On American Early Romantic Environmentalism

This is a study of early American romantic environmentalism.Early American romantic environmentalism was born in the 19 th century.As the environmental problems arising from the social development at that time,American early romantic environmentalists represented by Emerson,Thoreau,and Muir advocated that people should reacquainted nature,back to nature,and protect natural.The origin of early American romantic environmentalism has a unique social background.When European immigrants first arrived on the American,the natural environment on this continent was still in an almost undeveloped pristine state.Since immigrants were mainly British Puritans,their views on the relationship between humans and nature were directly derived from the British Puritan view of nature at the time.This attitude toward nature was based on conquest.This kind of environmental concept of conquering nature has always been orthodox in the American concept of nature.Wilderness is a symbol of barrenness and barbarity in their eyes.They are eager to change the barbaric state of the American continent with "civilization." With the development of American society and the development of the Westward Movement,the wilderness in the United States is decreasing,and "civilization" is gradually increasing.In the middle of the 19 th century,with the serious resource waste and increasingly exposed environmental problems,some knowledgeable scholars in the United States began to reflect on the serious resource waste and environmental destruction problems in the development of the United States and re-examine the relationship between man and nature.With the introduction of romanticism in Europe for more than a century,romantic environmentalism with transcendentalism as its core idea began to develop and spread widely in the United States.Emerson was the pioneer of transcendentalism.His book Nature is a declaration of romantic environmentalism in the United States.Emerson objected to the restraint of the masses’ thoughts on the increasingly rigid theological doctrines of the time and criticized the blind worship of religion at that time.He hoped that everyone could find the “primitive relationship with the universe” in nature.Emerson is a philosopher in the schoolroom.Compared to his attention to nature,Emerson values the spiritual awakening and development of man in nature.He advocated that people should return to nature,abandon religious restraints,use the soul to directly talk to nature and to talk to God so as to obtain soul-level development.Emerson was the founder of early romantic environmentalism in the United States.His transcendental ideas were widely spread among scholars and had a profound impact.Thoreau is one of the followers of Emerson’s transcendentalism.Thoreau not only talks about nature,but also lives in nature and stay with nature.Thoreau is a lover of nature.He witnesses the damage to the natural environment around Concord so he called on people to protect nature and restore the original state of the wilderness.But Thoreau’s pursuit of the wilderness was not determined enough although he hated the destruction of the wilderness by modern civilization,he felt that the state of pure wilderness was not suitable for the survival of civilized people.Since he yearned for a semi-civilized and a half-wildlife.His life of more than two years on the shores of Walden is the pursuit and attempt of ideal living conditions.He advocates a simple life and believes that material needs beyond the necessities of life are superfluous.Although Thoreau’s actions against the government,refusal to pay taxes,and living alone on Walden were regarded as “extreme individualists” and “cynic hermits”,the wilderness protection ideas he advocated have a profound impact.Muir is the one who put transcendentalism into practice.He is not only a lover of the wilderness,but also an advocate for wilderness conservation.He advocates the establishment of national parks to protect the wilderness.His experience camping with President Roosevelt in Yosemite helped his idea of establishing a national park to protect the wilderness.He believes that nature is the spiritual home of people and he presents the beauty of the wilderness in front of people through words and invites people to seek spiritual comfort in the wilderness.Muir is known as the fighter of the wilderness.He opposed the utilitarian views of nature protection of Pinchot and others and hated all the use of natural resources for commercial purposes.Muir’s development of opposition to the construction of a dam in the Hetch Hetch Canyon became a national movement,which inspired the American people’s feelings for the wilderness and also pushed the wilderness conservation movement to a climax.Transcendentalism philosophy runs through the early American romantic environmentalism movement and is the philosophical basis of early American romantic environmentalism.The view on the relationship between man and nature in transcendentalism is the core view of early American romantic environmentalism.Transcendentalists believe that spirit is the only reality.All people have a sacred spirit,which Emerson calls the over-soul.Transcendentalists place nature in a very important position.Emerson believes that the universe is composed of nature and soul.He advocates people to return to nature because people can face the God with their soul in nature thus obtain the sublimation and spirit of the soul.Emerson’s view of nature was fully inherited and further exerted by Thoreau and Muir.Thoreau and Muir further emphasized the value of nature in practice,advocating the protection of nature,returning to nature,and get the sublimation of the soul and the comfort of the soul in nature.