I stumbled upon an interesting opinion piece from a recent copy of The Boston Globe. The author talks about Thoreau’s in-depth journaling often centered around observations that he was making about changes in climate patterns and how it effected the nature around him.

For years, Thoreau monitored the plants and animals around him, noting how the weather affected them. He kept detailed logs of these patterns which are now being used by climate scientists and students who are examining the impacts of climate change on New England’s environment. Pretty cool!

The author wrote this piece (which paints Thoreau as an climate change pioneer) in response to a recent article in the New Yorker, which takes shot at Thoreau as a person. The author from the New Yorker was not very fond of our friend Henry. (See below)

“The real Thoreau was, in the fullest sense of the word, self-obsessed: narcissistic, fanatical about self-control, adamant that he required nothing beyond himself to understand and thrive in the world. From that inward fixation flowed a social and political vision that is deeply unsettling. It is true that Thoreau was an excellent naturalist and an eloquent and prescient voice for the preservation of wild places. But “Walden” is less a cornerstone work of environmental literature than the original cabin porn: a fantasy about rustic life divorced from the reality of living in the woods, and, especially, a fantasy about escaping the entanglements and responsibilities of living among other people.”

Like most articles in the New Yorker, it’s a pretty long read. However, if you find the time, both articles are pretty interesting and paint very different pictures of HDT.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/10/21/sorry-new-yorker-thoreau-more-relevant-than-ever/XsF28iSLPwrLkiNZIpHmoI/story.html#comments

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/19/pond-scum