How You Can Do Science In Your Own Back Yard

Project BudBurst 2009 is a way for all of us to contribute data to a serious study on climate change. The National Phenology Network is reaching out to people around the country to record the growth stages of their local flora and report it online.

The advent of technology such as digital cameras, GIS, Google Earth and social networking sites like Facebook have allowed ordinary citizens to be amateur naturalists and take photos of the first flowering of different species and upload them to a database. This will allow scientists to track changes over time of when flowers bloom in different locations and cover a far larger area than the scientists could possibly do by themselves.

So dig out your cameras and join me in searching out the local flora. Together we can make a unique contribution to the science of climate change.