TCT #36 -- Ron Good on John Muir

Ron Good in John Muir's "Scribble Den"

For the final radio show of our third season, I had a "glorious" conversation with Ron Good about John Muir.  Ron is a former Tuolumne County resident who now resides in Washington.  Ron was employed by the Sierra Club for many years, founded and ran Restore Hetch Hetchy, and has been an interpretive ranger with the Forest Service in several locations including the John Muir Historical Site in Martinez, CA.  Ron's love and admiration for Muir is discernable even through the less-than-optimum Zoom audio recording.

Muir had many accomplishments and a major legacy is the Sierra Club, which Muir founded in 1892.  Muir also served as the Sierra Club's first president.  This summer, the club's current executive director, Michael Brune, wrote an article called "Pulling Down Our Monuments."  The article appeared to have been motivated by the "2020 Summer of Racial Reckoning" (USA Today, New York Times).  To me, it's worthy to review past actions, to recognize and address shortcomings, and to commit to do better in the future.  After reading Brune's essay many times, I believe this is where he was going.  However, it initially struck the world as "the Sierra Club is

Sequoia planted by Muir

disowning John Muir because they say he was a racist."  And heartache and confusion struck.  Ron and I discussed the issue, though I didn't include any of it in the episode.  I decided a half-hour feel-good radio show about hiking wasn't the place to dig into such complex matters.  I'll talk about it a bit here, and I'll offer you some links and resources to grapple with it yourselves -- if you so chose.

First of all, here's a link to Michael Brune's article:  https://www.sierraclub.org/michael-brune/2020/07/john-muir-early-history-sierra-club.  I suggest reading it at least twice.  There have been a number of comments added at the end, and I recommend reading those, as well.  Of Brune's remarks, Ron said, "I hope when people read and think of John Muir they'll be objective and look at the totality of John Muir... I think he saw all of us as fellow mortals... I think his views broadened as he became an older man and became more experienced... The words of Michael Brune are unfortunate; the way he's characterized John Muir -- he's done a disservice to John Muir, his legacy and to the Sierra Club itself as an institution... he deserved better than what Mr. Brune wrote... I know a lot of John Muir scholars... there's going to be a scholarly response... and I look forward to that, and I hope people can keep an open mind... and value the beauty of John Muir, his writings, and his inspiration...."  The scholarly response has indeed arrived, and Ron has kept me abreast, forwarding articles and letters which discuss, defend, denounce, and deconstruct, an American icon.  Perhaps that's where the problem lies -- deifying a mortal.  There's the tendency to believe the person emerged flawless and eternally kind, understanding, and patient.  How unfair not to recognize Muir's humanity by acknowledging his growth over a long lifetime of travel, scientific discovery, love, art, and contemplation.  Below are links to several essays examining Muir's writings which both condemn and exonerate him.  I subscribe the the one in "Thunderbear:" "Could he have done better?  Of course!  So could we all."

By John Clayton (a Montana-based writer):  https://www.wyohistory.org/blog/was-john-muir-racist 

From PJ Ryan's "Thunderbear" newsletter:  http://workingnet.com/thunderbear/312.html?fbclid=IwAR024fS9FA_CBLGm3Exfz32mSJ8Ep9fWqpHz5nsG94BiXg1eRNxzJxKLskY

By Donald Worster, a Muir biographer:  https://www.californiasun.co/stories/john-muir-biographer-he-was-no-white-supremacist/

By Jacquetta Megarry of Rucksack Readers:  https://www.rucsacs.com/should-the-sierra-club-apologise-for-john-muir/

By Raymond Barnett, retired UC Chico biology professor:  https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/racist-or-admirer-of-native-americans-raymond-bennett.aspx

From the John Muir Global Network:  http://johnmuir.org/native-americans/

From the John Muir Trust (Scotland):  https://www.johnmuirtrust.org/latest/news/1989-inclusion-in-wild-places-addressing-the-past-present-and-future

By Harold Wood, a Muir scholar:  https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/John_muirs_legacy_is_alive_and_well_in_a_world_that_is_one_great_dewdrop.aspx

The article by Justin Nobel that Michael Brune cites in his "Pulling Down Our Monuments" essay:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-miseducation-of-john-muir

By Jason Mark in the Sierra Club's magazine, see Ron Good's comments at the end of the article: https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2020-6-november-december/editor/hitched-nature

Here are links to some of the topics Ron and I discussed in the radio show:

The John Muir Papers, University of the Pacific (let's do a field trip once the pandemic ends!):   https://liberalarts.pacific.edu/liberalarts/academics/departments-and-programs/centers-and-institutes/john-muir-center#:~:text=The%20John%20Muir%20Papers%20is%20a%20collection%20of,University%20of%20the%20Pacific%20Library%27s%20Holt-Atherton%20Special%20Collections.

John Muir's writings are available for free here:  https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/books.aspx

Website of the John Muir Historical Site (Martinez, CA):  https://www.nps.gov/jomu/index.htm

Finally, here's a link to the November TCT radio show, #36 -- Ron Good on John Muir:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/14t1FANV27v2P492nCNpjhEcDdCpBwGoS/view?usp=sharing