Whole-earth mentor: a conversation with Eugene P. Odum

In the tundra, there's also a tremendous variety in kinds of organisms. It is pulse stabilized by huge weather changes. Organisms only have a short period in which to grow, so only certain lichens, grasses, sedges, and the hardiest land plants are adapted to that kind of life.

We're about to enter a new millennium. Are you optimistic?

I'm hopeful that we can handle the bust. We're very resourceful. We get knocked down, but we get up quick. Humans are the most resilient organisms that ever appeared on earth.

But you see a bust coming?

Oh, sure. It's already here.

Tom Chaffin teaches American history at Emory University and is director of Emory's Oral History Project. He published Fatal Glory: Narciso Lopez and the First Clandestine U.S. War Against Cuba in 1996.

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