James Lovelock comes to my mind surprisingly often, and so do many of his books. But his last book and his unexpected praise of termites comes to my mind almost every day (“On Humans and Termites,” July 8, 2015). Which is why I search for termites on the World Wide Web quite often. Amazing creatures, these. Not surprisingly, I am delighted by the fact that they are part of the cockroach family, which has appeared on earth some three-hundred and twenty-million years ago. Alas, humans cannot even dream of such stretches of time! The termites have weathered all calamities that humans have foisted upon them the last few centuries, and chances are that they will weather all calamities that humans are yet to foist upon them the next few centuries. As Lovelock argues, there is much to learn from them. Would that humans could learn from termites and other cockroaches, though. Looking ahead, I cannot but cheer the clever insects forward. Soon enough, the earth will be theirs again, and they will cherish it in their own way. Lucky termites, indeed.