Homegrown environmentalism: 20th century regionalism and its contribution to the National Preservation of American Wilderness

The notion of the west as the fertile ground for an awareness of environmentalism is due in part to the arts and humanities of the 19th century. Thoreau's Transcendentalism and Turner's Frontier Thesis parallel and influence the literary works that support the preservation of America's wilderness. Close readings of works by John Muir, Mary Hunter Austin and Wallace Stegner, along with the art work of Thomas Moran, will be analyzed for their interconnectedness and their affiliation with the aforementioned philosophy and theory. Found at the core of their works are themes of independence, retreat and spiritual renewal. It is argued that these regionalist artists have propelled the environmentalist cause into the 20th century with their spiritual calls for preserving the land that has contributed to a unique American landscape and identity. Now in the 21st century, the tenets of spiritual renewal and American independence that were once intrinsic in the perception of nature have given way to the notion that the American wilderness is a creation of our culture.