Sylvia Earle was born in New Jersey, in 1935. She graduated from Florida State University, and after Duke University, she has certainly shown her passion for the ocean in all of her work, and all the efforts to protect him.
In 7.000 hours underwater Sylvie work as founder of the Deep Ocean Exploration as research; in the Tektie Project; Ocean in Google Earth. And was the first women to be chief scientist of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
After 2009, with the TED support she wishes to protect the ocean by establishing marine areas around the world, what she calls Mission Blue.
She made at TED chat on Facebook, and I thought to bring to you some of my favorite answers:
Andrew Moizer: Hi Dr. Sylvia A. Earle. I vividly remember listening you speak to us at the Nortel "What do you want the Internet to be" event ~15 years ago. Your "with knowing comes caring" statement has been with me ever since. How do you think things have progressed on the "knowing" and "caring" fronts since then?
Sylvia A. Earle It's still the key to getting to a better place. And the knowing continues to grow. At the same time, we're seeing the problems increase. It's like a race: can we learn enough soon enough and take action before the consequences of our misbehavior catch up with us? It's still a question, but children now -- 10 year olds -- carry in their pockets access to knowledge on a scale unimaginable even 5 years ago. And it's getting better all the time. Imagine if Copernicus or Galileo or even Einstein had access to knowledge that kids have today. We are the beneficiaries of what those preceded us have discovered. We know enough now to see the consequences of our actions and to realize that we have to protect the natural systems, on the land and in the sea, that make the planet work in our favor. The knowledge is there. The challenge is acting on that knowledge in ways that will ensure a long and prosperous future for humankind. We cannot use ignorance as an excuse anymore. We know now. Now is the time to act. To protect the ocean as if our lives depend on it. Because they do.
In 7.000 hours underwater Sylvie work as founder of the Deep Ocean Exploration as research; in the Tektie Project; Ocean in Google Earth. And was the first women to be chief scientist of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
After 2009, with the TED support she wishes to protect the ocean by establishing marine areas around the world, what she calls Mission Blue.
She made at TED chat on Facebook, and I thought to bring to you some of my favorite answers:
Andrew Moizer: Hi Dr. Sylvia A. Earle. I vividly remember listening you speak to us at the Nortel "What do you want the Internet to be" event ~15 years ago. Your "with knowing comes caring" statement has been with me ever since. How do you think things have progressed on the "knowing" and "caring" fronts since then?
Sylvia A. Earle It's still the key to getting to a better place. And the knowing continues to grow. At the same time, we're seeing the problems increase. It's like a race: can we learn enough soon enough and take action before the consequences of our misbehavior catch up with us? It's still a question, but children now -- 10 year olds -- carry in their pockets access to knowledge on a scale unimaginable even 5 years ago. And it's getting better all the time. Imagine if Copernicus or Galileo or even Einstein had access to knowledge that kids have today. We are the beneficiaries of what those preceded us have discovered. We know enough now to see the consequences of our actions and to realize that we have to protect the natural systems, on the land and in the sea, that make the planet work in our favor. The knowledge is there. The challenge is acting on that knowledge in ways that will ensure a long and prosperous future for humankind. We cannot use ignorance as an excuse anymore. We know now. Now is the time to act. To protect the ocean as if our lives depend on it. Because they do.
K.D.: Honestly it take guts to explore the deep(blue) sea so i’d like to ask you : how do you feel when diving ? at the end of every research you’ve made what was the reward ? And how do you think, can we preserve this resource, especially when hearing that in the future the war will no longer be about the fuel but about the water ?
Sylvia A. Earle I love going into the ocean because you never know what you’re going to see, but you know it’s going to be good. Even places I’ve been to many times, I’m always surprised to see how things change over time. And discovering new, not just new species or forms of live, but new behaviors. New ways of linking things together. Never never boring! It’s always a delight. The satisfaction that comes? Well it’s always rewarding to keep discovering new things, to realize the magnitude of what we don’t know, and to be a part of finding out how the world functions and what we can do to take care of it.
D.A.: Hi Sylvia A. Earle, What hope do we have for President Obama successfully doubling the size of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument and protecting other sensitive marine areas under control of the US? What should we be doing to help make this happen and who are the friends of the ocean on both sides of the political aisle in congress that are approachable and amenable to working towards these goals?
Sylvia A. Earle I’m optimistic that President Obama’s proposal to greatly increase the size of the western marine monuments. There is opposition from some vested interests, especially commercial fishing interests. They way that anyone can help is by letting your congressional rep write to President Obama directly. Write to Kerry, Secretary of State, who is an ocean champion. And tell them you really want to have the largest possible area protected and convey a sense of urgency and give your support as an individual. And if you’re a kid and think “they’ll never listen to me”. Don’t be discouraged. Those letters that come from individuals and especially kids — anyone who writes a thoughtful letter gets more attention than form letters, or signing petitions — although those all help. But use your power as an individual by using your voice. And go online. Use social media, those of you have skills to spread the world. Get your friends to weigh in. If the public is with Obama, anything is possible. If not, nothing is possible. Your voice is needed. If nobody cares, nothing is going to happen. It will be business as usual. But it’s a brilliant effort on the part of this country to look at the ocean with new eyes. Like early in the 20th century National Parks were established. Some say it was the greatest idea we’ve ever had. Having similar large areas of the oceans protected is not just a good idea — it’s urgently needed to restore and protect our life support system: the ocean. Some leaders like the president of the Island nation Palau have these year proposed protecting their entire exclusive economic zone, an area as large as France. Their land is very small and their ocean is very large. And they see their President champion stopping the commercial taking of ocean wildlife — sharks, tunas, lobsters, everything — while maintaining policies to protect local fisherman, but to keep the industrial scale extraction of wildlife out. The United States has more land underwater than what we think of as the United States. If you look at our exclusive economic zone, it’s an area greater than the land, another country. What President Obama is suggesting is actually a small part of a much bigger area. We could look at it like Palau looks at their blue backyard.
L.P.: Felt really sad when i saw the dead coral reef in Australia via your documentary Mission Blue. Im curious what exactly is the process of saving Coral Reefs?
Sylvia A. Earle Many things affect the health of coral reefs. Global warming that is driven by excess CO2 in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels. Acidification, also driven by excess C02, in this case in the ocean. The taking of fish from coral reefs and the nearby waters: fish need the reefs and the reefs need the fish. Coral reefs in a way are like a city. It isn’t just the structures, the living coral, anymore than NYC or Hong Kong or London is about the buildings. It’s about what’s in the buildings. It’s about the garbage collectors, the sources of food. We have changed the chemistry of the ocean — that affects the corals. We have taken away fish and lobsters and squid that affects the corals. We have changed the temperature of the water that affects the corals. So there are many problems. But once you know the problems, you can address the solutions. Stop killing fish. Protect areas from the pressures we are imposing. It’s really sad to see parrot fish in restaurants and markets. They are so important to the health of coral reefs. Take them away and the algae on which the parrot fish feed grow more abundantly and can overgrow corals. The grazing fish are particularly important in coral reefs. But everything has a role and is critical to the health of the system. And when we kill them and catch them, we are indirectly harming the coral.
M.Q.: I know in your documentary you say that you don’t consume fish, but what types should people who consume fish try to avoid at all costs? Any fishing industry that is trying harder to safeguard resources and not do so much damage?
Sylvia A. Earle For those who really want to eat fish, I strongly urge looking at responsibly raised catfish, tilapia, carp — plant eating fishes that for aquatic animals are like cows and chickens. They are grazers. It makes no sense to eat carnivores, whether they are farm raised or caught in the wild…like salmon, tuna, swordfish, or most the fish we get in restaurants or supermarkets. Most fish eat other fish and there’s a big investment in making these creatures that have not only consumed a great deal of life with long food chains, but most of the fish that we take from the wild are much older than any that are farmed. They go to market typically in less than a year. But the wild fish, even the small fish like herring and anchovies, are several years old and the larger fish — tunas, swordfish and others — can be decades old. Halibut, for example, can live as long as humans. It makes no sense to eat a fish that is 50 or 60 years old. Orange roughy taken from the deep sea can be 100 years old. Deep sea fish grow more slowly and live longer. They are not a smart thing for humans to consume. We’re clear cutting the ocean of these long-lived, top carnivores. People who would never consider eating a snow leopard, or eagle or owl are eating their ocean equivalents. Mostly because I guess they don’t know what they are really consuming. How much time and investment from ocean systems have made along the way. It takes 2 pounds of plants to make a pound of chicken in less than a year . For a bluefin it’s 10’s of 1000’s of pounds of plants at the end of the long and twisted food chain for a ten year old bluefin tuna, which is about the age they are mature. (They can live to be decades old) But many are taken before they reach maturity and can procreate. So avoid them! They are more important in the ocean and than on our plates. We are protecting our interests, our lives, as well by not eating those wild fish. With 7 billion people, it doesn’t make sense. Do your part by not providing a market for them.
N.G.: What can we do to effectively control the pollution going into our oceans? How do we clean up the gigantic masses of garbage?
Sylvia A. Earle The best place to begin cleaning up our oceans is to start with our behavior and stop putting so much into it. Single use plastic, as I said before, is a great place to start. As for the 5 giant garbage gyres in our ocean…it’s not clear yet how to clean them up.
WATCH MISSION BLUE!
Sylvia A. Earle I love going into the ocean because you never know what you’re going to see, but you know it’s going to be good. Even places I’ve been to many times, I’m always surprised to see how things change over time. And discovering new, not just new species or forms of live, but new behaviors. New ways of linking things together. Never never boring! It’s always a delight. The satisfaction that comes? Well it’s always rewarding to keep discovering new things, to realize the magnitude of what we don’t know, and to be a part of finding out how the world functions and what we can do to take care of it.
D.A.: Hi Sylvia A. Earle, What hope do we have for President Obama successfully doubling the size of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument and protecting other sensitive marine areas under control of the US? What should we be doing to help make this happen and who are the friends of the ocean on both sides of the political aisle in congress that are approachable and amenable to working towards these goals?
Sylvia A. Earle I’m optimistic that President Obama’s proposal to greatly increase the size of the western marine monuments. There is opposition from some vested interests, especially commercial fishing interests. They way that anyone can help is by letting your congressional rep write to President Obama directly. Write to Kerry, Secretary of State, who is an ocean champion. And tell them you really want to have the largest possible area protected and convey a sense of urgency and give your support as an individual. And if you’re a kid and think “they’ll never listen to me”. Don’t be discouraged. Those letters that come from individuals and especially kids — anyone who writes a thoughtful letter gets more attention than form letters, or signing petitions — although those all help. But use your power as an individual by using your voice. And go online. Use social media, those of you have skills to spread the world. Get your friends to weigh in. If the public is with Obama, anything is possible. If not, nothing is possible. Your voice is needed. If nobody cares, nothing is going to happen. It will be business as usual. But it’s a brilliant effort on the part of this country to look at the ocean with new eyes. Like early in the 20th century National Parks were established. Some say it was the greatest idea we’ve ever had. Having similar large areas of the oceans protected is not just a good idea — it’s urgently needed to restore and protect our life support system: the ocean. Some leaders like the president of the Island nation Palau have these year proposed protecting their entire exclusive economic zone, an area as large as France. Their land is very small and their ocean is very large. And they see their President champion stopping the commercial taking of ocean wildlife — sharks, tunas, lobsters, everything — while maintaining policies to protect local fisherman, but to keep the industrial scale extraction of wildlife out. The United States has more land underwater than what we think of as the United States. If you look at our exclusive economic zone, it’s an area greater than the land, another country. What President Obama is suggesting is actually a small part of a much bigger area. We could look at it like Palau looks at their blue backyard.
L.P.: Felt really sad when i saw the dead coral reef in Australia via your documentary Mission Blue. Im curious what exactly is the process of saving Coral Reefs?
Sylvia A. Earle Many things affect the health of coral reefs. Global warming that is driven by excess CO2 in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels. Acidification, also driven by excess C02, in this case in the ocean. The taking of fish from coral reefs and the nearby waters: fish need the reefs and the reefs need the fish. Coral reefs in a way are like a city. It isn’t just the structures, the living coral, anymore than NYC or Hong Kong or London is about the buildings. It’s about what’s in the buildings. It’s about the garbage collectors, the sources of food. We have changed the chemistry of the ocean — that affects the corals. We have taken away fish and lobsters and squid that affects the corals. We have changed the temperature of the water that affects the corals. So there are many problems. But once you know the problems, you can address the solutions. Stop killing fish. Protect areas from the pressures we are imposing. It’s really sad to see parrot fish in restaurants and markets. They are so important to the health of coral reefs. Take them away and the algae on which the parrot fish feed grow more abundantly and can overgrow corals. The grazing fish are particularly important in coral reefs. But everything has a role and is critical to the health of the system. And when we kill them and catch them, we are indirectly harming the coral.
M.Q.: I know in your documentary you say that you don’t consume fish, but what types should people who consume fish try to avoid at all costs? Any fishing industry that is trying harder to safeguard resources and not do so much damage?
Sylvia A. Earle For those who really want to eat fish, I strongly urge looking at responsibly raised catfish, tilapia, carp — plant eating fishes that for aquatic animals are like cows and chickens. They are grazers. It makes no sense to eat carnivores, whether they are farm raised or caught in the wild…like salmon, tuna, swordfish, or most the fish we get in restaurants or supermarkets. Most fish eat other fish and there’s a big investment in making these creatures that have not only consumed a great deal of life with long food chains, but most of the fish that we take from the wild are much older than any that are farmed. They go to market typically in less than a year. But the wild fish, even the small fish like herring and anchovies, are several years old and the larger fish — tunas, swordfish and others — can be decades old. Halibut, for example, can live as long as humans. It makes no sense to eat a fish that is 50 or 60 years old. Orange roughy taken from the deep sea can be 100 years old. Deep sea fish grow more slowly and live longer. They are not a smart thing for humans to consume. We’re clear cutting the ocean of these long-lived, top carnivores. People who would never consider eating a snow leopard, or eagle or owl are eating their ocean equivalents. Mostly because I guess they don’t know what they are really consuming. How much time and investment from ocean systems have made along the way. It takes 2 pounds of plants to make a pound of chicken in less than a year . For a bluefin it’s 10’s of 1000’s of pounds of plants at the end of the long and twisted food chain for a ten year old bluefin tuna, which is about the age they are mature. (They can live to be decades old) But many are taken before they reach maturity and can procreate. So avoid them! They are more important in the ocean and than on our plates. We are protecting our interests, our lives, as well by not eating those wild fish. With 7 billion people, it doesn’t make sense. Do your part by not providing a market for them.
N.G.: What can we do to effectively control the pollution going into our oceans? How do we clean up the gigantic masses of garbage?
Sylvia A. Earle The best place to begin cleaning up our oceans is to start with our behavior and stop putting so much into it. Single use plastic, as I said before, is a great place to start. As for the 5 giant garbage gyres in our ocean…it’s not clear yet how to clean them up.
WATCH MISSION BLUE!
Sylvia Earle was born in New Jersey, in 1935. She graduated from Florida State University, and after Duke University. In her career she has certainly shown her passion for the ocean in all of her work, and all the efforts to protect him.
In 7.000 hours underwater Sylvie work as founder of the Deep Ocean Exploration as research, in the Tektie Project, Ocean in Google Earth, and was the first women to be chief scientist of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
After 2009, with the TED support she wishes to protect the ocean by establishing marine areas around the world, what she calls Mission Blue.
She made at TED chat on Facebook, and I thought to bring to you some of my favorite answers:
A.M.: Hi Dr. Sylvia A. Earle. I vividly remember listening you speak to us at the Nortel “What do you want the Internet to be” event ~15 years ago. Your “with knowing comes caring” statement has been with me ever since. How do you think things have progressed on the “knowing” and “caring” fronts since then?
Sylvia A. Earle It’s still the key to getting to a better place. And the knowing continues to grow. At the same time, we’re seeing the problems increase. It’s like a race: can we learn enough soon enough and take action before the consequences of our misbehavior catch up with us? It’s still a question, but children now — 10 year olds — carry in their pockets access to knowledge on a scale unimaginable even 5 years ago. And it’s getting better all the time. Imagine if Copernicus or Galileo or even Einstein had access to knowledge that kids have today. We are the beneficiaries of what those preceded us have discovered. We know enough now to see the consequences of our actions and to realize that we have to protect the natural systems, on the land and in the sea, that make the planet work in our favor. The knowledge is there. The challenge is acting on that knowledge in ways that will ensure a long and prosperous future for humankind. We cannot use ignorance as an excuse anymore. We know now. Now is the time to act. To protect the ocean as if our lives depend on it. Because they do.
In 7.000 hours underwater Sylvie work as founder of the Deep Ocean Exploration as research, in the Tektie Project, Ocean in Google Earth, and was the first women to be chief scientist of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
After 2009, with the TED support she wishes to protect the ocean by establishing marine areas around the world, what she calls Mission Blue.
She made at TED chat on Facebook, and I thought to bring to you some of my favorite answers:
A.M.: Hi Dr. Sylvia A. Earle. I vividly remember listening you speak to us at the Nortel “What do you want the Internet to be” event ~15 years ago. Your “with knowing comes caring” statement has been with me ever since. How do you think things have progressed on the “knowing” and “caring” fronts since then?
Sylvia A. Earle It’s still the key to getting to a better place. And the knowing continues to grow. At the same time, we’re seeing the problems increase. It’s like a race: can we learn enough soon enough and take action before the consequences of our misbehavior catch up with us? It’s still a question, but children now — 10 year olds — carry in their pockets access to knowledge on a scale unimaginable even 5 years ago. And it’s getting better all the time. Imagine if Copernicus or Galileo or even Einstein had access to knowledge that kids have today. We are the beneficiaries of what those preceded us have discovered. We know enough now to see the consequences of our actions and to realize that we have to protect the natural systems, on the land and in the sea, that make the planet work in our favor. The knowledge is there. The challenge is acting on that knowledge in ways that will ensure a long and prosperous future for humankind. We cannot use ignorance as an excuse anymore. We know now. Now is the time to act. To protect the ocean as if our lives depend on it. Because they do.