Researchers at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario have launched an initiative involves to help track climate change by recruiting volunteers to report on their outdoor rinks. RinkWatch (rinkwatch.org) is an innovative citizen science-driven project that has already signed up hundreds of volunteers since the web site was launched in early January 2013.
In 2012, scientists in Montreal warned that there will be fewer outdoor skating days in the future. Their predictions are based on the results of data taken from weather stations across Canada over the last fifty years. In some regions, scientists warn that one day, there may be no more backyard rinks at all. This is particularly poignant for those who remember the story of how Wayne Gretzky learned to play hockey on the backyard rink his father made for him in Brantford, Ontario.
This warning prompted a group of geographers at Wilfrid Laurier University to create RinkWatch, where outdoor rink enthusiasts across North America and around the world can tell the geographers about their rinks. The web site asks volunteers to pin the location of their rinks on a map, and then each winter record every day that they are able to skate on it. The geographers will then gather all the information and use it to track the changes in our climate. The RinkWatch web site will provide regular updates on the results. Participants will also be able to compare the number of skating days at their rink with rinks elsewhere.
Robert McLeman, an associate professor of geography and environmental studies at Wilfred Laurier explained the rationale behind the project: “Everyone understands what’s going on in their backyard. The winters are different now than they were 20, 40, 60 years ago, and these [rinks] are things that they make a connection with personally.” McLeman says the project was modeled on the efforts of birdwatchers, who have been conducting backyard bird counts for many decades.
While volunteers may not think of it as science, that is exactly what they will be doing – making regular, systematic observations about environmental change in their own backyards. These efforts will not only help science achieve a broader understanding of the effects of climate change, but it will engage the public in climate changes issues at a very grassroots level.
