Andare in montagna è tornare a casa
"Andare in montagna è tornare a casa" raccoglie dieci scritti di John Muir che sono altrettanti inni alla natura selvaggia. Dalla Yosemite Valley alle vette inviolate della Sierra Nevada e fino ai remoti ghiacciai dell'Alaska, le parole di Muir riescono a comunicare al lettore l'entusiasmo, il rispetto e una visione autenticamente spirituale della wilderness che lo hanno reso un'icona del moderno conservazionismo - il "profeta" dell'ambientalismo mondiale.
In questi scritti, la gran parte dei quali inediti in Italia, lo sguardo del naturalista si combina a quello del poeta, e quello dello scienziato a quello dello scrittore, riuscendo a toccare la mente e il cuore in modo unico e forse irripetibile nella storia della letteratura naturalistica. Per Muir, tutto in natura ha la capacità di suscitare meraviglia e di rimandare a un significato ulteriore, tanto semplice quanto vasto e denso di significato - un fiore sconosciuto, l'ululare del vento, la neve che cade, le montagne solo apparentemente immobili. Non vi è elemento, né forma di vita, che ai suoi occhi non sia degno di essere celebrato e compreso.
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John Muir (1838-1914), fondatore e primo presidente del Sierra Club di San Francisco, oggi tra le più attive istituzioni americane per la conservazione della natura e la difesa dell'ambiente, è una delle voci più vigorose e coerenti che si siano levate in Occidente in soccorso della wilderness. I suoi articoli e i suoi diari di viaggio, frequentemente ristampati in America, hanno educato intere generazioni. My First Summer in the Sierra" (La mia prima estate nella Sierra), pubblicato nel 1911, è stata la prima opera tradotta in italiano.
John Muir (April 21, 1838 - December 24, 1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas.
The Sierra Club, which he founded, is a prominent American conservation organization. The 211-mile (340 km) John Muir Trail, a hiking trail in the Sierra Nevada, was named in his honor. Other such places include Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, John Muir College, Mount Muir, Camp Muir and Muir Glacier. In Scotland, the John Muir Way, a 130 mile long distance route, was named in honor of him. In his later life, Muir devoted most of his time to the preservation of the Western forests. He petitioned the U.S. Congress for the National Park bill that was passed in 1890, establishing Yosemite National Park. The spiritual quality and enthusiasm toward nature expressed in his writings inspired readers, including presidents and congressmen, to take action to help preserve large nature areas.
He is today referred to as the "Father of the National Parks" and the National Park Service has produced a short documentary about his life. Muir has been considered 'an inspiration to both Scots and Americans'. Muir's biographer, Steven J. Holmes, believes that Muir has become "one of the patron saints of twentieth-century American environmental activity," both political and recreational. As a result, his writings are commonly discussed in books and journals, and he is often quoted by nature photographers such as Ansel Adams. "Muir has profoundly shaped the very categories through which Americans understand and envision their relationships with the natural world," writes Holmes. Muir was noted for being an ecological thinker, political spokesman, and religious prophet, whose writings became a personal guide into nature for countless individuals, making his name "almost ubiquitous" in the modern environmental consciousness. According to author William Anderson, Muir exemplified "the archetype of our oneness with the earth",[ while biographer Donald Worster says he believed his mission was "...saving the American soul from total surrender to materialism."
On April 21, 2013, the first ever John Muir Day was celebrated in Scotland, which marked the 175th anniversary of his birth, paying homage to the conservationist. Muir was born in the small house at left. His father bought the adjacent building in 1842, and made it the family home. |
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