Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 1 hr ago
Thoreau’s 180-year-old records help researchers study climate change
Henry David Thoreau lived beside Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts, in the 1840s and carefully recorded changes in nature.
He noted when flowers bloomed, leaves appeared, fruit ripened, migratory birds arrived and the pond froze.
In the 2000s, Boston University professor Richard Primack and his colleagues began using Thoreau’s records to study climate change.
The observations offer a detailed picture of nature before carbon dioxide emissions rose rapidly with industrialization.
Primack and his students have compared Thoreau’s notes with data they collected while walking around Concord.
Their work shows how long-term records can help researchers examine changes in plants and animals; the supplied account does not state specific results or next steps.
Henry David Thoreau’s detailed observations of nature in and around Concord, Massachusetts, are helping researchers study the effects of climate change.
Thoreau recorded events such as flowering, leaf emergence, bird arrivals and when Walden Pond froze.
In the 2000s, Boston University professor Richard Primack and colleagues began using the records to compare past and present conditions.
The records provide data from before carbon dioxide emissions began increasing rapidly with industrialization.
Thoreau lived in a cabin near Walden Pond from 1845 for more than two years.
- Who
- Henry David Thoreau made the observations; Richard Primack and his colleagues later studied them.
- What
- Researchers are using Thoreau’s records of natural events to study climate change.
- When
- Thoreau recorded observations for more than a decade. Primack and colleagues began examining them in the 2000s.
- Where
- Concord, Massachusetts, including the area around Walden Pond.
- Why
- The records provide detailed information about nature before carbon dioxide emissions began increasing rapidly with industrialization.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Thoreau built a cabin in the woods near his family home and moved in.
Thoreau documented local natural phenomena in written records.
Richard Primack and colleagues began studying Thoreau’s observations to examine climate change’s effects on plants and animals.
A Mainichi reporter visited the site of Thoreau’s cabin in Concord.
- Cabin move-in
- 1845
- Cabin location
- About 2 kilometers from Thoreau’s family home in Concord, Massachusetts
- Observation period
- More than a decade
- Research began
- The 2000s
- Researcher
- Richard Primack, Boston University professor
What people are saying
Thoreau was really quite unique in that he was an extremely careful observer
Thoreau understood that by observing in detail phenomenon from year to year, he would not only understand an average year, but also understood how these extreme years impacted the relationships among species.