The Development of the American Conservation Movement
John Muir helped the development of the American conservation movement during the late nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. The creation of the National Park Service, the creation of several major national parks, including Yosemite National Park and the creation of the Sierra Club were all because of John Muir. In the late nineteenth century America was in a stage of expansion and economic development that used as well as threatened much of the natural world. Much of the economic development was in the form of industrialization that took its toll of the environment with both its consumption of natural resources as well pollution. This expansion and economic development had adverse consequences on the environment of the United States. During this time of development many became aware of the damage being done to the natural world and attempted to prevent or limit this damage being done. It is during this time of both industrialization and spiritual awakening that the conservation movement arose with one of its most famous activists, John Muir.
John Muir believed that for the future of America that the natural world should be protected. Muir felt that the environment of much of the United States was not protected properly and the locations that were protected were not managed adequately. Muir felt that Americans had much to gain from the protection of their national resources and park lands. In John Muir’s book Our National Parks, written in 1901 he states: “Awakening from the stupefying effects of the vice of over-industry and the deadly apathy of luxury, they are trying as best they can to mix and enrich their own...
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.... The conservation movement had grown and spread as a result of the industrialization of America. John Muir became a leader of this movement to protect the natural world for all generations. His outspoken actions were major influences in the protection of many national parks as well as the formal arrangement of the National Park System which today still protects our natural world.
[i] John Muir, Our National Parks. ( Boston, New York: Houghton Milffin Company, 1901)pg.1.
2 John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierras. ( Boston, New York: Hougnton, Milffin Company, 1911)pg,138.
3 Henry Thoreau, Excursions. (Boston: Ticker and Fields, 1863)pg.41.
4 Gifford Pinchot. The Fight for Conservation.(New York: Doubleday,Page and Company, 1910) Summary
5 John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierras. ( Boston, New York: Houghton, Milffin Company, 1911)pg.196.
J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer (Chatto & Windus, 1904)
Leslie Marmon Silko, Landscape, History, and the Pueblo Imagination, A Sense of Place, Forbes Custom Publishing 1999
Strother, David Hunter. "A Winter in the South (4th Paper of 6)." Harpers 16.January (1858): 167-83. Print.
550 - 8 p.m. _________. ___. ___. In the Lake of the Woods. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.
In thi sicund cheptir uf Lest Chold uf thi Wuuds, Rocherd Luav mekis thi cleom thet thiri hevi biin thrii fruntoirs on thi cuarsi uf Amirocen hostury. Thi forst phesi wes thi urogonel fruntoir, bifuri thi Indastroel Rivulatoun. Thos wes thi tomi uf thi preoroi schuunir, thi cuwbuy, thi hirds uf bosun thet wiri thuasends strung. Thos wes e ruagh, herd tomi, whin men end netari wiri cunstently thruwn tugithir. Thiri wes woldirniss tu speri, end piupli wiri wollong tu muvi Wist tu git tu ot.
... for their flight and will need to prepare again at a later date, this happened to Alan Shepard as he was ready for the launch of the first manned rocket on May 2. “Then the launch was postponed because of bad weather.” (W192). While on the other side of flying they are able to fly through hazards storms that engulf the entire plane “we are suddenly not in an airplane but a submarine” (G65) they are able to do this by relying on their skills and instruments, while trusting that the plane will still fly and preform long enough to get them to safety. Each of the books demonstrate their own approach for handling weather conditions ________ FINISH
Once Reed returned, the “Donner Party unanimously decided to travel across the mountains in a more direct line to Salt Lake” (History of the Donner Party, a Tragedy of the Sierra, McGlashan). The trip through
Brinkley, Douglas. The wilderness warrior : Theodore Roosevelt and the crusade for America. New York : HarperCollins, 2009.
Not many people know of the used-to-be 150-mile excursion that the Glen Canyon had to offer. Not many people know how to sail a raft down a river for a week. Not many people know how to interact with nature and the animals that come with it. We seem to come from a world that is dependent on time and consumed in money. Edward Abbey is what you would call an extreme environmentalist. He talks about how it was an environmental disaster to place a dam in which to create Lake Powell, a reservoir formed on the border of Utah and Arizona. He is one of the few that have actually seen the way Glen Canyon was before they changed it into a reservoir. Today, that lake is used by over a million people, and is one of the biggest recreation hot spots in the western United States.
In the short story, “The Old Testament: Genesis,” the Lord God had forbidden Adam from eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat….” (“Genesis” 54). Adam followed the rules, but however the woman that the Lord God created was tricked by the serpent. “Ye shall not surely die...” (“Genesis” 55). This was stated by the serpent, who tricked the woman into eating from the tree. When the serpent told the woman that she would not die, which made her want to eat from the tree more. The woman knew that she was not going to die, so she didn’t listen to what the Lord God told Adam. By being disobedient to Lord God, Adam and the woman had to face consequences. “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thy shalt bring forth children…” (“Genesis” 55). The Lord God punished the woman and Adam, because they did not listen to his command. This connects to our society today, because many people who are forbidden from doing something follow the rules until that one person tell them something different to break the rule. While breaking this rule, that person will most likely face ...
He believes that the wilderness has helped form us and that if we allow industrialization to push through the people of our nation will have lost part of themselves; they will have lost the part of themselves that was formed by the wilderness “idea.” Once the forests are destroyed they will have nothing to look back at or to remind them of where they came from or what was, and he argues everyone need to preserve all of what we have now.
Born in Home, Pennsylvania in 1927, Abbey worked as a forest ranger and fire look-out for the National Forest Service after graduating from the University of New Mexico. An author of numerous essays and novels, he died in 1989 leaving behind a legacy of popular environmental literature. His credibility as a forest ranger, fire look- out, and graduate of the University of New Mexico lend credibility to his knowledge of America’s wilderness and deserts. Readers develop the sense that Abbey has invested both time and emotion in the vast deserts of America.
The purpose of this paper is to inform you about John Muir and his effect on America's national forests. He was a Scottish American and was born in Dunbar, UK on April 21, 1838. He arrived in the U.S in 1868 when he was 30 years of age. John Muir was one of the most influential naturalists in the world. If it wasn't for John Muir we probably would not have the national park known as Yosemite. Some of his goals in the U.S. were the preservations of the national forests. He was an environmental philosopher and did well for the U.S. national parks. John Muir founded the Sierra Club, an American organization and the 211-mile trail called the Sierra Nevada was named in his honor.(John Muir, wikipedia)
Spearman, A. M. (1988). Yoqui: Forest Nomads in a Changing World. Fort Worth: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
These books would had change the views of others about nature. Due to my books like The Yosemite, people thought of preserving the Sierra Nevada and later advocate for national parks. This would spur the idea to preserve nature and to view differently towards nature. However one of my biggest contributions for fighting for the environment was by talking to Theodore Roosevelt. After hiking and camping with him through the Sierra Nevada, he took a liking of me. We talked about our beliefs about nature and the secrets that it told. This made Theodore Roosevelt more conscious about rights for the environment. Due to our camping trip, he made acts for preserving the most important issues in America in the early 20th century. The Roosevelt’s act would preserve nature through national parks. This would be one of the greatest acts passed through Theodore Roosevelt presidency due to my views of nature. To protect national parks, the United States Forest Service was formed. This service would spur more national parks and would spread my beliefs. If I didn’t talk to Theodore Roosevelt about my concerns, the conservation movement wouldn’t had such a big