Climate change is changing the environment. Studies have shown that higher levels of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) are warming the planet. But it isn't easy to predict how those changes will affect life in the future. To fix that, some researchers are bringing the future to life, today, no time machines involved.
Environmental data is turning up in unexpected places. In the April issue of Popular Science, Katie Peek reports on one such source: the journals of Henry David Thoreau. The 19th-century naturalist and writer wrote down such detailed, comprehensive observations on the flora and fauna around him that a Boston University lab was able to chart the impacts of climate change - how muchmuch earlier leaves appear, flowers bloom and birds migrate in the early 21st century compared to the Concord, Massachusetts of the mid-1800s - by comparing Thoreau's notes to present-day conditions.
