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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

I find the lure of the unknown irresistible.
SYLVIA EARLE

Did Irresistible Lure Unknown
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
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
On a sea floor that looks like a sandy mud bottom, that at first glance might appear to be sand and mud, when you look closely and sit there as I do for a while and just wait, all sorts of creatures show themselves, with little heads popping out of the sand. It is a metropolis.
SYLVIA EARLE

Appear Button Closely Creature First Floor Glance Look Must Nud Sandy Sea Sort Themselves Wait
The most important thing for people to know about the governance of the Arctic is that we have a chance now to act to maintain the integrity of the system or to lose it.
SYLVIA EARLE

Deal Fact Governance Integrity Long Lose Oil Place Provision Sprill System
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.
SYLVIA EARLE

Anything Aperaed Blue Country First Gulg Har Infinity Large Wind Sea Special Target The Venture When Y
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.
SYLVIA EARLE

Anything Attitude Away Big Child Could Dispose Held Ocean Place Resilient Sea Ultimate Use Widely
There are some who would like to see the oil rigs removed right down to the ground once their job is done, and there are others, and I count myself among them, who think that once they are in place they begin to be adopted by life in the ocean as a habitat.
SYLVIA EARLE

Done Down Ground Job Oil Once Remove Rig Right See Some These Who Would
It’s mainly the high-end luxury market now that drives much of the fishing in the sea. It’s not feeding the starving millions. It’s feeding a luxury market.
SYLVIA EARLE

Drive Feel Fish High Luxury Mainly Market Million Much Sea Starve
I love my Force Fins, which are the kind of fins Special Forces use and really are adapted from the fins of fish. They’re very efficient.
SYLVIA EARLE

Adapt Fin Fish Force Kind Love Really Special Use
If you think the ocean isn’t important, imagine Earth without it. Mars comes to mind. No ocean, no life support system.
SYLVIA EARLE

Earth Imagine Important IT Ocean Think Without
Far and away, the greatest threat to the ocean, and thus to ourselves, is ignorance. But we can do something about that.
SYLVIA EARLE

Away Far Greatest Ignorance Ocean Ourselves Sometimes Threat
I hope for your help to explore and protect the wild ocean in ways that will restore the health and, in so doing, secure hope for humankind.
SYLVIA EARLE

Do Explore Health Help Hope Humankind Ocean Protect Restore Secure Wild
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
I have heard endlessly that fish are so resilient that there is no way that you could exterminate a species. We are learning otherwise.
SYLVIA EARLE

Could Endless Exterminate Fish Have Learn No Otherwise Resilient Species Way
If 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.
SYLVIA EARLE

Able Back Billio Earth Magical Old Ourselves Survive Transport Year Young

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?

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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?

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Sylvia Earle Quotes