Thoreau's Walden Pond in trouble, warn scientists

[CousinIT]

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/06/pee-and-pesticides-henry-david-thoreau-walden-pond-in-trouble-warn-scientists

Immortalised for its beauty by Henry David Thoreau, the Massachusetts pond is under threat from increased human activity and climate change according to a new study

The water of Walden Pond, which Henry David Thoreau described in 1854 as “so transparent that the bottom can easily be discerned at the depth of 25 or 30 feet”, is no longer quite so clear according to a new study.

The Massachusetts pond was made famous in Walden, the transcendentalist writer’s account of the years he spent next to it in order to “live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life”. The pond has been greatly affected by human activity. Everything from forest fires in the 19th century, to wood-cutting operations, the use of pesticides in the 1960s and increasing tourism have affected the water quality, according to the paper. Over half of the phosphorus in the lake in the summer “may now be attributable to urine released by swimmers”, while a footpath to Thoreau’s cabin “caused large amounts of soil to wash into the lake”.

“In the century and a half since Thoreau and his transcendentalist colleagues wrote of humanity as somehow separate from nature, we’ve become a force of nature in our own right, powerful enough to change the chemistry and temperature of the atmosphere and the ecology of lakes and ponds worldwide,” Curt Stager, a natural sciences professor at Paul Smith’s college, New York, and one of the authors of the paper told CNET.

Stager and his fellow researchers analysed sediment from the pond to determine how the growth of algae has changed. Their research revealed that the major changes in the lake’s algae happened in the 20th century. The closure of a nearby landfill site, the stabilisation of the shoreline and the upgrading of septic facilities have mitigated the effects of humans on the lake since 2000, but the researchers warn that the pond has not returned to the state described by Thoreau. . .

[asiliveandbreathe]

1. Earth Day is coming....awareness - knowledge and participation in clean up -

I loved reading and Walden Pond was part of our curriculum in "high school"...the most memorable passage was when Thorough described being in the water at Walden Pond and looking out over the pond at eye level..describing the insect life dancing on the water....

Fond memories of my home state.....

[JDC]

2. I drive by Walden Pond periodically

To avoid commuter traffic on my way to/from work. It's a nice drive and it kinda centers me to think about that place as I go by.

I guess I am probably part of the problem...