Friends of John Muir's Birthplace

One of the original aspirations for activity inspired by the Friends’ John Muir, Earth-Planet, Universe exhibition was to organise a walk along the John Muir Way from Dunbar to Glasgow ahead of the COP26 Summit that was due to be held in the city in November 2020. Needless to say that COVID-19 restrictions put paid to that last year.

However, due to contacts made during various online, climate action related, conferences, workshops and meetings, members of the Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace began collaborating with co-curators of a more extensive and ambitious ‘Pilgrimage for COP26’ – #pilgrimageforcop26 – curated by Jonathan Baxter – @artandecologyedinburgh. Although this pilgrimage is more than six months away and detailed plans and programmes of events, etc, are still being considered, Earth Day 2021 seemed to be a great opportunity for a ‘soft launch’ in Dunbar and to invite and encourage participations from people and organisations in East Lothian and beyond.

In addition to the Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace the main, local, collaborators are currently North Lights Arts, Sustaining Dunbar, and the Battery Theatre Company. Many more groups have expressed interest in the idea of some form of ‘pilgrimage’ that   helps people create their bonds with the natural world. More information of other groups, etc., will be announced in due course and, apart from local news and social media outlets, the main source of information will be Jonathan Baxter’s Pilgrimage for COP26 – A+E which includes the following introduction:

The pilgrimage commences in Dunbar on the 18th October to arrive in Glasgow on the 29th October – with events taking place in Glasgow on the 30th and 31st October. Pilgrims are invited to join the pilgrimage at any point during the journey.

Basic information

18^th October – 31^st October 2021

A pilgrimage from Dunbar to Glasgow to reflect on the climate and ecological crisis in anticipation of COP26.

The pilgrimage includes a public engagement programme to accompany the walkers and encourage participation en route.

Participating organisations include Deep Time Walk Project, Interfaith Edinburgh, Glasgow and Scotland, John Muir’s Birthplace, North Light Arts, Scottish Dance Theatre, and more.

Quotes

“Pilgrimages are a common cultural practice. Historically associated with religions, today they speak to a wider public in search of meaning through an interest in history, identity, roots, and heritage. The Pilgrimage for COP26 draws attention to the climate and ecological crisis. It offers a chance to reflect on this crisis by walking two well-trodden pathways, The John Muir Way from Dunbar to Kirkintilloch and St Ninian’s Way from Kirkintilloch to Glasgow. A key question animating the pilgrimage is this, ‘How can we honour the mutual bond that exists between people and planet, a bond that sustains our very existence?’” Jonathan Baxter, co-curator, Pilgrimage for COP26.

“North Light Arts are co-curating the start of the pilgrimage from Dunbar and across East Lothian along the John Muir Way. We are working with East Lothian Council, Sustaining Dunbar, the Battery Theatre Company and Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace to begin the conversation with exhibitions, talks and an opening event on Dunbar Harbour.” Susie Goodwin, Director, North Light Arts.

“The simple act of walking together through time and space enables us to explore the many ways humanity is deeply interconnected with the more-than-human world. We are pleased to bring a deep time perspective to the Pilgrimage for COP26, helping to galvanise positive action and advocacy at this critical juncture for humanity.” Robert Woodford, Executive Director, Deep Time Walk Project.

Other links:

1. North Light Arts
2. Sustaining Dunbar
3. BATTERY – Theatre Company
4. A+E | Facebook

It’s another beautiful sunny day in Dunbar on this #EarthDay. It is a great pity that the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions prevent large scale gatherings and community events such as beach cleans, litter-picking, tree-planting, and all manner of conservation and environmental activities that in past years have taken place during the week that sees #JohnMuirDay and #EarthDay.

Earth Day 2021 is the inspiration for climate action activities worldwide and the Earth Day 2021 | Restore Our Earth™ | EARTHDAY.ORG page highlights many of these.

Perhaps it’s time to start planning for #JohnMuirDay2022 #EarthDay2022 when, hopefully, some degree of normality returns and people can get together to “Do something for wildness…”

Today – 18th April 2021 – marks the 40th anniversary of the twinning link between Dunbar and Martinez. Ten years ago Will Collin was instrumental in the arrangements to mark the 30th anniversary as he was, then, a member of the Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace committee; a Trustee of the John Muir Birthplace Trust; and a member of Dunbar Community Council. Will drew upon his personal connections with a number of people and organisations in Martinez to arrange the exchanges of messages between the two communities. Visits from Martinez residents to Dunbar, and vice versa, have also cemented the twinning links over the past decades. What follows is a summary of some of the interactions that have been reported in some of the newsletters articles and posts over the past 10 years.

The Dunbar and Martinez Celebrate 30th Anniversary and Dunbar-Martinez Sister City 30th Anniversary posts from 10 years ago. The first post includes the text of an article that Will Collin contributed to the FoJMB Newsletter April 2011 [pdf] newsletter. The second post includes a beautifully worded message to us all in Dunbar from the Board of Directors of the John Muir Association in Martinez.

Also in the April 2011 newsletter was an illustrated article about a John Muir’s Birthplace exhibition marking the 30th anniversary the twinning with Martinez, California. Local resident Steven Boyle, who was one of the first Rotary Club ‘ambassadors’ to visit Martinez in 1997, displayed some of his own nature photographs, alongside a selection of historical photographs of both towns, produced by Dunbar and District History Society and Martinez Historical Society, commemorative objects, and messages from our sister city.

Although the Martinez News-Gazette link in the Sister Cities celebrate Muir Legacy post is no longer valid the rest of the post provides more news about the 30th anniversary celebrations.

Will had also contributed a short article for the John Muir Association’s Spring 2011 Newsletter, as follows:

Dunbar and Martinez, California, were ‘twinned’ in 1981. On 18 April of that year, Martinez Mayor Eric Schaeferread the proclamation declaring Martinez and Dunbar “sister cities,” the American terminology. The twinning of Dunbar and Martinez was due to links with John Muir, the former being his birthplace and the latter being his home from his marriage in 1880 to his death on Christmas Eve 1914. The twinning is a civic link, not simply a John Muir one. There are benefits for many areas of our two towns and surrounding districts, for example in education, cultural exchanges and tourism.

To recognize the 30th Anniversary of the Dunbar-Martinez sister cities link, Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace, supported by the John Muir Birthplace Trust, have initiated an exchange of greetings between the two cities. In addition, Dunbar officials propose to send letters to schools, churches, history societies, Rotary clubs, Masonic lodges, senior citizen organisations, Dunbar traders and Martinez Chamber of Commerce, and other pairings.

John Muir Birthplace staff have also added a post to its website with Will’s updated version of the 30th Anniversary announcement. See John Muir’s Birthplace: Twins for 40 Years! Dunbar & Martinez for the complete story.

Under the title ‘Goodwill Ambassadors’ the article in the FoJMB Newsletter July 2011 [pdf] newsletter noted that:

Dunbar Community Council hosted a reception in the Birthplace on Friday 1 July for Frank and Carol Walsh who spent a couple of days in Dunbar in the capacity as Goodwill Ambassadors on behalf of the Martinez city council. Frank was involved in the early years of the twinning in arranging the student exchanges between Alhambra High School and Dunbar Grammar School.

[Note from the editor: This post may be updated with more twinning news over the next few days.]

In early-2020 Friends of John Muir’s Birthplace worked together with other groups in Dunbar to focus on Muir’s role as an environmental activist and successful campaigner and his relevance for our situation today.

The exhibition was scheduled to be installed in the Birthplace and be on show between April and October. The intention was that it would support the review and expansion of the John Muir’s Legacy section of the permanent exhibition. However, due to the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact this had on the preparation, production and installation of the physical exhibition, it is not yet known when the exhibition will be physically installed and opened in the Birthplace.

The hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic means that some of the exhibition’s content and themes outlined in a public preview back in February have been amended to include references to the current crisis.

This latest addition to our virtual exhibitions starts at the John Muir, Earth-Planet, Universe page.

The latest news item in the John Muir Birthplace website – https://www.jmbt.org.uk/2020/05/28/happy-birthday-sierra-club/ – prompted an update to the Exhibitions section of this website about the Friends’ exhibition, ‘125 Years of the Sierra Club’, that was hosted in the Birthplace from April 21^st until July 26^th 2017 (having been extended beyond the end of June).  Six panels gave an overview of the history of the Sierra Club with an emphasis on John Muir’s involvement in the founding, and ethos, of the organisation.

See this latest addition to our virtual exhibitions at the 125 Years of the Sierra Club page.