I recently completed a workshop on the life and work of Aldo Leopold through the Leopold Education Project while attending the Environmental Educators of North Carolina annual conference. Leopold is best known for defining the concept of the Land Ethic. One of the elements of Leopold's study of the natural world was to keep records of when and how the plants and animals around him changed with the season. This practice is known as Phenology, from the Greek, φαίνω (phainō), "to show, to bring to light, make to appear"[1]. I do not have the time or patients to keep a journal of the changes in my yard, but I do notice the changes as they occur. The changing of the leaves in fall and the first blooms of springs are signs we all notice and use to mark time in our lives. I especially note the changing of the birds at my feeders. Last week marked the beginning of the fall/winter birds with the arrival of the Dark-eyed Junco and the Purple Finch down from Canada and points north. Weeks before the last Ruby-throated Hummingbird took its last sip from my hummingbird feeder before heading for Central America. There is a certain reassurance that comes from seeing these changes each year, much like the comfort that comes from family, cultural and religious rituals. So one could see these changes as nature's rituals. 
The following questions come to mind. What elements of nature help you mark time? How have they changed in your lifetime and how might climate change affect them and you? Please leave your though here and lets see what we learn about the environment and each other.
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