To lose it means that we will dismember the vital systems that make the Arctic work. It’s not just a cost to the people who live there. It’s a cost to all people everywhere.
SYLVIA EARLEWhy is it that scuba divers and surfers are some of the strongest advocates of ocean conservation? Because they’ve spent time in and around the ocean, and they’ve personally seen the beauty.
More Sylvia Earle Quotes
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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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Protecting vital sources of renewal – unscathed marshes, healthy reefs, and deep-sea gardens – will provide hope for the future of the Gulf, and for all of us.
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Ice ages have come and gone. Coral reefs have persisted.
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Ten percent of the big fish still remain. There are still some blue whales. There are still some krill in Antarctica.
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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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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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Bottom trawling is a ghastly process that brings untold damage to sea beds that support ocean life.
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I actually love diving at night; you see a lot of fish then that you don’t see in the daytime.
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I’ve always said, ‘Underwater or on top, men and women are compatible.’
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The fragility, and even the degradation of our planet’s blue heart.
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What we once used as weapons of war, we now use as weapons against fish.
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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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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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A lumberman will look at a forest and see so many board feet of lumber. I see a living city.
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Any astronaut can tell you you’ve got to do everything you can to learn about your life support system and then do everything you can to take care of it.
SYLVIA EARLE






