"Our past, our present, and whatever remains of our future, absolutely depend on what we do now."
Background:
Documentaries and/or Books:
TedTalks and Interviews:
Birthday: 30 August 1935
“No water, no life. No blue, no green.”
“With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you're connected to the sea. No matter where on Earth you live.”
“Far and away, the greatest threat to the ocean, and thus to ourselves, is ignorance. But we can do something about that.”
“I hope for your help to explore and protect the wild ocean in ways that will restore the health and, in so doing, secure hope for humankind. Health to the ocean means health for us.”
“When I arrived on the planet, there were only two billion. Wildlife was more abundant, we were less so; now the situation is reversed.”
“Many of us ask what can I, as one person, do, but history shows us that everything good and bad starts because somebody does something or does not do something,”
“The single non-negotiable thing life requires is water.”
“Knowing is the key to caring, and with caring there is hope that people will be motivated to take positive actions. They might not care even if they know, but they can’t care if they are unaware.”
“The bottom line answer to the question about why biodiversity matters is fairly simple: The rest of the living world can get along without us, but we can’t get along without them.”
“Let’s talk trash…. Only we humans make waste that nature can’t digest.”
“One kind of blue-green bacteria, Prochlorococcus, is so abundant—about 100 octillion (1 octillion = 1027) are alive at any given moment—that it alone is responsible for about 20 percent of the oxygen in the atmosphere. Put another way, this nearly invisible form of life generates the oxygen in one of every five breaths you take, no matter where on the planet you live.”
“People ask: Why should I care about the ocean? Because the ocean is the cornerstone of earth's life support system, it shapes climate and weather. It holds most of life on earth. 97% of earth's water is there. It's the blue heart of the planet — we should take care of our heart. It's what makes life possible for us. We still have a really good chance to make things better than they are. They won't get better unless we take the action and inspire others to do the same thing. No one is without power. Everybody has the capacity to do something.”
“We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do.”
“Just as we have the power to harm the ocean, we have the power to put in place policies and modify our own behavior in ways that would be an insurance policy for the future of the sea, for the creatures there, and for us, protecting special critical areas in the ocean.”
"Our past, our present, and whatever remains of our future, absolutely depend on what we do now."
“The best scientists and explorers have the attributes of kids! They ask question and have a sense of wonder. They have curiosity. ‘Who, what, where, why, when, and how!’ They never stop asking questions, and I never stop asking questions, just like a five year old.”
