A lumberman will look at a forest and see so many board feet of lumber. I see a living city.
SYLVIA EARLEIt’s akin to using a bulldozer to catch a butterfly, destroying a whole ecosystem for the sake of a few pounds of protein. We wouldn’t do this on land, so why do it in the oceans?
More Sylvia Earle Quotes
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I am not in any hurry to grow up.
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When I first ventured into the Gulf of Mexico in the 1950s, the sea appeared to be a blue infinity too large, too wild to be harmed by anything that people could do.
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Forty percent of the United States drains into the Mississippi. It’s agriculture. It’s golf courses. It’s domestic runoff from our lawns and roads. Ultimately, where does it go? Downstream into the gulf.
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The Arctic is a place that historically, during all preceding human history, has largely been an icy realm with an impact on ocean currents.
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Nearly all of the major kinds of life, divisions of life, phyla of animals, occur in the sea. Only about half of them can make it to land or freshwater.
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I personally have stopped eating seafood.
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They have curiosity. ‘Who, what, where, why, when, and how!’ They never stop asking questions, and I never stop asking questions, just like a five year old.
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They have a lateral line down their whole body that senses motion, but maybe it does more than that.
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Earth as an ecosystem stands out in the all of the universe.
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Everyone has power. But it doesn’t help if you don’t use it.
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No matter where on Earth you live. Most of the oxygen in the atmosphere is generated by the sea.
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Just as we have the power to harm the ocean, we have the power to put in place policies and modify our own behavior in ways that would be an insurance policy for the future of the sea, for the creatures there, and for us, protecting special critical areas in the ocean.
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The Exxon Valdez spill triggered a swift and strong response that changed policies about shipping, about double-hulled construction. A number of laws came into place.
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Health to the ocean means health for us.
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Green’ issues at last are attracting serious attention, owing to critically important links between the environment and the economy, health, and our security.
SYLVIA EARLE






