How Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller, Whitman, and Alcott Illuminate Contemporary Environmental Philosophy
Introduction
In an era of unprecedented environmental crisis, the philosophical foundations for ecological thinking and action have never been more crucial. While contemporary environmental philosophy may seem a recent development, its deepest roots trace back to the American transcendentalists of the nineteenth century. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Walt Whitman, and Bronson Alcott developed a revolutionary philosophy that challenged the mechanistic worldview of their time, proposing instead a vision of nature as inherently valuable, spiritually significant, and deeply interconnected with human consciousness. Their ideas, far from being merely historical curiosities, provide essential philosophical grounding for modern environmental movements, particularly the frameworks of deep ecology and ecocentrism that guide contemporary responses to climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainability challenges.
This essay examines the core philosophical theses of these five transcendentalist thinkers, analyzing their primary works to understand how their nineteenth-century insights speak directly to twenty-first-century environmental crises. Through careful analysis of their writings and their reception in contemporary environmental philosophy, we can see how transcendentalist thought provides both theoretical foundation and practical guidance for addressing our most pressing ecological challenges. The transcendentalists’ emphasis on the intrinsic value of nature, the interconnectedness of all life, and the need for spiritual transformation in our relationship with the natural world anticipates and informs the deep ecology movement, while their democratic ideals and social reform impulses connect directly to contemporary environmental justice efforts.
Core Philosophical Foundations of American Transcendentalism
American transcendentalism emerged in the 1830s as a philosophical and literary movement centered in New England, primarily around Concord, Massachusetts. At its core, transcendentalism rejected the cold rationalism of Enlightenment thought and the doctrine of materialism that accompanied rapid industrialization. Instead, transcendentalists posited that truth could be accessed through intuition, direct experience of nature, and recognition of an inherent divinity within both humanity and the natural world.¹
The movement’s foundational principle was the belief in the inherent goodness of both people and nature. Transcendentalists argued that society and its institutions corrupted the purity of the individual, and that people were at their best when truly “self-reliant” and independent. This philosophy extended to their understanding of nature, which they viewed not as a resource to be exploited but as a source of spiritual truth and moral guidance. As Lawrence Buell notes in his seminal work The Environmental Imagination, transcendentalism “established nature as a source of spiritual truth and moral guidance that could serve as an antidote to the materialism and conformity of modern society.”²
Central to transcendentalist philosophy was the concept of the “Over-Soul,” articulated most clearly by Emerson, which described a universal spiritual reality connecting all beings. This metaphysical framework provided the basis for understanding nature not as separate from humanity but as part of a unified whole, anticipating modern ecological concepts of interconnectedness and systems thinking. The transcendentalists’ rejection of dualism – the separation of spirit and matter, human and nature – laid crucial groundwork for what would later develop into ecocentric environmental philosophy.³
Individual Transcendentalists and Their Environmental Thought
Ralph Waldo Emerson: Nature as Spiritual Teacher
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) established the philosophical foundation of transcendentalism with his 1836 essay “Nature,” which begins with his famous declaration: “Nature is the incarnation of thought, and turns to thought again as ice becomes water and gas.”⁴ In this groundbreaking work, Emerson articulated a vision of nature as both material reality and spiritual symbol, arguing that the natural world serves as humanity’s greatest teacher in understanding universal truths.
Emerson’s most influential contribution to environmental thought lies in his concept of the “transparent eyeball,” described in one of American literature’s most famous passages: “Standing on the bare ground, — my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, — all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.”⁵ This mystical experience of union with nature established a model for understanding human-nature relationships that transcends utilitarian calculations, suggesting instead a spiritual communion that reveals fundamental truths about existence.
The philosophical implications of Emerson’s nature philosophy extend far beyond romantic appreciation. In his essay “The Over-Soul,” Emerson develops his concept of universal spiritual unity: “Within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related, the eternal ONE.”⁶ This metaphysical framework provides the basis for recognizing what contemporary environmental philosophers call the “intrinsic value” of nature – value that exists independent of human utility. As Philip Cafaro argues in his analysis of transcendentalist environmental ethics, “Emerson’s philosophy compelled his followers to defend nature’s intrinsic value, even if Emerson himself remained somewhat ambivalent about wilderness preservation.”⁷
Emerson’s influence on environmental thought also manifests in his critique of materialism and his call for a more authentic relationship with the natural world. “The happiest man,” he wrote, “is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.”⁸ This emphasis on nature as a source of spiritual insight rather than merely material resources challenged the dominant paradigm of his era and continues to offer an alternative to purely economic valuations of nature in our own time.
Henry David Thoreau: The Practice of Ecological Living
If Emerson provided the philosophical framework for transcendentalist environmental thought, Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) demonstrated its practical application. His two-year experiment at Walden Pond, documented in Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854), remains one of the most influential works of environmental literature, offering both a critique of industrial society and a model for sustainable living.
Thoreau’s environmental philosophy centered on direct, sustained engagement with nature. “I went to the woods,” he famously declared, “because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”⁹ This deliberate living involved not just physical proximity to nature but a fundamental reorientation of values away from material accumulation toward spiritual and intellectual development.
Perhaps Thoreau’s most significant contribution to environmental thought lies in his recognition of wildness as essential to human and planetary well-being. “In Wildness is the preservation of the World,” he proclaimed in his essay “Walking,” a statement that has become a rallying cry for conservation movements.¹⁰ For Thoreau, wildness represented not just wilderness areas but the vital, self-organizing power of nature that exists everywhere, from the woods to the human soul. This concept anticipates contemporary understanding of ecosystem services and the importance of biodiversity for planetary health.
Thoreau’s detailed observations of seasonal changes, meticulously recorded in his journals, have proven invaluable to modern climate scientists. Richard Primack and Abraham Miller-Rushing have used Thoreau’s phenological data from the 1850s as baseline information for documenting climate change impacts in New England, demonstrating how his naturalist practices contribute directly to contemporary environmental science.¹¹
More philosophically, Thoreau developed an early form of what we now call environmental ethics. “Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself?” he asked in Walden, articulating an understanding of human embeddedness in natural systems that prefigures deep ecology.¹² His assertion that “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone” provides a philosophical basis for voluntary simplicity movements and critiques of consumerism that remain highly relevant to addressing climate change and resource depletion.¹³
Margaret Fuller: Organic Unity and Proto-Ecofeminism
Margaret Fuller (1810-1850), often overlooked in discussions of transcendentalist environmental thought, made crucial contributions that connect social justice with ecological thinking. As editor of The Dial and author of Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845), Fuller expanded transcendentalist philosophy to encompass gender equality and social reform in ways that prefigure contemporary ecofeminist thought.
Fuller’s concept of “organic unity” provided a framework for understanding the interconnections between all forms of oppression. “Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism,” she wrote. “But, in fact, they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman.”¹⁴ This rejection of rigid dualistic thinking extends beyond gender to challenge the nature/culture divide that enables environmental exploitation.
In her travel narrative Summer on the Lakes (1844), Fuller demonstrated early ecological consciousness through her critique of American expansion and its environmental consequences. She mourned the destruction of Native American cultures and landscapes, recognizing the connection between cultural and ecological devastation. Recent scholarship has identified Fuller as a proto-ecofeminist whose work “anticipated contemporary ecofeminist theory by connecting the oppression of women with the domination of nature.”¹⁵
Fuller’s transcendentalism emphasized that authentic development must be organic and natural: “What Woman needs is not as a woman to act or rule, but as a nature to grow, as an intellect to discern, as a soul to live freely and unimpeded.”¹⁶ This organic metaphor extends throughout her work, suggesting that both human development and social reform must follow natural patterns rather than imposed artificial constraints. Her vision of “fluid” gender roles and organic social development provides a model for thinking about human society as part of natural systems rather than separate from them.
Walt Whitman: Democratic Ecology and Cosmic Consciousness
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) brought a radically democratic vision to transcendentalist environmental thought. His masterwork Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855 and revised throughout his life, presents a cosmic vision of interconnectedness that encompasses all beings in a democratic embrace. “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you,” he declares in the opening lines of “Song of Myself,” establishing a philosophy of radical equality that extends beyond humanity to encompass the entire natural world.¹⁷
Whitman’s environmental philosophy emerged through his concept of cosmic consciousness, a expansive awareness that recognizes the self as continuous with all existence. “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars,” he wrote, suggesting a democratic cosmos where every element possesses equal significance.¹⁸ This vision anticipates the deep ecology principle of “biocentric equality,” which recognizes the intrinsic value of all life forms.
In his 1855 Preface to Leaves of Grass, Whitman articulated a vision of American poetry that must “incarnate its geography and natural life and rivers and lakes.”¹⁹ Unlike Thoreau’s retreat to Walden, Whitman found transcendence in both wilderness and the democratic crowd, suggesting that ecological consciousness could emerge within modern urban life as well as in pristine nature. His poetry celebrates the body and sexuality as natural and sacred, challenging dualistic separations of spirit and matter that enable environmental exploitation.
Contemporary scholars have recognized Whitman’s contribution to environmental thought through his democratic ecology. As M. Jimmie Killingsworth argues in Walt Whitman and the Earth, Whitman’s poetry embodies “the kinds of conflicted experience and language that continually crop up in the discourse of political ecology.”²⁰ His inclusive vision, which encompasses marginalized peoples and degraded landscapes alongside the beautiful and powerful, provides a foundation for environmental justice approaches that consider social and ecological well-being as inseparable.
Bronson Alcott: Living Philosophy Through Experimental Communities
Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888), father of Louisa May Alcott and pioneering educator, contributed to transcendentalist environmental thought through his attempts to live philosophical ideals in practical community settings. His experimental approaches to education and communal living demonstrated how transcendentalist principles could be applied to create more sustainable and spiritually grounded ways of life.
Alcott’s educational philosophy revolutionized teaching by treating children as inherently good beings whose natural wisdom should be drawn out rather than imposed upon. “Education,” he wrote, “is that process by which thought is opened out of the soul, and, associated with outward… things, is reflected back upon itself, and thus made conscious of its reality and shape. It is Self-Realization.”²¹ This organic view of education parallels transcendentalist views of nature as teacher, suggesting that human development should follow natural patterns of growth.
The Fruitlands experiment of 1843, though lasting only seven months, represented one of the most radical attempts to live transcendentalist philosophy. The community practiced strict veganism, rejected the use of animal labor, and attempted complete self-sufficiency. As Alcott declared, “No animal substance, neither flesh, butter, cheese, eggs, nor milk, pollute our tables, or corrupt our bodies.”²² While the experiment failed due to impractical idealism and inadequate agricultural knowledge, it established important precedents for intentional communities and demonstrated the connection between dietary choices and environmental ethics.
Alcott’s belief that “Who loves a garden still his Eden keeps” reflected his understanding of human spiritual development as inseparable from relationship with the land.²³ His later work establishing the Concord School of Philosophy created a model for adult environmental education through philosophical conversation, a practice that continues in contemporary environmental education programs. The legacy of transcendentalist communal experiments can be seen in modern ecovillages, CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), and other attempts to create sustainable alternatives to industrial society.
Transcendentalist Communities and Environmental Practice
The transcendentalists’ commitment to living their philosophy led to numerous experimental communities that sought to embody their ideals of simple living, social reform, and harmony with nature. These experiments, while often short-lived, established important precedents for contemporary intentional communities and sustainable living movements.
Brook Farm (1841-1847), founded by George Ripley, represented the most successful transcendentalist community experiment. Based on principles of intellectual and manual labor combined, the community sought to create a society where all members could develop their full potential while living in harmony with nature. The community’s school became renowned for its progressive methods, and its attempt to balance intellectual and physical work provided a model for addressing the alienation of industrial labor.²⁴
These communal experiments demonstrated both the possibilities and limitations of attempting to create alternative societies based on transcendentalist principles. Their emphasis on vegetarianism, simple living, and communal property ownership anticipated many features of contemporary sustainability movements. Their failures – often due to impractical idealism, gender inequality, and economic challenges – provide important lessons for modern intentional communities about the need to balance idealism with practical considerations.
The Conversations movement, exemplified by Margaret Fuller’s women’s conversations and Alcott’s philosophical discussions, created spaces for democratic dialogue about philosophical and practical questions. This practice of collective inquiry as a means of both personal and social transformation continues in contemporary environmental education and activism, from community forums on climate action to philosophical cafes exploring environmental ethics.
Contemporary Environmental Philosophy: Deep Ecology and Ecocentrism
The philosophical legacy of transcendentalism finds its most direct contemporary expression in the deep ecology movement founded by Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess. In 1973, Naess distinguished between “shallow” ecology movements focused on pollution and resource depletion for human benefit, and “deep” ecology that questions deeper premises about humanity’s relationship with nature.²⁵
The eight-point platform of deep ecology, developed by Naess and George Sessions in 1984, bears striking resemblance to transcendentalist principles:
- The well-being and flourishing of human and nonhuman life have intrinsic value
- Richness and diversity of life forms are values in themselves
- Humans have no right to reduce this richness except to satisfy vital needs
- Current human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive
- Human life and culture are compatible with a substantial decrease in human population
- Significant policy changes are required in economic, technological, and ideological structures
- The ideological change involves appreciating life quality rather than adhering to higher standards of living
- Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation to participate in implementing necessary changes²⁶
These principles echo transcendentalist ideas about nature’s intrinsic value, the need for simple living, and the obligation to act on one’s philosophical convictions. The deep ecology concept of “ecological self” – understanding oneself as continuous with the larger web of life – directly parallels Thoreau’s question, “Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself?”²⁷
Contemporary scholarship has extensively documented the connections between transcendentalism and deep ecology. Timothy Quick’s analysis demonstrates that “the eco-centric worldview and value system espoused by deep ecology has its roots in transcendentalism,” particularly in the critique of anthropocentrism and advocacy for nature’s intrinsic value.²⁸ Both movements share a rejection of mechanistic worldviews, an emphasis on experiential knowledge of nature, and a conviction that environmental problems stem from spiritual and philosophical errors rather than merely technical challenges.
Ecocentrism, the philosophical position that ecosystems and the natural world deserve moral consideration independent of human interests, builds directly on transcendentalist insights. Where anthropocentrism views nature primarily as a resource for human use, ecocentrism recognizes what Emerson called the “occult relation between man and the vegetable” – a mysterious interconnection that transcends utilitarian calculations.²⁹ This shift in perspective from human-centered to life-centered ethics represents one of transcendentalism’s most important contributions to contemporary environmental thought.
Addressing Twenty-First Century Environmental Challenges
The relevance of transcendentalist philosophy to contemporary environmental challenges becomes clear when we examine how their ideas apply to climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainability. Far from being merely historical curiosities, transcendentalist insights provide both analytical frameworks and practical guidance for addressing our most pressing ecological crises.
Climate Change and Transcendentalist Thought
The transcendentalist critique of industrialization and materialism speaks directly to the root causes of climate change. Thoreau’s observation that “Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind” challenges the growth-dependent economic system driving greenhouse gas emissions.³⁰ His experiment in simple living at Walden Pond demonstrates that reduced consumption need not mean reduced quality of life – indeed, he found that living with less led to greater spiritual and intellectual richness.
Contemporary climate activists explicitly draw on transcendentalist philosophy and tactics. Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, frequently cites Thoreau’s influence on his environmental activism and philosophy of civil disobedience. The climate movement’s use of civil disobedience – from pipeline protests to fossil fuel divestment campaigns – follows directly in the tradition established by Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience,” which argued for the moral obligation to resist unjust laws.³¹
Moreover, transcendentalist phenological observations provide crucial baseline data for climate science. Thoreau’s meticulous records of flowering times, bird migrations, and seasonal changes in the 1850s offer scientists concrete evidence of how climate change has altered New England ecosystems. This unexpected scientific contribution demonstrates how transcendentalist practices of careful nature observation remain relevant to contemporary environmental science.³²
Biodiversity Conservation and the Intrinsic Value of Nature
The transcendentalist recognition of nature’s intrinsic value provides essential philosophical grounding for biodiversity conservation efforts. Unlike purely economic arguments for conservation, which struggle to justify protecting species with no obvious human utility, transcendentalist philosophy asserts that all life forms possess inherent worth. Emerson’s vision of nature as “the organ through which the universal spirit speaks to the individual” suggests that biodiversity loss represents not just material impoverishment but spiritual diminishment.³³
John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club and father of the American conservation movement, explicitly drew on transcendentalist philosophy in his advocacy for wilderness preservation. His famous declaration that “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks” echoes transcendentalist themes while establishing the philosophical basis for the national park system.³⁴ Contemporary conservation biology increasingly recognizes that effective biodiversity protection requires not just scientific knowledge but also philosophical and spiritual frameworks that motivate action – precisely what transcendentalism provides.
Sustainability and Environmental Justice
The transcendentalist integration of social reform with environmental concern prefigures contemporary environmental justice movements. Margaret Fuller’s recognition of the connections between various forms of oppression, Walt Whitman’s democratic inclusivity, and the movement’s general commitment to abolition and social reform demonstrate that environmental and social justice were never separate in transcendentalist thought.
Modern environmental justice advocates draw on transcendentalist principles in recognizing that environmental degradation disproportionately affects marginalized communities. The transcendentalist emphasis on moral law transcending unjust human laws provides philosophical justification for challenging environmental racism and advocating for equitable distribution of environmental benefits and burdens. As theologian John Buehrens notes, “If you care about climate change, racial justice or equality, thank a transcendentalist.”³⁵
The transcendentalist model of sustainable communities, despite the practical failures of experiments like Fruitlands, continues to inspire contemporary ecovillages, transition towns, and other attempts to create sustainable alternatives to industrial society. These modern movements share transcendentalist convictions about the importance of local self-reliance, connection to land, and integration of spiritual practice with daily life.
The Continuing Relevance of Transcendentalist Environmental Thought
As we face unprecedented environmental challenges in the twenty-first century, transcendentalist philosophy offers essential resources for both understanding and addressing these crises. The movement’s recognition of nature’s intrinsic value provides philosophical grounding for conservation efforts that transcend utilitarian calculations. Its emphasis on experiential knowledge and careful observation of nature establishes practices that remain central to environmental science and education. Most importantly, its integration of spiritual, ethical, and practical dimensions offers a holistic approach to environmental challenges that purely technical or policy solutions cannot provide.
The transcendentalists understood that environmental problems ultimately stem from spiritual and philosophical errors – from viewing nature as separate from ourselves, as merely instrumental to human purposes, as lacking inherent value or meaning. Their alternative vision of humans as “part and parcel of nature,” in Thoreau’s phrase, anticipates contemporary ecological understanding while adding crucial spiritual and ethical dimensions often absent from scientific discourse.³⁶
Contemporary environmental movements continue to draw inspiration and guidance from transcendentalist thought. From climate activists practicing civil disobedience to conservation biologists defending biodiversity’s intrinsic value, from environmental justice advocates challenging systemic oppression to practitioners of voluntary simplicity reducing consumption, the legacy of Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller, Whitman, and Alcott lives on. Their conviction that individual transformation and social reform must proceed together, that spiritual development and environmental protection are inseparable, remains as relevant today as it was in nineteenth-century New England.
Conclusion
The romantic transcendentalists of nineteenth-century America developed a revolutionary philosophy that challenged the mechanistic worldview of their time and established foundations for contemporary environmental thought that remain vitally relevant. Through their recognition of nature’s intrinsic value, their understanding of ecological interconnectedness, and their integration of spiritual insight with practical action, they anticipated and informed modern environmental philosophy, particularly deep ecology and ecocentrism.
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s vision of nature as spiritual teacher, Henry David Thoreau’s practice of deliberate living, Margaret Fuller’s organic unity linking social and environmental justice, Walt Whitman’s democratic ecology, and Bronson Alcott’s experimental communities each contributed unique insights that speak directly to twenty-first-century environmental challenges. Their collective legacy demonstrates that effective environmental protection requires not just scientific knowledge and policy solutions but also philosophical and spiritual transformation in how we understand our relationship with the natural world.
As we confront climate change, biodiversity loss, and the need for sustainable societies, transcendentalist philosophy offers both analytical tools and practical wisdom. Its critique of materialism and advocacy for simple living address root causes of overconsumption. Its recognition of nature’s intrinsic value provides philosophical grounding for conservation efforts. Its integration of individual development with social reform offers models for environmental justice. Most fundamentally, its vision of humans as part of nature rather than separate from it provides the philosophical shift necessary for creating truly sustainable relationships with the Earth.
The transcendentalists remind us that environmental challenges are not merely technical problems to be solved but spiritual and philosophical crises requiring fundamental transformation in consciousness and values. Their enduring legacy lies not just in their specific ideas but in their demonstration that philosophy must be lived, that thought and action must unite, and that the path to environmental healing runs through both individual transformation and collective reform. In our time of ecological crisis, their voices call us back to essential truths about our place in the web of life and forward to the work of creating societies that honor these truths. As Thoreau reminds us, “Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads” – if only we have the wisdom to recognize and protect it.³⁷
Notes
- Lawrence Buell, The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995), 1-28.
- Buell, Environmental Imagination, 35.
- Philip Cafaro, Thoreau’s Living Ethics: Walden and the Pursuit of Virtue (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2004), 89-92.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Nature,” in Essays: First and Second Series (New York: Library of America, 1990), 47.
- Emerson, “Nature,” 10.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Over-Soul,” in Essays: First and Second Series, 262.
- Philip Cafaro, “Thoreau, Leopold, and Carson: Toward an Environmental Virtue Ethic,” Environmental Ethics 23, no. 1 (2001): 3-17.
- Emerson, “Nature,” 38.
- Henry David Thoreau, Walden; or, Life in the Woods, ed. Jeffrey S. Cramer (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004), 90.
- Henry David Thoreau, “Walking,” in Collected Essays and Poems (New York: Library of America, 2001), 240.
- Richard B. Primack and Abraham J. Miller-Rushing, “Uncovering, Collecting, and Analyzing Records to Investigate the Ecological Impacts of Climate Change: A Template from Thoreau’s Concord,” BioScience 62, no. 2 (2012): 170-181.
- Thoreau, Walden, 138.
- Thoreau, Walden, 82.
- Margaret Fuller, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, ed. Larry J. Reynolds (New York: W.W. Norton, 1998), 68.
- Christina Zwarg, Feminist Conversations: Fuller, Emerson, and the Play of Reading (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995), 156.
- Fuller, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, 37.
- Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself,” in Leaves of Grass, ed. Harold W. Blodgett and Sculley Bradley (New York: W.W. Norton, 1965), 28.
- Whitman, “Song of Myself,” 31.
- Walt Whitman, “Preface 1855,” in Leaves of Grass, 715.
- M. Jimmie Killingsworth, Walt Whitman and the Earth: A Study in Ecopoetics (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2004), 12.
- Amos Bronson Alcott, The Journals of Bronson Alcott, ed. Odell Shepard (Boston: Little, Brown, 1938), 156.
- Charles Lane and Bronson Alcott, “Fruitlands,” The Dial 4 (July 1843): 135-136.
- Bronson Alcott, Tablets (Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1868), 87.
- Sterling F. Delano, Brook Farm: The Dark Side of Utopia (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004), 45-78.
- Arne Naess, “The Shallow and the Deep, Long‐Range Ecology Movement: A Summary,” Inquiry 16, no. 1-4 (1973): 95-100.
- Arne Naess and George Sessions, “Basic Principles of Deep Ecology,” Ecophilosophy 6 (1984): 3-7.
- Thoreau, Walden, 138.
- Timothy D. Quick, “American Transcendentalism in the History of Deep Ecology Ideas” (master’s thesis, California State University, 2004), 89.
- Emerson, “Nature,” 11.
- Thoreau, Walden, 15.
- Bill McKibben, The End of Nature (New York: Random House, 2006), xxii-xxv.
- Primack and Miller-Rushing, “Uncovering, Collecting, and Analyzing Records,” 170-181.
- Emerson, “Nature,” 22.
- John Muir, Our National Parks (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1901), 56.
- John A. Buehrens, “If You Care About Climate Change, Racial Justice or Equality, Thank a Transcendentalist,” Dallas Morning News, March 14, 2021.
- Thoreau, Walden, 138.
- Thoreau, Walden, 283.
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