Contraction and comparison of John Muir and Gifford Pinchot

Muir and Pinchot had different ideas on the matters concerning the environment. Muir was a firm believer that the wilderness should be preserved while Pinchot was a believer of the environment should be conserved.  Muir was a naturalist and an explore who held the belief that the wilderness was supposed to be respects without human intrusions, according to him foresters and conservationist were meddlers and intruders in the natural world.  Pinchot was more interested in conserving forests and was the first American to pursue Forestry as a profession. Unlike Muir he believed that the wilderness could be used as a source of income for the country but only if the resources were handled wisely (Westover, 2016). These two definitely had different opinions on how the public land should be treated, however, they have much similarities than dissimilarities.

The first similarity between these two is that they were both active during the early1900s. These two also aimed to protect the North American wilderness, however, the main dissimilarities is in the way these two protect the wilderness (Westover, 2016). Muir was a preservationist while Pinchot was a conservationist.  Muir believed that nature should be preserved with the intent of protecting its beauty. From an anthropocentric view he believed that nature deserved protection form human interference and from an ecocentrism view he believed that nature needed protection for its inherent value.  On the other hand, Pinchot was a conservationist who was in favor of the use of wilderness resources but in a substantial manner for the present and future generations.  Pinchot shared the utilitarian view; therefore, he was a firm believe that human beings were supposed to utilize natural resources as long as it was for a greater good. When comparing the both of them Pinchot was more anthropocentric than Muir (Westover, 2016).

            Both of them can be referred to as the founding fathers of America`s public lands. Despite their contrasting view points on how to manage public land they worked together to convince the president and congress to start protecting public open spaces to preserve and conserve natural resources and the beauty of the land (Westover, 2016).  Despite the fact their philosophies were at odds they have played a huge role in protecting the natural environment. These two philosophies have worked together form dual strategy of preservation and conservation and have been successful for more than a century.

Inconclusion, Muir and Pinchot had different ideas on how to take care of the environment. Pinchot was more interested in conserving forests while Muir was interested in preserving the environment. The two wanted to take care of the environment, however, dissimilarities are found in the way they both aim to take care of public land.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference

Westover, H, R., (2016). Conservation versus Preservation? Retrieved from;              https://www.fs.usda.gov/features/conservation-versus-preservation