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Daniel B. Botkin

Solving environmental problems by understanding how nature works

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My Natural History Travels Following the Life of Henry David Thoreau: Concord, Walden, Maine Woods, and Cape Cod.

December 31, 2013 By Daniel Botkin 4 Comments

Thoreau Maine Canoe Trip 1995
One of my trips following the path of Henry David Thoreau, canoeing on one of the rivers he canoed in the Maine Woods, leading to Moosehead Lake.

I  have followed the travels of Henry David Thoreau as he tried to understand nature, wildness, wilderness, and civilization during his lifetime (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862).  He lived most of his life in Concord, MA, traveling and writing books about: the woods of Maine including his hike up Mt. Katahdin, the state’s tallest mountain; his travels to Cape Cod; and his life at Walden Pond.  He had great insights into the meaning of nature, wilderness, and wildness for people and the role of people within nature.  Here are some of the calendar of events they encountered and saw in modern times. I will update this during the year.

The complete description of my travels following where Henry David Thoreau lived and went  is in my book:  Botkin, D.B., 2012, ebook, No Man’s Garden:Thoreau and a New Vision for Civilization and Nature (New York, Croton River Publishers). The stories told here are from this book.

How Thoreau Spent several Christmas Days
On Christmas Day, December 25, 1853, when he was 36, Thoreau went for a walk near to Concord and wrote that  “Staked to Fair Haven and above. . . . About 4 P. M. the sun sunk behind a cloud, and the pond began to boom or whoop . . .  It is a sort of belching, and, . . . somewhat frog-like. . . . It is a very pleasing phenomenon, so dependent on the altitude of the sun.”    A few years later, on December 25, 1857, when he was 40, he wrote that he had  “Skate[d] on Goose Pond” and on Christmas Day the next year, he wrote “The ice on the river is about half covered with light snow.  . . I go running and sliding from one such snow-patch to another . . .  It is so rough that it is but poor sliding withal.”

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Filed Under: Featured, People & Nature

Comments

  1. vladimir says

    January 9, 2017 at 2:23 pm

    Very good account on Thoreau’s experience within nature.

    Reply
    • vladimir says

      January 9, 2017 at 2:25 pm

      What is your opinion on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s works about nature and a person’s connection to it?

      Reply
      • Daniel Botkin says

        July 6, 2019 at 11:41 am

        Hello,
        Thanks for writing.
        Good question, but I focused on Thoreau and have not gotten into Emerson.
        Also a good suggestion.
        Dan Botkin

        Reply
    • Daniel Botkin says

      July 6, 2019 at 11:44 am

      Thank you very much. Glad you enjoyed it. I have also written another book where I followed the trail of Lewis and Clark, using canoes, horseback, hiking, and automobiles. It is “Beyond the Stony Mountains: Nature in the American West from Lewis and Clark to Today. Lewis and Clark were incredibly remarkable men in many ways, and the book discusses that as well as how the American west has changed in 1805.

      Dan Botkin

      Reply

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From Daniel B. Botkin, Ph.D

Daniel Botkin
I believe we are mostly on the wrong track in the way we try to deal with the environment. Everything I do, study, learn, and advise about the environment is different from the status quo. Throughout my career, I have tried to understand how nature works and use that understanding to figure out how we can solve our most pressing environmental problems.

My process over the past 45 years has been to look carefully at the facts, make simple calculations from them (sometimes simple computer models) and then tell people what I have learned. It’s surprising how rarely people bother to look at the facts. This has surprised me every time I’ve started a new ecology research project or work on an environmental issue.

In the course of my work and studies, I have learned many things and I want to tell you about them. That is the purpose of this website.

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Books by Dan Botkin

The Moon in the Nautilus Shell  Strange Encounters
Powering the Future  No Man's Garden
See all books by Dan Botkin

Jabowa III Forest Model


Jabowa Forest Model
Jabowa Forest Model for Windows 7.
This forest model, used around the world, was developed first in 1970 by Daniel B. Botkin, James F. Janak and James R. Wallis

JABOWA remains the most completely detailed and well validated forest growth model available, accounting for 95% or more of the variation in real forests where it has been tested.

The book Forest Dynamics: An Ecological Model (available as an eBook) provides a complete description of the model and the rationales behind its development.

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Sea Ice Study

The Bockstoce and Botkin Historical Sea Ice Data Study has a new home at the University of Alaska website. The data include more than 52,000 daily observations in an unbroken 65 year record from 1849 – 1914.

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