By Sylvia A. Earle
National Geographic, Washington, D.C. $26.00, hardcover, 303 pages,
ISBN 978-1-4262-0541-5 (2009).
Reviewed by Lee Bumsted
“Throughout the history of our species, the mostly blue planet has kept us alive. It’s time for us to return the favor.” This is the premise Sylvia Earle states in her latest book, The World Is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean’s Are One. She builds a strong case for improving the way we treat the ocean and its inhabitants. Her rationale appeals partly to our self-interest and partly to our sense of what is right.
Earle has spent a lifetime exploring the sea. This experience, which includes more than 7,000 hours underwater, informs her books and lectures on the ecology and conservation of marine ecosystems. She is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society and was formerly the chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
For too long, Earle writes, we have taken the ocean for granted. We have regarded it as an unlimited resource for food and as an unrestricted dumping ground.
She reviews destructive fishing practices that have led to precipitous declines in marine mammal and fish populations. These population losses have altered ecosystems that had been running in a delicate balance for millennia, until human “predators” were added to the mix.
Earle notes that fish and other ocean wildlife have been viewed as commodities rather than as critical components of a system. “It should…have been a cause for grave concern that the damage to ocean ecosystems through massively destructive fishing methods was doing more than undermining future catches. It was tearing at the heart of planetary processes, vital not only for life in the sea, but for all life on Earth,” she says. “Most people don’t know how a computer works, but they would most likely acknowledge that every little gizmo has a function, and that pulling out apparently useless components can quickly lead to major malfunctions.”
Treating the ocean as “the ultimate dumpster” is also causing damage to sea life and marine ecosystems. Earle highlights the dense floating garbage patches that cover wide expanses of the ocean. Major components of the patches are plastic materials that can break down and enter the food chain. Some of these plastics contain toxins and endocrine disrupters, plus plastics that can attract and concentrate waterborne toxins. Terrestrial runoff further stresses the health of the ocean.
“Present climate change policies focus on the atmosphere, largely neglecting the ocean, despite ample evidence that the ocean drives and regulates planetary climate, weather, temperature, and chemistry,” writes Earle. In one example, she explains that microorganisms in the sea extract more carbon dioxide than trees and other photosynthetic organisms do on land. If we continue to damage these microorganisms’ habitat, we may diminish the ocean’s capacity to process carbon dioxide and thus accelerate global warming.
While Earle asserts that we need to protect the ocean to preserve our own way of life, she also argues that we owe it to the varied forms of life that inhabit the sea. We have the tools to assess our impact and the responsibility to mitigate it.
To help readers appreciate the ocean’s incredible diversity, she engagingly describes the whales, sharks, dolphins, octopuses, and fish she encounters when diving or exploring in a one-person submersible. She marvels that there is still so much to learn about the ocean and what lives in it. But she notes that of the 10 million or more species that exist in the sea, we may be losing them faster than we discover them.
To counter losses of marine life and to minimize climate change, Earle asks that we act quickly, while there are still viable options. Two sets of recommendations stand out.
First, she appeals for recognition that wild fish harvesting cannot meet the rising global food demand. She recommends developing closed systems away from the sea to raise fish and other marine organisms that are fast growing and low on the food chain.
Second, she calls for the creation of many more marine protected areas. Globally, about 13 percent of the land has been set aside. The comparable number for the sea is less than 1 percent. Marine protected areas act as reservoirs of biodiversity and provide places for species in decline to rebuild their numbers. They can also add stability to temper climate change.
Sylvia Earle is an advocate for the blue part of the world. She asks us to share her passion and make choices that protect the ocean and its inhabitants. In doing so, we will also be protecting ourselves.
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The text of the speech Sylvia Earle gave at the 2009 Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED) Conference in Long Beach, California, is included at the end of her book. To view her compelling 18-minute presentation, go to: http://www.tedprize.org/category/sylvia-earle/
The video includes footage of Earle diving in one-person submarines and the beautiful marine life she sees underwater.
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