John Muir

            "When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world" (John Muir). This line from John Muir's novel My First Summer in the Sierra portrays the naturalist's view of wildlife perfectly-his primary accomplishment shed light on the established connection between man and nature, nature and man. He gave Americans a different prospect in looking at the world as a whole. John Muir is commonly referred to as "Father of our National Parks" and "Citizen of the Universe". Despite all praise, John Muir only thought of himself as "nature's little helper". Muir was a devoted naturalist, botanist, geologist, and writer who employed his time fighting for what he loved most: the environment. After moving to the United States from Scotland at a mere age of eleven, he found fascination in Wisconsin's farmlands. This sparked the beginning of a long journey to save the sacred lands where workers cut forests.  In his life, Muir advocated for the conservation of many national parks-including Yosemite and Sequoia National Park, national monuments thousands of tourists visit each year. Through the newspaper Century, Muir published many of his findings as he traveled, writing for the sole purpose readers to perceive nature through a different point of view rather than just a material source. With love in his heart, a pencil in his hands, and determination in his mind, Muir became the perfect epitome of a hero worth acknowledging.With love in his heart, a pencil in his hands, and determination in his mind, Muir became the perfect epitome of a hero worth acknowledging.     

Passion is the start of everything-without passion and love, one cannot achieve their rightful goals. Muir's passion is one trait that stood out the most from the very beginning. At an early age, he was already intrigued by his rural surroundings of Portage, Wisconsin. Despite being overworked and under schooled by his meticulous father, Muir found time to secretly escape his home life for the nearby woods: "He [was] delighted in discovering the abundant variety of species that thrived in the Wisconsin woods. He felt that this lovely place should always remain unchanged. Thus Muir's conviction that certain tracts of land should be set aside to be protected permanently as wilderness regions took its first form" (Tom Ito). At an early age, Muir developed an enthusiastic spirit for the place where he could elude his troubled childhood and avoid the tightly packed cottage of his ten-member family. Through his habits, Muir found the environment to be content and tranquil; he was overwhelmed with its beauty and calmness. It was then that Muir developed his love of nature-the same love that eventually led his journey and battle for the preservation of beautiful areas of land. Nature gave Muir a spiritual calm that relaxed to be a spiritual place that relaxed his mind, as Muir writes: "'Come to the woods, for here is rest. There is no repose like that of the green deep woods. Here grow the wallflower and the violet. The squirrel will come and sit upon your knee, the log cock will wake you in the morning. Sleep in forgetfulness of all ill. Of all the upness accessible to mortals, there is no upness comparable to the mountains'" (John Muir). Muir believed that nature was a spiritual place, and not only a source of raw materials within one's reach. He understood that nature was a part of everyone, as he connects the "log cock" and the "squirrel" directly to humans. Evidently to Muir, taking away nature would simply be taking away a part of us. Muir found nature as a remedy for his body. He showed that the life flowing in the plants, trees, and mountains needed to be preserved for the well-being of everyone. Muir's passion for nature displayed the spiritual bond he held with the environment and his reason for preserving parks.

Although Muir enjoyed his daily hikes and camping in the depths of the woods, he also used much of his time to write books and articles for the purpose of educating others and gaining support in his actions. Muir believed that the majority of the population had a misconception on how important nature is to people. Muir began to write columns to arouse public support: "Muir argued in Century magazine that Yosemite Valley should become a national park. The passage of legislation for that in 1890 owed much to his influence. The Mountains of California (1893), Our National Parks (1901), and his many articles in popular magazines greatly advanced the conservation movement" (John Bailey). The naturalist is usually most renowned for his discoveries and the preservation of Yosemite. However, Muir's process to achieving his goal included the writing of multiple articles to persuade the general audience. He mainly focused on everyday people who read the daily newspaper.  Muir published pieces with the intent to educate people about the beauty of nature. The words and statements Muir wrote expressed his feelings and his surroundings.  For example, Muir wrote in The Yosemite: "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.There is not a "fragment" in all nature, for every relative fragment of one thing is a full harmonious unit in itself (John Muir)." John Muir wanted to teach the people that nature was more than just a place to destroy for the benefit of society. Nature is a spiritual place that can heal and replenish one's body and soul. It is a part of every human, and destroying it would be destroying a part of mankind. Muir stated that the wildlife is there because it helps calm and relax a person's mind. Killing it off would simply be killing ourselves. Muir's will to educate others and tactics to gain support are both qualities that made him heroic. 

John Muir fought strongly with perseverance to protect the natural heritage and defend Yosemite's forests from destruction. To protest publicly to Congress, as well as persuade the readers to take sides, Muir wrote articles about his travels onto the newspaper The Century: "With him was Robert Underwood Johnson, an old friend and editor of the influential The Century.  He promised to lobby influential congressmen, and he encouraged Muir to convince the American public of their conservationist cause and the need to take action before it was too late. Muir accepted the challenge and, in two well-argued articles published in The Century, he convinced many readers of the desperate need to preserve some of the natural wonders of the California highlands." Muir's determination showed as he tried to gain the population's favor. He did not want to give up halfway, and understood that he needed people to support him through his actions when confronting Congress. He wanted readers to understand what he could see. Although they won, Muir allied with a San Francisco attorney and created the Sierra Club to preserve more parks: "In 1892, John Muir and other supporters formed the Sierra Club 'to make the mountains glad. John Muir was the Club's first president, an office he held until his death in 1914. Muir's Sierra Club has gone on to help establish a series of new National Parks and a National Wilderness Preservation System. "The day Muir became president, his close friend Samuel Merrill described him as "happy and ecstatic". Although Muir won the major fight of nationalizing Yosemite as a state park, Muir fought even more after creating the Sierra Club for the sole purpose of protecting California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. Muir's courage and determination showed through his actions.