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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.

Sylvia Earle

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Sylvia Earle
Age: 89
Born: 1935
Born: August 30
Biologist
Botanist
Explorer
Marine Biologist
Oceanographer
Gibbstown
New Jersey
Sylvia Alice Earle
S.A.Earle
Lost
Human
Preceding
Humans
Learnt
Time
Ocean
Century
Middle
Since
History

More quotes by Sylvia Earle

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We want to believe that we can continue doing what we've done for the past thousand years and not worry about the consequences coming back to us.
Sylvia Earle
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It's taken us a short time to change the nature of nature. In my lifetime, more change than during all preceding human history put together.
Sylvia Earle
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Eating wildlife is probably not the smartest thing that we can do in terms of maintaining the integrity of natural systems.
Sylvia Earle
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Great attention gets paid to rainforests because of the diversity of life there. Diversity in the oceans is even greater.
Sylvia Earle
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There's plenty of water in the universe without life, but nowhere is there life without water.
Sylvia Earle
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We want to think of ourselves as truly special creatures that are unique in the universe and, well, we are. And we have that capacity to wonder, to question, and to see ourselves in the context of all of life that has preceded the present time, and all that will go off far into the future, one way or another.
Sylvia Earle
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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.
Sylvia Earle
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The very energy sources that have gotten us to where we are now are also, if we continue doing what we're doing, a shortcut to the end of all that we hold near and dear.
Sylvia Earle
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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. 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 Earle
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Humans have always wondered the big questions, Who am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going? It's part of human nature. It's perhaps the underpinnings of religion.
Sylvia Earle
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Globally sharks have been killed for their fins, for their cartilage, for their livers, for their meat. But mostly what has driven some species of sharks to near extinction - including the hammerhead shark - is the new luxury taste for shark fin soup.
Sylvia Earle
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We have become frighteningly effective at altering nature.
Sylvia Earle
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Only two percent of the ocean is fully protected right now.
Sylvia Earle
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I personally have stopped eating seafood.
Sylvia Earle
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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.
Sylvia Earle
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The most important part is to take on the challenge of protecting the ocean as if your life depends on it - because it does.
Sylvia Earle
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We are taking way more out of the ocean than the ocean can replenish.
Sylvia Earle
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Everyone has power. But it doesn't help if you don't use it.
Sylvia Earle
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I've spent thousands of hours under water. And even in the deepest dive I have ever made, 2.5 miles (about 4 kilometers) down, I saw trash and other tangible evidence of our presence.
Sylvia Earle
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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.
Sylvia Earle