Compare and contrast the philosophies of John Muir and Gifford Pinchot.

Both men were active in the early 1900s, and both aimed to protect North American wilderness by opposing rapid deforestation and unregulated economic land development. Muir was a preservationist who believed that nature should be protected for its own sake and that we should protect it for its beauty. He believed nature provided spiritual renewal and met human recreational needs. As such, Muir recognized that nature met human needs (an anthropocentrist view), but he also believed that nature deserved protection for its own inherent value (an ecocentrist view). Pinchot was a conservationist who favored sustainable use of resources for the benefit of present and future generations. He was a utilitarian, which means that he believed humans should use resources in a way that provides the greatest good to the greatest number of people for the longest time. He was more anthropocentric than Muir.