Daniel Botkin, professor of ecology, evolution and marine biology at the University of California at Santa Barbara and president of the Center for the Study of the Environment, spoke on "What Thoreau would say to George W. Bush: Solving Environmental Problems in the 21st Century" on Monday in the Cole Assembly Room. Botkin's talk and a lecture to be given Thursday by Columbia University Professor of Ecology Stuart Pimm called "Life on Earth: Does it Have a Future" will make up the Pick lecture series in environmental studies.

Botkin, who holds degrees in physics, biology and literature, described many of the issues he explored in his most recent book, "No Man's Garden: Thoreau and a New Vision for Civilization and Nature."

"Thoreau wrote very deeply about the relationships between civilization and nature and between himself and nature. You can look at his life as an attempt, a search to make contact with nature," said Botkin. "The question is how can we solve environmental problems in the 21st century-and that's a really tough question."

"The first thing [Thoreau] would tell George W. Bush is learn directly from detailed experiences," Botkin said. "His advice directly to George W. Bush and to us is that you want to deal with people and nature. You have to think about nature and civilization mixed together as one system."

Contrary to popular belief, Thoreau "truly believed in the value of civilization," Botkin said. "He liked nature near to town. What he liked was a swamp on the edge of town-that's where he could mix humanity and nature."

Thoreau often supported civilization's use of the land to satisfy its needs, Botkin said. "Thoreau had no problems with the utilization of the natural resources. He didn't mind logging." Botkin said that the only time Thoreau became angry at loggers was when they did not attempt to reuse the land they had deforested to create farms or towns.

Botkin said Thoreau's second piece of advice to Bush would be to select knowledgeable advisors. "Pick people who have direct experience on the ground, really deep experience. You listen to them as a starting point and then you hire people to test their ideas," he said.

"One function of the government was to provide information useful to its citizens so it could be productive in their lives," added Botkin. "So that's another piece of advice I'm sure he would give George Bush."

Botkin said that he was concerned with the current state of environmental research, in which scientists are using static models, rather than the dynamic models that better describe nature. "This whole idea of dynamism is very important. Thoreau would advise the present administration to consider dynamic aspects," he said.

"If George Bush won't listen to his advice, I hope all of you will," Botkin said in conclusion. "Because it's your generation that will have to solve these problems. We can solve problems if we really want to."

"I think he's a good speaker and that he addressed the issues he said he was going to address," said Sarah Dasher '04E. "Personally, I feel like he was imposing Thoreau's thinking on modern environmental policy because he has star power, not because Thoreau was necessarily the best person."