Earth & Sky

Sylvia Earle: oceans key to human survival

Sylvia Earle: The ocean is our life-support system. It’s the source of most of the oxygen in the atmosphere. With every breath we take, we should be grateful that there is an ocean out there.

That’s marine scientist Sylvia Earle, who’s logged more than 6,000 hours on scientific expeditions under the ocean surface.

Earle, who holds the record for the deepest solo dive in the ocean, has a string of other achievements to her credit. For example, in the1960s, she was one of the first scientists to catalog life on the deep ocean floor. Earle spoke to us about the fragile balance between human civilization and the natural world, which provides so much of what we humans need to survive.

Sylvia Earle: We are facing a critical juncture in the next decade, probably the most important decade in the next thousand years, for us to take actions that will protect what we can of the land, of the wildlife, of the ocean and the wildlife there, for their sake, of course, but mostly, selfishly, for our sake. It’s the key to human survival, taking care of the natural systems that take care of us.

In addition to studying the ocean, Earle’s focus is on conserving the ocean now.