OCTOBER 2009

The World Is Blue

How our fate and the ocean’s are one
By Sylvia A. Earle, National Geographic  
Explorer-in-Residence
(Published by the National Geographic  
Society)

Sylvia Earle is arguably the biggest name
in ocean conservation today. She’s called
“Her Deepness” by the New York Times
and the New Yorker. So when she writes a  book, it’s an event. Her latest hardcover, The World is Blue: How our fate and the  ocean’s are one, introduces the world to our new “blue” reality.

Chapter by chapter, Earle covers the current science of marine conservation. She brings us right up to date. It’s important that every politician and decision-maker read this volume, so they may get a clear picture of present-day harmful realities… and the needed solutions.

Make no mistake, Ms. Earle wrote this book to save the oceans not to moan about them. Earle advocates for marine protected areas – she calls them “hope spots”. In fact, she wants a global network of these areas that are off-limits to industry. She’s not shy. She actually lists the precise areas she wants protected in the last chapter. 

Will her dreams come true? Will Earle succeed in her quest for marine conservation? Earle has a laundry-list of titles and achievements, awards and honours. She is a remarkable figure in the world of conservation, but she can’t save the oceans by herself. So please pick up her book and support her efforts and the efforts of so many others to promote ocean conservation. Book sales do matter. They send a message that the world is watching – and reading about sick seas and the politicians that dither over their protection.