Appointment television for the outdoor-minded: On Monday (April 18) PBS airs John Muir in the New World, a 90-minute documentary on the life of the Scottish-born naturalist whose eloquence has framed the foundation of wilderness preservation efforts in America for more than a century.
The documentary, part of the PBS American Masters series, is scheduled to debut at 9pm (ET) Monday. Intertwined with commentary from numerous interviewees, dramatizations show Muir at different stages of his life—in Wisconsin, the Sierra, Alaska and Martinez, Calif., location of the orchards and homesite where Muir lived out the final 24 years of his life. Today the homesite serves as the John Muir National Historic Site,
Muir was born in 1838; his birthday is celebrated as John Muir Day on April 21.
Check local listings for Monday's broadcast and future rebroadcasts in individual viewing areas.
Got a favorite Muir quote? I've got lots. Among them: "Wherever we go in the mountains, or indeed in any of God's wild fields, we find more than we seek." How about you?
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"Nevermore, however weary, should one faint by the way who gains the blessings of one mountain day; whatever his fate, long life, short life, stormy or calm, he is rich forever."
But this is the one that I enjoy using the most: "The mountains are calling and I must go."
'Going to the mountains is going home."
"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."
Here's a longer passage from "My First Summer in the Sierra" that I enjoy, wrapping up a day that Muir had devoted to observing creatures large and small:
"Sundown, and I must to camp. Good-night, friends three -- brown bear, rugged boulder of energy in groves and gardens fair as Eden; restless, fussy fly with gauzy wings stirring the air all around the world; and grasshopper, crisp, electric spark of joy enlivening the massy sublimity of the mountains like the laugh of a child. Thank you, thank you all three for your quickening company. Heaven guide every wing and leg. Good-night friends three, goodnight."
"The clearest way to the Universe is through a forest wilderness" ~John Muir
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