I soon found myself observing when plants first blossomed and leafed
January 27, 2008 10:17 AM Subscribe
Thoreau was into it. Scientists are using it to understand climate change. When Project Budburst starts again on Febraury 15th, you can participate, too.
Maps of 2007 data from the National Phenology Network: first leaf date and first bloom date. Phenology projects in various parts of the world.
Maps of 2007 data from the National Phenology Network: first leaf date and first bloom date. Phenology projects in various parts of the world.
Thoreau might be the secular patron saint of ecology and the environment, but visit his Walden Pond and try swimming in it! ugh! we have wrecked the saint's bathtub.
posted by Postroad at 11:13 AM on January 27, 2008
posted by Postroad at 11:13 AM on January 27, 2008
Phenology? Pish-posh. What nonsense. You can't tell anything about a person's mental processes just by looking at the shape of their skull.
posted by koeselitz at 11:46 AM on January 27, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by koeselitz at 11:46 AM on January 27, 2008 [1 favorite]
Thoreau might be the secular patron saint of ecology and the environment, but visit his Walden Pond and try swimming in it! ugh! we have wrecked the saint's bathtub.
What? The pond's swimming area is very popular. "In order to preserve Walden Pond, visitation is limited to 1,000 vehicles at any given time....this limit is only reached on hot summer weekends when visitors flock to the beach."* "Swimmers are allowed to enter at a dozen spots in isolated parts of the pond..."* Triathletes-in-training, families, teens and sunbathers are at the beach every day in the summer.
posted by ericb at 12:04 PM on January 27, 2008
What? The pond's swimming area is very popular. "In order to preserve Walden Pond, visitation is limited to 1,000 vehicles at any given time....this limit is only reached on hot summer weekends when visitors flock to the beach."* "Swimmers are allowed to enter at a dozen spots in isolated parts of the pond..."* Triathletes-in-training, families, teens and sunbathers are at the beach every day in the summer.
posted by ericb at 12:04 PM on January 27, 2008
However, I am not going to tell you what "it" is unless you click on the links. Because I am special.
posted by LarryC at 12:05 PM on January 27, 2008
posted by LarryC at 12:05 PM on January 27, 2008
BTW -- one of the primary missions of The Walden Woods Project (founded in 1990 by Don Henley) is helping the Walden Pond State Reservation in preserving and protecting land and water of the park. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation has been diligent in enforcing strict guidelines to ensure the quality of the land and the pond.
posted by ericb at 12:15 PM on January 27, 2008
posted by ericb at 12:15 PM on January 27, 2008
Well, it's worth clicking on the links because this is cool. This makes me wish I was an elementary school teacher because tracking when the local flowers budded would be an awesome class project.
posted by selfmedicating at 12:41 PM on January 27, 2008
posted by selfmedicating at 12:41 PM on January 27, 2008
/rambling derail
Also seconding Walden as a cool place to swim, and only during off-times. I tend to disbelieve the "urine-content-of-Walden" myth, but seeing how many toddlers swim in there every day in June, July, and August, you've gotta wonder. Still, I don't care; how many squirrels piss and poop all over the place, everywhere? I once had a friend who wouldn't drink water "because fish fuck in it."
/end rambling derail
Bookmarked - I'll try and remember to participate!
posted by not_on_display at 12:45 PM on January 27, 2008
Also seconding Walden as a cool place to swim, and only during off-times. I tend to disbelieve the "urine-content-of-Walden" myth, but seeing how many toddlers swim in there every day in June, July, and August, you've gotta wonder. Still, I don't care; how many squirrels piss and poop all over the place, everywhere? I once had a friend who wouldn't drink water "because fish fuck in it."
/end rambling derail
Bookmarked - I'll try and remember to participate!
posted by not_on_display at 12:45 PM on January 27, 2008
Richard Primack and Abraham Miller-Rushing at Boston University have been developing the Nature's Calendar New England project for the last couple years; here's a lecture they gave on their project last February.
posted by nonane at 2:49 PM on January 27, 2008
posted by nonane at 2:49 PM on January 27, 2008
This is reminiscent of the use of the Nenana river ice lottery for longitudinal climate data.
posted by Rumple at 3:08 PM on January 27, 2008
posted by Rumple at 3:08 PM on January 27, 2008
This is reminiscent of the use of the Nenana river ice lottery for longitudinal climate data.
Brings to mind the use of Lake Ice-Out Dates as Indicators of Climate Change in New England (e.g. Indicators of Climate Change in the Northeast over the Past 100 Years [PDF]).
posted by ericb at 3:30 PM on January 27, 2008
Brings to mind the use of Lake Ice-Out Dates as Indicators of Climate Change in New England (e.g. Indicators of Climate Change in the Northeast over the Past 100 Years [PDF]).
posted by ericb at 3:30 PM on January 27, 2008
Anybody up for traipsing around San Francisco with me some weekend in February to help out with Project Budburst? MeFiMail me!
*biochemist gets giddy at thought of doing real biology*
posted by Quietgal at 4:05 PM on January 27, 2008
*biochemist gets giddy at thought of doing real biology*
posted by Quietgal at 4:05 PM on January 27, 2008
Also known as "green-up" date in the terminology of a certain Federal bureaucracy.
posted by X4ster at 8:54 PM on January 27, 2008
posted by X4ster at 8:54 PM on January 27, 2008
It's heading toward -20°C here. I'm all for climate change right now.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:40 PM on January 28, 2008
posted by five fresh fish at 5:40 PM on January 28, 2008
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posted by DU at 10:26 AM on January 27, 2008