Ten of our young Geographers have been studying the life and times of John Muir who died 100 years ago in 1914. We were recently asked to join an Edinburgh University research project about how connected young people are to nature and as part of this, we took the class to John Muir’s house in Dunbar. John Muir was a pioneering conservationist who has been credited with the introduction of National Parks. He emigrated to the US where he campaigned for the preservation of natural places through his work as an environmentalist. He is highly regarded and better known in the US than his native Scotland yet his work was outstanding. Our students –

• Learned about John Muir’s adventures and travels all over the globe.
• Read extracts from his journals and viewed some of his sketches.
• Walked the first mile of the new John Muir Way which stretches from the East to the West coast of Scotland (134miles) and were actually keen to do the rest!