I feel a resurgent inspiration by this article to support marine biology, and the ocean, in general. With human population on the planet growing exponentially, which in turn casts off all its by-products into the oceans' environs, we are quickly usurping that very limited blue frontier. Efforts to learn from our aquatic cousins in the wild need to be more widespread, as time is drawing nigh. One day the great plastic blob we have created will slow the ocean current; the aquatic creatures will float on the surface; and rescuers will no longer be able to scrub their toxic-filled bodies back to life. Many of us will be living on, and destroying, another planet by then. And all the money that was made by countries and corporations oblivious to our responsibility to take care of the oceans and the Earth, will long be useless.

Helen -- thank you for your thoughtful comment! We wholeheartedly agree with your perspective, and appreciate your taking the time to share it here. We like your updated version of the Thomas Hardy quote *much* better than the original.

Thank you Helen. This was the first thing that struck me and I decided not to bother with the rest of the article. Sadly, we quote from history and people without drawing our inferences and values for ourselves.