0:00:00.000,0:00:03.000 Fifty years ago, when I began exploring the ocean, 0:00:03.000,0:00:09.000 no one -- not Jacques Perrin, not Jacques Cousteau or Rachel Carson -- 0:00:09.000,0:00:12.000 imagined that we could do anything to harm the ocean 0:00:12.000,0:00:15.000 by what we put into it or by what we took out of it. 0:00:15.000,0:00:18.000 It seemed, at that time, to be a sea of Eden, 0:00:18.000,0:00:24.000 but now we know, and now we are facing paradise lost. 0:00:24.000,0:00:27.000 I want to share with you 0:00:27.000,0:00:30.000 my personal view of changes in the sea that affect all of us, 0:00:30.000,0:00:34.000 and to consider why it matters that in 50 years, we've lost -- 0:00:34.000,0:00:37.000 actually, we've taken, we've eaten -- 0:00:37.000,0:00:40.000 more than 90 percent of the big fish in the sea; 0:00:40.000,0:00:44.000 why you should care that nearly half of the coral reefs have disappeared; 0:00:44.000,0:00:50.000 why a mysterious depletion of oxygen in large areas of the Pacific 0:00:50.000,0:00:53.000 should concern not only the creatures that are dying, 0:00:53.000,0:00:56.000 but it really should concern you. 0:00:56.000,0:00:58.000 It does concern you, as well. 0:00:58.000,0:01:03.000 I'm haunted by the thought of what Ray Anderson calls "tomorrow's child," 0:01:03.000,0:01:07.000 asking why we didn't do something on our watch 0:01:07.000,0:01:12.000 to save sharks and bluefin tuna and squids and coral reefs and the living ocean 0:01:12.000,0:01:14.000 while there still was time. 0:01:14.000,0:01:17.000 Well, now is that time. 0:01:17.000,0:01:20.000 I hope for your help 0:01:20.000,0:01:23.000 to explore and protect the wild ocean 0:01:23.000,0:01:26.000 in ways that will restore the health and, 0:01:26.000,0:01:30.000 in so doing, secure hope for humankind. 0:01:30.000,0:01:33.000 Health to the ocean means health for us. 0:01:33.000,0:01:40.000 And I hope Jill Tarter's wish to engage Earthlings includes dolphins and whales 0:01:40.000,0:01:42.000 and other sea creatures 0:01:42.000,0:01:45.000 in this quest to find intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. 0:01:45.000,0:01:48.000 And I hope, Jill, that someday 0:01:48.000,0:01:55.000 we will find evidence that there is intelligent life among humans on this planet. 0:01:55.000,0:01:57.000 (Laughter) 0:01:57.000,0:02:00.000 Did I say that? I guess I did. 0:02:02.000,0:02:05.000 For me, as a scientist, 0:02:05.000,0:02:08.000 it all began in 1953 0:02:08.000,0:02:11.000 when I first tried scuba. 0:02:11.000,0:02:14.000 It's when I first got to know fish swimming 0:02:14.000,0:02:17.000 in something other than lemon slices and butter. 0:02:17.000,0:02:20.000 I actually love diving at night; 0:02:20.000,0:02:23.000 you see a lot of fish then that you don't see in the daytime. 0:02:23.000,0:02:27.000 Diving day and night was really easy for me in 1970, 0:02:27.000,0:02:32.000 when I led a team of aquanauts living underwater for weeks at a time -- 0:02:32.000,0:02:39.000 at the same time that astronauts were putting their footprints on the moon. 0:02:39.000,0:02:43.000 In 1979 I had a chance to put my footprints on the ocean floor 0:02:43.000,0:02:46.000 while using this personal submersible called Jim. 0:02:46.000,0:02:50.000 It was six miles offshore and 1,250 feet down. 0:02:50.000,0:02:53.000 It's one of my favorite bathing suits. 0:02:55.000,0:02:59.000 Since then, I've used about 30 kinds of submarines 0:02:59.000,0:03:02.000 and I've started three companies and a nonprofit foundation called Deep Search 0:03:02.000,0:03:05.000 to design and build systems 0:03:05.000,0:03:07.000 to access the deep sea. 0:03:07.000,0:03:10.000 I led a five-year National Geographic expedition, 0:03:10.000,0:03:13.000 the Sustainable Seas expeditions, 0:03:13.000,0:03:15.000 using these little subs. 0:03:15.000,0:03:18.000 They're so simple to drive that even a scientist can do it. 0:03:18.000,0:03:20.000 And I'm living proof. 0:03:20.000,0:03:22.000 Astronauts and aquanauts alike 0:03:22.000,0:03:27.000 really appreciate the importance of air, food, water, temperature -- 0:03:27.000,0:03:31.000 all the things you need to stay alive in space or under the sea. 0:03:31.000,0:03:34.000 I heard astronaut Joe Allen explain 0:03:34.000,0:03:37.000 how he had to learn everything he could about his life support system 0:03:37.000,0:03:40.000 and then do everything he could 0:03:40.000,0:03:43.000 to take care of his life support system; 0:03:43.000,0:03:48.000 and then he pointed to this and he said, "Life support system." 0:03:48.000,0:03:51.000 We need to learn everything we can about it 0:03:51.000,0:03:54.000 and do everything we can to take care of it. 0:03:54.000,0:03:58.000 The poet Auden said, "Thousands have lived without love; 0:03:58.000,0:04:01.000 none without water." 0:04:01.000,0:04:04.000 Ninety-seven percent of Earth's water is ocean. 0:04:04.000,0:04:07.000 No blue, no green. 0:04:07.000,0:04:09.000 If you think the ocean isn't important, 0:04:09.000,0:04:12.000 imagine Earth without it. 0:04:12.000,0:04:14.000 Mars comes to mind. 0:04:14.000,0:04:16.000 No ocean, no life support system. 0:04:16.000,0:04:19.000 I gave a talk not so long ago at the World Bank 0:04:19.000,0:04:22.000 and I showed this amazing image of Earth 0:04:22.000,0:04:25.000 and I said, "There it is! The World Bank!" 0:04:25.000,0:04:29.000 That's where all the assets are! 0:04:31.000,0:04:34.000 And we've been trawling them down 0:04:34.000,0:04:37.000 much faster than the natural systems can replenish them. 0:04:37.000,0:04:40.000 Tim Worth says the economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment. 0:04:40.000,0:04:42.000 With every drop of water you drink, 0:04:42.000,0:04:44.000 every breath you take, 0:04:44.000,0:04:47.000 you're connected to the sea. 0:04:47.000,0:04:49.000 No matter where on Earth you live. 0:04:49.000,0:04:52.000 Most of the oxygen in the atmosphere is generated by the sea. 0:04:52.000,0:04:55.000 Over time, most of the planet's organic carbon 0:04:55.000,0:04:58.000 has been absorbed and stored there, 0:04:58.000,0:05:00.000 mostly by microbes. 0:05:00.000,0:05:02.000 The ocean drives climate and weather, 0:05:02.000,0:05:04.000 stabilizes temperature, shapes Earth's chemistry. 0:05:04.000,0:05:06.000 Water from the sea forms clouds 0:05:06.000,0:05:09.000 that return to the land and the seas 0:05:09.000,0:05:11.000 as rain, sleet and snow, 0:05:11.000,0:05:15.000 and provides home for about 97 percent of life in the world, 0:05:15.000,0:05:17.000 maybe in the universe. 0:05:17.000,0:05:19.000 No water, no life; 0:05:19.000,0:05:21.000 no blue, no green. 0:05:21.000,0:05:24.000 Yet we have this idea, we humans, 0:05:24.000,0:05:27.000 that the Earth -- all of it: the oceans, the skies -- 0:05:27.000,0:05:30.000 are so vast and so resilient 0:05:30.000,0:05:32.000 it doesn't matter what we do to it. 0:05:32.000,0:05:35.000 That may have been true 10,000 years ago, 0:05:35.000,0:05:38.000 and maybe even 1,000 years ago 0:05:38.000,0:05:40.000 but in the last 100, especially in the last 50, 0:05:40.000,0:05:42.000 we've drawn down the assets, 0:05:42.000,0:05:45.000 the air, the water, the wildlife 0:05:45.000,0:05:48.000 that make our lives possible. 0:05:48.000,0:05:51.000 New technologies are helping us to understand 0:05:51.000,0:05:54.000 the nature of nature; 0:05:54.000,0:05:56.000 the nature of what's happening, 0:05:56.000,0:05:59.000 showing us our impact on the Earth. 0:05:59.000,0:06:02.000 I mean, first you have to know that you've got a problem. 0:06:02.000,0:06:05.000 And fortunately, in our time, 0:06:05.000,0:06:08.000 we've learned more about the problems than in all preceding history. 0:06:08.000,0:06:11.000 And with knowing comes caring. 0:06:11.000,0:06:13.000 And with caring, there's hope 0:06:13.000,0:06:16.000 that we can find an enduring place for ourselves 0:06:16.000,0:06:19.000 within the natural systems that support us. 0:06:19.000,0:06:22.000 But first we have to know. 0:06:22.000,0:06:25.000 Three years ago, I met John Hanke, 0:06:25.000,0:06:27.000 who's the head of Google Earth, 0:06:27.000,0:06:30.000 and I told him how much I loved being able to hold the world in my hands 0:06:30.000,0:06:32.000 and go exploring vicariously. 0:06:32.000,0:06:35.000 But I asked him: "When are you going to finish it? 0:06:35.000,0:06:38.000 You did a great job with the land, the dirt. 0:06:38.000,0:06:41.000 What about the water?" 0:06:41.000,0:06:45.000 Since then, I've had the great pleasure of working with the Googlers, 0:06:45.000,0:06:48.000 with DOER Marine, with National Geographic, 0:06:48.000,0:06:53.000 with dozens of the best institutions and scientists around the world, 0:06:53.000,0:06:56.000 ones that we could enlist, 0:06:56.000,0:06:59.000 to put the ocean in Google Earth. 0:06:59.000,0:07:01.000 And as of just this week, last Monday, 0:07:01.000,0:07:04.000 Google Earth is now whole. 0:07:04.000,0:07:07.000 Consider this: Starting right here at the convention center, 0:07:07.000,0:07:09.000 we can find the nearby aquarium, 0:07:09.000,0:07:11.000 we can look at where we're sitting, 0:07:11.000,0:07:14.000 and then we can cruise up the coast to the big aquarium, the ocean, 0:07:14.000,0:07:17.000 and California's four national marine sanctuaries, 0:07:17.000,0:07:20.000 and the new network of state marine reserves 0:07:20.000,0:07:24.000 that are beginning to protect and restore some of the assets 0:07:24.000,0:07:27.000 We can flit over to Hawaii 0:07:27.000,0:07:30.000 and see the real Hawaiian Islands: 0:07:30.000,0:07:33.000 not just the little bit that pokes through the surface, 0:07:33.000,0:07:36.000 but also what's below. 0:07:36.000,0:07:39.000 To see -- wait a minute, we can go kshhplash! -- 0:07:39.000,0:07:41.000 right there, ha -- 0:07:42.000,0:07:45.000 under the ocean, see what the whales see. 0:07:45.000,0:07:50.000 We can go explore the other side of the Hawaiian Islands. 0:07:50.000,0:07:54.000 We can go actually and swim around on Google Earth 0:07:54.000,0:07:58.000 and visit with humpback whales. 0:07:58.000,0:08:03.000 These are the gentle giants that I've had the pleasure of meeting face to face 0:08:03.000,0:08:06.000 many times underwater. 0:08:06.000,0:08:09.000 There's nothing quite like being personally inspected by a whale. 0:08:09.000,0:08:13.000 We can pick up and fly to the deepest place: 0:08:13.000,0:08:16.000 seven miles down, the Mariana Trench, 0:08:16.000,0:08:18.000 where only two people have ever been. 0:08:18.000,0:08:21.000 Imagine that. It's only seven miles, 0:08:21.000,0:08:24.000 but only two people have been there, 49 years ago. 0:08:24.000,0:08:27.000 One-way trips are easy. 0:08:27.000,0:08:30.000 We need new deep-diving submarines. 0:08:30.000,0:08:33.000 How about some X Prizes for ocean exploration? 0:08:33.000,0:08:37.000 We need to see deep trenches, the undersea mountains, 0:08:37.000,0:08:40.000 and understand life in the deep sea. 0:08:40.000,0:08:43.000 We can now go to the Arctic. 0:08:43.000,0:08:47.000 Just ten years ago I stood on the ice at the North Pole. 0:08:47.000,0:08:52.000 An ice-free Arctic Ocean may happen in this century. 0:08:52.000,0:08:56.000 That's bad news for the polar bears. 0:08:56.000,0:08:59.000 That's bad news for us too. 0:08:59.000,0:09:02.000 Excess carbon dioxide is not only driving global warming, 0:09:02.000,0:09:05.000 it's also changing ocean chemistry, 0:09:05.000,0:09:08.000 making the sea more acidic. 0:09:08.000,0:09:11.000 That's bad news for coral reefs and oxygen-producing plankton. 0:09:11.000,0:09:14.000 Also it's bad news for us. 0:09:14.000,0:09:17.000 We're putting hundreds of millions of tons of plastic 0:09:17.000,0:09:19.000 and other trash into the sea. 0:09:19.000,0:09:22.000 Millions of tons of discarded fishing nets, 0:09:22.000,0:09:25.000 gear that continues to kill. 0:09:25.000,0:09:29.000 We're clogging the ocean, poisoning the planet's circulatory system, 0:09:29.000,0:09:32.000 and we're taking out hundreds of millions of tons of wildlife, 0:09:32.000,0:09:35.000 all carbon-based units. 0:09:37.000,0:09:42.000 Barbarically, we're killing sharks for shark fin soup, 0:09:42.000,0:09:45.000 undermining food chains that shape planetary chemistry 0:09:45.000,0:09:48.000 and drive the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, 0:09:48.000,0:09:51.000 the oxygen cycle, the water cycle -- 0:09:51.000,0:09:54.000 our life support system. 0:09:54.000,0:09:58.000 We're still killing bluefin tuna; truly endangered 0:09:58.000,0:10:01.000 and much more valuable alive than dead. 0:10:02.000,0:10:07.000 All of these parts are part of our life support system. 0:10:07.000,0:10:13.000 We kill using long lines, with baited hooks every few feet 0:10:13.000,0:10:15.000 that may stretch for 50 miles or more. 0:10:15.000,0:10:19.000 Industrial trawlers and draggers are scraping the sea floor 0:10:19.000,0:10:22.000 like bulldozers, taking everything in their path. 0:10:22.000,0:10:25.000 Using Google Earth you can witness trawlers -- 0:10:25.000,0:10:29.000 in China, the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico -- 0:10:29.000,0:10:33.000 shaking the foundation of our life support system, 0:10:33.000,0:10:35.000 leaving plumes of death in their path. 0:10:35.000,0:10:38.000 The next time you dine on sushi -- or sashimi, 0:10:38.000,0:10:40.000 or swordfish steak, or shrimp cocktail, 0:10:40.000,0:10:43.000 whatever wildlife you happen to enjoy from the ocean -- 0:10:43.000,0:10:46.000 think of the real cost. 0:10:46.000,0:10:48.000 For every pound that goes to market, 0:10:48.000,0:10:52.000 more than 10 pounds, even 100 pounds, 0:10:52.000,0:10:56.000 may be thrown away as bycatch. 0:10:56.000,0:10:59.000 This is the consequence of not knowing 0:10:59.000,0:11:02.000 that there are limits to what we can take out of the sea. 0:11:02.000,0:11:06.000 This chart shows the decline in ocean wildlife 0:11:06.000,0:11:09.000 from 1900 to 2000. 0:11:09.000,0:11:12.000 The highest concentrations are in red. 0:11:12.000,0:11:14.000 In my lifetime, imagine, 0:11:14.000,0:11:18.000 90 percent of the big fish have been killed. 0:11:18.000,0:11:20.000 Most of the turtles, sharks, tunas and whales 0:11:20.000,0:11:24.000 are way down in numbers. 0:11:24.000,0:11:26.000 But, there is good news. 0:11:26.000,0:11:28.000 Ten percent of the big fish still remain. 0:11:28.000,0:11:30.000 There are still some blue whales. 0:11:30.000,0:11:33.000 There are still some krill in Antarctica. 0:11:33.000,0:11:35.000 There are a few oysters in Chesapeake Bay. 0:11:35.000,0:11:38.000 Half the coral reefs are still in pretty good shape, 0:11:38.000,0:11:41.000 a jeweled belt around the middle of the planet. 0:11:41.000,0:11:44.000 There's still time, but not a lot, 0:11:44.000,0:11:46.000 to turn things around. 0:11:46.000,0:11:48.000 But business as usual means that in 50 years, 0:11:48.000,0:11:51.000 there may be no coral reefs -- 0:11:51.000,0:11:55.000 and no commercial fishing, because the fish will simply be gone. 0:11:55.000,0:11:59.000 Imagine the ocean without fish. 0:11:59.000,0:12:03.000 Imagine what that means to our life support system. 0:12:03.000,0:12:06.000 Natural systems on the land are in big trouble too, 0:12:06.000,0:12:08.000 but the problems are more obvious, 0:12:08.000,0:12:14.000 and some actions are being taken to protect trees, watersheds and wildlife. 0:12:14.000,0:12:18.000 And in 1872, with Yellowstone National Park, 0:12:18.000,0:12:21.000 the United States began establishing a system of parks 0:12:21.000,0:12:26.000 that some say was the best idea America ever had. 0:12:26.000,0:12:30.000 About 12 percent of the land around the world is now protected: 0:12:30.000,0:12:34.000 safeguarding biodiversity, providing a carbon sink, 0:12:34.000,0:12:36.000 generating oxygen, protecting watersheds. 0:12:36.000,0:12:41.000 And, in 1972, this nation began to establish a counterpart in the sea, 0:12:41.000,0:12:43.000 National Marine Sanctuaries. 0:12:43.000,0:12:45.000 That's another great idea. 0:12:45.000,0:12:47.000 The good news is 0:12:47.000,0:12:51.000 that there are now more than 4,000 places in the sea, around the world, 0:12:51.000,0:12:53.000 that have some kind of protection. 0:12:53.000,0:12:55.000 And you can find them on Google Earth. 0:12:55.000,0:12:57.000 The bad news is 0:12:57.000,0:12:59.000 that you have to look hard to find them. 0:12:59.000,0:13:01.000 In the last three years, for example, 0:13:01.000,0:13:07.000 the U.S. protected 340,000 square miles of ocean as national monuments. 0:13:07.000,0:13:10.000 But it only increased from 0.6 of one percent 0:13:10.000,0:13:15.000 to 0.8 of one percent of the ocean protected, globally. 0:13:15.000,0:13:18.000 Protected areas do rebound, 0:13:18.000,0:13:20.000 but it takes a long time to restore 0:13:20.000,0:13:24.000 50-year-old rockfish or monkfish, sharks or sea bass, 0:13:24.000,0:13:26.000 or 200-year-old orange roughy. 0:13:26.000,0:13:29.000 We don't consume 200-year-old cows or chickens. 0:13:30.000,0:13:33.000 Protected areas provide hope 0:13:33.000,0:13:36.000 that the creatures of Ed Wilson's dream 0:13:36.000,0:13:40.000 of an encyclopedia of life, or the census of marine life, 0:13:40.000,0:13:44.000 will live not just as a list, 0:13:44.000,0:13:48.000 a photograph, or a paragraph. 0:13:48.000,0:13:51.000 With scientists around the world, I've been looking at the 99 percent of the ocean 0:13:51.000,0:13:55.000 that is open to fishing -- and mining, and drilling, and dumping, and whatever -- 0:13:55.000,0:13:57.000 to search out hope spots, 0:13:57.000,0:14:01.000 and try to find ways to give them and us a secure future. 0:14:01.000,0:14:03.000 Such as the Arctic -- 0:14:03.000,0:14:06.000 we have one chance, right now, to get it right. 0:14:06.000,0:14:09.000 Or the Antarctic, where the continent is protected, 0:14:09.000,0:14:15.000 but the surrounding ocean is being stripped of its krill, whales and fish. 0:14:15.000,0:14:20.000 Sargasso Sea's three million square miles of floating forest 0:14:20.000,0:14:23.000 is being gathered up to feed cows. 0:14:23.000,0:14:27.000 97 percent of the land in the Galapagos Islands is protected, 0:14:27.000,0:14:31.000 but the adjacent sea is being ravaged by fishing. 0:14:31.000,0:14:33.000 It's true too in Argentina 0:14:33.000,0:14:36.000 on the Patagonian shelf, which is now in serious trouble. 0:14:36.000,0:14:41.000 The high seas, where whales, tuna and dolphins travel -- 0:14:41.000,0:14:44.000 the largest, least protected, ecosystem on Earth, 0:14:44.000,0:14:47.000 filled with luminous creatures, 0:14:47.000,0:14:50.000 living in dark waters that average two miles deep. 0:14:50.000,0:14:53.000 They flash, and sparkle, and glow 0:14:53.000,0:14:56.000 with their own living light. 0:14:56.000,0:14:59.000 There are still places in the sea as pristine as I knew as a child. 0:14:59.000,0:15:03.000 The next 10 years may be the most important, 0:15:03.000,0:15:07.000 and the next 10,000 years the best chance our species will have 0:15:07.000,0:15:13.000 to protect what remains of the natural systems that give us life. 0:15:13.000,0:15:16.000 To cope with climate change, we need new ways to generate power. 0:15:16.000,0:15:22.000 We need new ways, better ways, to cope with poverty, wars and disease. 0:15:22.000,0:15:26.000 We need many things to keep and maintain the world as a better place. 0:15:26.000,0:15:29.000 But, nothing else will matter 0:15:29.000,0:15:32.000 if we fail to protect the ocean. 0:15:32.000,0:15:36.000 Our fate and the ocean's are one. 0:15:36.000,0:15:40.000 We need to do for the ocean what Al Gore did for the skies above. 0:15:40.000,0:15:43.000 A global plan of action 0:15:43.000,0:15:45.000 with a world conservation union, the IUCN, 0:15:45.000,0:15:47.000 is underway to protect biodiversity, 0:15:47.000,0:15:51.000 to mitigate and recover from the impacts of climate change, 0:15:51.000,0:15:55.000 on the high seas and in coastal areas, 0:15:55.000,0:15:59.000 wherever we can identify critical places. 0:15:59.000,0:16:03.000 New technologies are needed to map, photograph and explore 0:16:03.000,0:16:07.000 the 95 percent of the ocean that we have yet to see. 0:16:07.000,0:16:10.000 The goal is to protect biodiversity, 0:16:10.000,0:16:12.000 to provide stability and resilience. 0:16:12.000,0:16:14.000 We need deep-diving subs, 0:16:14.000,0:16:17.000 new technologies to explore the ocean. 0:16:17.000,0:16:20.000 We need, maybe, an expedition -- 0:16:20.000,0:16:22.000 a TED at sea -- 0:16:22.000,0:16:24.000 that could help figure out the next steps. 0:16:25.000,0:16:28.000 And so, I suppose you want to know what my wish is. 0:16:29.000,0:16:34.000 I wish you would use all means at your disposal -- 0:16:34.000,0:16:37.000 films, expeditions, the web, new submarines -- 0:16:37.000,0:16:40.000 and campaign to ignite public support 0:16:40.000,0:16:43.000 for a global network of marine protected areas -- 0:16:43.000,0:16:47.000 hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, 0:16:47.000,0:16:50.000 the blue heart of the planet. 0:16:50.000,0:16:52.000 How much? 0:16:52.000,0:16:55.000 Some say 10 percent, some say 30 percent. 0:16:55.000,0:16:59.000 You decide: how much of your heart do you want to protect? 0:17:00.000,0:17:02.000 Whatever it is, 0:17:02.000,0:17:05.000 a fraction of one percent is not enough. 0:17:06.000,0:17:08.000 My wish is a big wish, 0:17:08.000,0:17:12.000 but if we can make it happen, it can truly change the world, 0:17:12.000,0:17:15.000 and help ensure the survival 0:17:15.000,0:17:21.000 of what actually -- as it turns out -- is my favorite species; 0:17:21.000,0:17:23.000 that would be us. 0:17:23.000,0:17:25.000 For the children of today, 0:17:25.000,0:17:27.000 for tomorrow's child: 0:17:27.000,0:17:31.000 as never again, now is the time. 0:17:32.000,0:17:33.000 Thank you. 0:17:33.000,0:17:48.000 (Applause)