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Profile of Sylvia Earle

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the following KQED production was produced in high definition she spent more than 7000 hours of our life underwater working the study and save our planet's oceans she was named Time magazine's whatever she wrote for the planet so if the name Sylvia Earle isn't familiar to you it should be the Oakland resident is a National Geographic explorer-in-residence and was the former Chief scientist for Noah the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  a world expert in aquatic plants in Marine ecology Sylvia Earle has led hundreds of ocean Expeditions and published more than 150 papers and articles along with several prominent books on Marine Science and Technology since the 1950s she's been a pioneer of undersea research and exploration fearlessly pushing the boundaries of what humans can do in the deep blue I was really fortunate to have a chance to use some of the first scuba systems that were made available in the United States first time I jumped into the water with a tank on my back I wasn't really convinced great underwater but when I put my face down and I actually could do it here was such a gift with such a lift it still enjoy every time I jump in again and again but as what rating is scuba was for her eventually the limitations of the gear left her urine for more early in her career she decided if she was ever going to reprehensible e study marine organisms in their environments she'd need to stay underwater for longer than scuba technology would allow  finally she got her chance in 1970 not long after earning a PhD from Duke University she lived in an underwater laboratory off the US Virgin Islands for two weeks as leader of the first team of women Aquanauts it was part of an experiment by NASA the Navy and the Interior Department called the tektite to Pro we have for our diets that's not possible in a single tank of air but since we didn't have to go up all the decompression took at the end we could stay down indefinitely we spent 12 hours a day and night we could go in and out sleep eat right up or notes look through microscopes in the war dry inside underwater house that was just reg dining with a tektite project headlines all over world it was caught the imagination of people five women living together under water. It was such a concept Back in 1970 the next big headliner suppose was a few years later in 1979 when I was working on a project for the National Geographic and I discovered that there was a stallion suit code Jim Jim operated by Oceaneering International mostly for commercial uses in the shore oil and gas industry and one thing led to another and finally turned out that okay I would get to try that suit as a scientist to evaluate it for scientific purposes Kim was a metal diving suit that maintained a normal atmospheric pressure inside allowing divers to go to depths of 1500 ft 10 times deeper turn with traditional scuba gear for the deepest dive ever made experience would forever change the course of her career. Down to 400m 250ft they were bamboo Coral these are unbranched single whisker like Carl's that grow in a spiral 6 feet tall armoire reached out and touched one Rings blue luminescence blue fire post if I touched it here the pulses would go up if I touched here the pulses we go down touch two places simultaneously got these Rippling Rings roof of her coming up in it was such a joy to do this I still get chills just thinking about what what a breakthrough it was for me and that's really what got me started wanting to develop submarines that I could drive so I begin discussions right there on the spot using the gym with one of the engineer's involve Graham Hawks from their experience with the gym suit went on to develop a mini submarine called Deep Rover it was racing the gym suit wasn't Nimble fast and easy to manipulate Hindi proverb she set yet another death record in 1985 the first solo dive at 3300 feet Beyond Scuba to dream of the day that lots of little micro submersibles will be out there people should be able to have access to the Sea so they can understand it take care of it but it's what she learned down there that has shaped the latter part of her life in my life since I was a child Federal proceeding human history it sounds like a big bold statement but it is true  we've lost on the order of half of the car we've seen an explosion of dead zones in coastal areas around the world you can boil it down to simple things like what we're putting into the ocean carbon dioxide excess carbon dioxide that is not only a problem for warming the atmosphere and driving the temperature up but also driving the acidification of the ocean toward new levels the other category of problems though comes for what we're taking out of the ocean in the past 50 years we've seen the loss of 90% of the big fish in the sea  because we've taken them they they aren't lost we know Let It Go on with it in them  in the process of taking out of the sea trolls dredges long lines have a huge Buy other creatures that are taken and simply thrown away  the habitat itself is destroyed when Annette goes across the bottom it's like using a bulldozer the cats songbirds I mean I used to eat a lot of seafood before I knew before I actually went diving into the ocean can see these great pause cut across the sea floor where trawl had destroyed the nature of the seafloor I'm not saying you have to stop fishing I am saying we have to stop fishing responsibly we have to stop killing creatures we cannot take sustainably for the last two decades Earl has worked tirelessly an ambassador for the oceans from 1998 to 2003 she traveled the globe as part of the National Geographic sustainable Seas expeditions hoping to raise awareness and funds to establish tens of thousands of Acres of new Marine sanctuaries around the world  and as always just continue to focus on Innovative tools that make it easier for humans to understand the planets oceans in 2006 episode of Khan write a chance to get a talk and so did the man who is the head of the phenomenon called Google Earth and I had a chance to publicly say hanky who's in charge of Google Earth how much I love Google Earth and I didn't plan it but it just popped out I said and I hope someday you'll finish you turn a great job with a dirt but what about the ocean the water it's missing big blobs of blue and not be able to see that the mountains continue from the beach right down into the sea it seems obvious and to discredit John hanke said well okay what do about it for 3 years she consulted with Google Engineers to figure out how to fill in those big blobs blue that comprise more than what percent of our planet in February of 2009 Google oceans was finally unveiled but the work is by now please done Google Earth Sun ports in great detail other parts get pretty fuzzy pretty fast  so as it becomes available the whole girl this going to be in much better to tail and accessible to little kids and big kids and decision-makers in car mechanics and Housewives you can play on the planet and see how things tie together and see what we're doing to the ocean  now at age 70 Sylvia Earle is more determined than ever to explore what she calls the blue heart of the planet  I breathe I'll be exploring I hope for as long as I live I long to be able to explore the deepest part of the ocean plans are under way right now to develop that I hope will be built soon enough for me to actually be among those who go to the deepest place of the sea and to see what's there to braided into a thinking this is a pivotal time in history and the key goes back to understanding and knowing the next 10 years could be most important and I think they are the most important next ten thousand years  it's this critical window when we can see the consequences is the VAR actions we have the power it's within our grasp but it's not going to be that way if we continue business as usual because the trends that we have already set in motion will continue everyday that passes it gets harder so let's get busy let's hurry still have time this is the time

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