For me, iNat made 2021:
- A Lot Better
- Better
- Worse
- A Lot Worse
- Neither Better or Worse
0 voters
Comment/Reply below:
How did iNat impact your life in 2021? How would 2021 have been different for you if iNat didn’t exist? Share with us.
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I stuffed up my vote by not reading the question properly! I answered as if “How would 2021 have been different if iNat didn’t exist?”, was the question, rather than the actual question, “iNat made 2021…”
I guess that’s a fail for me.
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Thanks for catching that … I changed the order of the sentences.
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I found iNaturalist in January 2021 one day while I was exploring the Clark County Wetlands Park. I was looking on my phone at information about the animals there. For some reason I found myself hesitant to submit my own observations until much later into 2021. I’ve always enjoyed spending time outside, and 2021 was the year I got in the habit of taking more pictures of things around me. iNaturalist is largely responsible for me taking a step from being a more “casual outdoor enthusiast” to someone who now goes hiking on a weekly basis and stops to take pictures of birds along the way.
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OFC I’m curious about the statistical outlier who reports “a lot worse”.
But I’m also curious, not so much about whether iNat felt good, but about how it broadened people’s minds. What do we think about now, bc of it, that we didn’t before? For me, I’m thinking a lot about nativity, succession & climate change, and about how we have a lot of work still to do, to understand best practices.
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The outlier of which you speak is explained above by the user Vireya, but really it is my fault (as I had the sentences in a confusing order - since edited/fixed). But from an economics perspective, I think it’s a great example of an outlier, and as such very interesting.
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For me, it makes me think a lot more about the importance of conservation. I wish we had more little areas set aside for the native critters, even if very small ones.
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I joined iNaturalist in January, 2022, yet all of my observations that I have posted pertain to 2021 and previous years. Because of iNaturalist, I have been able to learn a lot of proper names of common plants and animals. I’m looking forward to using it much more in 2022, once I start going out camping and canoeing.
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Welcome! Hope you stick around
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I meant to say that iNat made 2021 a lot better (And 2020, for that matter). Where I live we went through multiple lockdowns, some where you weren’t allowed to travel more than 5kms from home. For me that meant walking around the same block every day. Searching for something new to observe each time made the lockdowns a lot more bearable.
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I have become an obsessed observer of plants, animals and fungi! The upside has been no longer annoying my friends and family (as much) by talking to them excessively about these things. Also, I have gotten several people more into observing. The only downside has been becoming more and more aware of which natural areas are semi-intact, and which are horribly destroyed by humans’ activities and invasive species. Well, and feeling hurt that my fungi observations don’t get many confirmations… I guess that no one wants to accidentally identify a mushroom as something edible when it isn’t… or we need more mushroom experts!
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I only voted “better”, because I could have done “My Daily Beast” even without iNat. But it would have been a lot more difficult. And the systematic index for the book - nearly impossible!
The daily beast was what helped me through the year without travelling or holidays. I realised you don’t have to go far to see new things. :-)
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For me, going through a lot of old images and putting the observations up on iNat helped with the inability to travel overseas.
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Due to the Pandemic, we in Malaysia were still under Lock-Down most of 2021 and inter-state travels were not even allowed until towards end-2021. During this period, I had no choice but to explore my home town more, going out on hiking and photo trips to the hills behind my house. To my surprise, I was able to see many wild life in my wish-list, where previously I had travelled to other parts of the country especially Borneo to look for them but without success. And the biggest surprises were to find potentially several species new to science which I hope will get to be described in the near future :D
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“The upside has been no longer annoying my friends and family (as much) by talking to them excessively about these things.” LOL LOL I think I’m annoying mine more, but I can relate!
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How interesting!
I joined iNat in 2016, during a rough time where I had spent a year unsuccessfully looking for a job. There is nothing more soul destroying, but that’s a different topic. Although I did not find work, iNat has given me a ‘job’ that takes me back to my roots, so to speak. As some folks have said, it has also sharpened my focus on habitat loss, climate change &c. I identify more than I observe, so during any lockdown I was able to do that when there were no new things to observe. For me, iNat (and this forum) has been a life saver. And unless I start messing up ID’s more than I do now, I can continue for some time!
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I know what you mean … a friend of a friend can’t seem to understand that this is not my ‘job’ LOL. And during times when I’m not out in nature, IDing makes me feel like I saw all these beautiful things right along with them.
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It kept me going outside and looking. I saw things that are firsts for me and actually took time to really look and photograph regardless of physical discomforts.
Most my friends don’t understand being excited to video a slug’s lunch, or the fashion decisions of wavy lined emerald caterpillars.
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Welcome to the forum! Come for the laughs, stay for the discussions.
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