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SUMMARY:Things Seen and Heard: Regional Identity in Sigurd F. Olson’s En
 vironmental Ethic - Jacob Bruggeman
DTSTART:20191119T131000Z
DTEND:20191119T140000Z
UID:TALK135001@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Nanna K L Kaalund
DESCRIPTION:Sigurd F. Olson of Minnesota was one of the foremost American 
 environmentalists in the 20th century. Olson served as vice president and 
 president of the Wilderness Society\, as a member and president of the of 
 National Parks Association’s board of trustees\, and remains the only in
 dividual to have received each of the highest honors from the Sierra Club\
 , Izaak Walton League\, Wilderness Society\, and National Wildlife Federat
 ion—and the John Burroughs medal for nature writing. Olson’s involveme
 nt in the conservation movement\, however\, was guided by an “environmen
 tal ethic” firmly rooted in regional identity\, especially Minnesota’s
  history and that of the French “voyageurs” in the Quetico-Superior wi
 lderness. Olson thought this region’s historical and natural heritage wa
 s so precious that he devoted his life to protecting and writing about it\
 , producing several bestselling volumes and countless essays on the region
 ’s history and wilderness. More than his conservation activism\, it was 
 these writings that marshalled public support for wilderness protection. I
 n reemphasizing the centrality of regional identity in Olson’s writings\
 , I resituate his environmental ethic in the growing scholarship on Midwes
 tern history and argue that its popular appeal was made possible by its cu
 ltivation of an accessible\, reasonably coherent concept of the region’s
  environmental and cultural history. By way of conclusion\, I will attempt
  to connect the regional rootedness of Olson’s environmental ethic with 
 the contemporary climate crisis.
LOCATION:The Richard King Room\, Darwin College
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