UCSD has a unique 6 college system
where each college is a little different from the other five. They each
have their own subtle differences and specific general education requirements;
one of their colleges is the John Muir College (which from what I’ve heard from
numerous people who go/have gone there, is the best college there is at UCSD).
But anyways, I did my article on the controversies on the Hetch Hetchy Dam and
found out about this guy, John Muir. Many of you are probably asking the
question, who is this John Muir guy? How is he significant that a UCSD school
is even named after him?
With the exception of Charles Darwin, there are few naturalists whose influence
could match those of John Muir. He was a Scottish born American naturalist,
whose efforts in promoting the preservation of the environment were very
influential. Although he grew up in a very strict Christian home, he found
nature as the place for him to be his true self as he got older. He went to
college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Although he never graduated, he
had taken enough nature-related courses to be well versed enough to hold his
own in the subject. Ever the spiritual man, he soon turned away from the church
as he grew older and looked to nature as his new temple. A near fatal accident
in his early adult years caused him to rethink his life, making him even more
determined to be true to himself, following his dreams as a naturalist.
John Muir actually took a 1000 mile walk from Indiana to Florida. He didn’t
have a set route, but chose the wildest or most natural route he could take to
get to the destination. After that trip, he went to California, where he went
to visit the Yosemite. For him, the majestic beauty of the Yosemite would have
been the grandest of all had seen yet. Deeply in love with the Yosemite, he
called it the “grandest of all special temples of Nature.”
Wanting his beloved Yosemite preserved, he urged Congress to make Yosemite a
national park, just like the Yellowstone National Park. This would be the
beginning of his many political efforts to fulfill his agenda. Today, the main
reason the Yosemite is preserved as it is would be due to John Muir’s efforts
in trying to preserve it. He later created the Sierra Club, which has turned
out to be one of the most important environmental groups today, as an extension
to further his efforts of the preservation of nature. John Muir’s influence did
not stop at Congress, but his influence even extended to a president. He was a
friend of Theodore Roosevelt; he took the president out on trips to the
beautiful Yosemite and other places, trips that the president would never
forget. He also wrote a lot on his explorations of the wilderness. His writings
enticed people into buying into the preservation movement along with him.
As you can see, this man, John Muir, was certainly one interesting character.
His legacy lives on today, not just in the form of schools or trails named
after him, but also by the countless number of people who were and still are
directly or indirectly influenced by him, people who now want to make a
difference by trying to preserve the wilderness.
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