Boston Flora

Tag: Walden Pond

  • Monday, May 21, 7:00 pm – The Guide to Walden Pond: An Exploration of the History, Nature, Landscape and Literature of One of America’s Most Iconic Places

    Porter Square Books, 25 White Street in Cambridge, welcomes Robert Thorson, author of The Guide To Walden Pond: An Exploration of the History, Nature, Landscape and Literature of One of America’s Most Iconic Places on Monday, May 21 at 7 pm for a talk and book signing. This is the first guidebook to Henry David Thoreau’s most defining place, visited by half a million people each year and widely known as the fountainhead of America’s environmental consciousness.

    Using this guide, both armchair readers and trail-walkers alike can amble around the pond’s shoreline, pausing at fifteen special places to learn about people, historic events, and the natural world. Thoreau will be a constant companion via quotes from Walden. Stop by stop, the place of his book will merge with the book of his place.

    Abundantly illustrated with photographs, drawings, and maps, this guide is a must-have for a meaningful, engaging tour of Walden Pond as well as a souvenir of a visit. For more information visit https://www.portersquarebooks.com/event/robert-thorson-guide-walden-pond

    Image result for the guide to walden pond

  • Wednesday, April 30, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – 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 than in Thoreau’s time. The climate around Thoreau’s beloved Walden Pond is changing, with visible ecological consequences. In his new book, Walden Warming, Richard B. Primack, PhD, Professor of Biology, Boston University,  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 have declined in abundance or have disappeared from Concord. Hear how warming temperatures have altered these and 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. The Arnold Arboretum program will take place Wednesday, April 30, from 7 – 8:30 in the Hunnewell Building of the Arboretum.  Free for Arboretum members, $5 for nonmembers.  Register online at www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu.

    http://images.indiebound.com/686/682/9780226682686.jpg

  • Thursday, February 28, 6:00 pm – Bioengineering, Earth Focused Design

    Duke Bitsko of the Bioengineering Group will speak about bioengineering, an interdisciplinary approach to site and resource protection in the built environment, at the Arnold Arboretum on Thursday, February 28, with refreshments at 6 and lecture at 6:30 in the Hunnewell Building. With a strong land stewardship ethic, Duke applies degrees in landscape architecture, engineering, and earth science to development planning and design. With each project, the indigenous water cycle and watershed protection are the first considerations.

    Learn about his approach as applied to local projects including Walden Pond, Pope John Paul II Park (image from www.bostonharborwalk.com below,) Magazine Beach, and the Watertown Arsenal.  Co-sponsored by the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and the Boston Society of Landscape Architects.  Free for sponsor members, $25 general public.  Register by telephoning 617-384-5277, or email pam_thompson@harvard.edu.

    http://www.bostonharborwalk.com/dbuploads/Pope_John_Paul_II_Park_3.jpg

  • Thursday, November 18, 6:00 pm – Thoreau as Climatologist: Tracking 160 Years of Climate Change

    Over 160 years ago, Henry David Thoreau initiated a study of flowering times at Walden Pond. Today, a research team including, Charles Davis, Assistant Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Curator in the Harvard Herbarium (below,)  has updated Thoreau’s records with current data and integrated them with modern evolutionary biology to reveal how climate change and earlier flowering times have affected Walden’s plants. Those that have greatly declined include many charismatic native wildflower species, while those that have thrived include many nonnative and invasive species. Davis will explore how an integration of historical records combined and cutting edge science can help us potentially mitigate the impacts of climate change on biodiversity. This program, taking place Thursday, November 18 at 6 pm, is free and open to the public, at the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Part of the Asa Gray Bicentennial series. For more information, log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Saturday, September 12, 7 a.m. – Ride for Green 2009

    The Ride for Green, sponsored by The Trustees of Reservations, is a one-day, 125-mile cycling event dedicated to protecting Massachusetts’ natural landscapes and preserving the health and well-being of our communities through local green initiatives.  One-hundred percent of the proceeds raised through the Ride will go toward The Trustees of Reservations’ land conservation fund so that special places throughout Massachusetts can be protected and preserved for everyone, forever. In Massachusetts, more than 1 million acres of land are in urgent need of protection — together we can change this.

    If you are an avid cyclist who loves the outdoors and you are passionate about protecting our natural landscapes, then please join The Trustees on September 12th. Together we will inspire a greener, healthier, and more sustainable future.  The 125 mile, point to point ride begins in Cohasset and travels through Norwell and Sharon before turning north through Dover, Wellesley, Weston and Concord.  It then heads northeast through Tewksbury, Andover, and Topsfield before finishing at Appleton Farms in Ipswich.  The Ride will pass by several historic sites, including Walden Pond, the Old Manse (Emerson’s former home), and the Old North Bridge.  Cyclists will ride by more than eight Trustees of Reservations properties along the way.  There will be two aid stations on the route to restock and refuel. The ride will finish with a BBQ, beer, and music at Appleton Farms in Ipswich.  We expect over 250 Trustees members and other leaders in conservation at the post ride party to welcome riders and celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Trustees’ Conservation Council.  Families are encouraged to attend the post-ride celebration.  For more information log on to www.thetrustees.org.