Retirement gives some of the lucky ones (I include myself) an unusual opportunity to make nature observations. While unscientific, to be sure, they give us a look at what’s happening in the natural world around us.
We read much about climate change — the Greenland glacier and South Pole ice melt, Arctic ice and villages disappearing, agricultural water shortages and seasonal changes. Yet, in spite of the wealth of scientific information, there continues to be skepticism. A recent Audubon magazine feature about the continuing problems of the village of Wainwright, Alaska — survivors for 10,000 years now facing disappearing Arctic ice and melting permafrost — highlights just one physical problem regarding our changing climate.
It’s been said we often complain about the weather but do little about it; that is true, but at least today’s meteorologists provide ample advance warning we lacked in the past. My personal observations, which I admit are unscientific, include observing abnormal early plant flowering, both flora and fauna range change or expansion, and change in songbirds’ north-south seasonal migration. Changes are taking place, however small.
