Studying the history of it all
Oct. 14th, 2003 09:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helen99While waiting for the car to be repaired, I walked to a used bookstore about a half a mile away. I found their "nature/wildlife/gardening" section. I was specifically looking for anything by John Muir and Walden by Thoreau... John Muir is my favorite person in the history of this country - he was a naturalist and is responsible for the existence of Yosemite National Park -- also of the National Park system itself if you look at the way things unfolded. He fought for the land his entire lifetime. On the back flap of his book "My First Summer in the Sierra", it says,
"In the Summer of 1869, John Muir made his first long trip to Yosemite. When a friend offered him the chance to accompany his flock of sheep and a shepherd to the high pastures of the sierra, it was an opportunity that Muir could not resist. My First Summer in the Sierra is the journal he kept of those summer days of the wildlife, the plant life, and of his explorations into the magical places of the Sierra.
Founder and President of the Sierra Club until his death, preserver of his beloved Yosemite as a National Park, Muir was a spirit so free that all he needed to do to prepare for an expedition was to 'throw some tea and bread into an old sack and jump over the back fence.' In a world confronted with the deterioration of its environment and an ever-quickening pace, Muir's attraction has never been greater. To discover Yosemite iwth him is an indelible experience."
This book was published in 1911, and the above blurb was written in 1979.
1979 - 24 years ago
1911 - 92 years ago
Not long ago at all, and look at the difference between now and then in terms of open, natural spaces left. So... projecting 92 years in the future, given the current behavior...
"In the Summer of 1869, John Muir made his first long trip to Yosemite. When a friend offered him the chance to accompany his flock of sheep and a shepherd to the high pastures of the sierra, it was an opportunity that Muir could not resist. My First Summer in the Sierra is the journal he kept of those summer days of the wildlife, the plant life, and of his explorations into the magical places of the Sierra.
Founder and President of the Sierra Club until his death, preserver of his beloved Yosemite as a National Park, Muir was a spirit so free that all he needed to do to prepare for an expedition was to 'throw some tea and bread into an old sack and jump over the back fence.' In a world confronted with the deterioration of its environment and an ever-quickening pace, Muir's attraction has never been greater. To discover Yosemite iwth him is an indelible experience."
This book was published in 1911, and the above blurb was written in 1979.
1979 - 24 years ago
1911 - 92 years ago
Not long ago at all, and look at the difference between now and then in terms of open, natural spaces left. So... projecting 92 years in the future, given the current behavior...