Planet Patriots

(Authors, Artists, Activists, Scientists, Musicians, and Poets...)

People can be Planet Patriots in many ways, not only of the written word, but as artists of creative and inspirational life.  Some are writers and authors  – whether storytellers, essayists, play-writers, screenwriters, or poets, which are frequently the starting point for many other art forms. Their medium might painting, photography, film, or sculpture, music or songwriting, dance, computer programming, video games or tattoos, or the crafts of woodworking, glass-making, welding, fiber art, or research in history, scientific experimentation, geographical exploration, the development of useful technology, culinary arts for personal and planetary health, or the art of civil disobedience and peaceful public protest demanded by conscience.  As Henry David Thoreau said, “It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.”

Note: We all need heroes to empower people of all ages to realize their own potential to create positive change in the world. One does not have to embrace all statements made by an author or their behavior to find value in their essential message. It is easy to say, as Andrew McNight said of Ansel Adams, that he “was no hero, cursed with pride and foible.”

But McNight goes on to clarify: “like any Einstein you find, take everything you can… let us see like Ansel Adams did.” A hero does not have to be someone who is perfect, but is a person who has made the world a better place, and helps point the way to how we may do the same.  The Planet Patriots revealed and celebrated on these pages can all in some way inspire us to have a better relationship with the Earth that is our home.

image by freeimageslive.co.uk - Prawny

This collection of web pages about various Planet Patriots is designed to remember the people who paved the way for the modern environmental movement. The focus here is on people who helped to preserve the natural environment, because even if you live in a city, it is the natural world that ultimately sustains us. We must build on the legacy of those pioneers in planet patriotism who came before us.  For that reason, mostly historical, deceased people are listed in the first section below.  The inspiration of these people can help people in our contemporary world extend the path that these pioneers started – to protect wilderness; to  protect people, animals, and the planet against toxic waste and toxic ideas;  and to find way to live in better harmony with the Earth. A second section below focuses on my favorite living “authors” who exemplify Planet Patriotism.

Note:  It is currently fashionable to denigrate historical figures who we believe were not as enlightened as we are today. Rather than recognizing their achievements in the context of their times, too often we emphasize their failures and shortcomings, as viewed from our contemporary understanding of things.  It is important to recognize, however, that despite their foibles and the inherent (unavoidable, really) backwardness of their times, we all stand on the shoulders of giants who laid the foundations upon which we can now so confidently aspire to reach greater heights.  (This is aside from the many factual inaccuracies for some of these figures, such as John Muir.) An evolutionary view reveals that each iteration of past and present Planet Patriots continue to evolve over the generations. We need not worship historical figures to find much to admire and to learn from, so long as they are understood in the context of their time and place. We all – especially youth –  need people to inspire us, and we are here today solely due to those who came before us, making new discoveries in the arts and sciences especially. In particular, as ecologist Bruce Byers notes, we should be grateful to our conservatist ancestors (of both nature and culture) for their efforts to lead us away from our selfish, Eurocentric and anthropocentric worldview, which has been despoiling our continent for centuries.  The recent misguided attacks on those whose lives and thought have inspired us to conserve the wildlife, wild places, culture, and beauty of the Earth are completely counterproductive.

Planet Patriots can be found all over the world; but for practical purposes I focus here almost solely on people from the United States – whether they are immigrants (like John Muir and those whose ancestors hail from Europe, Africa, or elsewhere), or indigenous people (like Black Elk).

Some of the best Planet Patriot Authors are featured below. People can be Planet Patriots in many ways.  Some are writers and authors, not only of the written word, but as artists of creative and inspirational life. Our Featured Planet Patriots contain biographical sketches, illustrated First Day or Event Covers or postage stamps when available, a bibliography, favorite quotes for each author, and related websites for each.

Collections of Planet Patriots

Featured Planet Patriots

Favorite Living Planet Patriots

  • Raymond Barnett
    • See my 2023 Extended Book Review reviewing the book Earth Wisdom: John Muir, Accidental Taoist, Charts Humanity’s Only Future on a Changing Planet by Raymond Barnett (2016). How John Muir’s “accidental Taoist” world view replaces the West’s anthropocentric worldview, offering a path to becoming whole with the natural world and dealing with the existential challenge of climate change.
    • John Muir and “Godful” Nature by Raymond Barnett, in the academic journal Religions special issue on “Spiritual Examplars,” (2012, 3(2), 266-288.) Discusses John Muir’s view that asks us to adopt a gaiacentric, not anthropocentric, perspective on our place in the universe, and how that view came to define Muir’s faith and serve his noble purpose of preserving the Wilderness.
  • Michael Branch – Author
  • Jimmy Carter – President Carter, who reached age 100 on October 1, 2024,  is one of the greatest, but largely unacknowledged, conservation figures in history. Former President Carter’s accomplishments in preserving Alaska’s wildlands with the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in 1980, have certainly elevated him into the conservation pantheon that includes such giants as Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Teddy Roosevelt, Aldo Leopold, and Olaus and Mardy Murie. With the stroke of his pen, Carter created or added to sixteen wildlife refuges, thirteen national parks, two national forests, two national monuments, and twenty-six wild and scenic rivers. These are not just “business as usual” protected lands, but conservation on an unprecedented, ecosystem-sized scale. The land and water legacy left behind by Jimmy Carter through ANILCA is virtually unparalleled in this country or really, anywhere in the world. Jimmy Carter more than doubled the size of the National Park System and it remains the single largest expansion of protected lands in history. Carter’s ANILCA legislation set aside more congressionally designated wilderness than any conservation law before or since. Then-president Carter knew, as Thoreau presciently put it, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.”  The 104-million acres of Alaska wildlands protected by Mr. Carter’s bold efforts, just like his placement of solar panels on the White House roof 43 years before it was mainstream, are evidence that he saw farther into the future than most American presidents before or since. (written by Peter Christian, director of communications for the National Park Service, Alaska Region.)
  • Tim DeChristopher – Environmentalist imprisoned for nearly 2 years for his protest bidding in 2008 for 14 oil and gas leases located on  public land in  Utah’s redrock country that was later canceled after a court injunction for failing to meet environmental standards.
  • Ron Eber – Pacific Northwest Environmental  & Wilderness Campaign History
  • Bonnie Gisel (off-site link) – Author, presenter, and historian.
  • Ron Good – Hetch Hetchy restoration visionary
  • Jane Goodall – Primatologist and Earth advocate
  • Ursula Goodenough – Scientist, author, and President of the Religious Naturalist Association
  • James Hansen – Retired NASA scientist who has tried to warn us about global climate change for decades
  • Stephen Hatch –  see The Contemplative John Muir (2012), Wilderness Mysticism: A Contemplative Christian Tradition (2018), and Rocks and Waters Are Words of God: Reflections on John Muir’s Ecological Reading of the Bible  (2020).
    Stephen Hatch also has a website featuring his nature photography at wildernessmysticism.com , but more recent photos are posted on his Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/thestephenhatchoutlook/
  • Sheryl Hester – Wildlife Photographer
  • Chris Highland – Freethinker and essayist
  • Julia Butterfly Hill  See also: Keeping Hope Alive for California Redwoods
  • David Korten – See in particular his free white paper, Ecological Civilization: From Emergency to Emergence (2021).
  • Barbara Mossberg – University educator and poet, especially about the life and legacy of John Muir and what he means to us today.
  • Bill Nye
  • Bill Oliver – Environmental Troubadour
  • Tom Robbins
  • Sasha Sagan
  • David Seaborg – (Wikipedia) – author of the poetry book Love Thy Sowbug and two scientific tomes with an Autocatyltic Hypothesis about how organisms amplify diversity (How Life Increases Biodiversity).
  • J.D. Stillwater
  • Doug Tallamy
  • Neil Degrasse Tyson
  • Terry Tempest Williams 

 

Portraits of Planet Patriots

Americans Who Tell The Truth

by Robert Shetterly

Quotations Selected by, and Portrait art by Bruce Shetterly

A few of my favorites represented are:

 
The Great Peacemakers

by Steve Simon

Quotations Selected by, and Portrait art, by Steve Simon.

A few of my favorites represented are:

Artists and Photographers

  • Ansel Adams – Famed Photographer and Pantheist.
  • Stephen Lyman – A Remarkable Wilderness Artist, Guided by John Muir’s Legacy
 

On Wikipedia and Elsewhere

See also additional Planet Patriots listed on the Environmental Holidays page, including Ansel Adams, John Burroughs, Rachel Carson, Robinson Jeffers (See: “Robinson Jeffers: Visionary Poet and Pantheist” by Margie Gibson, in Pantheist Vision – Winter, 2017 (PDF – on box.com file sharing site),  Pete Seeger, Stuart Udall, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William O. Douglas, Charles Darwin, Hazel Wolf, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and Asa Gray, as well as those listed on our Environmentalists on Stamps page and our page on Environmentalists in Song.

Environmentalism and Social Justice

African American author Leah Thomas identifies several Black Women environmentalists as her environmental heroes. Regrettably these are all contemporary persons, reflecting the sad history of our country:

  • Betty Reid Sorskin
  • Hazel M. Johnson
  • Teresa Baker
  • Gloria Walton
  • Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant

In addition, we should applaud the following Black environmental heroes: 

  • Dr. Robert Bullard – Father of Environmental Justice
  • Aaron Mair – Environmental Justice pioneer, former President of the Sierra Club, and a staunch fighter against inaccurate media depictions of John Muir as racist.
  • Barack Obama – As President, he protected more natural habitat than any president in American history, exceeding the 290 million acres by the founder of US National Parks, Theodore Roosevelt. Among his many accolades: protecting nearly 550 million acres of habitat, from Arctic tundra to coral reef; creating the two largest marine reserves on Earth (which included quadrupling the size of Hawaii’s Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument) and the world’s second-largest desert reserve—made up of the more than 1.8- million-acre Mojave Trails, Sand to Snow and Castle Mountains national monuments; and adding 22 new parks to the U.S. national park system. He continues to advocate for protection of our Planet.  On September 3, 2022, Obama won the “Best Narrator” Emmy in the 2022 Emmy Awards for a Netflix documentary series, “Our Great NAtional Parks.” Obama describes these national parks from around the world as “our shared birthright.” They “regulate our climate, clean our air, and purify our water,” he says. They also provide us places to restore ourselves and reconnect with nature, introduce us to unusual creatures and their extraordinary behaviors and are breeding grounds for scientific research.  “Give nature a chance and it will recover,” says Obama. “Chilean Patagonia is an inspiring example when we work together with nature and believe in the true value of our national parks.”
    An earlier comment by President Obama, made on June 16, 2016 when he visited Yosemite, expresses his views on planet patriotism: “This planet belongs to all of us. It’s the only one we’ve got. And we can’t give lip service to that notion, but then oppose the things that are required to protect it. We have to have the foresight and the faith in the future to do what it takes to protect our parks and to protect this planet for generations to come. And that’s especially true for our leaders in Washington. It’s what Lincoln did when he set aside this ground for all posterity. That’s what Muir and Roosevelt did when they inspired the national parks system. That’s what our generation has to do. We’ve got to summon that same vision for the future.” 

Off-site Links

Sadly, many of the creators of these sites have failed to uphold their responsibility to put in forwarding links to new locations for their web pages.  Rather than deleting them, you may find information about these Planet Patriot heroes with a search engine or on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.  Use at your own risk.

  • Stephen Mather – first Director of the U.S. National Park Service
  • Rachel Carson – “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find resources of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” – Rachel Carson
  • Amory Lovins – Video interview (offsite link)
  • John Muir – The John Muir Global Network recognizes John Muir as an international inspiration for conservation and protection of Nature.
  • Sigurd Olson – Once a comprehensive website about Minnesota’s outstanding wilderness naturalist and preservationist existed; now see books.
  • Peggy Wayburn
  • Dr. Bruce Hayse – Organizer and a major funder of a nonprofit group, African Rainforest and Rivers Conservation, which operates an armed, independent anti-poaching operation to safeguard 100,000 square miles [260,000 square kilometers] of eastern Central African Republic rain forest and savanna from the slaughter of professional poachers.

Other Planet Patriots

  • Matriotism by Elouise Bell – The author argues that a “matriot” – from Latin mater, is the Earth equivalent to patriotism – one who loves and loyally or zealously supports her motherland, her own planet – Mother Earth. Matriotism, argues the author, is yin to patriotism’s yang. It’s about the Earth, not the world. It’s about what those fortunate few have seen from spaceship portals, not what we see on a map or a globe with regularly updated borderlines and political color-coding. From Earth Island Journal (Summer, 2002). Sounds just like Planet Patriotism to me!

Here is an introductory list compiled by Elouise Bell which she calls “Matriots”:

People can be Planet Patriots in many ways.  Some are writers and authors, not only of the written word, but as artists of creative and inspirational life.  Their medium might be the written world, or instead paint or sculpture, music or songwriting, the crafts of woodworking or photography, research in history or science, the development of useful technology, and even in the art of civil disobedience and peaceful public protest demanded by conscience.  As Henry David Thoreau said, “It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.”

Note: We all need heroes to empower people of all ages to realize their own potential to create positive change in the world. One does not have to embrace all statements made by an author or their behavior to find value in their essential message. It is easy to say, as Andrew McNight said of Ansel Adams, that he “was no hero, cursed with pride and foible.”

But McNight goes on to clarify: “like any Einstein you find, take everything you can… let us see like Ansel Adams did.” A hero does not have to be someone who is perfect, but is a person who has made the world a better place, and helps point the way to how we may do the same.  The Planet Patriots revealed and celebrated on these pages can all in some way inspire us to have a better relationship with the Earth that is our home.