John Muir - A Voice For the Wilderness

We are invited to a lecture from one of our own Board members, Dr. Joseph Platt who will be discussing the life of one the great advocates for wilderness, John Muir.

John Muir came to the wilds of Wisconsin from Scotland as a young boy in 1849. He became a self-taught naturalist, author, environmental philosopher and powerful advocate for the preservation of wilderness. His letters, essays, and books recounted his adventures in nature. They have been read by millions and have shaped our thinking about our relationship with “wildness”. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. This lecture is part of the Fern and J.L. Crawford Lecture Series, a collaborative presentation of Zion National Park Forever Project and the Division of Resource Management in Zion National Park. Lectures are hosted monthly and are free and open to the public.

Dr. Josh Platt is an environmental biologist working with the protection of endangered species. He received his B.S. in Wildlife from Utah State University, a M.S. in Zoology from BYU, and a Ph.D. in Ecology from Cornell University. He has carried out research for several years in the tundra of the Yukon Territory and throughout the U.S. For twenty years, he was an ecological advisor to the Rulers of Bahrain and Dubai in the Arabian Gulf. He also worked on projects in Kuwait, Iran, Oman, Pakistan and Eritrea, East Africa. His current focus is the environmental constraints associated with wind and solar farms in the U.S.