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If you think the ocean isn’t important, imagine Earth without it. Mars comes to mind. No ocean, no life support system.

Sylvia Earle

Ice ages have come and gone. Coral reefs have persisted.
SYLVIA EARLE

Age Come Coral Have Ice Persist Reef
It’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?
SYLVIA EARLE

Akin Builddoze Butterfly Catch Destry Ecosystem Land Ocean Pound Protein Sale Using Whole
They are so beautiful, a pair is in the Museum of Modern Art. The set I have are ruby red. I call them my ruby flippers.
SYLVIA EARLE

Art Beautiful Flipper Modern Museum Pair Red Ruby
I would love to slip into the skin of a fish and know what it’s like to be one. They have senses that I can only dream about.
SYLVIA EARLE

Dream Fish Like Love One Only Sense Slip Would
Look at the bark of a redwood, and you see moss.
SYLVIA EARLE

Bark Look Moss Redwood See
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.
SYLVIA EARLE

Ask Curiosity Five Just Live Old Question Stop Year
We have taken the manatees out of the areas in the Caribbean and really elsewhere in the world, and this disruption to the system makes such systems vulnerable to changes as they come by, whether it’s in terms of disease or terms or global warming for that matter.
SYLVIA EARLE

Area Believe Change Disruption Elsewhere Global Make Mandates Matter System Taken Vulnerable Warming World
There are a few oysters in Chesapeake Bay. Half the coral reefs are still in pretty good shape, a jeweled belt around the middle of the planet. There’s still time, but not a lot, to turn things around.
SYLVIA EARLE

Around Belt Coral Few Good Harf Jeweled Middle Oyster Planet Prety Shape Still Time Turn
Meat reared on land matures relatively quickly, and it takes only a few pounds of plants to produce a pound of meat.
SYLVIA EARLE

Few Land Mature Meat One Plant Pound Produce Quickly Rear Relatively Take
Some experts look at global warming, increased world temperature, as the critical tipping point that is causing a crash in coral reef health around the world.
SYLVIA EARLE

Cause Crash Critical Global Health Increase Look Point Reef Some Expert Temperature Tip Warming
I find the lure of the unknown irresistible.
SYLVIA EARLE

Did Irresistible Lure Unknown
Every fish fertilizes the water in a way that generates the plankton that ultimately leads back into the food chain, but also yields oxygen, grabs carbon – it’s a part of what makes the ocean function and what makes the planet function.
SYLVIA EARLE

Back Carbon Chain Every Fertilize Fish Food Generate Grap Lead Oxygen Plankton Ultimately Water Way
When I arrived on the planet, there were only two billion. Wildlife was more abundant, we were less so; now the situation is reversed.
SYLVIA EARLE

Abundant Arrive Billion Less More Planet Reverse Situation Two When Wildlife
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.
SYLVIA EARLE

Behaviour Harm Have Just Modify Ocean Place Policy Power Put Way
Is a slow but accelerating impact with consequences that will greatly overshadow all the oil spills put together. The warming trend that is CO2-related will overshadow all the oil spills that have ever occurred put together.
SYLVIA EARLE

Accelerate Consequence Greatly Impact Occur Oil Overshadowm Spill Put Slow Together Trend Warning
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.
SYLVIA EARLE

Change Construction Double Exxon Hulled Policy Response Ship Spill Strong Triggered Valdez

If you think the ocean isn’t important, imagine Earth without it. Mars comes to mind. No ocean, no life support system.

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If you think the ocean isn’t important, imagine Earth without it. Mars comes to mind. No ocean, no life support system.

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Popular Authors

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