Science:
Kamaljit Bawa of the University of Massachusetts Boston and his
graduate student Pashupati Chaudhary interviewed 250 farmers
who live in the Darjeeling Hills of India and Nepal. The
researchers' goal was to discover whether the farmers had
noticed and felt the effects of climate change over the past 20
years. The answer was yes, but in surprising ways. To avoid
biasing their study, Bawa and Chaudhary did not ask the farmers
about climate, but about general changes. One respondent said
she had to wash her kitchenware more frequently than before
because food spoiled more quickly. Others had noticed that
rhododendrons were growing at higher altitudes. Bawa and
Chaudhary's study, which will appear in
Biology Letters
, complements space- and ground-based measurements and
could help farmers and others cope with climate change.
