John Muir

In the Environmental Studies class that I was enrolled in this semester, we learned about John Muir, a naturalist in the late nineteenth century. Comparing Thoreau and Muir, it can be seen that they are very similar people because they both cared immensely for the environment, and figured that what they were doing would help others to see that it is beneficial to the environment. The differences between Muir and Thoreau are that Thoreau was a lot more intense with his way of wilderness living, while Muir was not on that level of extremity. Muir gained his popularity through being the founder of the Sierra Club, popularizing Yosemite, and leading the National Park System to creation. This is a much more laid back and relaxed way of expressing the appreciation for nature and environment, compared to the isolation that Thoreau expressed.