Sylvia Earle Quotes

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Sylvia Earle

Profession : Scientist

Birth : August 30, 1935

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. And there's no question that it is a factor, but it's preceded by the loss of resilience and degradation.

Sylvia Earle

'Green' issues at last are attracting serious attention, owing to critically important links between the environment and the economy, health, and our security.

Sylvia Earle

With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you're connected to the sea. No matter where on Earth you live. Most of the oxygen in the atmosphere is generated by the sea.

Sylvia Earle

Health to the ocean means health for us.

Sylvia Earle

We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do.

Sylvia Earle

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

Sylvia Earle

Sharks are beautiful animals, and if you're lucky enough to see lots of them, that means that you're in a healthy ocean. You should be afraid if you are in the ocean and don't see sharks.

Sylvia Earle

The best scientists and explorers have the attributes of kids! They ask question and have a sense of wonder. 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

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

Sylvia Earle

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.

Sylvia Earle

Every time I slip into the ocean, it's like going home.

Sylvia Earle

Ten percent of the big fish still remain. There are still some blue whales. There are still some krill in Antarctica. 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

Far and away, the greatest threat to the ocean, and thus to ourselves, is ignorance. But we can do something about that.

Sylvia Earle

Bottom trawling is a ghastly process that brings untold damage to sea beds that support ocean life. 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

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

There's something missing about how we're informing the youngsters coming along about what matters in the world. We teach them the numbers and the letters, but we fail to communicate the importance of our connection to the living world.

Sylvia Earle

I have lots of heroes: anyone and everyone who does whatever they can to leave the natural world better than they found it.

Sylvia Earle

Ocean acidification - the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that is turning the oceans increasingly acid - 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

Earth as an ecosystem stands out in the all of the universe. 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.

Sylvia Earle