I have lots of heroes: anyone and everyone who does whatever they can to leave the natural world better than they found it.
SYLVIA EARLEIf we could magically transport ourselves back to the young Earth, when it was only a billion years old or two billion years old or three billion years old or four billion years old.
More Sylvia Earle Quotes
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The ocean certainly got my attention! It wasn’t frightening, it was more exhilarating.
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As a child, I was aware of the widely-held attitude that the ocean is so big, so resilient that we could use the sea as the ultimate place to dispose of anything.
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All through college, I had frequently been the only girl in a science class – which wasn’t such a bad deal.
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The concept of ‘peak oil’ has penetrated the hearts and minds of people concerned about energy for the future. ‘Peak fish’ occurred around the end of the 1980s.
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I have come up at the end of a dive, and the boat was not where I left it. I had to take care of a buddy who did panic. But I was confident the boat would come back.
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For heaven’s sake, when you see the enemy attacking, you pick up the pitchfork, and you enlist everybody you see.
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My parents moved to Florida when I was 12, and my backyard was the Gulf of Mexico.
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You don’t stand around arguing about who’s responsible, or who’s going to pay.
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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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My first encounter with the ocean was on the Jersey Shore when I was three years old and I got knocked over by a wave.
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By the end of the 20th century, up to 90 percent of the sharks, tuna, swordfish, marlins, groupers, turtles, whales, and many other large creatures that prospered in the Gulf for millions of years had been depleted by overfishing.
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We wouldn’t be able to survive. We would have a hard time surviving if we were transported to the time when dinosaurs were around.
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There’s no place that we know about that can support life as we know it, not even our sister planet, Mars, where we might set up housekeeping someday, but at great effort and trouble we have to recreate the things we take for granted here.
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The best scientists and explorers have the attributes of kids! They ask question and have a sense of wonder.
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Ice ages have come and gone. Coral reefs have persisted.
SYLVIA EARLE






