“‘Ecology is not rocket science,’ [Stephen Carpenter] writes. ‘It is far more difficult.’ To build a rocket entails a certain technical prowess and a society’s worth of resources. To understand an ecosystem requires a patience and persistence similar to that of raising a child: both are autonomous beings, evolving, adapting–and actively not doing what you want.”
John Shearer: “Two things got to me,” he said. “One was the water. Second was the bedrock. I can think of nothing more peaceful than sitting on a rock that’s three billion years old.”