With so much time on his hands, Barr has picked up tactics over the years to stave off boredom. He started by keeping a personal journal but then, after about a decade or so, he went back and read it and thought, “It was so boring. It’s like, ‘OK, enough already. Let me go watch some paint dry.’ ”
However, another boredom solution Barr picked up has been more successful. Since nearly the beginning of his time in Gothic, Barr has been keeping track of the weather, snow levels, and temperature two times a day. He also records observations about wildlife, such as when hibernating animals wake or when certain bird species return to the area.
By the early 2000s, after nearly three decades of entries, Barr’s records were made available to researchers and scientists for use in climate change research and studies.
In The Atlantic, Barr’s work is credited as having “provided an unexpected glimpse back into a world scientists never recorded.”
But Barr doesn’t need to keep records to notice the environmental changes that are happening in Gothic. With each passing year, snowfall is melting faster as well as growing dirtier and more polluted.
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