The Legacy of John Muir

I've intended for quite awhile now to do a feature on John Muir. I'm actually amazed at myself for not having showcased him sooner.

I guess I had to work my up to it...so here he is, in his unshaven glory!

For those of you who don't know, John Muir (1838-1914) is universally considered to be the Godfather of the modern environmental movement in the United States, and his legacy has transcended international boundaries.

An avid conservationist his whole life, it was Muir's vision that was instrumental in shaping protection for pristine areas up to this day. Having attempted to approach several government officials and Presidents on the matter of conservation in the late 19th Century --- with a focus on the Yosemite Valley --- he finally got the attention of a young and gregarious president, Teddy Roosevelt, who had been an avid outdoorsman his entire life. The events that followed gave birth to the expansion of the National Park system as we know it today.

Muir also founded the Sierra Club, which has grown into perhaps the most politically influential environmnetal advocacy group in the country.

Muir led a fascinating life. He once walked 1,000 miles from Indiana to Florida. He would have walked all the way to South America from the United States, had he not contracted malaria. The illness required him to recover in San Francisco in 1868...an interesting turn of fate, as historical events reveal.

When he was in California, he sought out a site in the mountains he had heard about known as "Yosemite." Upon his visit to the place, he commented: "No temple made with hands can compare to Yosemite."

His study and fascination with the Yosemite Valley (more like an OBsession, but in a good way) continued over the next few years, and as a practicing geologist he was the first to conclude that glacial action shaped the valley, which flew in the face of prior theories that it had been formed by a cataclysmic earthquake. The scientific community rallied around his theories, which were validated over time. Muir also studied the Sequoias near Yosemite and put their majesty in the national spotlight.

In the late 1880s, Muir's push for Yosemite as a National Park began in earnest. Following the example of Yellowstone National Park (the first national park in history) Muir believed that federal control of the site was necessary to ensure its preservation and elimination of exploitation. While Congress responded to Muir's pleas for preservation, 1890 legislation saw it fall under State control, which was encouraging but only a partial victory.

Muir's efforts to establish Yosemite as a National Park culminated in 1903, when he visited the site with an outdoorsy, independent-minded President, Theodore Roosevelt. Muir joined Roosevelt in Oakland to travel by train and stagecoach to the site. While traveling to the park, Muir told the President about state mismanagement of the valley and rampant exploitation of the valley's resources. Even before they entered the park, he was able to convince Roosevelt that the best way to protect the valley was through Federal control and management.

After entering the park and seeing the magnificent splendor of the valley, the President asked Muir to show him the "real Yosemite." Muir and Roosevelt set off largely by themselves and camped in the back country. While circling around a fire, the duo talked late into the night, slept in the brisk open air of Glacier Point and were dusted by a fresh snowfall in the morning. The experience made a lasting impression on the president, to say the least.

Years of long and exhausting efforts on the part of Muir paid off in 1905...through pressure from the Sierra Club and with enthusiastic support from President Roosevelt (who also had a high approval rating at the time, and thus the voice of the people), Congress transferred Yosemite into a National Park in that year to safeguard it forever.

I've only just begun to touch on the enourmous shockwave Muir has laid on the land of this country, and the generations he's inspired. After all, where would we be today without his vision and persistence?

Here's links to his published materials through Google books...they might also be available at Amazon:

• The Eight Wilderness Discovery Books
• Stickeen
• The Yosemite
  
• John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir

More about John Muir online:

• The John Muir exhibit
• Ecology Hall of Fame: John Muir
  
• National Park Service: John Muir National Historic Site
  
• Even a hospital is named after him!
• John Muir Global Network
• John Muir Charter School
  
• America's Library: John Muir and the Sierras

There's lots to be learned about, and from, this fascinating and influential figure in American history...he's more than likely solely responsible for this blog existing in the first place.

The Legacy of John Denver

Many critics out there have referred to his music as cornball or too mellow, and some of you may feel the same—and that’s okay—but in my opinion he’s a prophet for his stance on environmental issues.

He was a man ahead of his time, who embraced environmental causes way before many of us even understood what environmentalism is.

John Denver introduced me to the environment through his music.

In particular, he exposed me to the stories of the beauty and majesty of the Colorado Rocky Mountains; a place which, shamefully, I still have yet to visit and explore. I'll get there someday physically, as I visit the place every time I put his music on.

My first exposure to Denver was probably around the age of six, when he was all over television in the mid-1970s. He was one of the first “tele-genic” pop stars, and very kid friendly, so my folks probably saw my interest and an opportunity to “culture” me, encouraging the matter by giving me John Denver’s Greatest Hits for Christmas 1975. I believe it was the first bona-fide record I ever owned—the one where he has his hand on his hat, with those nerdy specs and the sun in his eyes—how could I ever forget it...

...oh excuse me, my first record was one by Burl Ives, and it WASN'T the one with "Frosty the Snowman."

Yikes!

The most intriguing part of Denver’s music is the lyrics and themes, in that many of the songs deal with his very personal and spiritual kinship with the environment. Certainly they mean something different to a 6 year old kid than they do to an adult, but the imagery in his music definitely took hold back in the day. I saw visions of majestic mountains, grassy meadows, and mountain streams. I also took note of the concerns expressed in many of his songs; in that the environment is a living, fragile entity.

Looking back, I think I "got it" even at the age of 6... I guess I figured it's a no-brainer. Protect the planet to ensure it's longevity.

Duh.

What’s so funny about all this is the fact that my mother, who once stated that “she has no connection with nature,” and is the only person I know who refuses to recycle—essentially representing the opposite of everything I value in this world—is the exact individual who pushed the music of John Denver on me as a child. That’s what planted a seed for a big part of the belief system, and the stewardship for the environment, that I carry around to this day.

Damn it, I digressed again... somebody stop me.

Shifting gears, this month marks the 10-year anniversary of his untimely death in 1997, when he died piloting an experimental Long-EZ aircraft which crashed just after takeoff from the Monterey Peninsula Airport in Pacific Grove, CA. He was 53 at the time.

After establishing his musical career in the mid 1970s, Denver used his celebrity to further the environmental sentiments expressed in his music. In addition to focusing on humanitarian and sustainability work, his main focus involved conservation issues—and he went after them aggressively—actually helping to create the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (I assume we all know the context of that locale).

Denver founded his own environmental group, the Winstar Foundation out of Snowmass, CO—which pursues conservancy and environmental causes in Colorado to this day, and furthers environmental education. You can visit their website here: John Denver's Windstar Foundation. Check out the site and offer some support!

If you ever want to know any detail of what was on Denver’s mind with the environment, just visit his music. I’ll warn you that much of it’s folk-based, and some of it might make you snicker a bit at first at what might come across as a cornball element—but if you give it a chance I think some of it should take hold. Try going to your local library and check out his Country Roads Collection, or try out the one above I mentioned having above as a kid (nerdy-looking squinting fella in the funny hat).

So the story goes… thank you, John Denver, for the inspiration and example you set. S