Ecology Hall of Fame
John Muir
1838-1914

In1892, John Muir wrote to the editor of Century Magazine, "Let us do something to make the mountains glad." So they founded the Sierra Club, the first major organization in the world dedicated to using and "preserving" wild nature. It is from this act that the modern Ecology Movement was born. Throughout his life, Muir was concerned with the protection of nature both for the spiritual advancement of humans and, as he said so often, for Nature itself. This dual vision still informs the ecology movement and inspires millions to reform their thought and minds, to orient themselves as part of nature. Though the arguments in favor of ecological thinking are often couched in scientific terms, the basic impetus remains as Muir stated it: "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything in the universe."