Using Thoreau’s Journals to Study Climate Change
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Provided by: PBS|Published on: June 6, 2026
Lesson PlansScientist Reviewed
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Scientist Reviewed This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this lesson, students will read and analyze excerpts from Henry David Thoreau's journals and discuss their relevance in understanding climate change.
- This lesson uses the story of Big Creek, Idaho, to hook students in and get them thinking about seclusion and connection to nature.
Subjects: Biology, Earth and Space Sciences, English Language Arts
Authors: PBS
Region: United States, Idaho
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- This lesson fosters an understanding of the importance of a connection to nature.
- Seeing people enjoy nature in the modern day is inspiring.
Prerequisites
- In the Facilitator's guide, the link to the Elsevier journal article is broken. This article can be found here.
Differentiation & Implementation
- After discussing citizen science, teachers can introduce students to a local citizen science project that they can participate in. This lesson, though designed for younger learners, has links to a citizen science project that students in all regions can take part in.
- Inspired by Thoreau's journals, teachers can encourage students to spend a certain amount of time that week in nature and journal about their experience. This nature journaling activity has excellent connections to SEL that may benefit students.
- This lesson may inspire a discussion about how modern technology has caused some of us to lose touch with nature and how this may impact well-being as a whole.
This resource features video from a remote lodge in Idaho and text from Thoreau’s journals to explore living simply in nature and how scientists use nature journals to study climate change. Students are engaged with primary documents. One link in the Facilitator’s Guide was broken, but a working link is below. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
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