John Muir was the first person to call for practical action to safeguard and cherish the world's wild places.

Born in 1838 in the small Scottish port of Dunbar, John Muir emigrated with his family as a child to the USA. In his adopted homeland he became a founding father of the world conservation movement, and devoted his life to safeguarding the world's landscapes for future generations.

You can find out more about John Muir at the John Muir Trust, set up in 1983, but the following quotes will give you an insight into the man and a philosophy we can all relate to:

"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 won freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."

"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilised people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home: that wilderness is a necessity."

"The great poets, philosophers, prophets, able men whose thoughts and deeds have moved the world, have come down from the mountains."

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