Not possibly to some extent the influence of the culture of the state,
a consequence of the kinds of folks who emigrated there?

Possible? Sure, in a broad sense. As for these particular individuals....

I was thinking "in a broad sense," not about individual family
backgrounds that you and George mentioned. Wasn't Wisconsin settled to
a large extent by Scandinavians and Germans of socialist political
leanings?

If those settlers brought with them atitudes about nature, the land,
public stewardship, etc., that found their way into the churches,
schools, and so forth, they would have some effect on the attitudes of
kids growing up in those states, wouldn't they?

Although we soak up a lot of our personal values from our parents, we
also assimilate a lot from the culture of the society around us. I
think I'm very different from what I would be had I grown up in
Brooklyn or Boston or Dallas instead of the little hick town of
Scottdale, PA.

I'd be very interested in any evidence for the notion that there is more to
it than that. I assume your question was meant in a broad philosophical
sense and that you didn't have any specific evidence in mind with respect to
Muir, Leopold and Nelson.......or?

Right, Wolfgang; I have no evidence. Just the notion, derived from my
dipping into sociology and anthropogy over the years, that we all--and
especially the young--are influenced by our social surroundings.

I gather that the concept of "national character" has been the subject
of numerous books and is widely accepted among social scientists .
Why could there not be an analogous "state culture" in a country as
diverse as the U.S.?

vince