To the Editor:

Re The Scientists Watching Their Life’s Work Disappear (Magazine, Oct. 26. 2023):

I am convinced that the natural world is worth saving. So are the scientists: many have dedicated their lives to the endeavor. Unfortunately for us, this makes us ineffective change makers.

Throughout my life I’ve observed a pattern—the more people learn about nature, the more appalled and disassociated they become towards their fellow humans. Nature people are, rightly so, misanthropic.  

I am a nature person. We live in a world of wounds. Everything that we love and understand to be brilliant about our planet is breaking down. And the culprit? Our own kind.

However impossible our predicament may be, apathy is entirely unproductive. Protecting the environment and its most vulnerable habitats requires a collective co-existence, one that improves the lives of human populations who are suffering alongside non-human communities. This should have been made clear alongside these interviews.

Cate Twining-Ward

New York