TOW #14 - What the Muck of Walden Pond Tells Us About Our Planet

In What the Muck of Walden Pond Tells Us About Our Planet, frequent editorial author for the New York Times, Curt Stager, speaks of how the various layers of soil of Walden Pond in Massachusetts can reveal information about the way that human interaction affects the environment. Through his use of detailed facts as well as personal anecdotes, Stager is able to convince the reader that humans must be conscious of the ways that they impact the world around them to secure a healthier future. Stager begins his editorial piece by speaking briefly about the history of the pond and how it was made famous primarily by the famed philosopher, Henry David Thoreau. He then proceeds to talk about his own time spent at the pond writing that, “in 2015, two students and I lowered weighed plastic tubes through 45 feet of water near the center of the pond and hauled up several sediment cores [...] Tiny shells of diatom algae glittered like frost under the lens.” (Stager 5). By telling the reader of this specific type of algae cell that he and his students had uncovered below the pond’s bottom, Stager reveals that this type of algae has since been covered up by many layers of different types of sediment. This is hugely significant as diatom algae is most typically found in cool clean lakes, taking in sunlight. With this algae no longer actively appearing, it can be inferred that Walden Pond is no longer a cool or clear pond. And unfortunately, this is exactly the case, as Walden Pond has been subject to human development of boat houses as well as contamination from humans swimming in the waters. Not only did humans affect the pond through contamination by building but also, if you “thrust your hand wrist-deep into the mud, your fingertips would brush a layer that emits radiation. It is laced with cesium-137.” (Stager 9). This fact is not only somewhat terrifying, but a blatant display of how humans have been ignorant of the global impact throughout history. The reason this soil contains cesium-137 is because it is a byproduct of nuclear fallout that is created by the detonation of nuclear weapons during the massive number of tests that occurred through the 1960’s and later. The people of this time were more concerned with creating more and more powerful weapons without stopping to consider the adverse effects that they would have on the environment, which seems to be a general theme that is shared by all of mankind. Ultimately, I do believe that Stager was able to effectively display some of the ways that humans are able to impact the environment, and I personally hope that more and more people become conscious about their footprint on this planet.