Converging Paths Leading to the Role of the Oceans in Climate Change

A young man adrift, I was rescued by Paul Gast, a college classmate, and sent off to Columbia's Lamont Geological Observatory as a summer intern. As it turns out, I am still there. During this 47-year sojourn, I have been a participant in the enormous expansion of the field of isotope geochemistry. I experienced the golden age when so many plums awaited picking that we, the pioneers, gorged ourselves with exciting discovery. Being at what is now called Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory put me at the center of many of the developments that changed forever the Earth Sciences. It also made me part of the great challenge associated with the drive to replace the exploitative mode that characterized the Industrial Revolution with what is often referred to as the sustainable mode. In the following pages I recount my path from confused youth to the globe-encircling oceanic “conveyor belt.”