As a rancher tending cattle in North Dakota, Theodore Roosevelt
would often gaze up at the great expanse of the Badlands night sky
and feel a humble awe underneath the stars. The splendor of the
celestial vault above made him ponder how tiny Earth is in relation
to the massive scale of the universe. It also made him realize how
minuscule we humans are in relation to the scale of our planet.
As a rancher tending cattle in North Dakota, Theodore Roosevelt would often gaze up at the great expanse of the Badlands night sky and feel a humble awe underneath the stars. The splendor of the celestial vault above made him ponder how tiny Earth is in relation to the massive scale of the universe. It also made him realize how minuscule we humans are in relation to the scale of our planet.
As the 26th president, Roosevelt also spent a few nights sleeping under the stars on a hiking adventure to Yosemite. From May 14-16, 1903, he visited the valley in the Sierras. Environmentalist John Muir served as his tour guide on one of America’s most significant camping trips.
One night, the two men camped at Glacier Point and looked down at the granite vista below. Muir explained to Roosevelt how it had been sculpted by the creeping forces of ancient glaciers. By their campfire, the two men discussed the future of American wilderness and how to safeguard it from the excessive exploitation of industry and commerce. Muir was the founder and president of the Sierra Club, an organization devoted to defending the wilderness. Roosevelt was already a conservationist keen on protecting natural lands. His campsite conversations with Muir reinforced in Roosevelt’s mind the need to keep up the fight against damaging our nation’s natural treasures for short-term financial gain.
The famous 1903 Yosemite camping trip that shaped our nation’s conservation and environmental movements has a connection to our own South Valley region. Muir arrived in San Francisco on the steamship Nebraska in March 1868. The 29-year-old adventurer was intent on exploring California’s natural wonders. The Scottish immigrant walked south beyond the city’s borders, discovering the idyllic ranch country and farms of the Bay Area on his hiking escapade. In Santa Clara County, he followed Monterey Road, a dirt-packed passage that led him through a landscape of vibrant-colored flowers blooming across the hills and hawks circling lazily over meadows.
In mid-April, Muir reached Gilroy, then a farm village. He asked for directions to the Sierras, and soon found himself walking east toward Pacheco Pass along a stagecoach trail. On or close to his birthday on April 21, he arrived at the pass’s summit. From Pacheco Peak the traveler gazed toward the magnificent snow-crested mountains of the Sierras that rose like a wall on the far side of California’s great Central Valley. He christened it “the Range of Light.” Muir obviously couldn’t know it at that moment, but 35 years later he would spend three days in those mountains with the 26th American president and help him shape national policy to protect their geologic grandeur.
With this Earth Day on April 22, I find myself wondering what Roosevelt and Muir might think about our modern day treatment of our planet’s fragile biosphere. A year ago, we witnessed how crude oil discharged into the Gulf of Mexico after BP’s rig Deepwater Horizon was demolished in a fiery blast. Americans are also now starting to increasingly fuel their vehicles from the petroleum produced by the tar sands of Alberta, Canada. Many of us fail to realize how devastating the tar sands industry can be to that region’s fragile boreal forest ecosystem. And in the past months, some politicians in Congress have attempted to shut down the regulatory powers of the Environmental Protection Agency because they claim safeguarding our environment hampers the economy.
This Earth Day, I’d like to suggest some simple actions Americans can take to protect our planet’s resources. The first is to understand that the preservation of our environment also protects our economy, our public health, our national security and our quality of life. America’s businesses and jobs could not exist without the raw material provided by the natural world. We must wisely manage the resources of land, water and air for the sustainable benefit of our own and future generations.
I also suggest contacting our elected officials on the local, state and national levels and encourage them to work to preserve America’s wild lands from harsh exploitation by corporate interests. The social will pushes the political will. If a critical mass of citizens express their desire to conserve our natural resources, our leaders will take steps to fulfill that wish.
Most importantly, let’s follow in Muir and Roosevelt’s footsteps. Every so often, let’s journey away from urban life and experience a humble awe by escaping into the wilderness world. A camping or hiking trip at a county, state or national park will go far to connect us to the treasures of rocks, trees, flowers, rivers, clouds, hills, mountains, birds, animals and stars that make up our natural realm. What better way to say “Happy Earth Day.”
