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44 North American Natural Resources: Timber and Forest Products
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was an essayist, naturalist, poet, and activist who lived in
the 1800s. He is well known for his collection of essays called
Walden; or, Life
in the Woods.
In these essays, he wrote about the benefits of living a natural
life, close to nature. He described feeling grief when a tree was cut down. He
said of those who did not fully appreciate nature, “I would that our farmers
when they cut down a forest felt some of that awe which the old Romans did
when they came to thin, or let in the light to, a consecrated grove.” Thoreau’s
works have been an inspiration to countless environmentalists, writers,
conservationists, and nature lovers.
A replica of the cabin where Henry David Thoreau wrote his most famous work, in
Walden Woods, Massachusetts.