My mother was known as the ‘bird lady’ of the neighborhood. Anything injured, or any unusual creature somebody found, they would always come to our doorstep. Sylvia Earle Read Quote
It’s mainly the high-end luxury market now that drives much of the fishing in the sea. It’s not feeding the starving millions. It’s feeding a luxury market. Sylvia Earle Read Quote
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 Read Quote
Nothing has prepared sharks, squid, krill and other sea creatures for industrial-scale extraction that destroys entire ecosystems while targeting a few species. Sylvia Earle Read Quote
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 Read Quote
The end of commercial fishing is predicted long before the middle of the 21st century. Sylvia Earle Read Quote
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 Read Quote
Forty percent of the United States drains into the Mississippi. It’s agriculture. It’s golf courses. It’s domestic runoff from our lawns and roads. Ultimately, where does it go? Downstream into the gulf. Sylvia Earle Read Quote
I would love to slip into the skin of a fish and know what it’s like to be one. They have senses that I can only dream about. They have a lateral line down their whole body that senses motion, but maybe it does more than that. Sylvia Earle Read Quote
The Arctic is an ocean. The southern pole is a continent surrounded by ocean. The North Pole is an ocean, or northern waters. It’s an ocean surrounded by land, basically. Sylvia Earle Read Quote