During the course of one of my internet bunny trails, I came across a book called The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf. I picked it up on Kindle and it has sat languishing awaiting its turn for my attention. So today was the day I decided to at least read the prologue. It was fascinating.
I know about many, many environmental/conservation mavericks, such as Arne Naess, Aldo Leopold, Audubon, Muir, Rachel Carson, Edward Abbey, but until this morning I had never heard of von Humboldt! He was a polymath and seems to have been a superman of scientific inquiry and discovery, coupled with an almost spiritual sense of the importance of the web of nature. His travels and adventures in the 1800s was indefatigable, and his books were very, very popular on at least three continents. He discovered scientific concepts and terms to describe natural systems, and he was an abolitionist and advocate for indigenous communities. He actually observed and described climate change brought on by clear-cutting of forests for South American plantations. He influenced Thoreau and Darwin and countless others. When he died there were huge memorial celebrations all through North and South America and Europe.
Why don't people talk about him? Why didn't I know about him? Am I the only one?