I was going to be a marine biologist until a trip to the Florida Keys

When I was 17, I spent a week on a student trip in the Keys, helping with a coral survey. I thought it would be my future. On the third day, we were out on a research boat and a scientist pointed to a huge patch of bleached, dead coral. He said, 'This was vibrant five years ago. Our reports just sit on a shelf.' He wasn't even mad, just tired. That moment killed it for me. I saw how slow and political the real work was, how little our data seemed to change anything. I came home and dropped all my bio classes. I know some people stick with it for the love of the science, but I couldn't handle feeling that powerless. Has anyone else had a dream die because you saw the harsh reality up close?

3 comments

3 Comments

kimmurphy1d ago

My cousin worked for the Forest Service for two summers doing owl surveys. She said they'd file reports about illegal logging near nests and nothing would happen for months, until the trees were already gone. She quit and went into accounting. It's one thing to know the system is broken, but watching your own work get ignored just wrecks you.

victor7791d ago

Yeah but @kimmurphy, how do you know it was really "illegal" logging... sometimes those rules are just red tape. Maybe the system is slow but not broken.

sean_cooper581d ago

So the owls just needed better accountants...