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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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The climate has been changing. Of course it [has]. Evidence throughout history, [which] we can assess, especially during human history, shows there have been ups and downs. But the last ten thousand years have been relatively stable compared to now.
Sylvia Earle
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Ironically the very energy, the very basis of how we know what we know, has been reliant on having an energy source [necessary] to build rockets to go to the moon and Mars, to support airplanes that fly, and satellites to give us our communication.
Sylvia Earle
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Never again will we have this good a chance as we now have to find an enduring place for ourselves within the natural systems that keep us alive. It's a sweet spot in history. That's why this is such a critical time.
Sylvia Earle
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Burning fossil fuels has given us the gift of seeing ourselves in new ways. But that very gift now enables us to see we've got to change our ways.
Sylvia Earle
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My parents moved to Florida when I was 12, and my backyard was the Gulf of Mexico.
Sylvia Earle
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Never before have we known what we know.
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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We've got to alter our fossil fuel dependence and go to other energy sources.
Sylvia Earle
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This much is certain: We have the power to damage the sea, but no sure way to heal the harm.
Sylvia Earle
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The opportunity that is unique [to our] time is what inspires me to do everything I can to move things forward. This is the first time that we have the capacity to understand our place in the greater scheme of things to the extent that we do.
Sylvia Earle
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It has taken these many hundreds of millions of years to fine-tune the Earth to a point where it is suitable for the likes of us.
Sylvia Earle
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The image of Earth from space transformed our view of ourselves. It is maybe the most important image that exists - because we can see ourselves in context in a way that otherwise would be really hard to explain. It should inspire us to wonder about it, to want to know everything we can about it and do everything we can to take care of it.
Sylvia Earle
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Photosynthetic organisms in the sea yield most of the oxygen in the atmosphere, take up and store vast amounts of carbon dioxide, shape planetary chemistry, and hold the planet steady.
Sylvia Earle
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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.
Sylvia Earle
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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.
Sylvia Earle
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The Earth is a unique system in the universe, the only planet we know of that's hospitable for humankind.
Sylvia Earle
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When you are a child you learn your alphabet, your numbers, but increasingly, we must learn from the earliest stages that the highest priority has to be to maintain the world as a safe place for humankind.
Sylvia Earle
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When you think about the real cost of so-called cheap energy that has driven our prosperity to unprecedented levels, for some of us, to our horror, we've realized that this has the potential for burning brightly and then snuffing out.
Sylvia Earle
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All through college, I had frequently been the only girl in a science class - which wasn't such a bad deal.
Sylvia Earle
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Look at a child and realize that their future is in your hands. It's not just those who will be here fifty years from now. The decisions we make in the next ten years will shape the next 10,000 years.
Sylvia Earle