Print exclusive: The incredible Sylvia Earle
As part of PORTER’s collaboration with environmental game changers Parley for the Oceans, Parley founder Cyrill Gutsch talks to legendary marine biologist SYLVIA EARLE, 82, about her lifelong love of the ocean and what we can all do to ensure a better future for our blue planet
Cyrill Gutsch Sylvia, why do you love the sea?
Sylvia Earle How could you not love the sea? The sea makes life possible.
CG When did you first put your head underwater?
SE I was three years old on the New Jersey shore and a wave knocked me over. At first, I couldn’t breathe and it was frightening, but when my toes touched the bottom and I could stand, I realized that it was exhilarating. My mother was watching from the beach. She could have grabbed me, concerned for my safety, but she saw the big smile on my face and let me go back in – and I’ve been going back in ever since.
CG You’ve spent a big part of your life beneath the surface. What happens when you dive to these depths, how does life change?
SE Most of what we’ve learned about the ocean extends to a few hundred feet below. It’s a very active area where sunlight penetrates, where plankton blooms, where oxygen is generated, where carbon is captured. Years ago, the idea of the deep sea was that it was an empty, barren place – too cold, too dark, the pressure too great for life to prosper. But now we know that life occurs from the surface to the greatest depths.
CG Do you feel like an intruder down there?
SE In places where humans have never been before, the reaction of creatures tends to be one of curiosity. Once, I was diving in a little submersible in Hawaii, more than 1,000ft down, when something caught my attention. At first, I thought it was a big plastic bag. But as I turned the submarine and shone my light, a beautiful, silvery-gold, red-tinged giant squid appeared, the likes of which hadn’t been seen alive in such great depths. But as I looked more closely, I could see that this creature had eight arms, not 10. And then, in its arms, I saw a clutch of snowy white eggs. It was a female octopus, and she was obviously curious.
CG What is your vision for the future of ocean exploration?
SE I want to democratize access to the deep sea, together with Parley for the Oceans. The deep ocean is being mined, bulldozed. We are extracting wildlife, clearcutting populations of fish; we send nets, hooks, dredges and robots with the sole mission of exploitation. We must respect it and not just regard it as a source for commodities, whether that’s fish or minerals, oil or gas. We can take from the ocean, but we must be careful about how much, and what methods we use, because we are undermining the integrity of the systems that are vital to our survival.
CG People often don’t realize that the sea generates most of the oxygen we breathe.
SE Half a billion years ago, there was plenty of life on earth, but most of it was microscopic. There were no trees or plants. In the ocean, on the other hand, there was plenty of phytoplankton churning out oxygen and capturing carbon, transforming earth into the habitable planet we now take for granted, but that’s taken hundreds of millions of years to occur. Our existence depends on the fine-tuning that has taken place, on these many generations of fellow creatures that are able to exist on planet earth – a tiny speck in a universe of unfriendly places. If you look at the stars at night, they are beautiful, but they’re terrifyingly inhospitable. Imagine trying to live on the sun. Earth is a miracle. Our existence is a miracle.
GC Is it our generation’s legacy that we are leaving behind a dead sea, a dead planet? Or is there still hope?
SE I think the power of hope comes with knowing. If we did not know that the ocean is becoming more acidic, if we did not know where oxygen comes from, we would be doomed. But the good news is, we do know. There is much we still don’t understand, but we know we are reaching a critical point. I have witnessed a growing awareness in my lifetime, a respect for nature. We have not reached a point of no return. There are still coral reefs, and half are in pretty good shape. We have maybe 10% of the sharks. But less than 3% of blue-fin tuna – the sort we eat as sushi and sashimi – exist. We have to stop killing them if those big creatures are to be part of our existence going forward. Is it too late? Yes, if we continue without change. But I see change happening all around. Children are beginning to understand what even their parents sometimes don’t seem to grasp. We can’t just use plastics once and throw them away.
CG Can you express your love for the oceans with one deep breath?
SE Thank you, oh wondrous ocean, for the gift of life; my life, of course, but all life on earth. No words can express the deep gratitude I feel, the respect, the infinite grace that you have bestowed on this blue planet.
Read the full interview in PORTER’s Summer Escape 2018 issue, on sale now.
The people featured in this story are not associated with NET-A-PORTER and do not endorse it or the products shown.