The documentary "Mission Blue" debuted today on Netflix and in cinemas. The film tells the story of our imperiled marine ecosystem through the lens of pioneering scientist, Dr. Sylvia Earle. Imagine what Dr. Earle had to endure in the 1960s and beyond as a so-called "girl scientist"? She led the first all-women's crew of Tektite II aquanauts who, in 1970, lived and worked submersed on the ocean floor for several weeks. The Tektite leaders chose an all-women crew to generate publicity, and so the media came in droves to report on "those attractive women" who are today's "mermaids." When somebody commented that she made being brilliant and beautiful okay - and yes, imagine that assertion! - she said something like, "I never realized it wasn't okay."
This scientist, explorer, diver, inventor, entrepreneur, administrator, advocate, author and teacher has achieved more in one lifetime than most of us dare dream. This National Geographic explorer-in-residence and former Chief Scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is passionate and tireless in her fight to protect and preserve our oceans and marine life. I recall being amazed by the beauty of the coral reefs while snorkeling off Huahine, French Polynesia in 2011. That night on our ship, however, I was told by veteran mariners that what I saw paled in comparison to what was there 10, 20 or 30 years earlier. How sad it was to see Dr. Earle's reaction in the film to dead coral reefs in Australia whose colorful life and vibrancy had delighted her decades earlier.
Well, she's fighting the good fight and doing so against great odds. She tells anyone who listens that there is no Earth without healthy oceans. "No blue, no green," as she puts it. She's championing creation of dumping free, fishing free "Hope Spots," protected sanctuaries that now comprise three percent of the world's oceans.
Dr. Earle teaches us that it's all about balance. Of course, we need to fish the oceans. Of course, we need to conduct ocean-borne commerce. We just need to demonstrate the wisdom not to let greed, recklessness and callous indifference have us do so much of it that we bite off the hand that feeds us.
Twitter @jessicamcwade
Photo courtesy of MarineBio.org