It seems to me thatof all the ecological writers, John Muir came the closest
to really 'gettingit'. Peterson wrote about birds; Carsonwrote about chemical
poisons; and Leopold wrote about land ethics. These heroes were masters, and
each made unassailablecontributions to our understanding of nature. The
literature of ecology could not do without them. But Muir seemed to express
the complexitiesof the world with a clarity that brought all its elements in
focus atonce. He wrote of these complexities with an eloquenceand precision
that can leave the reader nearly breathless. He was one of the first writers I
have read togive life to the concept that all of nature is interconnected. In
his book 'My First Summer in the Sierra in1911', he told us, When we try topick
out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in theUniverse.
Muir was born on thisdate in 1838. Harry GlasgowFriends of Huntley Meadows Park
