Roger Payne died on Saturday, June 11, 2023, at age 88. Payne was an American biologist who discovered, in 1967, that humpback whales could sing. The New York Times published an obituary in The Times' June 15, 2023, edition. Click here for the obituary (presuming you can plunge past the paywall).
Shortly before he died, Payne wrote an essay published by Time Magazine, titled as follows: "I Spent My Life Saving the Whales. Now They Might Save Us." Here are two quick quotes from The Times' obituary:
In a Time magazine essay published just days before he died, Dr. Payne warned that human survival would be jeopardized unless efforts were made “to try to save all species of life, knowing that if we fail to save enough of the essential ones, we will have no future.” ...
In his Time essay, Dr. Payne looked both backward and to the future. “As my time runs out,” he wrote, “I am possessed with the hope that humans worldwide are smart enough and adaptable enough to put the saving of other species where it belongs: at the top of the list of our most important jobs. I believe that science can help us survive our folly (emphasis added).
I frequently urge those reading these blog postings to remember that "we're together in this."
Let's pay attention to Dr. Payne. That "we" includes the whales, too, and all other living things. We're in this together. We depend upon each other - all living things!
Let's not forget that. Save the Whales! Save Ourselves!
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