Fifty Years Gone. Still Not Enough.

I watched the platypuses slip back into the river and tried to feel what everyone else did—hope, relief, something like victory. But all I could think about was the years lost, the reports I wrote that no one read, the grant rejections that stacked up while the river stayed empty. They called it a success. I called it a maybe. Thirteen platypuses isn’t a comeback, it’s a gamble. Every time I check the trail cameras, I brace for nothing. Every time someone says, "resilient species," I remember how easily they vanished the first time. We celebrate the return, but I can’t forget the silence that came before. Or the part of me that wonders if it’s enough to keep going, when the river could go quiet again tomorrow. #ScienceFatigue #ConservationBurnout #StillTrying #Science