A little bit of foreshadowing

I‘ve been thinking and writing lately about money and responsibility, especially the responsibility of those of us who accept money. Accordingly, I’ve looked at the Templeton Foundation, as well as at my own moral quandary when offered “research funding” from a major timber company. Now, I’d like to share an earlier, formative  experience of mine, in which I accepted money and learned a  lesson.

It was 1969 and I had one year to go before finishing my doctoral dissertation in zoology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The research had been going well and it was clear that barring some unanticipated disaster, I would be done with the data-gathering part after one more field season studying the social behavior and ecology of Olympic marmots (Marmota olympus) in…

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