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Show 241. In other words, the ecologist who only serves the contemporary social structure has not necessarily acquired ecological consciousness. Thus we can see a continuum in the thinking of this hypothetical ecologist, who is all things to all people. He begins with study of the interrelatedness of things in the world, as Muir did, but ends, if he follows the implications of his perceptions, with a philosophical, religious, and finally radical attitude toward human culture. True ecologists may differ over technical issues, but they share a similar consciousness and similar values. This may not be a new consciousness, but only a renewed world view, built on a new foundation. Today the ecologist often wears the clothes of a scientific specialist. He was putting on this costume when Muir was developing his own philosophy in the Sierra. As I have argued, Muir did not dress himself in the austere finery of the scientific specialist, because he was not asking society to sanction his role in the wilderness. However, photographs show that his attire did become more conventional over the next two decades, as he gradually became a public figure. In this chapter and the next I am going to follow the evolution of Muir's ecological consciousness, considering it in the nineteenth century context where it evolved, but also Placing it in a more modern context. Like other nineteenth century ecologists, Muir faced his greatest difficulty integrating Man into the larger pattern of organism and environment; so I shall hold off a full discussion of that |