Long before "green" became a verb, before Al Gore inconvenienced us, an intrepid Scottish immigrant was pioneering environmental activism in the United States. John Muir channeled his enthusiasm for the western wilderness into conservation efforts that shape the contemporary environmental movement. 

The hoary-bearded figure of yore is given renewed relevance in a new Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) exhibition. "A Walk in the Wild: Continuing John Muir’s Journey" opened recently and runs through January 22, 2012. The show explores Muir’s life and legacy through interactive multisensory displays that use the Museum’s multidisciplinary collection. 

The “Father of the National Parks” is honored through a celebration of the natural world. The exhibit aims to spread his love of nature, even as it salutes his role in defining environmental activism. Muir’s passion follows you through the exhibit -- his lively descriptions spring from speakers, his poignant words emboss the walls, and everywhere his sloping signature evokes his legacy. 

Exhibit curator Dorris Welch designed the show to convey the essence of John Muir. Display areas invite patrons to revel in Muir’s sense of wonderment with the natural world, to taste the thrill of his harrowing adventures, to share in the knowledge of his discoveries, and to appreciate his commitment to activism.

Photographic Murals by Steven Joseph open the exhibit. The panoramic shots are presented in a series of curved displays that offer a sensorial experience: before a humbling mountainscape visitors can feel the rough granodiorite of Half Dome, inhale the resinous perfume of juniper berries, listen to the layered sounds of a meadow, and take a magnified look at the patterned wings of a high sierra butterfly. 

This interactive approach breaks with traditional display methodology. “For some people, it will make a real difference to have all senses involved,” Welch said. “We’re particularly interested to see how children respond.” Introducing young visitors to Muir’s work is one of the exhibit’s central aims. 

The show contextualizes Muir’s legacy through the Modern Day Muir Project. Several contemporary environmental activists are profiled throughout the exhibit -- including Oakland’s Kenba Shakur, a tree planter for Oakland Relief. A short film blends footage of Muir with footage of these “Modern Day Muirs,” and interactive displays allow patrons to learn more about individual activists.  

Muir’s journals and manuscripts, replete with detailed sketches from his expeditions, are on view in conjunction with an interactive Google Earth program that integrates the journal images with a topographical map. The program illustrates a portion of Muir’s 1873 trek from Yosemite to Mount Whitney. 

The exhibit also features a number of simulation activities. Visitors can pose as mountaineers against a simulated rock face and leap across a mock glacial crevasse. A huge, hollow Sequoia tree replicates Muir’s refuge during a forest fire. 

Steven Josephs’ prints of Muir’s original pressed plant collection are displayed with Muir’s original herbarium sheets. Many items from the Museum’s Gallery of Natural Sciences are on display as well, making the exhibit a preamble to the reopening of the transformed Gallery of Natural Sciences in June 2012.