Thinking about time

I'm so excited!  At this time of year, I start to feel the effect of the shorter days and like the trees, I turn inward. I begin to reflect on the last year and dream for the coming year.  Last week, my daughter and I found an amazing calendar at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  It is called the ECOlogical Calendar by Chris Hardman; the subtitle is 'A New Way to Experience Time.'

 I am ready for a new way to experience time, especially this time of year.  Instead of looking at a year in the traditional human sense, with months, days, and hours, this calendar looks at a year from the perspective of seasons-winter, spring, summer, fall-and the star position, sun position, moon position, ocean tides, and...you guessed it....phenological events.

You probably already know that I geek out about this stuff.  So, I bought the calendar and was reading it this morning as I start to plan for 2012.  I knew I made a good purchase when I got to the fourth page that starts out "It's All Connected."  I will quote my new friend Hardman at length here to broaden our definition of phenology...it's good:

"Over the past several decades there has been a growing awareness of the interrelatedness of all things....This awareness has strongly influenced the study of ecology-the science of how living things interact with one another and their environment. Such interactions are affected by seasonally triggered events in nature.
Phenology, the study of timing of natural events, is an important component of ecology. Phenology was originally conceived to assist in successful planting of food crops and management of domesticated animals; phenological findings provided the information for framers' almanacs. More recently, phenology has expanded to include natural cycles on a broader scale, making the discipline an indispensable source of information for the ECOlogical Calendar."

So when we think about this new way to experience time, it is through nature's events based on the seasons, not the clock on my cell phone.  I have a busy life and I find myself needing to know the exact minute of the day, what meeting I need to be in, where I need to go, and what I need to do.  Instead, what if I thought about my week in comparison to where Jupiter is in the sky, which geese are migrating, and what the kangaroo rats are gathering?  It's not as practical for my daily life, but it does remind me of what is happening in the world that I am connected to.

By the way:  this week, Jupiter can be seen in the evening sky, the snow geese are migrating in large groups (100-1,000 birds) from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico (1,700 miles before resting!!!!), and the kangaroo rats are creating storage areas in the soil near their dens making sure that their winter food does not spoil in the wet/damp soil.

As you probably know, I had all of you in mind when I bought this calendar.  I will be using Hardman's new perspective of time to add to our discussions on this blog.

Dr. Keena