If anyone on the planet has the right to sound the alarm about the effects of global warming and climate change, it’s Sylvia Earle, PhD, who has personally witnessed and studied the ocean and ocean life for the past half-century, all over the world. To name just a few of her accomplishments, she’s published more than 190 scientific and popular articles and five books, led more than 100 expeditions, logged over 7,000 hours underwater, was chief scientist of NOAA, set a record for solo diving in 1,000-meter depth and is a National Geographic explorer-in-residence.
At Pepperdine’s Elkins auditorium last Wednesday night, the 81-year old Earle’s 90-minute talk generated enough interest to fill a 400-seat auditorium to near capacity, including a large number of university students.
Karen Martin, biology professor, said in her introduction that Earle is a “heroic defender of the planet.”
Earle began underwater explorations in 1970.
“The guys were aquanauts, but the women were called aqua-babes,” she said, to audience laughter. She described the thousands of hours she spent in underwater labs, and the fact that the average ocean depth is 2.5 miles, with the deepest depth seven miles.
“Only three people have gone to the deepest part of the ocean,” she said.
A thousand feet down, she saw things most humans have never seen in person: “Beautiful corals bursting with blue light, like firefly light,” she said, describing her first encounter with underwater bioluminescence.
Earle spent 1998 – 2003 on sea expeditions going to ocean areas “that should’ve been protected and weren’t,” laying the groundwork for future marine sanctuaries. “We’re just beginning to recognize that we have to protect the seas just like we protect land,” she said.
Earle offered eye-opening statements about the world we live in today.
“Humankind has consumed the natural world to support our existence like no other creature,” Earle began. “We’re close to eight billion people, and when I was born, it was only about two billion. And there are consequences to our consumption of the trees, the ocean and the skies.
“Early in the 21st century, some humans are not ready for the news that our actions have had consequences,” she continued. “We’re paying the price for cheap energy from fossil fuels. We burned through coal, oil and gas, which warmed the atmosphere and the planet. I don’t blame those who acted in ignorance of the consequences. We thought the ocean was ‘too big to fail.’
“The ocean absorbs CO2, but there’s a point when it can’t absorb any more and it becomes carbonic acid,” Earle explained. “We’re all carbon-based units, and we have disrupted the chemistry of the planet — especially in the last 50 years, with the pace accelerating.”
Earle helped convince President Bush to establish the world’s biggest marine reserve in 2006, in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. In 2016, she helped convince President Obama to greatly expand that reserve.
But there’s still much work to be done in trying to stop the negative effects humans are having on the oceans.
“Mining in the deep sea is consuming the deep sea system,” she warned. “The bottom of the ocean is packed with sediment from hundreds of millions of years, and carbon is sequestered at the bottom of the sea. We have to step back and think of the consequences [of allowing ocean floor mining].”
“The Arctic is warming faster than any other part of the planet, and the animals there are in serious trouble because of ice melt, which is becoming more rapid every year,” she reported.
A number of marine species are teetering on extinction. Earle said only about 30 Vaquita porpoises in Baja California are left, because they’re caught in fishing nets and thrown away as bycatch. Various endangered fish are being poached for the Chinese medicine trade.
Many fish populations have been reduced by 90 percent just in the past few decades, including tuna, sharks and swordfish. “Why aren’t we giving these creatures safe havens?” Earle asked. “Sharks are facing especially hard times because of shark fin soup.”
“We have dying coral reefs because of global warming — about half the reefs around the world are already gone…and only one-third of the Great Barrier Reef has full protection from commercial exploitation. Why aren’t we up in arms?” she asked
Earle noted two successful cases where action was taken: improvement in LA’s air quality since 1970 and the recovery in whale populations since most countries agreed to stop killing them in the 80s.
“Early in the 21st century, we have the power to shape the future as never before,” Earle said. “It’s up to us.”