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Sylvia Earle

Sylvia Earle Quotes

Explorer

Sylvia Earle, born on August 30, 1935, is a renowned marine explorer. She is known for her in-depth research on marine ecosystems and her advocacy for ocean conservation.

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All Ocean Sea Ifs Planets Earth Knows People Humans Water Years Way Fishes World Atmosphere Blue Has Beens Stills Care Creatures Important

Famous Sylvia Earle Quotes

“The living ocean drives planetary chemistry, governs climate and weather, and otherwise provides the cornerstone of the life-support system for all creatures on our planet, from deep-sea starfish to desert sagebrush. That's why the ocean matters. If the sea is sick, we'll feel it. If it dies, we die. Our future and the state of the oceans are one.”

Source: Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans

“If Darwin could see what we now see, what we now know about the ocean, about the atmosphere, about the nature of life, as we now understand it, about the importance of microbes - I think he would just beam with joy that many of the thoughts and the glimpses of the majesty of life on Earth that he had during his life, now magnified many times over.”

Ifs Thinking Knows Earth Joy Ocean Importance Atmosphere Glimpse Majesty Beam Microbes

Author:Sylvia Earle

“If Darwin could get into a submarine and see what I've seen, thousand of feet beneath the ocean, I am just confident that he would be inspired to sit down and start writing all over again.”

Ifs Writing Would Be Feet Thousand Ocean Down And Inspired Be Inspired Submarines

Author:Sylvia Earle

“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.”

Way Would Be Sea Special Policy Creatures Behavior Ocean Areas Critical Harm Insurance Policy

Author:Sylvia Earle

“If the sea is sick, we'll feel it. If it dies, we die. Our future and the state of the oceans are one.”

Ifs Feels States Dies Sea Ocean Sick Our Future Starfish

Book:Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans

Source: Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans

“It doesn't matter where on Earth you live, everyone is utterly dependent on the existence of that lovely, living saltwater soup. There's plenty of water in the universe without life, but nowhere is there life without water.”

Matter Earth Universe Water Existence Ocean Lovely Plenty Dependent Soup

Book:Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans

Source: Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans

“There is an enormous amount to be learned about the sea; like most wildernesses, it has great potential.”

Sea Amount Ocean Enormous Wilderness

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Success underwater depends mostly on how you conduct yourself. Diving can be the most relaxing experience in the world. Your weight seems to disappear. Space travel will be available only to a few individuals for some time, but the oceans are available to almost everyone - now.”

World Seems Individual Space Depends Ocean Weight Available Disappear Space Travel Diving Underwater

Author:Sylvia Earle

“My first breath was just...it just seemed impossible that you could actually breathe underwater. I knew in my mind it was possible, but actually experiencing it was such a gulp of joy and I feel it every time I go under the ocean. I love doing it, to be able to feel weightless, to spin on one finger, to do somersaults, to be like a graceful ballerina - even with a huge tank on your back you can do the most extraordinary things.”

Feels Mind Firsts Able Joy Can Do Impossible Huge Ocean Breaths Fingers Extraordinary Breathe Tanks Extraordinary Things Ballerina Underwater

Author:Sylvia Earle

“With respect to the ocean being the heart of our blue planet: We are often asked, 'How much protection is enough?' We can only answer with another question: How much of your heart is worth protecting?”

Heart Enough Answers Planets Ocean Blue Protection Blue Planet

Author:Sylvia Earle

“The most important part is to take on the challenge of protecting the ocean as if your life depends on it - because it does.”

Ifs Doe Important Challenges Depends Ocean

Author:Sylvia Earle

“We must protect our ocean as if our lives depend upon it, because they do.”

Ifs Our Lives Depends Protect Ocean

Author:Sylvia Earle

“The burning of fossil fuels has altered the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere so rapidly and so abundantly that now, we are driving not just the warming trend, not just the sea level rise that is a consequence of the warming trend that is melting polar ice and alpine ice, but also [ocean acidification].”

Levels Sea Amount Ocean Consequence Driving Ice Burning Atmosphere Fuel Trends Carbon Fossils Melting Altered Fossil Fuel Carbon Dioxide Alpine Sea Level Rise Ocean Acidification

Author:Sylvia Earle

“We're still under the weight of this impression that the ocean is too big to fail, that the planet is too big to fail.”

Stills Bigs Failing Planets Ocean Weight Impression

Author:Sylvia Earle

“We still have the illusion that the ocean will recover. That even if we do have to lose sharks, people don't understand why this matters. The evidence is in front of us, and we fail to take it in and say, "Now I get it. Now I understand."”

People Ifs Stills Matter Loses Failing Fronts Ocean Illusion Evidence Sharks

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Even our rules and regulations, our laws, our policies, favor the destructive nature of taking too much from the ocean and using techniques that are horribly destructive. We know they don't work. We know it's not sustainable.”

Knows Law Too Much Policy Ocean Technique Favors Destructive Regulation Rules And Regulations

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Ignorance is the biggest problem of all for the ocean - and for many other things as well.”

Wells Problem Ignorance Ocean

Author:Sylvia Earle

“It isn't too late to shift from the swift, sharp decline of ocean systems in recent decades to an era of steady recovery. There is time, and there is a growing awareness, which is the best way to counter indifference. People who know might care.”

People Knows Way Might Care Growing Awareness Ocean Late Decades Best Way Recovery Eras Indifference Too Late Steady Decline

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Since I began exploring the ocean in the 1950s, 90 percent of the big fish have been stripped away. Tuna, sharks, swordfish, cod, halibut, you name it, the numbers have just collapsed. Also, about half of the coral reefs are gone, globally, from where they were just a few decades ago.”

Has Beens Bigs Names Numbers Half Gone Ocean Percent Fishes Decades Exploring Sharks Reefs Tuna Big Fish Coral Reefs Halibut

Author:Sylvia Earle

“We have found ways to capture, kill and market ocean wildlife on an unprecedented scale. It's an absolute catastrophe.”

Way Found Ocean Absolutes Scales Capture Catastrophe Wildlife Unprecedented

Author:Sylvia Earle

“The ocean seemed like a sea of Eden. But now we are facing paradise lost.”

Lost Sea Ocean Paradise Eden

Author:Sylvia Earle

“We humans have this idea that the ocean is so big, so vast, so resilient that it doesn't matter what we do to it. That may have been true 1,000 years ago. But in the last 100, especially the last 50 years, we have destroyed the assets that make our lives possible.”

Years Humans May Has Beens Ideas Matter Bigs Lasts Our Lives Ocean Years Ago Destroyed Assets Resilient

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Life in the ocean makes Earth hospitable. We are sailing along in the universe and we have a blue engine that is making everything alright.”

Earth Universe Ocean Blue Engines Sailing Alright

Author:Sylvia Earle

“The ocean governs the climate and the weather, it is taking care of the temperature and it is shaping the chemistry of our planet.”

Care Planets Ocean Climate Weather Chemistry Our Planet Temperature

Author:Sylvia Earle

“The ocean is our life support system. No blue, no green. It's really a miracle that we have got a place that works in our favor.”

Support Our Lives Ocean Miracle Blue Green Favors Support Systems

Author:Sylvia Earle

“We are not only warming the ocean and the planet as a whole, but we are also acidifying the ocean and changing its chemistry.”

Whole Planets Ocean Chemistry

Author:Sylvia Earle

“The ocean is dying, and we have no place to escape to if this experiment doesn't go in our favor.”

Ifs Dying Ocean Favors Experiments

Author:Sylvia Earle

“When I was 12, we moved from New Jersey to Florida. The Gulf of Mexico was literally my backyard. Every day, I could see the ocean. At low tide I went out and played in seagrass meadows that used to come right up to the shore, filled with tiny seahorses, pipefish and soft corals. There was so much life! But then I witnessed the change, the loss of the shoreline, the loss of the mangrove trees, the loss of the seagrass meadows. Shallow bay areas were turned into parking lots.”

Used Loss Tree Ocean Lows Areas Moved Filled Tiny Shore Mexico Tides Florida Shallow Jersey Meadows Parking New Jersey Backyards Parking Lot Bay Area Gulf Of Mexico Shoreline

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Only two percent of the ocean is fully protected right now.”

Two Right Now Ocean Percent Protected

Author:Sylvia Earle

“We are taking way more out of the ocean than the ocean can replenish.”

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Give the ocean a break. Give yourself a break.”

Giving Break Ocean

Author:Sylvia Earle

“With care and protection, with safe havens in the ocean, there is still a good chance that we can turn things around.”

Stills Care Turns Chance Havens Safe Ocean Protection Good Chance Safe Haven

Author:Sylvia Earle

“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. Health to the ocean means health for us.”

Way Mean Helping Sea Protect Ocean Secure Humankind Conservation Ocean Conservation

Book:The World Is Blue

Source: The World Is Blue

“Many of us ask what can I, as one person, do, but history shows us that everything good and bad starts because somebody does something or does not do something.”

Persons Doe Shows Asks Sea Ocean Conservation Good And Bad Ocean Conservation

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Our past, our present, and whatever remains of our future, absolutely depend on what we do now.”

Past Sea Depends Ocean Remains Our Future Conservation Our Past Ocean Conservation

Author:Sylvia Earle

“I hope that someday we will find evidence that there is intelligent life among humans on this planet.”

Humans Inspiration Motivation Sea Planets Ocean Evidence Intelligent Someday Conservation Intelligent Life Ocean Conservation

Author:Sylvia Earle

“The oceans deserve our respect and care, but you have to know something before you can care about it.”

Knows Care Knowing Sea Ocean Deserve Environmental Explorers Ocean Conservation

Author:Sylvia Earle

“I want to get out in the water. I want to see fish, real fish, not fish in a laboratory.”

Want Real Water Sea Ocean Fishes Marine Laboratory Marine Life Sea Life

Author:Sylvia Earle

“People ask: Why should I care about the ocean? Because the ocean is the cornerstone of earth's life support system, it shapes climate and weather. It holds most of life on earth. 97% of earth's water is there. It's the blue heart of the planet - we should take care of our heart. It's what makes life possible for us. We still have a really good chance to make things better than they are. They won't get better unless we take the action and inspire others to do the same thing. No one is without power. Everybody has the capacity to do something.”

“I'm haunted by the thought of what Ray Anderson calls 'tomorrow's child,' asking why we didn't do something on our watch to save sharks and bluefin tuna and squids and coral reefs and the living ocean while there still was time. Well, now is that time.”

Wells Children Stills Watches Tomorrow Ocean Asking Activism Rays Sharks Reefs Tuna Asking Why Coral Reefs Squids

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Even if you never have the chance to see or touch the ocean, the ocean touches you with every breath you take, every drop of water you drink, every bite you consume. Everyone, everywhere is inextricably connected to and utterly dependent upon the existence of the sea.”

Ifs Water Chance Existence Environment Sea Drink Ocean Breaths Connected Dependent Bites Drop Of Water

Author:Sylvia Earle

“There is a terribly terrestrial mindset about what we need to do to take care of the planet-as if the ocean somehow doesn't matter or is so big, so vast that it can take care of itself, or that there is nothing that we could possibly do that we could harm the ocean...We are learning otherwise.”

Ifs Needs Matter Bigs Care Environment Planets Ocean Take Care Mindset Harm

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Why 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, the fragility, and even the degradation of our planet's blue heart.”

Heart Water Sea Planets Ocean Blue Strongest Conservation Our Planet Degradation Fragility Surfer Scuba Ocean Conservation Blue Ocean Scuba Divers

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Great attention gets paid to rainforests because of the diversity of life there. Diversity in the oceans is even greater.”

Attention Greater Sea Ocean Diversity Paid Marine Rainforest Marine Life Diversity Of Life

Author:Sylvia Earle

“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.”

Want Important Beautiful Ocean Fishes Swimming Lemons

Author:Sylvia Earle

“You don't have to touch the ocean for the ocean to touch you”

Author: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.”

Matter Earth Water Sea Drink Ocean Breaths Connected Breathing Explorers Drop Of Water Breathtaking Ocean Sea Oceans And Seas Sea Water Sea And Sky Ocean Water Ocean Conservation

Author:Sylvia Earle

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

Home Sea Ocean Slips Going Home

Author:Sylvia Earle

“No water, no life. No blue, no green.”

Water Ocean Blue Green Blue Eyes Ocean Conservation

Book:The World Is Blue

Source: The World Is Blue

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

Can Do Ignorance Ocean Threat Can Do Something

Author:Sylvia Earle

About the Author

Born: August 30, 1935
Known for: Explorer
Quotes: 192

Related Topics

Ocean Sea Ifs Planets Earth Knows People Humans Water Years Way Fishes World Atmosphere Blue Has Beens Stills Care Creatures Important

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Sea Change: A Message of the OceansRelated source material

The World Is BlueRelated source material

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