Отрывок из книги
For Kristin
I have been blessed at each turn. My youth, built on a foundation of love, was characterized by ever-changing landscapes that revealed the size and richness of the world. I learned not to fear change or diversity, but to lean on strength in rushing headlong into challenge. I have found increasing impatience with excuses, denial, debate, and delay on the many serious problems facing our blue planet. Science drew me to these questions and provided me the tools with which to attack them. But in some ways, especially since leaving the sheltered and sometimes isolated fold of academia, I have found that though solutions must be founded in science, so must they be motivated by popular consent and consistent with fiscal viability.
.....
We finished our breakfast and checked our minimal gear; I had a bathing suit, fins, a mask, rash guard, enough weight to stay slightly negatively buoyant, a backpack tank, and a breathing regulator. With no 7mm wetsuit, hood, buoyancy control vest, or elaborate safety plan, it was truly a different experience than diving frigid northern California. The tide was up which, though a difference of just a foot or two, made it easier to get in with scuba gear on. This was the given justification for our getting up so early to dive.
The more compelling reason was the sensual pleasure of being in the water as pink streaks graced the sky. There is too much beauty in the world, too many gifts, to sit by idly sleeping, drinking, working, or pretending to witness life through a monitor. You have to engage it where it calls you – water, forest, mountain, or sky – as often as you can, force frenetic distractions aside, see the world, and bring the passion.
.....
