The moment is ripe to join thousands of other citizen scientists this spring in observing when the leaves come out and flowers bloom, when insects emerge, and when birds start migrating.
By observing and reporting these plant and animal life cycle events, you can help determine how they are influenced by long-term variations in climate.
For example, through citizen scientist observations, researchers can see that tree swallows now nest on average 9 days earlier than they did in 1959. Frogs in New York are calling 10-13 days earlier than in the beginning of the 1900s.
If you want to participate, check out the USA National Phenology Network. If the term is new, phenology is the study of recurring plant and animal life cycle stages, or phenophases, such as leafing and flowering of plants, maturation of agricultural crops, emergence of insects, and migration of birds. Many of these events are sensitive to climatic variation and change, and are simple to observe and record.
If you're not a plant person try the new Science For Citizens general science site for all kinds of other fun participatory things you can try.
If you like birds, Cornell's Citizen Science bird watching program is a good way to go (Nest cams!)
Even the NY Times has jumped on the bandwagon, saying that Citizen Science can be a lot more nimble than bloated government-funded programs. And a much better way to get people involved than yet another committee meeting talking about how to do things.
Treehugger is a fan as well and did an article on citizen science in biological conservation.
There are many ways to get involved. Don't want to get your hands dirty? Write your own science articles. Or, if you want to help the next generation of scientists, write a science article for younger students.
Have a citizen science project we missed? Leave a comment!