NewScientist (21 Feb 2015) (paywall), “I can’t keep up with climate change” (print: “I’m always drawn back to the ice”), an interview with Antje Boetius:
Does that make it difficult to understand the changes that are happening now?
The environment is changing faster than we can research it. It’s a shitty feeling for a scientist if you are trying to learn something from that change and you know you’re far too slow. People only started seeing that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was increasing 30 years after it began. That is crazy. The change is happening right now and we can’t wait 30 years to conclude: “Oh, by now the entire typical life of the Arctic has been lost – wow, we have finally shown it.”Is it hard to live with that feeling?
One year I do the climate change work and the next I like to do exploration work because it’s just too depressing otherwise. In 2016, I have a mission to explore a gigantic underwater mountain that starts in a hole at a depth of 4000 metres and climbs 3500 metres. I’ll go with robots and cameras to explore what life we find on these very steep walls. That’s not as sad as climate change research.
(Emphasis mine)
