George P. Marsh

George Perkins Marsh was an American lawyer, diplomat, politician, and philologist. After serving in the United States Congress in the 1840s, he went on to be a diplomat in Turkey and the first United States Minister to Italy. Marsh is also considered by some to be America's first environmentalist and by recognizing the irreversible impact of man's actions on the earth, a precursor to the sustainability concept, although "conservationist" would be more accurate. The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Vermont takes its name, in part, from Marsh. His 1864 book Man and Nature had a great impact in many parts of the world.