With 97 percent of Earth’s water found in the oceans, these two “explorers” want a 100 percent commitment to protect the deep blue.
Oceanographer Sylvia Earle and computer exec Jonathan Knowles share a cool title in common: explorer-in-residence—she for National Geographic and he for Autodesk. They also share this point of view: The ocean and planet Earth need everyone to be an active advocate on their behalf.
The Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, in collaboration with Dana Christensen ’83, presented an evening with Earle and Knowles on campus March 2. In a discussion moderated by Miller Center’s executive director, Thane Kreiner, Earle focused on all the things that humanity now knows about the vital role of a healthy ocean and the choices we are making that have placed the ocean in jeopardy.
“Without the ocean, life that shapes the character of the planet could not exist,” she said. “No ocean, no life. No blue, no green … It’s only right about now that we’ve accumulated enough evidence, and the ability to share that evidence, that we are beginning to get it,” she said.