Posts Tagged With: John Muir

Ironically, or perhaps inevitably, the conservation movement kicked off at the same time as the 2nd Industrial Revolution in the late 1800s. Railroads, steel, scientific progress, communication (telegraph), early electrification and combustion engines converged to create a giant leap from a society that was still largely rural and centered around agriculture, to one of rapid urban and industrial growth. With that, however, came an immense demand for natural resources. In the Americas, the land had been seen as endless in what it could provide. Even before industry kicked into high gear, the fallacy of infinite resources was already being felt. A number of voices in the 1800s began to speak to the need to conserve and manage natural resources. Two would forever be remembered for making conservation a way of life, rather than some fringe movement.