Walden Warming
Climate Change Comes to Thoreau's Woods
In his meticulous notes on the natural history of Concord, Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau records the first open flowers of highbush blueberry on May 11, 1853. If he were to look for the first blueberry flowers in Concord today, mid-May would be too late. In the 160 years since Thoreau's writings, warming temperatures have pushed blueberry flowering three weeks earlier, and in 2012, following a winter and spring of record-breaking warmth, blueberries began flowering on April 1 – six weeks earlier than in Thoreau's time. The climate around Thoreau's beloved Walden Pond is changing, with visible ecological consequences. In "Walden Warming", Richard B. Primack uses Thoreau and Walden, icons of the conservation movement, to track the effects of a warming climate on Concord's plants and animals. Under the attentive eyes of Primack, the notes that Thoreau made years ago are transformed from charming observations into scientific data sets. Primack finds that many wildflower species that Thoreau observed – including familiar groups such as irises, asters, and lilies – have declined in abundance or have disappeared from Concord. Primack also describes how warming temperatures have altered other aspects of Thoreau's Concord, from the dates when ice departs from Walden Pond in late winter, to the arrival of birds in the spring, to the populations of fish, salamanders, and butterflies that live in the woodlands, river meadows, and ponds. Primack demonstrates that climate change is already here, and it is affecting not just Walden Pond but many other places in Concord and the surrounding region. Although we need to continue pressuring our political leaders to take action, Primack urges us each to heed the advice Thoreau offers in "Walden": to "live simply and wisely". In the process, we can each minimize our own contributions to our warming climate.
About the Author
Richard B. Primack is professor of biology at Boston University. He is the author of "Essentials of Conservation Biology" and "A Primer of Conservation Biology" and editor-in-chief of the international journal "Biological Conservation".
Reviews
"This is an important book that should be required reading for everyone who cares about the future of our planet, and especially for those who remain skeptical about the threats of climate change. What better place to chronicle the effects of global warming than in the cradle of the American environmental movement – Thoreau's 'Walden Woods'" – Don Henley
"Thoreau, in 'Walden', proposed a 'realometer' to filter out prejudice and delusion. This eloquent new book fills that role for us, reminding us that global warming is not an abstract future proposition but a very profound current reality" – Bill McKibben, author of "Oil and Honey: The Making of an Unlikely Activist"
"Primack's elegant and eloquent scientific memoir shows how today's science is advancing thanks to Henry Thoreau's mid-nineteenth-century observations as recorded in his journal and in his almost completely unknown because unpublished charts containing years and years worth of data on first flowering, bird arrival times, and much else happening in Concord's natural world. Primack's book is important in three ways: it is a report on what global warming has already done to a much-loved bit of American space – Walden Pond; it is a detailed warning about what we are now facing; and it is a stirring call to arms, especially to young Americans and students about how they can help. Emerson told Thoreau to keep a journal. Primack is urging people, especially young people, to keep Thoreauvian journals, not for personal reasons, but to advance our knowledge of what happens and when in the natural world we all share. This book is a grand gift, a bracing and appealing take on a difficult and complex problem. I wish I had read it when I was nineteen" – Robert J. Richardson Jr., author of "Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind"
