Thoreau and environmentalism: yesterday and todayFor two years starting in 1845, Henry Thoreau lived in the woods of Walden where he wrote the book that established him as one of the first environmentalists Americans. Despite coming from a time when environmental conservation was far from most people's minds, Thoreau was ahead of his time in his respect and admiration for nature. Nearly two hundred years later, environmentalism is an ever-present issue in today's society, as we apparently have not heeded Thoreau's warning. This essay will examine how Thoreau would react to environmental problems in modern times. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Environmentalism was not a major concern of most people in the early 19th century. The 1800s were a time of expansion across the country, fueled by America's newly adopted idea of ​​manifest destiny, despite it being environmentally harmful. While some worked for environmental protection, such as Benjamin Franklin's fight to stop waste dumping in 1739, it was not until 1863 that the first environmental laws, the British Alkali Acts, were passed. (Feel Friendly) Modern environmentalism began to take shape only a century later, around the time the United States established the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 and the term “global warming” was coined. In Thoreau's time, most of the population did not think about the preservation of nature. Through his work in Walden, it is evident that Thoreau cared deeply about nature. In the section titled “Spring,” he states that “we need the tonic of the wild,” describing it as “indefinitely wild, uninvestigated and unfathomable by us because it is unfathomable.” As optimistic as he is about nature, Thoreau recognizes the strain that humans are placing on nature, that creatures are being “serenely crushed into existence like mush” and urges us to take into account the “[rain] of flesh and blood” (Thoreau , Walden). Thoreau was ahead of his time when it came to environmentalism and left a resounding impact on the future of conservation. Thoreau's work paved the way for contemporary environmentalism. His writings and ideas about nature have influenced countless environmentalists, and he is widely considered the "father of this century's environmental movement" (Bowdoin). Richard B. Primack's book, Walden Warming: Climate Change Comes to Thoreau's Woods examines climate change by tracking changes occurring in Walden's woods. Primack forces his audience to reduce our impact on the environment by “living simply and wisely” as Thoreau himself described (Primack). Studying his impact on modern environmentalism, it is clear that Thoreau was not just an early environmentalist, but an icon with a defining influence on climate change as we see it today. If Thoreau were alive today, what role would he have played in environmentalism? ? With the increase of industrialism and deforestation, the state of wilderness has changed greatly since Thoreau's time. When Thoreau died in 1860, cumulative levels of deforestation stood at 0.8 billion hectares (1 hectare = 100 acres) worldwide, and as of 2010, the numbers have risen to 1.8 billion hectares in all over the world (Williams). The ozone layer has depleted significantly since the 1980s, and most records of ozone depletion do not date back to the 1800s, suggesting that Thoreau would not even know that ozone was a problem. If Thoreau saw the current state of our.”