Get to Know a Frog, or a Worm, or a Fish Says Sylvia Earle; Everybody has a vote. Use it to help sustain the environment

What can individuals do to ease the damage we are doing to our planet? Earle had a few suggestions:

Be aware of global warming. Things can be done on an individual basis such as planting one tree and thinking about what we put in the air. And be sure to plant a native tree, one that doesn't require excess water to keep it alive in a place that's not natural.
Change the way we think of our yards. So much is done to maintain a lawn including fertilizing. Fertilizers put nitrates and phosphates into ground water and from there directly into lakes, rivers and streams — and ultimately back to the ocean. Sylvia Earle doesn't have a lawn. She plants trees and shrubs that maximize carbon dioxide reduction and that create habitat for wild creatures.
Get to know creatures. Go to the world's aquariums and become acquainted with the way nature relates to humankind.
As a parent or grandparent, make sure your children get connected to nature. Read to them. Teach them about nature and wild things.
Everybody has a vote. Use it to help sustain the environment.

Volunteer to help with your local parks or marine sanctuaries. There are many ways that individuals can make a difference.

Earle is passionate and convincing about the damage we are doing to our oceans and the life within them. "We're altering the ocean with results that aren't likely to be favorable to us. Already there are signs that this is happening. The chemistry of the sea is changing because of what we're putting into the ocean--hundreds of new chemicals that did not even exist a few years ago. We synthesize them and then introduce them into the air, water, land, and into living systems that we depend upon and our own bodies. And this is not without consequence, it's just that we haven't fully appreciated what the consequences are yet."

Sylvia Earle clearly wants her legacy to be that she made a difference. She continues to work nonstop to reach that goal. In addition to being Explorer in Residence for National Geographic, adjunct scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, leader of the Sustainable Seas Expeditions, and Chairman of DOER Marine Operations, she serves on various boards, foundations and committees relating to marine research, policy and conservation.

Add mother of three and grandmother of four to the list. "I think about what the world is going to be like in 25 years. I imagine my grandchildren as young adults and wonder what kind of world it will be if we don't get this right."

Modern mythologist Joseph Campbell advised, "Follow your bliss." Talking with Sylvia Earle offers a glimpse of what that must be like.

*NPR's Science Friday on August 15, 2014 presented a segment on Ms. Earle:

Sylvia Earle’s ‘Mission Blue’

Sylvia Earle. Credit: Netflix

In the new documentary Mission Blue, famed oceanographer Sylvia Earle bears witness to troubling changes in our oceans. Citing depleted fisheries to ocean acidification and struggling coral reefs, Sylvia explains how and why we’ve pushed the ocean to its limit — and what we can do to help it bounce back.

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Get to Know a Frog, or a Worm, or a Fish Says Sylvia Earle; Everybody has a vote. Use it to help sustain the environment

Sylvia Earle’s ‘Mission Blue’

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