The individual feels powerless to help. Searching for evidence of global climate change seems to require scientists using technological marvels to probe ancient ice and rock, to photograph earth from distant satellites or to measure temperatures on the bottom of the ocean. What can we - the non-scientists - do to help?
One answer involves personal observation from your own backyard. You, the individual, can play an important role by adding your observations to scientific knowledge of our Earth by being a phenologist.
Phenology involves observing annual plant and animal phenomenon in relation to climate, seasonal, or other environmental changes, and can take place right in our own communities. Like animals that respond quickly to subtle climate changes, we are natural observers of change in the world around us.
For instance, ice skaters notice that skating is no longer a Thanksgiving possibility. Skiers claim the snows come later, if at all. A farmer wonders why tomato skins are thicker. A child wonders why the frogs have stopped singing. A Grandmother remembers that the lilacs always bloomed for her March birthday. Many such records of observation exist - not from labs or lengthy scientific expeditions - but from people's everyday observations, from their recollections over time, or from family or farming records.
These are valid observations, and reports ranging from local migratory bird activity and seasonal planting events to insect hatches all become pieces of a larger puzzle that scientists are putting together. Without all these pieces, the picture is incomplete.
In our Power of Observation stories, you'll learn how you can be involved from people who are observing, from people who are noticing, and from people who are talking about the changes they see around them.