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The World Is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean's Are One
A Silent Spring for our era, this eloquent, urgent, fascinating book reveals how just 50 years of swift and dangerous oceanic change threatens the very existence of life on Earth. Legendary marine scientist Sylvia Earle portrays a planet teetering on the brink of irreversible environmental crisis.
In recent decades we’ve learned more about the ocean than in all previous human history combined. But, even as our knowledge has exploded, so too has our power to upset the delicate balance of this complex organism. Modern overexploitation has driven many species to the verge of extinction, from tiny but indispensable biota to magnificent creatures like tuna, swordfish, and great whales. Since the mid-20th century about half our coral reefs have died or suffered sharp decline; hundreds of oxygen-deprived "dead zones" blight our coastal waters; and toxic pollutants afflict every level of the food chain.
Fortunately, there is reason for hope, but what we do—or fail to do—in the next ten years may well resonate for the next ten thousand. The ultimate goal, Earle argues passionately and persuasively, is to find responsible, renewable strategies that safeguard the natural systems that sustain us. The first step is to understand and act upon the wise message of this accessible, insightful, and compelling book.
In recent decades we’ve learned more about the ocean than in all previous human history combined. But, even as our knowledge has exploded, so too has our power to upset the delicate balance of this complex organism. Modern overexploitation has driven many species to the verge of extinction, from tiny but indispensable biota to magnificent creatures like tuna, swordfish, and great whales. Since the mid-20th century about half our coral reefs have died or suffered sharp decline; hundreds of oxygen-deprived "dead zones" blight our coastal waters; and toxic pollutants afflict every level of the food chain.
Fortunately, there is reason for hope, but what we do—or fail to do—in the next ten years may well resonate for the next ten thousand. The ultimate goal, Earle argues passionately and persuasively, is to find responsible, renewable strategies that safeguard the natural systems that sustain us. The first step is to understand and act upon the wise message of this accessible, insightful, and compelling book.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
193 people are currently reading
4914 people want to read
About the author
Sylvia A. Earle
48 books256 followersSylvia A. Earle is an American oceanographer, aquanaut, and author.
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October 19, 2021
"Thousands have lived without love—not one without water." ~ W. H. Auden
This book gets right to the point of our continued existence in a straightforward and factually compelling way.
For instance, are you consciously aware that the oceans drive climate, regulate temperatures, govern planetary chemistry, are the basis of the water cycle, produce the majority of oxygen, and are home to conservatively millions of species, all of which makes our existence on Earth possible? With every breath we take, every drop we drink, every bite we eat, and every day we exist in a conducive climate we are connected to and dependent on our oceans.
"Deeply rooted in human culture is the attitude that the ocean is so vast, so resilient, it shouldn’t matter how much we take out of—or put into—it. But two things changed in the 20th century that may [should] jolt us into a new way of thinking."
Contrary to common sense though, since the middle of the twentieth century we've extracted hundreds of millions of tons of ocean wildlife — not to mention inflicted habit loss, the effects of trophic cascades, accelerated global warming, and ocean acidification — substantially diminishing biodiversity despite arbitrary token conservation successes, and replaced them with our ever increasing wastes and chemicals, severely altering Earth's chemistry at a precipitate pace, and the chickens are coming home to roost. The threats to our oceans are so extensive that more than 40 percent of our oceans have already been severely affected and no area has been left untouched [see NG video Why the Ocean Matters; the Ocean Fact Sheet Package - United Nations 2017 from The Ocean Conference, UN, NY, June 2017; Oceans and the Threats They Face | National Geographic - Environment article; etc.].
This book details the good and bad we are doing to the oceans, our life support system, and discusses what we can do better to take care of the blue world that takes care of us. The sheer volume of details presented is mind-boggling. This is not a book to be ignored.
A quote at the end of one chapter encapsulates the essence of this book. "Carl Safina asks in his book Song for the Blue Ocean:
'Which will it be, then: degradation or recovery, scarcity or plenty, compassion or greed, love or fear, ahead to better times or to worse? We will all, by our actions or inaction, help decide.'"
This book gets right to the point of our continued existence in a straightforward and factually compelling way.
For instance, are you consciously aware that the oceans drive climate, regulate temperatures, govern planetary chemistry, are the basis of the water cycle, produce the majority of oxygen, and are home to conservatively millions of species, all of which makes our existence on Earth possible? With every breath we take, every drop we drink, every bite we eat, and every day we exist in a conducive climate we are connected to and dependent on our oceans.
"Deeply rooted in human culture is the attitude that the ocean is so vast, so resilient, it shouldn’t matter how much we take out of—or put into—it. But two things changed in the 20th century that may [should] jolt us into a new way of thinking."
Contrary to common sense though, since the middle of the twentieth century we've extracted hundreds of millions of tons of ocean wildlife — not to mention inflicted habit loss, the effects of trophic cascades, accelerated global warming, and ocean acidification — substantially diminishing biodiversity despite arbitrary token conservation successes, and replaced them with our ever increasing wastes and chemicals, severely altering Earth's chemistry at a precipitate pace, and the chickens are coming home to roost. The threats to our oceans are so extensive that more than 40 percent of our oceans have already been severely affected and no area has been left untouched [see NG video Why the Ocean Matters; the Ocean Fact Sheet Package - United Nations 2017 from The Ocean Conference, UN, NY, June 2017; Oceans and the Threats They Face | National Geographic - Environment article; etc.].
This book details the good and bad we are doing to the oceans, our life support system, and discusses what we can do better to take care of the blue world that takes care of us. The sheer volume of details presented is mind-boggling. This is not a book to be ignored.
A quote at the end of one chapter encapsulates the essence of this book. "Carl Safina asks in his book Song for the Blue Ocean:
'Which will it be, then: degradation or recovery, scarcity or plenty, compassion or greed, love or fear, ahead to better times or to worse? We will all, by our actions or inaction, help decide.'"
October 1, 2014
I almost feel bad not giving it 5 stars as I am a marine scientist myself, and I have grown up loving Earle and all the work she has done for ocean conservation. But I'd rather recommend watching her documentary "Mission Blue". It's pretty much the exact same thing as this book, but a little more engaging as you get to see with your own eyes what's really going on.
This book is still good for everybody to read, although it does get a bit dry and slow at times. She covers a lot, A LOT, of crucial and relevant issues about the oceans and what we can do to change the way things are going. She does explain things quite well. Some concepts I had learned about throughout my college career and never really got it, but once Earle explained it it was like "..ooooh!". All in all, it can get pretty overwhelming reading about everything that's going wrong…there is so much we are destroying, are we ever going to be able to turn this around? It's quite shocking to realize how little we know about the oceans, yet the belief is still that it is so vast and resilient we can't do anything to it.
Earle remains optimistic though and the take-home message is this: the ocean is the reason we are all alive, and we are killing it.
This book is still good for everybody to read, although it does get a bit dry and slow at times. She covers a lot, A LOT, of crucial and relevant issues about the oceans and what we can do to change the way things are going. She does explain things quite well. Some concepts I had learned about throughout my college career and never really got it, but once Earle explained it it was like "..ooooh!". All in all, it can get pretty overwhelming reading about everything that's going wrong…there is so much we are destroying, are we ever going to be able to turn this around? It's quite shocking to realize how little we know about the oceans, yet the belief is still that it is so vast and resilient we can't do anything to it.
Earle remains optimistic though and the take-home message is this: the ocean is the reason we are all alive, and we are killing it.
August 9, 2016
In The World is Blue, Sylvia Earle draws upon her formidable experience of marine exploration to describe the vital role oceans play in the life support system that is the earth. Sylvia has had the most amazing life: Explorer-in-residence for the National Geographical Society, Recipient of the TED prize, marine biologist since the 60's and with an amazing list of submersible deep sea dives, she has a wealth of knowledge and experience that she brings to this book.
This is, I believe, one of the most effortlessly readable books describing the complex systems that are our magnificent, mysterious and intriguing oceans. The early chapters talk of the history of humanity's use of ocean resources, followed by a clear, level headed discussion of why the ocean is in trouble now. The results for humanity if the ocean fails are outlined and if you are not too depressed to keep reading, what follows is a hopeful and encouraging list of the things that we can do, that we should do and the ones we are doing.
In general, books dealing with the state of the planet can be quite disheartening, Sylvia Earle manages to write about the topic in a way that, I think, does not hold out false hope or unnecessary encouragement but at the same time manages to leave me with a positive feeling. This is no mean talent, Sylvia's love of and fascinating with the Marine part of this world leave the enchantment of the 'Blue' part of the planet firmly embedded in the reader and I think this contributes to make this a most valuable book. The animals and habitats that she has encountered through her years as a marine scientist weave themselves through the text so that the beauty and fascination are present throughout.
In fact, I found this book so amazing, with so many resources, links and further reading options that I bought it even though the original I got from the library. I finished reading it a while back, knew I wanted to own it, to loan it to people who I think would enjoy it, to re-read it, to follow the links and stock up on the incredible amount of information that resides between the covers. I am only reviewing it now since I waited for my brand new copy here before re-reading portions of it, reviewing and shelving. There is often not much we can do to encourage the world to be the way we want it to, but personal purchasing power has got to count for something.
This is, I believe, one of the most effortlessly readable books describing the complex systems that are our magnificent, mysterious and intriguing oceans. The early chapters talk of the history of humanity's use of ocean resources, followed by a clear, level headed discussion of why the ocean is in trouble now. The results for humanity if the ocean fails are outlined and if you are not too depressed to keep reading, what follows is a hopeful and encouraging list of the things that we can do, that we should do and the ones we are doing.
In general, books dealing with the state of the planet can be quite disheartening, Sylvia Earle manages to write about the topic in a way that, I think, does not hold out false hope or unnecessary encouragement but at the same time manages to leave me with a positive feeling. This is no mean talent, Sylvia's love of and fascinating with the Marine part of this world leave the enchantment of the 'Blue' part of the planet firmly embedded in the reader and I think this contributes to make this a most valuable book. The animals and habitats that she has encountered through her years as a marine scientist weave themselves through the text so that the beauty and fascination are present throughout.
In fact, I found this book so amazing, with so many resources, links and further reading options that I bought it even though the original I got from the library. I finished reading it a while back, knew I wanted to own it, to loan it to people who I think would enjoy it, to re-read it, to follow the links and stock up on the incredible amount of information that resides between the covers. I am only reviewing it now since I waited for my brand new copy here before re-reading portions of it, reviewing and shelving. There is often not much we can do to encourage the world to be the way we want it to, but personal purchasing power has got to count for something.
December 8, 2023
I want everyone to AT LEAST listen to Sylvia Earle’s Ted Talk. I personally feel so intimidated talking about the damage that fisheries do to the ocean, because I don’t want to get into arguments about why we shouldn’t eat fish. But we really shouldn’t. And no, I’m not talking about the billion people that rely on fish in their diet. So many fish stocks are overfished - and the term Maximum Sustainable Yield is quite nonsensical, and we really need to be doing more to protect our ocean. It covers most of the planet, it gives us half of the air we breathe, it is the reason the climate has warmed as slowly as it has despite all the greenhouse gases and pollutants we pump into it. We don’t live in the ocean, so we often don’t realize just how vital it is. So let’s move the ocean to the forefront of our awareness when we talk about protecting nature.
November 10, 2019
A good place to start to develop a basic vocabulary and to learn about some organizations that describe and protect oceans and oceanlife.
June 8, 2015
Should be required reading in public schools and college courses, So much insight, so timely, critical and clearly and pleasantly shared by unsurpassed ocean/marine life researcher Sylvia Earle. What's going on, what's nearly gone, what we can do as individuals (consumers) and nations.
Some random notes:
The World is Blue
How Our Fate and the Ocean’s Are One
Sylvia Earle
97% of Earth is oceans. They are the planet’s life-support system.
Plankton produce oxygen
Mariana Trench deepest part of ocean 7 miles.
“Only we humans make waste that nature can’t digest.” - Charles Moore, TED Conf 2009
Great Pacific Garbage Patch swirls in currents of the North Pacific Ocean, big as the continental US.
Nurdles. Body wash tiny plastic bits disrupting ocean life, killing turtles, birds.
90 million of lobsters taken 1886, takes a perilous 5 to 6 years to reach legal size about a pound, amazing species exists.
Ocean ecosystems functioned better before the advent of humans as serious predators, marine life not equipped to cope with us a a sudden major factor in their strategies for survival. As people exploit ocean life.
Herrick fumed more than century ago in his hefty tome on the American lobster: Civilized man is sweeping off the face of the earth one after another some of its most interesting and valuable animals, by a lack of foresight and selfish zeal…. If man had as ready access to the submarine fields as to the forests and plains, it is easy to imagine how much havoc he would spread.
Ocean is not exhaustible and marine animals adjusted to their environments may not be able to adapt.
Future geologists will be able to precisely mark our era as the Plasticozoic, the place in the sands of time when bits of plastic first appeared.
Thor Heyerdahl, anthropologist and ocean explorer: during Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947, crew sailed pristine South Pacific seas with no evidence for weeks that other human beings existed. During 1969-70 Ra travels across the Atlantic, we were never out of sight of trash drifting on the surface of the sea.” Oily waste and debris, he alerted the UN and the public, but met with skepticism.
Marine life: 6 types...active geology: seamount, hydrothermal vents and cold seeps with lifeforms ranged from chemosynthetic bacteria to the ecology of the numerous and widespread undersea mountains.
Earth from eons of disintegrated mountain rock to faster lifecycle of coral habitat.
Ocean provides most of our oxygen, photosynthesis of carbon forms closer to surface.
Loss of half of coral reefs worldwide disappeared or are in sharp decline...reducing biodiversity. Balance top predators to krill.
Without humans extracting tons of wildlife from the sea or putting millions of tons of garbage in, many depleted species would most likely rebound within a few hundred years. (John Sawhill pres Nature Conservancy 1990-2000 ”In the ed. our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy.”
Mining for minerals under sea - business claimed nothing down there except for a few sea cucumbers and starfish nobody cares about” Now we know that the diversity of small creatures living in the sand and mud of the deep sea can exceed the richest places known on the land.
Oil spills...horrendous toll continued to grow, and with it, a sense of despair about the nature of human nature, the indifference that caused the catastrophe, compounded by indifference that magnified what might have been a small spill into the largest in the history of the United States. Several spills then April 1989 Exxon Valdez, for which only 4 percent of the oil spilled was recovered during the first critically important 3 weeks following the accident. NOT “some spills must be expected; all due to a variety (not just one) violation of required controls, noncompliance, delayed and bumbling responses, supposed checks and balances and response provisions not in place and lack of mandated equipment. That And Amoco Cadiz clearly preventable “accidents.” Even public tired of excuses “inevitable cost of doing business.”
Ecoterrorism: 500 million gallons of oil unleashed in an act of defiance by retreating Iraqis commanded by Saddam Hussein in Iraq’s losing war with Kuwait.
Where do we send pollutants? “Away.” No away; sea is critical.
“We are already well into a new geological era, the Anthropocene, where human interference is the dominant factor in nearly every planetary ecosystem, to the detriment of perhaps all of the. Mark Lynas, Six Degrees 2008.
We know not only that the level of C)x is increasing, but also that there are clear causes and measurable consequences. Not “natural forces beyond human control.”
Melting arctic, antarctic ice sheets, fast, losing ice field that reflect sun’s rays, so warming even faster, ever faster, and as glaciers melt and plunge, undermines, slides the remaining ice sheets.
Killing and taking out the animals, life forms that stabilize atmosphere, releasing oxygen from the sea.
Additional carbon dioxide enters the air through the extraction of hundreds of millions of tons of fish, oysters, clams and other carbon-based forms of life from the sea. Much of the carbon escapes back to the atmosphere when the energy stored within the animals is burned by the metabolism of the consumers of fish and seafood.
Carbon in the sea is stored not in centuries-old trees, peat and soil but in the steady rain of small creatures falling to the seafloor and by entering the food chain, migin into long-lived corals, sponges, mollusks and others, and then into the decades- or centuries-old top predators that we continue to focus on for extraction Turtles, whales, sharks, tuna, orange roughy, hoki, monkfish, sea bass, rockfish, groupers, cod, (toothfish being marketed as cod and sea bass) and other long-lived species puts carbon dioxide back into the air and disrupts the capacity of the ocean to hold carbon in its system.
Industrial fishing, in effect, has been clear-cutting ancient ecosystems, disrupting and dismembering the underpinnings of the dynamic but amazingly stable carbon cycle constructed over hundreds of millions of years.”
A one-degree change from dawn to dusk on an overall planetary scale, a rise of that magnitude translates to shifts in what kinds of creatures can live in what areas; it can modify climate and weather patterns.
Carbon dioxide is vital for photosynthesis, and the normal level is just right to maintain productivity on the land and in the sea. Sunlight plus carbon dioxide and water in the presence of chlorophyll yields oxygen and the simple sugar that in turn provides the basis for carbohydrates, fats and proteins that feed us and much of the rest of life on the planet. Excess CO2 escapes into the atmosphere or is absorbed into the sea. Without life to absorb and transform CO2, Earth’s atmosphere would resemble that of Venus and Mars--more than 95 percent carbon dioxide...with surface temperature far too hot for lifeforms like ours (482 degrees F).
It has taken about 4 billion years for living systems, mostly in the sea, to transform the lifeless ingredients of early Earth into the Eden that makes our lives possible, and less than a century for us to destabilize those ancient rhythms.
Over years, sea level gradually increasing submerging regions such as Florida’s west coast.
Ocean acidification destroying reef and carbon-shell creatures.
At present rates, CO2 is expected to reach 500 ppm by 2050, and combined with the effects of methane and nitrous oxide, it will cause a relentless push toward higher temperatures, which in turn will release more methane from tundra regions, increasing warming in a relentless feedback cycle. 350 project.
Destabilizing the massive accumulation of methane hydrates could trigger undersea landslides that in turn could set off tsunamis on a grand scale. Petrochemicals full of carbon, toxins, have for decades been dumped...now dredging up.
Methane long sequestered is being gouged up and released into air. Even by commercial fishing operations. And industrial fishing with long lines and seine nets destroying whole regions of ocean and living communities.
Pres Teddy Roosevelt attempted century ago in 1909 to convene an International Conservation Conference to work out policies of “world resources and their inventory, conservation and wise utilization” but plans canceled by his successor, William Howard Taft.
IUCN World Conservation Congress 2004, 2008….
Rule over the natural wonder - does it mean consume, or take care of?
Sins.
Degradation, greed.
Fish oil: kills tons of menhaden. Fish don’t make the DHA themselves; they acquire it from plankton. Go straight to the source, aquaculture.
Red alga nori. Seaweed farms. Also kelp.
Feeding carnivorous yellowtail more soy and fewer fish.
Bycatch:
Wild shrimp have been totally off my menu since I first went aboard a shrimp trawler in the 1950s and saw what anyone can witness vicariously by going to see Forest Gump. The big net is winched aboard, the end of the trawl opens and, wham! Onto the deck spills an avalanche of dead and dying animals: young redfish, little founders, sea trout, rays, urchins, sea stars, sponges, whip corals, crabs, a mass of tortured animals writhing like a scene from a Hieronymus Bosch painting, and here and there, the flicking jump of a shrimp, instinctively doing everything it can to get back to the soothing embrace of the sea.”
Wasteful re: resources and dangerous to farm salmon, blue-fin tuna
Filter-feeders: crustaceans.
$34 in subsidies for unsustainable fishing worldwide.
Need to work on other options.
Need to restore species and systems/crashed populations devastate by destructive fishing practices.
What if focus on cultivation of microbes, yeasts and certain micro- and macro-algae as food sources for ourselves and the animals we grow.
Re: water, how about priority for aqua and agriculture be more crop per drop.
Less than 1 percent protected, even with the vast area arcing from Hawaii declared a national monument by pres Bush.
Designated sanctuaries still allow fishing.
She wishes for vast marine protected areas beyond 30%.
In 1980, the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN and the World Wildlife Fund developed a World Conservation Strategy: marine protected areas were expected to be large enough to accomplish these objectives:
Maintain essential ecological processes and life-support system functions
Preserve genetic diversity
Ensure the sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems.
Trawlers bulldoze ocean floor, 50-mile longlines with baited hooks, discarded fishing lines and gear.
Sargasso Sea 3 million sq miles of underwater forest being harvested to feed livestock cows. Galapagos waters overfished, ravaged. Losing ice caps.
In the 2000s, the Sea Conservation Coalition scientists from 69 countries support: a moratorium on bottom trawling in international waters, and to explore and evaluate areas before exploitation.
Some random notes:
The World is Blue
How Our Fate and the Ocean’s Are One
Sylvia Earle
97% of Earth is oceans. They are the planet’s life-support system.
Plankton produce oxygen
Mariana Trench deepest part of ocean 7 miles.
“Only we humans make waste that nature can’t digest.” - Charles Moore, TED Conf 2009
Great Pacific Garbage Patch swirls in currents of the North Pacific Ocean, big as the continental US.
Nurdles. Body wash tiny plastic bits disrupting ocean life, killing turtles, birds.
90 million of lobsters taken 1886, takes a perilous 5 to 6 years to reach legal size about a pound, amazing species exists.
Ocean ecosystems functioned better before the advent of humans as serious predators, marine life not equipped to cope with us a a sudden major factor in their strategies for survival. As people exploit ocean life.
Herrick fumed more than century ago in his hefty tome on the American lobster: Civilized man is sweeping off the face of the earth one after another some of its most interesting and valuable animals, by a lack of foresight and selfish zeal…. If man had as ready access to the submarine fields as to the forests and plains, it is easy to imagine how much havoc he would spread.
Ocean is not exhaustible and marine animals adjusted to their environments may not be able to adapt.
Future geologists will be able to precisely mark our era as the Plasticozoic, the place in the sands of time when bits of plastic first appeared.
Thor Heyerdahl, anthropologist and ocean explorer: during Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947, crew sailed pristine South Pacific seas with no evidence for weeks that other human beings existed. During 1969-70 Ra travels across the Atlantic, we were never out of sight of trash drifting on the surface of the sea.” Oily waste and debris, he alerted the UN and the public, but met with skepticism.
Marine life: 6 types...active geology: seamount, hydrothermal vents and cold seeps with lifeforms ranged from chemosynthetic bacteria to the ecology of the numerous and widespread undersea mountains.
Earth from eons of disintegrated mountain rock to faster lifecycle of coral habitat.
Ocean provides most of our oxygen, photosynthesis of carbon forms closer to surface.
Loss of half of coral reefs worldwide disappeared or are in sharp decline...reducing biodiversity. Balance top predators to krill.
Without humans extracting tons of wildlife from the sea or putting millions of tons of garbage in, many depleted species would most likely rebound within a few hundred years. (John Sawhill pres Nature Conservancy 1990-2000 ”In the ed. our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy.”
Mining for minerals under sea - business claimed nothing down there except for a few sea cucumbers and starfish nobody cares about” Now we know that the diversity of small creatures living in the sand and mud of the deep sea can exceed the richest places known on the land.
Oil spills...horrendous toll continued to grow, and with it, a sense of despair about the nature of human nature, the indifference that caused the catastrophe, compounded by indifference that magnified what might have been a small spill into the largest in the history of the United States. Several spills then April 1989 Exxon Valdez, for which only 4 percent of the oil spilled was recovered during the first critically important 3 weeks following the accident. NOT “some spills must be expected; all due to a variety (not just one) violation of required controls, noncompliance, delayed and bumbling responses, supposed checks and balances and response provisions not in place and lack of mandated equipment. That And Amoco Cadiz clearly preventable “accidents.” Even public tired of excuses “inevitable cost of doing business.”
Ecoterrorism: 500 million gallons of oil unleashed in an act of defiance by retreating Iraqis commanded by Saddam Hussein in Iraq’s losing war with Kuwait.
Where do we send pollutants? “Away.” No away; sea is critical.
“We are already well into a new geological era, the Anthropocene, where human interference is the dominant factor in nearly every planetary ecosystem, to the detriment of perhaps all of the. Mark Lynas, Six Degrees 2008.
We know not only that the level of C)x is increasing, but also that there are clear causes and measurable consequences. Not “natural forces beyond human control.”
Melting arctic, antarctic ice sheets, fast, losing ice field that reflect sun’s rays, so warming even faster, ever faster, and as glaciers melt and plunge, undermines, slides the remaining ice sheets.
Killing and taking out the animals, life forms that stabilize atmosphere, releasing oxygen from the sea.
Additional carbon dioxide enters the air through the extraction of hundreds of millions of tons of fish, oysters, clams and other carbon-based forms of life from the sea. Much of the carbon escapes back to the atmosphere when the energy stored within the animals is burned by the metabolism of the consumers of fish and seafood.
Carbon in the sea is stored not in centuries-old trees, peat and soil but in the steady rain of small creatures falling to the seafloor and by entering the food chain, migin into long-lived corals, sponges, mollusks and others, and then into the decades- or centuries-old top predators that we continue to focus on for extraction Turtles, whales, sharks, tuna, orange roughy, hoki, monkfish, sea bass, rockfish, groupers, cod, (toothfish being marketed as cod and sea bass) and other long-lived species puts carbon dioxide back into the air and disrupts the capacity of the ocean to hold carbon in its system.
Industrial fishing, in effect, has been clear-cutting ancient ecosystems, disrupting and dismembering the underpinnings of the dynamic but amazingly stable carbon cycle constructed over hundreds of millions of years.”
A one-degree change from dawn to dusk on an overall planetary scale, a rise of that magnitude translates to shifts in what kinds of creatures can live in what areas; it can modify climate and weather patterns.
Carbon dioxide is vital for photosynthesis, and the normal level is just right to maintain productivity on the land and in the sea. Sunlight plus carbon dioxide and water in the presence of chlorophyll yields oxygen and the simple sugar that in turn provides the basis for carbohydrates, fats and proteins that feed us and much of the rest of life on the planet. Excess CO2 escapes into the atmosphere or is absorbed into the sea. Without life to absorb and transform CO2, Earth’s atmosphere would resemble that of Venus and Mars--more than 95 percent carbon dioxide...with surface temperature far too hot for lifeforms like ours (482 degrees F).
It has taken about 4 billion years for living systems, mostly in the sea, to transform the lifeless ingredients of early Earth into the Eden that makes our lives possible, and less than a century for us to destabilize those ancient rhythms.
Over years, sea level gradually increasing submerging regions such as Florida’s west coast.
Ocean acidification destroying reef and carbon-shell creatures.
At present rates, CO2 is expected to reach 500 ppm by 2050, and combined with the effects of methane and nitrous oxide, it will cause a relentless push toward higher temperatures, which in turn will release more methane from tundra regions, increasing warming in a relentless feedback cycle. 350 project.
Destabilizing the massive accumulation of methane hydrates could trigger undersea landslides that in turn could set off tsunamis on a grand scale. Petrochemicals full of carbon, toxins, have for decades been dumped...now dredging up.
Methane long sequestered is being gouged up and released into air. Even by commercial fishing operations. And industrial fishing with long lines and seine nets destroying whole regions of ocean and living communities.
Pres Teddy Roosevelt attempted century ago in 1909 to convene an International Conservation Conference to work out policies of “world resources and their inventory, conservation and wise utilization” but plans canceled by his successor, William Howard Taft.
IUCN World Conservation Congress 2004, 2008….
Rule over the natural wonder - does it mean consume, or take care of?
Sins.
Degradation, greed.
Fish oil: kills tons of menhaden. Fish don’t make the DHA themselves; they acquire it from plankton. Go straight to the source, aquaculture.
Red alga nori. Seaweed farms. Also kelp.
Feeding carnivorous yellowtail more soy and fewer fish.
Bycatch:
Wild shrimp have been totally off my menu since I first went aboard a shrimp trawler in the 1950s and saw what anyone can witness vicariously by going to see Forest Gump. The big net is winched aboard, the end of the trawl opens and, wham! Onto the deck spills an avalanche of dead and dying animals: young redfish, little founders, sea trout, rays, urchins, sea stars, sponges, whip corals, crabs, a mass of tortured animals writhing like a scene from a Hieronymus Bosch painting, and here and there, the flicking jump of a shrimp, instinctively doing everything it can to get back to the soothing embrace of the sea.”
Wasteful re: resources and dangerous to farm salmon, blue-fin tuna
Filter-feeders: crustaceans.
$34 in subsidies for unsustainable fishing worldwide.
Need to work on other options.
Need to restore species and systems/crashed populations devastate by destructive fishing practices.
What if focus on cultivation of microbes, yeasts and certain micro- and macro-algae as food sources for ourselves and the animals we grow.
Re: water, how about priority for aqua and agriculture be more crop per drop.
Less than 1 percent protected, even with the vast area arcing from Hawaii declared a national monument by pres Bush.
Designated sanctuaries still allow fishing.
She wishes for vast marine protected areas beyond 30%.
In 1980, the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN and the World Wildlife Fund developed a World Conservation Strategy: marine protected areas were expected to be large enough to accomplish these objectives:
Maintain essential ecological processes and life-support system functions
Preserve genetic diversity
Ensure the sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems.
Trawlers bulldoze ocean floor, 50-mile longlines with baited hooks, discarded fishing lines and gear.
Sargasso Sea 3 million sq miles of underwater forest being harvested to feed livestock cows. Galapagos waters overfished, ravaged. Losing ice caps.
In the 2000s, the Sea Conservation Coalition scientists from 69 countries support: a moratorium on bottom trawling in international waters, and to explore and evaluate areas before exploitation.
May 19, 2010
No matter how far inland we live, a single kind of blue-green algae in the ocean (Prochlorococcus) produces the oxygen in one of every five breaths we take. The World Is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean’s Are One is full of similar facts, illustrating the oceans’ critical importance to human survival and making their protection a very personal matter indeed.
Author Sylvia Earle is one of the world’s most renowned marine scientists, and her efforts to make ocean health personal are provoked by the rapid decline in marine ecosystems that she’s witnessed over the past decades: 90 percent of once-common fish stocks are now depleted to the point of commercial extinction; 50 percent of the planet’s coral reefs have been destroyed; and offshore drilling, mining and pollution have destroyed immeasurable ocean habitat. That’s the bad news, Earle says, but there’s still hope: She explains several key strategies for restoring the seas, like expanding protected reserves, reforming fishing practices and improving ocean research.
This wealth of marine science is woven with stories from Earle’s decades of exploration that inspire a deep appreciation for the underwater world. An important read on the necessity of treating our oceans with respect, sooner rather than later.
Author Sylvia Earle is one of the world’s most renowned marine scientists, and her efforts to make ocean health personal are provoked by the rapid decline in marine ecosystems that she’s witnessed over the past decades: 90 percent of once-common fish stocks are now depleted to the point of commercial extinction; 50 percent of the planet’s coral reefs have been destroyed; and offshore drilling, mining and pollution have destroyed immeasurable ocean habitat. That’s the bad news, Earle says, but there’s still hope: She explains several key strategies for restoring the seas, like expanding protected reserves, reforming fishing practices and improving ocean research.
This wealth of marine science is woven with stories from Earle’s decades of exploration that inspire a deep appreciation for the underwater world. An important read on the necessity of treating our oceans with respect, sooner rather than later.
August 10, 2023
Initial notes:
Narration: 2 stars
The narrator at times sounded equal parts bored and condescending, which made this a bit of a difficult listen.
Book itself: 3.88 stars
Decent material, wobbles a little too close to lacking an understanding of target audience tho. Occasionally overly technical or not technical enough. Outdated data.
Narration: 2 stars
The narrator at times sounded equal parts bored and condescending, which made this a bit of a difficult listen.
Book itself: 3.88 stars
Decent material, wobbles a little too close to lacking an understanding of target audience tho. Occasionally overly technical or not technical enough. Outdated data.
May 7, 2022
Dr. Sylvia Earle’s The World is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean’s Are One is a mix of memoir, reference, and passion that captivates its audience in a way many nonfiction writers struggle to achieve over the course of their career. Breaking down her argument into three parts (The Vision: Limitless Ocean Bounty, Infinite Resiliency, The Reality: The Ocean is in Trouble; Therefore, So Are We, and Now is the Time: Opportunities for Action), Earle effectively communicates how ocean ecosystems operate at the molecular level, how human impact can transform the chemistry and geography in the world below sea level, and the responsibilities that come with exploring, governing, farming, and protecting the ocean. She does so in a way that combines the urgency of an activist, the expertise and experience of a former Chief Scientist of the NOAA, and the delivery of an elder relative laying out life lessons for the next generation.
A review I read before picking up The World is Blue referred to the book as a modern-day Silent Spring. While I have yet to read Silent Spring in its entirety for myself, I’ve heard many complaints from peers and friends about the depressive tone and bleak outlook on a future that is happening in our present. I have no complaints about The World is Blue, no bones to pick with Dr. Earle, no cautionary tales or “Watch out for…” thoughts about the content. The National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence details the atrocities people have committed - and continue to commit - against the planet in a way that does not leave the reader emotionally drained. The last section, Reasons for Hope, instills the audience with a purpose: “return the favor”. Earle spurs readers to action through enlightening anecdotes about her research ventures into the deep sea, the evolution of her perspective of whales and the whaling industry in relation to human perception of the relationship between them and other animals, and even a poem by Don Marquis titled archy and mehitabel.
Earlier on, Dr. Earle points out that humans “are newcomers on a planet that has changed… over hundreds of millions of years” in response to various catastrophes and crises. Marquis’s piece fits perfectly with Earle’s message of how necessary it is to think of solutions that go farther than just conservation, considering our status as simple guests on this planet. The use of the poem strengthens Earle’s claim that humans have become too “entitled”. Our species has reached a level of selfishness that has wiped out organisms whose lineage dated back to well before our kind walked the Earth.
In today’s world, the general population seems to have lost sight of just how important our relation to the natural world around us is. She perfectly sums up the basic evidence as to why this belief is one that should be shared by the entire world in the introduction; “The ocean drives climate and weather, regulates temperature, absorbs much of the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, holds 97 percent of Earth’s water, and embraces 97 percent of the biosphere”. Earle’s mission, both in life and in her storytelling, is to emphasize the point that humanity’s fate is directly tied to that of the ocean.
Earle reignites the love for the ocean that has laid dormant in my chest since moving to Cincinnati in July 2021. Her words clamber right out of the pages and into my brain, digging out early memories of exploring sand dunes and picking out seashells; the place where my love for environmental science originated, in the very same county as one Sylvia Earle.
The combination of a topical and a descriptive approach makes the reading a breeze. While hard to get into at first (which really boiled down to my personal preference for fiction over memoirs or nonfiction), Earle eases the reader into her world of phytoplankton and bluefin tuna in a way that is both easy and pleasant to digest. Those that are scientifically inclined will find that adding The World is Blue to their repertoire is smooth sailing.
The best thing about Earle’s writing, in fact, is the weight of her experience and how relative it is to the fight for conservation and preservation of the natural world. Today, most of the world’s population is reliant on petrochemicals, their “multiplicity of uses, their durability, and their transmutability” allowing plastic of all shapes and sizes to “slither” its way into everyday use. She reflects on a time in her youth when plastic was not in constant use. Earle grew up with glass and other reusables, with which there weren’t many problems. Over the course of her lifetime, Earle has watched the transition from glass to plastic result in events like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or even just “thousands of escaped plastic-foam packing pellets” joining a traffic jam on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. The plastic pollution issue adds another layer of urgency to the fight for clean oceans, on top of farming, drilling, runoff pollution, etc.
One of the only questions I had left unanswered after finishing The World is Blue was where Earle had gotten all of the pictures placed throughout the book. Upon further research, I read that the pictures were, in fact, hers. Not only is Earle a leading oceanographer and a trailblazer for women in science communicating the need for action through words and data, but she manages to reach an entirely separate audience through her photography. If graphs and anecdotes about the decrease in worldwide biodiversity don’t move you, her ocean photography will.
All in all, The World is Blue should be on everyone’s must-read list. Earle’s uplifting messages of encouragement and sheer adoration for the worldwide depths, in partnership with data, experience, and a combination of visual and literary talent can convince even the most hard-headed audience member that a healthy ocean is crucial to support all life on Earth.
A review I read before picking up The World is Blue referred to the book as a modern-day Silent Spring. While I have yet to read Silent Spring in its entirety for myself, I’ve heard many complaints from peers and friends about the depressive tone and bleak outlook on a future that is happening in our present. I have no complaints about The World is Blue, no bones to pick with Dr. Earle, no cautionary tales or “Watch out for…” thoughts about the content. The National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence details the atrocities people have committed - and continue to commit - against the planet in a way that does not leave the reader emotionally drained. The last section, Reasons for Hope, instills the audience with a purpose: “return the favor”. Earle spurs readers to action through enlightening anecdotes about her research ventures into the deep sea, the evolution of her perspective of whales and the whaling industry in relation to human perception of the relationship between them and other animals, and even a poem by Don Marquis titled archy and mehitabel.
Earlier on, Dr. Earle points out that humans “are newcomers on a planet that has changed… over hundreds of millions of years” in response to various catastrophes and crises. Marquis’s piece fits perfectly with Earle’s message of how necessary it is to think of solutions that go farther than just conservation, considering our status as simple guests on this planet. The use of the poem strengthens Earle’s claim that humans have become too “entitled”. Our species has reached a level of selfishness that has wiped out organisms whose lineage dated back to well before our kind walked the Earth.
In today’s world, the general population seems to have lost sight of just how important our relation to the natural world around us is. She perfectly sums up the basic evidence as to why this belief is one that should be shared by the entire world in the introduction; “The ocean drives climate and weather, regulates temperature, absorbs much of the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, holds 97 percent of Earth’s water, and embraces 97 percent of the biosphere”. Earle’s mission, both in life and in her storytelling, is to emphasize the point that humanity’s fate is directly tied to that of the ocean.
Earle reignites the love for the ocean that has laid dormant in my chest since moving to Cincinnati in July 2021. Her words clamber right out of the pages and into my brain, digging out early memories of exploring sand dunes and picking out seashells; the place where my love for environmental science originated, in the very same county as one Sylvia Earle.
The combination of a topical and a descriptive approach makes the reading a breeze. While hard to get into at first (which really boiled down to my personal preference for fiction over memoirs or nonfiction), Earle eases the reader into her world of phytoplankton and bluefin tuna in a way that is both easy and pleasant to digest. Those that are scientifically inclined will find that adding The World is Blue to their repertoire is smooth sailing.
The best thing about Earle’s writing, in fact, is the weight of her experience and how relative it is to the fight for conservation and preservation of the natural world. Today, most of the world’s population is reliant on petrochemicals, their “multiplicity of uses, their durability, and their transmutability” allowing plastic of all shapes and sizes to “slither” its way into everyday use. She reflects on a time in her youth when plastic was not in constant use. Earle grew up with glass and other reusables, with which there weren’t many problems. Over the course of her lifetime, Earle has watched the transition from glass to plastic result in events like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or even just “thousands of escaped plastic-foam packing pellets” joining a traffic jam on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. The plastic pollution issue adds another layer of urgency to the fight for clean oceans, on top of farming, drilling, runoff pollution, etc.
One of the only questions I had left unanswered after finishing The World is Blue was where Earle had gotten all of the pictures placed throughout the book. Upon further research, I read that the pictures were, in fact, hers. Not only is Earle a leading oceanographer and a trailblazer for women in science communicating the need for action through words and data, but she manages to reach an entirely separate audience through her photography. If graphs and anecdotes about the decrease in worldwide biodiversity don’t move you, her ocean photography will.
All in all, The World is Blue should be on everyone’s must-read list. Earle’s uplifting messages of encouragement and sheer adoration for the worldwide depths, in partnership with data, experience, and a combination of visual and literary talent can convince even the most hard-headed audience member that a healthy ocean is crucial to support all life on Earth.
October 25, 2013
Sylvia Earle is a familiar figure in the world of oceanography, thanks to her TED talks, National Geographic specials, and countless publications and lectures. Now well into her 70's, she's been at the business of studying the oceans and their denizens for a very long time.
This book is a very wide-ranging survey about what ails the oceans and, to some degree, what we can do about it.
What ails the oceans is pretty clear to those who care to know. It's also a pretty depressing picture, though it could also be energizing to those who care to act. The oceans are warming, rising, getting more acidic, becoming more polluted with all the effluent of industrial civilization, and being rapidly fished out. The effects of these changes are far from being fully understood and much further still from being appreciated by all those happily munching on their tuna salad and their sashimi. About one billion people, she says, get most of their animal protein from fish. With virtually all of the world's major fisheries having declined by over 80% and several by over 90%, our history of hunting and gathering in the sea is fast drawing to a close. We are "eating our way down the food chain", and when we are done, our options will be limited.
Will everyone have to turn to farmed tilapia, carp and catfish at that point? Is that even remotely possible? One thing seems certain: the oceans are the shining example of the "tragedy of the commons", where what is owned by everyone and no one is being ruined by careless and catastrophic over-use. As she repeatedly says, the future is looking good for microbes.
By the way, even if you think you are being a careful eater of only "sustainably harvested" fish, she makes this telling point: "Whatever name is given to the pieces of wild fish sold as fish sticks, a fish sandwich, fish and chips, or catch of the day, what you think you are eating and what is actually being served may be like asking for chicken salad and getting chopped pelican." A very large percentage of fish is even wrongly identified as to what species it is, let alone whether is was "sustainably harvested" or not.
So what does she think we can do about it? This is not the strongest section of the book, though she is personally an intensely committed activist. Sometimes she is explicit about this, sometimes she paints the picture of the problem and leaves it to the reader to draw the obvious conclusions. I think she would say the following: As individuals, we need to stop eating wild-caught marine animals, cut down dramatically on our use of fossil fuels and plastics, and become much more educated about the oceans that make life on the planet possible. As citizens, we need to demand that our governments stop subsidizing fishing, encourage aquaculture, increase the scope of marine sanctuaries where fishing is banned, sign the Law of the Sea Treaty (the US is one of the very few major countries to NOT ratify it), and scale back (or refrain completely from) off-shore mining and drilling.
All in all, an excellent book.
This book is a very wide-ranging survey about what ails the oceans and, to some degree, what we can do about it.
What ails the oceans is pretty clear to those who care to know. It's also a pretty depressing picture, though it could also be energizing to those who care to act. The oceans are warming, rising, getting more acidic, becoming more polluted with all the effluent of industrial civilization, and being rapidly fished out. The effects of these changes are far from being fully understood and much further still from being appreciated by all those happily munching on their tuna salad and their sashimi. About one billion people, she says, get most of their animal protein from fish. With virtually all of the world's major fisheries having declined by over 80% and several by over 90%, our history of hunting and gathering in the sea is fast drawing to a close. We are "eating our way down the food chain", and when we are done, our options will be limited.
Will everyone have to turn to farmed tilapia, carp and catfish at that point? Is that even remotely possible? One thing seems certain: the oceans are the shining example of the "tragedy of the commons", where what is owned by everyone and no one is being ruined by careless and catastrophic over-use. As she repeatedly says, the future is looking good for microbes.
By the way, even if you think you are being a careful eater of only "sustainably harvested" fish, she makes this telling point: "Whatever name is given to the pieces of wild fish sold as fish sticks, a fish sandwich, fish and chips, or catch of the day, what you think you are eating and what is actually being served may be like asking for chicken salad and getting chopped pelican." A very large percentage of fish is even wrongly identified as to what species it is, let alone whether is was "sustainably harvested" or not.
So what does she think we can do about it? This is not the strongest section of the book, though she is personally an intensely committed activist. Sometimes she is explicit about this, sometimes she paints the picture of the problem and leaves it to the reader to draw the obvious conclusions. I think she would say the following: As individuals, we need to stop eating wild-caught marine animals, cut down dramatically on our use of fossil fuels and plastics, and become much more educated about the oceans that make life on the planet possible. As citizens, we need to demand that our governments stop subsidizing fishing, encourage aquaculture, increase the scope of marine sanctuaries where fishing is banned, sign the Law of the Sea Treaty (the US is one of the very few major countries to NOT ratify it), and scale back (or refrain completely from) off-shore mining and drilling.
All in all, an excellent book.
May 31, 2018
Large pockets of intrigue but a bit dry and list-y at times.
August 5, 2010
Sylvia A. Earle is the Rachel Carson of the oceans.
In this book, she shows us what we have done to the state of our oceans and how we can help restore it to what it is supposed to be like. There are admittedly many statistics in this book, but Earle’s wealth of experience over her 40 years of work really add to story - all her anecdotes of diving, manning a submersive explorer for two weeks, her first experiences of seeing the creatures at enormous depths under the ocean are all incredibly personal.
Even the statistics and knowledge parts of the book are powerful; I really loved how she extended her love of the ocean past the ocean mammals that we usually think of when we think of protecting the ocean (whales, dolphins, walruses) and the fish, to all the clams, sea sponges, and microbes of the ocean. She really stresses the importance of the ocean as a system, as a whole, and her feelings about protecting the oceans really come through.
Reading this book just reinforces for me my decision to be a vegetarian, instead of a pescetarian, because my motivations were always about the environmental impacts, and the obtaining of seafood is just as harmful as factory farming - if not more, due to a lack of knowledge or attention paid to it.
What an incredible woman, and what an important book. She won the 2009 TED Prize.
In this book, she shows us what we have done to the state of our oceans and how we can help restore it to what it is supposed to be like. There are admittedly many statistics in this book, but Earle’s wealth of experience over her 40 years of work really add to story - all her anecdotes of diving, manning a submersive explorer for two weeks, her first experiences of seeing the creatures at enormous depths under the ocean are all incredibly personal.
Even the statistics and knowledge parts of the book are powerful; I really loved how she extended her love of the ocean past the ocean mammals that we usually think of when we think of protecting the ocean (whales, dolphins, walruses) and the fish, to all the clams, sea sponges, and microbes of the ocean. She really stresses the importance of the ocean as a system, as a whole, and her feelings about protecting the oceans really come through.
Reading this book just reinforces for me my decision to be a vegetarian, instead of a pescetarian, because my motivations were always about the environmental impacts, and the obtaining of seafood is just as harmful as factory farming - if not more, due to a lack of knowledge or attention paid to it.
What an incredible woman, and what an important book. She won the 2009 TED Prize.
March 10, 2012
The natural world needs spokespeople to stand up to the interests that have abused it in our modern industrial society. We all contribute to that abuse, some a little bit more than others, but very few people really fight the fight that is needed to make even a little positive contribution. Sylvia Earle is probably the leading and most successful fighter for the health of our planet's oceans. Her book is very eye opening as it describes the importance of the oceans and their ecosystems in sustaining life everywhere. We take oxygen for granted, we take fresh water for granted, we take seafood for granted, we take the carbon and nitrogen cycles for granted; but without our oceans none of these things would possible, and living things would not even be able to exist here. It's time that we start respecting the oceans.
Our near and distant predecessors might be forgiven for exterminating the last woolly mammoth, the ultimate dodo, the final sea cow, and the last living monk seal for lack of understanding the consequences of their actions. But who will forgive us if we fail to learn from past and present experiences, to forge new values, new relationships, a new level of respect for the natural systems that keep us alive?
March 27, 2014
You’ll never look at a tuna roll the same way after reading Sylvia Earle’s The World Is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean’s Are One. This book gave me a fresh perspective of how Earth’s oceans make life on this planet possible for humans and every other living thing.
The Bottom Line
Earle’s love of oceans and ocean creatures is evident on every page. Her writing style is easy to read and understand. Problems, issues, and solutions are presented in a straight forward manner.
It was shocking to realize how little we know about the oceans and the seemingly widely held belief the oceans are so huge we can’t negatively impact them no matter what we do.
I came away with a greater appreciation of the beauty and wonder of Earth’s oceans as well as how crucial they are to our survival.
Read the whole review at: http://greengroundswell.com/the-world...
The Bottom Line
Earle’s love of oceans and ocean creatures is evident on every page. Her writing style is easy to read and understand. Problems, issues, and solutions are presented in a straight forward manner.
It was shocking to realize how little we know about the oceans and the seemingly widely held belief the oceans are so huge we can’t negatively impact them no matter what we do.
I came away with a greater appreciation of the beauty and wonder of Earth’s oceans as well as how crucial they are to our survival.
Read the whole review at: http://greengroundswell.com/the-world...
November 23, 2014
I have the utmost respect for Dr. Earle - as a scientist, an entrepreneur, and a public speaker I've been fortunate enough to hear in person - and this book is a good overview of marine conservation issues. It's just... a bit too basic to keep my interest, personally; as a biology major with a particular interest in marine biology and ecology, a lot of the content here was essentially review.
That said, I do think this would be a very useful and eye-opening book for people without background in its topics. I know some universities have freshman seminars where the entire incoming class reads the same book, and this seems like it would be a good candidate for that: it's clearly written, explains concepts in a straightforward manner, and outlines a lot of issues that need comprehensive solutions if we're to move forward as a species.
That said, I do think this would be a very useful and eye-opening book for people without background in its topics. I know some universities have freshman seminars where the entire incoming class reads the same book, and this seems like it would be a good candidate for that: it's clearly written, explains concepts in a straightforward manner, and outlines a lot of issues that need comprehensive solutions if we're to move forward as a species.
August 17, 2021
Feel like I need to write an essay to describe everything wrong about this book, from the science it discusses, to the way it discusses it. There are plenty of better marine conservation books out there.
Want to read
January 6, 2018Watched documentary "Mission Blue" (highly recommend!! can stream on Netflix). Can't wait to read this book.
October 16, 2024
It wasn’t until recently that I acquired the book “The World is Blue” by the famous, and boundary braking diver, Silvia Earle. As a diver who likes to read, there was no excuse for me not to read her book, so this is that book review! Sylvia Earle started her career as one of the few women working in marine biology. Despite this, she followed her passion, coming of age as recreational diving was just beginning to get its feet off the ground. She was the first woman to head the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration and has inspired divers around the world for helping to diversify the diving industry. With all her experience underwater in the depths of recreational diving and beyond, she is probably one of the world's most knowledgeable ocean researchers and I am glad to have gained some of that knowledge and experience from her book.
This book structure follows different listed areas of the ocean that are experiencing problems caused by humans. Then she goes into depth on how these problems are truly affecting the ocean and the animals that live there. For example, a chapter would start with giving an overview of overfishing and then go into great detail on the problem using facts, possible solutions, and personal anecdotes. This means that the reader gets not only a good overview of many different problems that are facing our oceans but also a deep understanding of each of them which is a difficult achievement in such a short book.
Sylvia Earle wrote this book very well and very informatively. Trying to write a book including the many of the problems facing our ocean today and giving readers an in-depth look at all of the mentioned problems is an extremely hard task, and I have not read any other book that succeeds at it to the level this book does. She not only made the book very engaging and informative for people who are new to ocean conservation, but it continued to keep me interested despite my knowledge of ocean conservation and ocean issues. I was never bored while reading, and if you do listen to the audiobook the reader’s voice is a very good match to Sylvia Earle’s voice.
My one criticism of this book was that there was a lot of basic information at the beginning of chapters that a person who already knows about ocean issues might find unnecessary to read, but other than that it was a super fun book because I got to read about many of Sylvia Earle’s experiences in the ocean- which was worth it. I would recommend this book to all people, but especially people who do not have a great understanding of ocean issues because of how well these problems are presented. Additionally, even if you are not new to ocean issues, I would highly recommend this book just on the basis that I think all divers and people interested in ocean and marine biology should know who Sylvia Earle is, and the contributions she has made to ocean conservation. Finally, I would like to leave you with one last quote from Sylvia Earl, “Even if you never have the chance to see or touch the ocean, the ocean touches you with every breath you take, every drop of water you drink, every bite you consume. Everyone, everywhere is inextricably connected to and utterly dependent upon the existence of the sea.”
This book structure follows different listed areas of the ocean that are experiencing problems caused by humans. Then she goes into depth on how these problems are truly affecting the ocean and the animals that live there. For example, a chapter would start with giving an overview of overfishing and then go into great detail on the problem using facts, possible solutions, and personal anecdotes. This means that the reader gets not only a good overview of many different problems that are facing our oceans but also a deep understanding of each of them which is a difficult achievement in such a short book.
Sylvia Earle wrote this book very well and very informatively. Trying to write a book including the many of the problems facing our ocean today and giving readers an in-depth look at all of the mentioned problems is an extremely hard task, and I have not read any other book that succeeds at it to the level this book does. She not only made the book very engaging and informative for people who are new to ocean conservation, but it continued to keep me interested despite my knowledge of ocean conservation and ocean issues. I was never bored while reading, and if you do listen to the audiobook the reader’s voice is a very good match to Sylvia Earle’s voice.
My one criticism of this book was that there was a lot of basic information at the beginning of chapters that a person who already knows about ocean issues might find unnecessary to read, but other than that it was a super fun book because I got to read about many of Sylvia Earle’s experiences in the ocean- which was worth it. I would recommend this book to all people, but especially people who do not have a great understanding of ocean issues because of how well these problems are presented. Additionally, even if you are not new to ocean issues, I would highly recommend this book just on the basis that I think all divers and people interested in ocean and marine biology should know who Sylvia Earle is, and the contributions she has made to ocean conservation. Finally, I would like to leave you with one last quote from Sylvia Earl, “Even if you never have the chance to see or touch the ocean, the ocean touches you with every breath you take, every drop of water you drink, every bite you consume. Everyone, everywhere is inextricably connected to and utterly dependent upon the existence of the sea.”
May 3, 2023
The World Is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean’s Are One by Sylvia A. Earle
This book does a good job presenting and supporting the idea that the health of the oceans is critical for the health of the planet overall. That said, this book was published in 2009. It is now 2023, 14 years later, which allows the reader to step back and judge whether we have heeded the warnings and suggestions of the author and are headed in the right direction. For example, the book mentions CO2 levels. Pre-1800 and pre-industrial levels are said to have been 275-280 ppm. Levels are said to have been 315 ppm in 1958 and 368 ppm 50 years later in 2008. Checking the web today in 2023, CO2 levels are said to be 419.8 ppm. Clearly, we are not moving in the right direction. Add in documented realities, such as melting polar ice, flooding, droughts, wildfires, and a reader can be forgiven for concluding that humans, as a group, are incapable of recognizing the clear, existential threat of climate change and of making the necessary changes. At my age, I will not see the worst of it but my heart breaks for my kids and especially my grandkids. They are in for a world of hurt.
This book does a good job presenting and supporting the idea that the health of the oceans is critical for the health of the planet overall. That said, this book was published in 2009. It is now 2023, 14 years later, which allows the reader to step back and judge whether we have heeded the warnings and suggestions of the author and are headed in the right direction. For example, the book mentions CO2 levels. Pre-1800 and pre-industrial levels are said to have been 275-280 ppm. Levels are said to have been 315 ppm in 1958 and 368 ppm 50 years later in 2008. Checking the web today in 2023, CO2 levels are said to be 419.8 ppm. Clearly, we are not moving in the right direction. Add in documented realities, such as melting polar ice, flooding, droughts, wildfires, and a reader can be forgiven for concluding that humans, as a group, are incapable of recognizing the clear, existential threat of climate change and of making the necessary changes. At my age, I will not see the worst of it but my heart breaks for my kids and especially my grandkids. They are in for a world of hurt.
February 19, 2025
The heavy subject means that this is not an easy book to read, and yet it's important to not look away from the horrors and work towards making things better. And no one speaks for the value of the ocean and its inhabitants better than Earle, who manages to not succumb to doomerism despite the atrocious state of affairs.
She starts by describing in heart-breaking and gut-wrenching detail the devastating wholesale slaughter of whales, dolphins, sharks, fish, mollusks, cephalopods by the fishing and whaling industries. Subsequent chapters detail the problems of plastics and pollution, oil spills, the loss of biodiversity, climate change and ocean acidification. If you don't already think that humans are the worst animals on Earth, you will by the time you get through the first half of the book.
Towards the end she provides some hope for the future, outlining a range of specific policy and governance proposals, as well as tangible approaches towards developing sustainable fisheries, farming, and other activities. Some progress has been made, and there is a lot of work left to do, so now is not the time to despair, but to get to work.
She starts by describing in heart-breaking and gut-wrenching detail the devastating wholesale slaughter of whales, dolphins, sharks, fish, mollusks, cephalopods by the fishing and whaling industries. Subsequent chapters detail the problems of plastics and pollution, oil spills, the loss of biodiversity, climate change and ocean acidification. If you don't already think that humans are the worst animals on Earth, you will by the time you get through the first half of the book.
Towards the end she provides some hope for the future, outlining a range of specific policy and governance proposals, as well as tangible approaches towards developing sustainable fisheries, farming, and other activities. Some progress has been made, and there is a lot of work left to do, so now is not the time to despair, but to get to work.
October 31, 2017
If you want to read a straightforward, accessible, and informative run down of the ways we've run down the ocean's integrity, populations of wildlife, and, most alarmingly, its ability to sustain the world as it has for the duration of this planet's existence, you ought to read this book. With more experience that it seems any one person should have, Sylvia Earle is an authority that's hard to quibble with when it comes to matters of the ocean. In The World is Blue she walks with you through the ocean's importance to the world (vital), the state of the oceans after centuries of disregard by the humans it supports (dire), and the solution and way forward (not impossible) if we are to preserve the ocean and, along the way, preserve our one home.
If you, like me, look for books to teach you the science that explains how the world works and how you can live in a way that helps, doesn't hurt the world, you could pretty easily do worse than this.
If you, like me, look for books to teach you the science that explains how the world works and how you can live in a way that helps, doesn't hurt the world, you could pretty easily do worse than this.
May 18, 2020
I gave this a 4 because I didn't want to hurt its rating; This is a well-written and important book and it deserves to be read. We all deserve to know this information. Society and the planet deserve people that know the information within this book. I'm happy I read it, but I didn't always find it easy to get through. Not just because it makes me so depressed to know how poorly humans treat our home and the creatures that live alongside us, but also because I wasn't always drawn in by the author's writing. I believe that the first half was the most important as far as showing what the problem is and explaining what the ocean does for the planet. The second half showed the more political side, discussing what is being done to help protect ocean and the life inside. That part wasn't as fun to read. I kept losing interest and pretty much just skimmed the last chapter. I challenge anyone interested to read this, learning as much as they can. It's too important to ignore.
March 20, 2025
Sylvia Earle is an inspiration and does a wonderful job of explaining marine ecological science in a digestible way. The book drives home many of the threats that our oceans are currently facing and why they are so consequential. Although the book is now approaching 15 years old, the political issues as well as the lack of knowledge we have of our blue world still holds up to current times, if not more than ever. Although dry at times, the book generally flows very well and is presented in a way so as not to overwhelm the reader with too much jargon. Earle talks occasionally about personal experiences or the deep sea voyages that only her and a select few other people in the world have gone on, without getting in the way of discussing the main topic at hand. A delightful read that will inspire the curiosity and passion for exploration and protection of our marine systems.
November 8, 2017
Another inspiring read from one of my scientific heroes
Dr. Earle's "Sea Change" was my introduction to her passionate writings about the oceans. This is another gem to add to her canon. I have to admit, it took me a long time to read, mostly because it's almost a decade old and it's chronicles of environmental damage obviously did not account for all that has come after, such as the Deep water Horizon oil spill in 2010. It also doesn't account for the progress and environmental legacy of the Obama administration, which is currently under attack by the current administration. However bleak the immediate political future may seem for the environment, Dr. Earle reminds us that there's always hope, and it rests in us .
Dr. Earle's "Sea Change" was my introduction to her passionate writings about the oceans. This is another gem to add to her canon. I have to admit, it took me a long time to read, mostly because it's almost a decade old and it's chronicles of environmental damage obviously did not account for all that has come after, such as the Deep water Horizon oil spill in 2010. It also doesn't account for the progress and environmental legacy of the Obama administration, which is currently under attack by the current administration. However bleak the immediate political future may seem for the environment, Dr. Earle reminds us that there's always hope, and it rests in us .
March 12, 2018
The author, Sylvia A. Earle, is a National Geographic Explorer in Residence, and I was fortunate enough to find out about her via a Blue Planet episode and also a course featured on Great Courses Plus. She is fantastic and so very knowledgeable, becoming interested in the ocean and diving at a very young age. I learned so much about the ocean and its relation to our planet and how important it is to preserve it for our survival over the next generation. This book also includes a TED talk she gave in 2009 and congressional testimony given in April, 2010. I highly recommend this book for all. It is written in a very readable fashion and easy to understand. Kudos to Sylvia A. Earle for all her work and efforts over the past 50 years!
August 5, 2024
The book does a good job in summing up the life experiences of the author (Sylvia Earle), as well as describing the beauty of our planet, more specifically the ocean, as well as analyzing and discussing our impact on it. If you watched “Mission Blue”, the Netflix Doc, then this book will immediately feel known, since a lot of the points treated in the Doc were mentioned and explored in the book in greater detail.
Admitely, I do have a soft spot for Oceanography and that certainly influenced the five stars that I gave, but my preferences aside, I do find the book worthy of, at the very least, a 4,5 stars, since it does a great a job of exploring the idea that “our fate and the ocean’s are one".
Admitely, I do have a soft spot for Oceanography and that certainly influenced the five stars that I gave, but my preferences aside, I do find the book worthy of, at the very least, a 4,5 stars, since it does a great a job of exploring the idea that “our fate and the ocean’s are one".
May 13, 2017
Ok here's the thing. I can't read this book. I am well versed in the plight of the earth's natural resources. I know of all the ways in which different policies are created to let both sides of the conservation issue be resolved. So nothing is this book was surprising me rather it was having the opposite effect. So I think it's better for my mental health if I don't continue with this book.
However, given the issues going on with the science community. Given the state of the earth I rate this book a full 5 stars despite not finishing it. This is because the information that Earle writes about is so important. So impervious to each and every one of us. I implore you to read it.
However, given the issues going on with the science community. Given the state of the earth I rate this book a full 5 stars despite not finishing it. This is because the information that Earle writes about is so important. So impervious to each and every one of us. I implore you to read it.
January 1, 2026
“The World Is Blue” begins almost like a didactic invitation, deceptively simple at first glance, but gradually deepens and gains substance. Earle weaves a wide-ranging portrait of the ocean as the planet’s silent axis of life — regulator of climate, refuge of diversity, and archive of human and non-human histories. The book does not aim for theoretical sophistication, but for continuity: ideas linked like currents, accumulating meaning until they form a convincing whole. By the end, the reading grows denser and leaves a clear, unsettling impression: to speak of the ocean is to speak of what quietly sustains the very possibility of existence.
November 18, 2020
Completely brilliant, marvelous and wonderful! Dr. Earle is a powerful voice. The way she tells the facts makes you think but also makes you hope and love
I gave this 4.5 stars for 2 minimal reasons. The first is that there’s a sizable section that talks about submarines and sea exploration and I guess I don’t understand why it’s there? The second is because this isn’t a usual genre for me and I took 2 years to read this book (so happy I finished it). So I really can’t call this one one of my favorites
I gave this 4.5 stars for 2 minimal reasons. The first is that there’s a sizable section that talks about submarines and sea exploration and I guess I don’t understand why it’s there? The second is because this isn’t a usual genre for me and I took 2 years to read this book (so happy I finished it). So I really can’t call this one one of my favorites
January 2, 2021
A must read for anyone interested in climate change
Half of CO2 emissions go into the atmosphere and the other half goes into the ocean. The resulting acidification waters upended intricate ecosystems, wiping out several species.
And yet there are powerful voices, many of them female, like the incomparable marine biologist, Sylvia Earle, calling mankind's attention to what needs to be done to save most of the surface of Earth, which happens to be covered with water. A must-read for anyone interested in climate change.
Half of CO2 emissions go into the atmosphere and the other half goes into the ocean. The resulting acidification waters upended intricate ecosystems, wiping out several species.
And yet there are powerful voices, many of them female, like the incomparable marine biologist, Sylvia Earle, calling mankind's attention to what needs to be done to save most of the surface of Earth, which happens to be covered with water. A must-read for anyone interested in climate change.
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