Reflections on the Life in a Deteriorating World: How Chance Made Me an Environmental Activist

Abstract

This memoir describes how I, a young scientist who believed that "applied science" was second-rate science, found myself -- by chance and serendipity -- studying the ecological consequences of acid rain and radioactive fallout, purely as fascinating phenomena and without thought of mitigation. As I continued with their study and taught students about them, I became more and more aware of their significance for society, so that after twenty years -- and again by chance and serendipity – I became an environmental activist. Since then I have testified about environmental deterioration, attended scientific committees and workshops, and advocated for pollution control in both academic and societal settings.