The diaries of one of my heroes, Henry David Thoreau, have found a new use recently. Thoreau walked for miles every day, taking observations on what he saw, noting the changing seasons. He obsessively noted the first buds and leaves in spring, measured the thickness of the ice on his lake, and noted when migrating birds first appeared in his woods.
150 years later, his notes are an unique record of the biodiversity of one specific region, and comparing it to the present can teach us some important lessons about climate change.
The Earthbound Report 