out his peculiar views of the world that he held. When he ran across a large crevasse on a glacier he thought about embracing death rather than being afraid of it; To meet one s fate on a noble mountain, or in the heart of a glacier, would be blessed as compared with death from disease, or from some shabby lowland accident (Muir, 1997, p. 564). He believed that risks needed to be taken in order to enjoy the lives that we live; No right way is easy in this rough world. We must risk our lives to save them. At worst we can only slip, and then how grand a grave we will have, and by and by our nice bones will do good in the terminal moraine (Muir, 1997, p. 567). His views of nature where never negative, even when he came face to face with death.
JOHN MUIR 5 John Muir had a very philosophical view of nature and society. He struggled with the divide between freedom and civilization, how to belong without losing a sense of being independent; he believed that When we try to pick out anything by itself we find it hithered to everything else in the universe (Worster, 2008, p. 160). Because of this, others tended to look at him in awe. How could someone live such as he lived? He intrigued people and therefore created many connections with individuals that would see nature for its beauty and the hope it has to offer. For John, nature gave people a reason to hope (Worster, 2008). He never saw anything evil in nature even when he nearly escaped the grasps of death. Muir stated, I never saw one drop of blood, one red stain on all this wilderness. Even death is in harmony here (Worster, 2008, p. 208). John s goal was to get people to open their eyes to nature. I am hopelessly and forever a mountaineer Civilization and fever and all the morbidness that has been hooted at me has not dimmed my glacial eye, and I came to live only to entice people to look at Nature s loveliness. My own special self is nothing. My feet have recovered their cunning. I feel myself again (Worster, 2008, p. 181). Muir did just that, he enticed people to see nature the way he did and he was remembered for it. John Muir was a reluctant leader. He procrastinated more than one would think giving his early years and drive to learn and share his experiences with others. He was not much of a society man and was not well acquainted with politics, but he cared about nature and its impact on individuals. Muir stated that he would gladly do anything in my power to preserve Nature s sayings and doings here or elsewhere but have no genius for managing societies (Worster, 2008, p. 313). However, his love for nature was unique and through his eyes people around him could see nature the way he did. Muir believed that There is love of wild Nature in everybody, an ancient mother-love every showing itself whether recognized or no, and however covered by
JOHN MUIR 6 cares and duties (Worster, 2008, p. 319). He influenced the lives of many people and those people where also influential to the conservation movement that helped save some of nature s beauty. John Muir considered nature to be his religion that would allow him to fuse in spirit skies and touch naked God (Worster, 2008, p. 215). His unique love of nature was the reason why his legacy remains strong, not only did his stories create a scene of grandeur in one s mind it did so in one s heart.
JOHN MUIR 7 References Muir, J. (1997). Nature writings: The story of my boyhood and youth; my first summer in the Sierra; the mountains of California; Stickeen; essays. Library of America. Worster, D. (2008). A passion for nature: The life of John Muir. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.