Sylvia Earle

Sylvia Earle’s Wish

“I wish you would use all means at your disposal — films! expeditions! the web! more! — to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas, hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet.”

The Plan:

To bring knowledge of our oceans to a wide audience and galvanize support in favor of marine protected areas. We invite a variety of responses from TEDsters in pursuit of this goal.

Where We Are Now:

  • Sylvia’s foundation received a million dollar grant from Planet Heritage Foundation at TED2009.
  • Razorfish came on board as the lead communications agency. They created a brand and an ocean awareness campaign that will launch in April 2010.
  • A partner network was created including National Geographic, IUCN, Google Earth and Deep Search Foundation.
  • In April 2010, a five-day TED conference focused on the many facets of the ocean will take place on Lindblad’s National Geographic Endeavor in the Galapagos Islands. Talks will be promoted through TED.com and the campaign with a call to policy makers and citizens alike to create more marine protected areas.

The Continuing Needs:

  • Media Space
  • Sponsors
  • PR
  • Corporate partners to help promote blue
  • Connections to and commitments from world leaders to create Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

About Sylvia Earle

“We’ve got to somehow stabilize our connection to nature so that in 50 years from now, 500 years, 5,000 years from now there will still be a wild system and respect for what it takes to sustain us.”

Sylvia Earle, called “Her Deepness” by the New Yorker and the New York Times, “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress, and “Hero for the Planet” by Time, is an oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer with a deep commitment to research through personal exploration.

Earle’s work has been at the frontier of deep ocean exploration for four decades. Earle has led more than 50 expeditions worldwide involving more than 6,000 hours underwater. As captain of the first all-female team to live underwater, she and her fellow scientists received a ticker-tape parade and White House reception upon their return to the surface. In 1979, Sylvia Earle walked untethered on the sea floor at a lower depth than any other woman before or since. In the 1980s she started the companies Deep Ocean Engineering and Deep Ocean Technologies with engineer Graham Hawkes to design and build undersea vehicles that allow scientists to work at previously inaccessible depths. In the early 1990s, Dr. Earle served as Chief Scientist of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. At present she is explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society.

Sylvia Earle is a dedicated advocate for the world’s oceans and the creatures that live in them. Her voice speaks with wonder and amazement at the glory of the oceans and with urgency to awaken the public from its ignorance about the role the oceans plays in all of our lives and the importance of maintaining their health.