ABSTRACT
In 1903 the Scottish-born conservationist John Muir took President Theodore Roosevelt on a camping trip to California’s Yosemite valley.
As a result of his experience, Roosevelt created five national parks … along with 150 national forests, 51 bird refuges, four game preserves, 18 national monuments, 24 reclamation projects, and the US Forest Service. The President’s experience also led him to argue that it was undemocratic to exploit the nation’s resources for present profit. “The greatest good for the greatest number”, he wrote, “applies to the number within the womb of time” (Roosevelt, 1916, p. 300). It’s hard to imagine more powerful social and environmental outcomes … from spending three days in the mountains!
