Sylvia Earle speaks of global ‘hope spots’
The Florida Keys are an example of places that Earle calls Earth's 'hope spots.' (Photo: Bob Jagendorf)
Sylvia Earle: There are places around the planet that people recognize as “hot spots,” places of high diversity of life.
That’s Sylvia Earle, National Geographic explorer-in-residence and former Chief Scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Earle likes to call the world’s ‘hot spots’ ‘hope spots.’
Sylvia Earle: I refer to these places as ‘hope spots,’ because if we can embrace them and protect them, there is hope, not just for continuation of these wonderful, extraordinary places, but there’s hope then for humankind.
Earle recognizes the problems – the intense pressure on the oceans and its life from human activities, from overfishing, pollution and global warming. But Earle – who as a young woman gained fame for her deep sea diving – also recognizes our human connection to the sea.
Sylvia Earle: Every breath you take is connected to the ocean, because most of the oxygen in the atmosphere is generated by living systems out in the sea. With every drop of water you drink, you are connected to the ocean, because 97 percent of Earth’s water is out there in the sea, it goes into the atmosphere, into the clouds, falls back on land and sea, regenerates the water in lakes, rivers, and streams, rivers, springs, and ultimately that’s where our water comes from. Take care of the ocean, and it’ll take care of your self.
Our thanks today to Sylvia Earle.
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Hope spots, like worm holes in space, may be everywhere. Obviously less spoiled wilderness (land or sea)thrives as a system. But also in human nature, women and men and children who live with misguided mainstream tv impressed people, these singular enllightened people of all ages who are aligned vertically with right action infiltrate humanity…hopefully the interface grows between the ignorant and the wise.
Anne, thank you. What a wonderful comment.
There is one “hot” topic nobody is openly discussing.
What a shambles is being constructed for our children to confront. What a colossal sham is the soon to be unsustainable pursuit of the primrose path of endless economic growth. What a shame.
Please consider the exemplary work of a splendid scientist, Martha M. Campbell, Ph.D., whose work reminds me of the good science of Sylvia Earle.
Dr. Campbell’s 2005 presentation has been ignored and yet it is particularly timely in 2008, especially in the light of so many of the world’s major polluters avoiding their duties and responsibilities to protect Sylvia Earle’s “hot spots” as well as to preserve the integrity of Earth and its ecosystems.
Please click on the following link,
http://www.populationandsustainability.org/papers/campbellagm.pdf
Thanks to all,
Steve
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population,
established 2001
http://sustainabilitysoutheast.org/index.php
Please meet John Gray……………
http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=6951612
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population
established 2001
In addition to Sylvia Earle and Deborah Byrd, we have other exemplars who are standing up and speaking out………..
Lee Iacocca Says:
Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, ‘Stay the course’
Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned ‘Titanic’.
You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up.
These are times that cry out for leadership. But when you look around, you’ve got to ask: ‘Where have all the leaders gone?’ Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage………. and common sense?
Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone’s hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn’t happen again. Now, that’s just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you’re going to do the next time.
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening.
Hey, I’m not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I’m trying to light a fire. I’m speaking out because I have hope……………….If I’ve learned one thing, it’s this:
You don’t get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action….. It’s not too late, but it’s getting pretty close.
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population,
established 2001