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Activists Around the World: Sylvia Earle · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Smantha and welcome to stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: when I never told your production by heart radio.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And welcome to another activist around the world. And today
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  Speaker 2: we are doing pretty much an insufficient episode, Like because
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: it is such a short episode, it's not going to
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  Speaker 2: reach the amount of information that we have on this person,
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  Speaker 2: because we were talking about a legend, an icon in
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  Speaker 2: the oceanography world, in the marine biology world, in so
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: much we are talking about marine biologists, explorer, lecturer, and
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: writer Sylvia Earl. I think you can see Sylvia a Earl,
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  Speaker 2: so like, you know, she's got that middle initial really important.
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  Speaker 2: But she is a giant among giant when it comes
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  Speaker 2: to ocean exploration and ocean conservation. Like when we talk
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  Speaker 2: about her, there are books that she has written, books
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  Speaker 2: upon books on the books that we should be reading
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  Speaker 2: and really taking note of. But yes, this is not
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  Speaker 2: exactly like sad, But what I'm thinking is like, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: we probably should dedicate the whole episode to her and
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  Speaker 2: her works because it's fascinating. But for today, because we
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  Speaker 2: did want to end on a bang when it comes
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  Speaker 2: to Environmental Awareness Month, we wanted to bring her in
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  Speaker 2: just so that if you've never heard of her, you
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  Speaker 2: could start doing your own research. Okay, that's what we're
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  Speaker 2: going to say. So she has been referred to just
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  Speaker 2: got several titles, but one of the most fascinating ones
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  Speaker 2: is her Deepness, which I thought was an interesting title
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  Speaker 2: in part to her holding the record for the deepest
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  Speaker 2: walk on the seafloor and for the longest time. So phenomenal,
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  Speaker 2: and she was doing this untethered, by the way, that's
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  Speaker 2: so cool, And that's just one of the cool That's
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  Speaker 2: not the coolest thing. There's so many things. Any So,
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  Speaker 2: her works have been widely celebrated and have greatly influenced
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  Speaker 2: the exploration of the deep seas. In fact, she has
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  Speaker 2: many first under her belt, including the first to be
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  Speaker 2: named Hero of the Planet by Time magazine. Like she
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  Speaker 2: was like, oh, we need this new award for the
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  Speaker 2: person and the first woman chief scientist of the US
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  Speaker 2: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. So she has this Year's
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  Speaker 2: got a few more, by the way, and with her
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  Speaker 2: legendary career, she talked about her childhood being a big
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  Speaker 2: influence in her career path. Born and raised in New Jersey,
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  Speaker 2: she talked about how she would collect tadpoles and fish
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  Speaker 2: in the pond in her backyard, spending hours observing and
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  Speaker 2: recording her data in her little journal. Later, she and
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  Speaker 2: her family moved down to Florida nearly the Gulf of Mexico,
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  Speaker 2: where she would begin her venture and studying the coastal
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  Speaker 2: sea life. And if you go to see different interviews
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  Speaker 2: with her, you see how she talks about how she
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  Speaker 2: fell in love with the sand and the ocean, and
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  Speaker 2: how the crystal blue waters and seeing these creatures and
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  Speaker 2: being fascinated on how they lived and how to preserve them.
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  Speaker 2: So it's a beautiful story. After graduating high school at
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  Speaker 2: the age of sixteen, yeah, he's a smart y'all, she
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  Speaker 2: went on to get her bodany degree at Florida State
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  Speaker 2: University at the age of nineteen, moving on and getting
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  Speaker 2: her masters in botany at Duke University. All the while
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  Speaker 2: she's already gotten her certification as a scuba diver to
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  Speaker 2: start her studies underwater. So she's like, you know what
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  Speaker 2: I got this, let me go ahead and jump in here.
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  Speaker 2: She would also go on to her doctoral work in
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  Speaker 2: studying algae at Duke University, and I believe the number
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  Speaker 2: of specimens that she was able to study in collecsus
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  Speaker 2: like twenty thousand algae. Woh, yeah, she's been doing that work.
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  Speaker 2: She's been doing that work. In an article written about
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  Speaker 2: her works in the National Geographics, she talks about her
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  Speaker 2: early studies of the ocean. She says, when I started
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  Speaker 2: to explore the ocean in the nineteen fifties, I became
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  Speaker 2: witnessed to its radical changes. In my time, I've seen
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  Speaker 2: the loss of half of the ocean's life, both in
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  Speaker 2: terms of numbers as well as diversity. Oh, that's so sad.
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  Speaker 1: That is sad.
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  Speaker 2: In a minute. And it was at the age of
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  Speaker 2: sixteen that Earl made her first dive. Has broken records since,
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  Speaker 2: adding another first to her legacy. She was the first
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  Speaker 2: woman to explore the ocean beyond one thousand feet while
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  Speaker 2: wearing a gym suit, Which is a quote from their
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  Speaker 2: article A pressurized That diving system that eliminates the need
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  Speaker 2: for decompression stops petrified of the ocean, by the way,
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  Speaker 2: I can't imagine.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, you know, I got really into both mountain class
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  Speaker 1: and ocean diving.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yes, I'm petrified. Not her, she had no fear.
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  Speaker 2: Oh I am petrified it's scary, he thought, and she
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  Speaker 2: did this so with the exploration. She describes the unique
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  Speaker 2: beauty of the sea. In the National Geographic article, she says,
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  Speaker 2: down there, it really comes into focus that fish is
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  Speaker 2: different from that one and that one and that one.
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  Speaker 2: I know, the ill who lives in that place. Exploration
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  Speaker 2: and peeling back layers of the unknown has led me
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  Speaker 2: to the conviction that we have to protect as much
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  Speaker 2: of the natural fabric of life, land and sea as possible.
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  Speaker 2: What a settlement. I'm like, she's seen all these things.
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  Speaker 2: I also like, she's like, I know that ill, I
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  Speaker 2: know this Sales is my friend. Yeah, and she's seen
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  Speaker 2: quite a bit of the land and the sea. Earl
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  Speaker 2: has led several expeditions and collected and wrote a lot
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  Speaker 2: of data and a lot of books. Again from the
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  Speaker 2: National Geographic Article. To date, Earl has led more than
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  Speaker 2: one hundred ocean expeditions, logged over seven thousand hours underwater
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  Speaker 2: off there, more than one hundred and ninety scientific papers,
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  Speaker 2: and published thirteen books. And this was the article that
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  Speaker 2: was written in twenty twenty five, so not even that
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  Speaker 2: long ago. A lot of stuff. She's been doing, a
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  Speaker 2: lot of things. She's been on many voyages and explorations,
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  Speaker 2: including a six week voyage to the Indian Ocean, voyages
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  Speaker 2: to the Galapagos Islands, the Chilean coast, the Bahamas, and
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  Speaker 2: even been able to live in an underwater habitat. This
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  Speaker 2: is the world, like, this is so cool. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: in the seventies, due to the government not allowing men
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  Speaker 2: and women to inhabit together, because they had this whole project,
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  Speaker 2: she led an all women's team to live in the
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  Speaker 2: Men and Sea project that allow for scientists to live
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  Speaker 2: and study fifty feet underwater for two weeks, allowing them
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  Speaker 2: to study and photograph marine life in those surroundings. So
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  Speaker 2: she's lived any in the water, in this building, in
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  Speaker 2: this habitat that they created so they can study it
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  Speaker 2: with an all women team. Because she's like, oh, you
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  Speaker 2: won't let me do this with men, go ahead and
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  Speaker 2: made my own team. I loved everything about that, and
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  Speaker 2: they were able to get a lot of information in
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  Speaker 2: this type of study. I didn't look it up. I'm
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  Speaker 2: wondering how many of those types of studies exist right now,
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  Speaker 2: because that's it's like an obvious we should be doing this, Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: like how far have we come? Yes, the seventies. It
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  Speaker 2: was over fifty years ago, so surely anyway fascinating. I
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  Speaker 2: love this, And there's actual pictures if you want to
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  Speaker 2: go look them up of her doing this and living
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  Speaker 2: in these areas. I'm like, what so cool? And she
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  Speaker 2: would only continue to grow her works and studies throughout
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  Speaker 2: the years. She collaborated with undersea photographer Al Gettings to
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  Speaker 2: photograph battleship graveyards, followed great sperm Wells, and published her
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  Speaker 2: own book in the nineteen eighties where she walked untethered
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  Speaker 2: on the seaf so she literally had them take photos
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  Speaker 2: of her doing this, which is amazing. From Women's hisstory
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  Speaker 2: dot org, they write she worked with Gettings on her
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  Speaker 2: nineteen eighty book Exploring the Deep Frontier that's the name
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  Speaker 2: of the book, which told of her experience walking untethered
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  Speaker 2: on the seafloor at a lower depth than any person
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  Speaker 2: before or since. She wore a pressurized suit and was
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  Speaker 2: carried to a depth of one thousand, two hundred and
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  Speaker 2: fifty feet where she detached from the submersible and explored
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  Speaker 2: the sea floor for two and a half hours. So
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  Speaker 2: they actually captured this as she is doing record breaking
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  Speaker 2: things could you imagine again that petrifies me. The seafloor.
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  Speaker 1: You've got some anxieties about the sea, the ocean.
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  Speaker 2: There's too many things I don't.
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  Speaker 1: Know about is dark the ocean and not the sea
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  Speaker 1: specifically the ocean.
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  Speaker 2: Well, everything everything where I can't see the bottom anyway,
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  Speaker 2: moving on. Later, she collaborated with Graham Hawks, who would
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  Speaker 2: be her third husband, to start companies that designed and
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  Speaker 2: built underwater vehicles to allow for scientists to work even
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  Speaker 2: deeper in the seas. So from one Earth dot org.
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  Speaker 2: By nineteen eighty five, the remarkable team at Deep Ocean Engineering,
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  Speaker 2: which is the team she created with her husband, unveiled
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  Speaker 2: their groundbreaking creation, the Deep Rover Research Submarine. The state
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  Speaker 2: of the art vessel could reach depths of one thousand
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  Speaker 2: meters or three thousand, three hundred feet, unraveling the mysteries
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  Speaker 2: hidden within the oceans of thisy. So she did so much.
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  Speaker 2: It wasn't just one small thing. She went beyond. And
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  Speaker 2: I'd say one small thing like that, one thing is small,
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  Speaker 2: it's not it's giant, but you know what I mean.
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  Speaker 2: So in nineteen ninety Earl became the first woman to
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  Speaker 2: be appointed the Chief Scientists of Natural Oceanography and Atmospheric Administration,
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  Speaker 2: which quote was responsible for safeguarding the health of the
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  Speaker 2: nation's waters. And this was from National Geographic And it
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  Speaker 2: was during this time that she was able to use
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  Speaker 2: her expertise to study the impact of oil spills on
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  Speaker 2: the environment and was able to lead trips to research
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  Speaker 2: the damages caused by the destruction of oil wells during
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  Speaker 2: the ninety one Gulf Wars. I'm sure we're using all
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  Speaker 2: of that information again today and every day. Hats off
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  Speaker 2: to her for that type of work because she has
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  Speaker 2: been doing it for years and has been a big
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  Speaker 2: help in policies and conversations and preserving the environment and
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  Speaker 2: the oceans and the seas. Since then, she's been able
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  Speaker 2: to lead, fund and organize several expeditions, science equipment, valuable
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  Speaker 2: research projects, and so much more, including founding Mission Blue,
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  Speaker 2: which she started in two thousand and nine. And this
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  Speaker 2: is what they write on their site Mission blue dot org.
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  Speaker 2: They write, Mission Blue inspires action to explore and protect
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  Speaker 2: the ocean. Led by the legendary oceanographer doctor Sylvia Earle,
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  Speaker 2: Mission Blue is uniting a global coalition to inspire an
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  Speaker 2: upwelling of public awareness access and support for a worldwide
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  Speaker 2: network of marine protected areas HOPE spots. So she has
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  Speaker 2: HOPE spots that they trademark to find areas that need
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  Speaker 2: to be preserved and you know, keeping hope to keep
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  Speaker 2: the oceans safeguard it. Yeah, we need to save the ocean. Obviously.
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  Speaker 2: That's just a small bit of the accomplishments that she
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  Speaker 2: has done. If you go and look up her Wikipedia page,
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  Speaker 2: I think there's about It didn't count twenty to thirty
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  Speaker 2: different accolades that are listed for her, starting in the
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  Speaker 2: nineteen seventies, but these are some that I thought we
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  Speaker 2: would point out. In nineteen ninety she was given Society
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  Speaker 2: of Woman Geographers Gold Medal. Nineteen ninety eight, the UN
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  Speaker 2: Global five hundred Laureate, and National Wildlife Federation Conservationists of
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  Speaker 2: the Year. In two thousands, she was in the National
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  Speaker 2: Women's Hall of Fame, as well as a Library of
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  Speaker 2: Congress Living Legend and a Women Divers Hall Fame. Obviously,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty she was given a ship. Essentially, a
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  Speaker 2: ship was named after her. So the Aurora Expeditions announced
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: their expeditionship Sylvia Earle, which you can go look up
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  Speaker 2: and read about now and all the expeditions they go on,
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  Speaker 2: and then in twenty twenty six she was given Legacy
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  Speaker 2: shift Maker Award at Harvard Art Museums. And yeah, at
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  Speaker 2: the age of ninety, she's still going strong with her
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  Speaker 2: works and talking about conservation and talking about ocean preservation.
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  Speaker 2: So she's done a huge amount of work. She is
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  Speaker 2: a fascinating individual. I'm really upset that I didn't know
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  Speaker 2: about her before now, to be honest, but she is
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  Speaker 2: a living legend and you should definitely look up some
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  Speaker 2: of the stuff that she has done as well as
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  Speaker 2: her books, and she has a Netflix documentary that we
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  Speaker 2: should probably be watching as well.
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  Speaker 1: Our list continues to grow, which is a good problem
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  Speaker 1: to have. Yes, a good problem to have, and yes,
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  Speaker 1: this is an amazing story. Listeners, please let us know
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: if you have any sugation questions for who we should
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: feature on future episodes, or if any thoughts about this.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: You can email us at hellot Stuffwhenever Told You dot com.
• 13:10
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• 13:13
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  Speaker 1: you get your books. Special thanks today to producer Casey
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: for helping us out, and as always, thanks to executive
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: producer Maya, and thanks to you for listening. Stuff Never
• 13:31
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