With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you’re connected to the sea.
SYLVIA EARLEAmerica gains most when individuals have great freedom to pursue personal goals without undue government interference.
More Sylvia Earle Quotes
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We have become frighteningly effective at altering nature.
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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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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.
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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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Since the middle of the 20th century, more has been learnt about the ocean than during all preceding human history; at the same time, more has been lost.
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Our insatiable appetite for fossil fuels and the corporate mandate to maximize shareholder value encourages drilling without taking into account the costs to the ocean, even without major spills.
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Earth as an ecosystem stands out in the all of the universe.
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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.
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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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My mother was known as the ‘bird lady’ of the neighborhood.
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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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I want everybody to go jump in the ocean to see for themselves how beautiful it is, how important it is to get acquainted with fish swimming in the ocean, rather than just swimming with lemon slices and butter.
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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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They have a lateral line down their whole body that senses motion, but maybe it does more than that.
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I personally have stopped eating seafood.
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Meat reared on land matures relatively quickly, and it takes only a few pounds of plants to produce a pound of meat.
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I’ve had the joy of spending thousands of hours under the sea. I wish I could take people along to see what I see, and to know what I know.
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Far and away, the greatest threat to the ocean, and thus to ourselves, is ignorance. But we can do something about that.
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Ocean acidification – the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that is turning the oceans increasingly acid.
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We have been far too aggressive about extracting ocean wildlife, not appreciating that there are limits and even points of no return.
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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.
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There is a terribly terrestrial mindset about what we need to do to take care of the planet.
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Humans are the only creatures with the ability to dive deep in the sea, fly high in the sky, send instant messages around the globe, reflect on the past, assess the present and imagine the future.
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Anything injured, or any unusual creature somebody found, they would always come to our doorstep.
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Hold up a mirror and ask yourself what you are capable of doing, and what you really care about. Then take the initiative – don’t wait for someone else to ask you to act.
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For humans, the Arctic is a harshly inhospitable place, but the conditions there are precisely what polar bears require to survive – and thrive. ‘Harsh’ to us is ‘home’ for them.
SYLVIA EARLE