The Ecologist

As a professor of ecology, I worry that the amazing, nifty, neat, cool, intricate, complex, integrative, mind-blowing science of evolution and ecology takes a back page to the urgent, strident voice of environmentalism. As a citizen, I am as much an advocate for environmental change as my friends and colleagues, but as a scientist, my interest is public engagement in the science, not the political or philosophical dimensions of environmentalism. There is no observation in our world that does not ultimately connect to ecology - it is in this principle the meaning of environment emerges. It's also just plain fun to see how everything, from subatomic physics to pop culture, links together in crazy ways.