Hugh Bollinger / Tuesday, June 21, 2011

George Perkins March (1801-1882)

Like most people, I thought environmental concerns emerged from the writings of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and Rachel Carson. I guess I may have been wrong. In 1847, a US congressman, George Perkins March made speeches that spoke to our modern concerns about climate change and destruction of natural resources and their myriad ecosystem services. March may have even been the "spark" that convinced President Abraham Lincoln to set aside Yellowstone, the first national park in the world. [caption id="attachment_4828" align="aligncenter" width="460" caption="George Perkins March, 1801-1882 photo credit: Library of Congress"]

[/caption] The Guardian posted a fascinating commentary on George Perkins March to their environmental blog today. The language in his speech is archaic today but March's words are amazingly prescient to our current environmental concerns. As the old saying goes: those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it! WHB

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Tags: climate change ecology ecosystem services environmental thought George Perkins March The Guardian

George Perkins March (1801-1882)

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