This Land is Your Land

Happy Birthday John Muir!

As we approach Earth Day 2009, the book Earth Heroes: Champions of the Wilderness is an ideal one to consider. It showcases the lives, adventures and stellar accomplishments of some remarkable naturalists/environmentalists. They include: Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, Aldo Leopold, Richard St. Barbe Baker, Margaret Murie, David Suzuki and Wangari Maathai.

The recurrent theme in this book is how these individuals began observing and enjoying the natural environment at an early age. These transformative experiences led to life-long careers and commitments in educating advocating and actively working to protect beautiful wild places on Earth.

This book was an eye-opener to me; half of these heroes I had never heard of before. It’s truly astonishing how much good one individual can do.

This book is quite entertaining and can inspire young boys and girls to learn about local wild places and to have a greater appreciation and respect for nature.

Today’s review comes courtesy of my brother-in-law, Henry Grossman. A retired science teacher and avid outdoor photographer from New York, Henry has visited many of the national parks mentioned in this book.