I have to admit I never understood the phrase When a butterfly flaps its wings in Mexico, a tornado is born in Texas. In researching, briefly, this morning, I realized that it is a reference to the concept that little adjustments and changes can bring out much larger ramifications. The term is closely associated with the work of the mathematician and meteorologist Edward Norton Lorenz.  

According to Wikipedia, "in 1961, Lorenz was running a numerical computer model to redo a weather prediction from the middle of the previous run as a shortcut. He entered the initial condition 0.506 from the printout instead of entering the full precision 0.506127 value. The result was a completely different weather scenario."

He was not the first to make the connection that we live in an interconnected whole-earth system. There are many references both in literature and science that predate Lorenz' coining of the "butterfly effect." 

Today, we thank Evan Dalton for reminding us that every piece of the giant closed-system experiment has a role to play. Including us.

Dalton is the Director of Landbird Conservation for Mamomet Conservation Sciences. The organization, according to its website, is a leader in bird research and conservation, using science and collaboration to strengthen flyways, coastal ecosystems, and working lands and seas across the Western Hemisphere.