The transition to the post of Center President came a little earlier and considerably more abruptly than I had ever anticipated; but I feel confident that now is indeed the proper time to make the move.  Nevertheless, retiring from the one-and-only job I've ever had, i.e., working for the federal government at the U.S. Water Conservation Laboratory in Phoenix, Arizona, was not the easiest of decisions to make.  Although I was not married to my work, I enjoyed it immensely.  In fact, I can truly say I could never conceive of anything better than to be paid a fair salary to do what I always loved to do - science.

I would also like to say that from what I've observed over the past three and a half decades, the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS, within whose administrative structure the laboratory functions) is one of the finest organizations on the face of the earth.  Its mission is to provide the research base required to meet the ever-growing food and fiber needs of the United States, as well as the similar needs of much of the rest of the world.  In other words, it exists to help people - and in a most important way - as its science, administrative and support staff all work diligently to help make it possible for everyone to obtain the most basic requirements of life.  Furthermore, its personnel strive to accomplish their mission with as little disruption as possible to the world of nature, seeking ever-better ways of conserving - and helping preserve the purity of - the natural resource base upon which all life is dependent for its very existence: the planet's soil, water and air.

For most of my career, I worked in the last of these three areas, attempting to learn everything I could about the ongoing rise in the air's CO2 content and its ramifications for the overall health of the biosphere.  As everyone knows, this is a sensitive subject area with many political overtones, so sensitive, in fact, that staff-scientist-prepared journal articles addressing certain aspects of the subject were routinely routed to higher ARS management levels for approval.  Such a system clearly has the potential to be abused by those who would repress views not consistent with their own philosophy or with the perceived policy of the government.  Hence, I feel it important to publicly state that in all my years of studying and writing about this most contentious of issues, I was never told I could not publish whatever I felt to be the truth, whether it was popular or unpopular either within or outside the halls of government; and for this freedom of scientific inquiry and speech, I will be forever grateful.  Clearly, however, the sword of freedom cuts both ways; and it behooves scientists with particularly strong views to sometimes temper the enthusiasm of their expression.  This I learned to do, for which, I am sure, my supervisors were also grateful.

Now, however, I am unfettered by any ideological or organizational constraints.  Will I act any differently?  Probably not.  It is my sincere desire to consistently strive to bring to readers of CO2 Science Magazine what I firmly believe to be the truth about the many effects - and non-effects - of atmospheric CO2 enrichment in the areas of both climate and biology.  Will I always be right?  Probably not, for all of us are mortal and, therefore, fallible.  But you can be sure that whatever I do say is delivered in good faith and without ulterior motives.  There is no amount of money, power of position, or anything else that would ever lead me to pervert the truth or what we perceive the truth to be.  I have dedicated my professional life to the practice of science and will never turn my back upon this noble enterprise nor betray its high ideals.

So I alert you beforehand: I believe what I say, but my word should not be sufficient for you, the reader.  Everyone must ultimately stand on his or her own two feet, studying the evidence and making up their own minds on every aspect of the great overarching subject of global change.  A quick glance at our Subject Index reveals the enormous diversity of matters that comprise this study area.  To believe that I and my sons have mastered everything there is to know about these topics is not only false but foolhardy.  Also, it is next to impossible to report on all pertinent scientific papers within the limited scope of time and space available to us.  Hence, there may be other aspects of the topics we write about that are not included on our website.  We assuage our consciences in this regard by noting that other websites are replete with that information; and we urge you to consider all sides of the controversy before drawing conclusions on these important matters.

With that said, I guess I better start scanning the scientific literature for the next insightful research paper that will form the basis of my first Journal Review ... and my second, and my third, and on and on, I suppose, until it's time to retire again.  I probably won't work as long at this job as I did at my last one; but I'll try to keep going for as long as I can.

Cheers!