Walden warming : climate change comes to Thoreau's woods / Richard B. Primack.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Primack, Richard B., 1950- author.

Contributor:

EBSCOhost.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plants--Effect of global warming on--Massachusetts--Walden Pond State Reservation.

Plants.

Animals--Effect of global warming on--Massachusetts--Walden Pond State Reservation.

Animals.

Plants--Effect of global warming on--Massachusetts--Concord Region.

Animals--Effect of global warming on--Massachusetts--Concord Region.

Climatic changes--Massachusetts--Walden Pond State Reservation.

Climatic changes.

Animals--Effect of global warming on.

Plants--Effect of global warming on.

Massachusetts--Walden Pond State Reservation.

Climatic changes--Massachusetts--Concord Region.

Massachusetts--Concord Region.

Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862.

Thoreau, Henry David.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 253 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2014.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

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 Thoreaus 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 1six weeks earlier than in Thoreaus time. The climate around Thoreaus 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 Concords 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 observedincluding familiar groups such as irises, asters, and lilieshave declined in abundance or have disappeared from Concord. Primack also describes how warming temperatures have altered other aspects of Thoreaus 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.

Contents:

Borneo to Boston

A hard rain

Thoreau, scientist

Phantom plants

Wild apples and other missing flowers

The strife in loosestrife

The message of the birds

Birds in the mist (net)

Bees and butterflies

From insects to fish to people

Clouds of mosquitoes

The frog chorus

Running in the sun and rain

A new earth

Afterword : Citizen science.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-246) and index.

Electronic reproduction. Ipswich, MA Available via World Wide Web.

ISBN:

9780226062211

022606221X

Publisher Number:

99958072975

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.