My wish: Protect our oceans
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0:00 - 0:03Fifty years ago, when I began exploring the ocean,
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0:03 - 0:09no one -- not Jacques Perrin, not Jacques Cousteau or Rachel Carson --
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0:09 - 0:12imagined that we could do anything to harm the ocean
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0:12 - 0:15by what we put into it or by what we took out of it.
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0:15 - 0:18It seemed, at that time, to be a sea of Eden,
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0:18 - 0:24but now we know, and now we are facing paradise lost.
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0:24 - 0:27I want to share with you
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0:27 - 0:30my personal view of changes in the sea that affect all of us,
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0:30 - 0:34and to consider why it matters that in 50 years, we've lost --
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0:34 - 0:37actually, we've taken, we've eaten --
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0:37 - 0:40more than 90 percent of the big fish in the sea;
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0:40 - 0:44why you should care that nearly half of the coral reefs have disappeared;
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0:44 - 0:50why a mysterious depletion of oxygen in large areas of the Pacific
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0:50 - 0:53should concern not only the creatures that are dying,
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0:53 - 0:56but it really should concern you.
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0:56 - 0:58It does concern you, as well.
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0:58 - 1:03I'm haunted by the thought of what Ray Anderson calls "tomorrow's child,"
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1:03 - 1:07asking why we didn't do something on our watch
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1:07 - 1:12to save sharks and bluefin tuna and squids and coral reefs and the living ocean
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1:12 - 1:14while there still was time.
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1:14 - 1:17Well, now is that time.
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1:17 - 1:20I hope for your help
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1:20 - 1:23to explore and protect the wild ocean
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1:23 - 1:26in ways that will restore the health and,
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1:26 - 1:30in so doing, secure hope for humankind.
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1:30 - 1:33Health to the ocean means health for us.
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1:33 - 1:40And I hope Jill Tarter's wish to engage Earthlings includes dolphins and whales
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1:40 - 1:42and other sea creatures
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1:42 - 1:45in this quest to find intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.
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1:45 - 1:48And I hope, Jill, that someday
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1:48 - 1:55we will find evidence that there is intelligent life among humans on this planet.
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1:55 - 1:57(Laughter)
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1:57 - 2:00Did I say that? I guess I did.
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2:02 - 2:05For me, as a scientist,
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2:05 - 2:08it all began in 1953
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2:08 - 2:11when I first tried scuba.
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2:11 - 2:14It's when I first got to know fish swimming
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2:14 - 2:17in something other than lemon slices and butter.
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2:17 - 2:20I actually love diving at night;
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2:20 - 2:23you see a lot of fish then that you don't see in the daytime.
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2:23 - 2:27Diving day and night was really easy for me in 1970,
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2:27 - 2:32when I led a team of aquanauts living underwater for weeks at a time --
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2:32 - 2:39at the same time that astronauts were putting their footprints on the moon.
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2:39 - 2:43In 1979 I had a chance to put my footprints on the ocean floor
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2:43 - 2:46while using this personal submersible called Jim.
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2:46 - 2:50It was six miles offshore and 1,250 feet down.
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2:50 - 2:53It's one of my favorite bathing suits.
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2:55 - 2:59Since then, I've used about 30 kinds of submarines
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2:59 - 3:02and I've started three companies and a nonprofit foundation called Deep Search
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3:02 - 3:05to design and build systems
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3:05 - 3:07to access the deep sea.
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3:07 - 3:10I led a five-year National Geographic expedition,
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3:10 - 3:13the Sustainable Seas expeditions,
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3:13 - 3:15using these little subs.
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3:15 - 3:18They're so simple to drive that even a scientist can do it.
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3:18 - 3:20And I'm living proof.
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3:20 - 3:22Astronauts and aquanauts alike
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3:22 - 3:27really appreciate the importance of air, food, water, temperature --
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3:27 - 3:31all the things you need to stay alive in space or under the sea.
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3:31 - 3:34I heard astronaut Joe Allen explain
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3:34 - 3:37how he had to learn everything he could about his life support system
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3:37 - 3:40and then do everything he could
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3:40 - 3:43to take care of his life support system;
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3:43 - 3:48and then he pointed to this and he said, "Life support system."
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3:48 - 3:51We need to learn everything we can about it
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3:51 - 3:54and do everything we can to take care of it.
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3:54 - 3:58The poet Auden said, "Thousands have lived without love;
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3:58 - 4:01none without water."
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4:01 - 4:04Ninety-seven percent of Earth's water is ocean.
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4:04 - 4:07No blue, no green.
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4:07 - 4:09If you think the ocean isn't important,
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4:09 - 4:12imagine Earth without it.
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4:12 - 4:14Mars comes to mind.
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4:14 - 4:16No ocean, no life support system.
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4:16 - 4:19I gave a talk not so long ago at the World Bank
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4:19 - 4:22and I showed this amazing image of Earth
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4:22 - 4:25and I said, "There it is! The World Bank!"
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4:25 - 4:29That's where all the assets are!
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4:31 - 4:34And we've been trawling them down
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4:34 - 4:37much faster than the natural systems can replenish them.
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4:37 - 4:40Tim Worth says the economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment.
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4:40 - 4:42With every drop of water you drink,
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4:42 - 4:44every breath you take,
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4:44 - 4:47you're connected to the sea.
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4:47 - 4:49No matter where on Earth you live.
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4:49 - 4:52Most of the oxygen in the atmosphere is generated by the sea.
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4:52 - 4:55Over time, most of the planet's organic carbon
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4:55 - 4:58has been absorbed and stored there,
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4:58 - 5:00mostly by microbes.
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5:00 - 5:02The ocean drives climate and weather,
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5:02 - 5:04stabilizes temperature, shapes Earth's chemistry.
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5:04 - 5:06Water from the sea forms clouds
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5:06 - 5:09that return to the land and the seas
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5:09 - 5:11as rain, sleet and snow,
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5:11 - 5:15and provides home for about 97 percent of life in the world,
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5:15 - 5:17maybe in the universe.
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5:17 - 5:19No water, no life;
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5:19 - 5:21no blue, no green.
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5:21 - 5:24Yet we have this idea, we humans,
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5:24 - 5:27that the Earth -- all of it: the oceans, the skies --
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5:27 - 5:30are so vast and so resilient
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5:30 - 5:32it doesn't matter what we do to it.
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5:32 - 5:35That may have been true 10,000 years ago,
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5:35 - 5:38and maybe even 1,000 years ago
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5:38 - 5:40but in the last 100, especially in the last 50,
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5:40 - 5:42we've drawn down the assets,
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5:42 - 5:45the air, the water, the wildlife
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5:45 - 5:48that make our lives possible.
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5:48 - 5:51New technologies are helping us to understand
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5:51 - 5:54the nature of nature;
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5:54 - 5:56the nature of what's happening,
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5:56 - 5:59showing us our impact on the Earth.
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5:59 - 6:02I mean, first you have to know that you've got a problem.
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6:02 - 6:05And fortunately, in our time,
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6:05 - 6:08we've learned more about the problems than in all preceding history.
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6:08 - 6:11And with knowing comes caring.
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6:11 - 6:13And with caring, there's hope
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6:13 - 6:16that we can find an enduring place for ourselves
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6:16 - 6:19within the natural systems that support us.
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6:19 - 6:22But first we have to know.
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6:22 - 6:25Three years ago, I met John Hanke,
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6:25 - 6:27who's the head of Google Earth,
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6:27 - 6:30and I told him how much I loved being able to hold the world in my hands
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6:30 - 6:32and go exploring vicariously.
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6:32 - 6:35But I asked him: "When are you going to finish it?
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6:35 - 6:38You did a great job with the land, the dirt.
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6:38 - 6:41What about the water?"
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6:41 - 6:45Since then, I've had the great pleasure of working with the Googlers,
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6:45 - 6:48with DOER Marine, with National Geographic,
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6:48 - 6:53with dozens of the best institutions and scientists around the world,
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6:53 - 6:56ones that we could enlist,
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6:56 - 6:59to put the ocean in Google Earth.
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6:59 - 7:01And as of just this week, last Monday,
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7:01 - 7:04Google Earth is now whole.
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7:04 - 7:07Consider this: Starting right here at the convention center,
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7:07 - 7:09we can find the nearby aquarium,
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7:09 - 7:11we can look at where we're sitting,
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7:11 - 7:14and then we can cruise up the coast to the big aquarium, the ocean,
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7:14 - 7:17and California's four national marine sanctuaries,
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7:17 - 7:20and the new network of state marine reserves
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7:20 - 7:24that are beginning to protect and restore some of the assets
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7:24 - 7:27We can flit over to Hawaii
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7:27 - 7:30and see the real Hawaiian Islands:
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7:30 - 7:33not just the little bit that pokes through the surface,
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7:33 - 7:36but also what's below.
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7:36 - 7:39To see -- wait a minute, we can go kshhplash! --
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7:39 - 7:41right there, ha --
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7:42 - 7:45under the ocean, see what the whales see.
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7:45 - 7:50We can go explore the other side of the Hawaiian Islands.
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7:50 - 7:54We can go actually and swim around on Google Earth
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7:54 - 7:58and visit with humpback whales.
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7:58 - 8:03These are the gentle giants that I've had the pleasure of meeting face to face
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8:03 - 8:06many times underwater.
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8:06 - 8:09There's nothing quite like being personally inspected by a whale.
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8:09 - 8:13We can pick up and fly to the deepest place:
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8:13 - 8:16seven miles down, the Mariana Trench,
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8:16 - 8:18where only two people have ever been.
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8:18 - 8:21Imagine that. It's only seven miles,
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8:21 - 8:24but only two people have been there, 49 years ago.
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8:24 - 8:27One-way trips are easy.
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8:27 - 8:30We need new deep-diving submarines.
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8:30 - 8:33How about some X Prizes for ocean exploration?
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8:33 - 8:37We need to see deep trenches, the undersea mountains,
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8:37 - 8:40and understand life in the deep sea.
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8:40 - 8:43We can now go to the Arctic.
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8:43 - 8:47Just ten years ago I stood on the ice at the North Pole.
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8:47 - 8:52An ice-free Arctic Ocean may happen in this century.
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8:52 - 8:56That's bad news for the polar bears.
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8:56 - 8:59That's bad news for us too.
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8:59 - 9:02Excess carbon dioxide is not only driving global warming,
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9:02 - 9:05it's also changing ocean chemistry,
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9:05 - 9:08making the sea more acidic.
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9:08 - 9:11That's bad news for coral reefs and oxygen-producing plankton.
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9:11 - 9:14Also it's bad news for us.
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9:14 - 9:17We're putting hundreds of millions of tons of plastic
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9:17 - 9:19and other trash into the sea.
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9:19 - 9:22Millions of tons of discarded fishing nets,
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9:22 - 9:25gear that continues to kill.
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9:25 - 9:29We're clogging the ocean, poisoning the planet's circulatory system,
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9:29 - 9:32and we're taking out hundreds of millions of tons of wildlife,
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9:32 - 9:35all carbon-based units.
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9:37 - 9:42Barbarically, we're killing sharks for shark fin soup,
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9:42 - 9:45undermining food chains that shape planetary chemistry
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9:45 - 9:48and drive the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle,
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9:48 - 9:51the oxygen cycle, the water cycle --
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9:51 - 9:54our life support system.
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9:54 - 9:58We're still killing bluefin tuna; truly endangered
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9:58 - 10:01and much more valuable alive than dead.
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10:02 - 10:07All of these parts are part of our life support system.
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10:07 - 10:13We kill using long lines, with baited hooks every few feet
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10:13 - 10:15that may stretch for 50 miles or more.
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10:15 - 10:19Industrial trawlers and draggers are scraping the sea floor
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10:19 - 10:22like bulldozers, taking everything in their path.
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10:22 - 10:25Using Google Earth you can witness trawlers --
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10:25 - 10:29in China, the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico --
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10:29 - 10:33shaking the foundation of our life support system,
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10:33 - 10:35leaving plumes of death in their path.
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10:35 - 10:38The next time you dine on sushi -- or sashimi,
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10:38 - 10:40or swordfish steak, or shrimp cocktail,
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10:40 - 10:43whatever wildlife you happen to enjoy from the ocean --
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10:43 - 10:46think of the real cost.
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10:46 - 10:48For every pound that goes to market,
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10:48 - 10:52more than 10 pounds, even 100 pounds,
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10:52 - 10:56may be thrown away as bycatch.
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10:56 - 10:59This is the consequence of not knowing
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10:59 - 11:02that there are limits to what we can take out of the sea.
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11:02 - 11:06This chart shows the decline in ocean wildlife
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11:06 - 11:09from 1900 to 2000.
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11:09 - 11:12The highest concentrations are in red.
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11:12 - 11:14In my lifetime, imagine,
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11:14 - 11:1890 percent of the big fish have been killed.
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11:18 - 11:20Most of the turtles, sharks, tunas and whales
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11:20 - 11:24are way down in numbers.
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11:24 - 11:26But, there is good news.
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11:26 - 11:28Ten percent of the big fish still remain.
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11:28 - 11:30There are still some blue whales.
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11:30 - 11:33There are still some krill in Antarctica.
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11:33 - 11:35There are a few oysters in Chesapeake Bay.
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11:35 - 11:38Half the coral reefs are still in pretty good shape,
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11:38 - 11:41a jeweled belt around the middle of the planet.
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11:41 - 11:44There's still time, but not a lot,
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11:44 - 11:46to turn things around.
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11:46 - 11:48But business as usual means that in 50 years,
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11:48 - 11:51there may be no coral reefs --
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11:51 - 11:55and no commercial fishing, because the fish will simply be gone.
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11:55 - 11:59Imagine the ocean without fish.
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11:59 - 12:03Imagine what that means to our life support system.
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12:03 - 12:06Natural systems on the land are in big trouble too,
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12:06 - 12:08but the problems are more obvious,
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12:08 - 12:14and some actions are being taken to protect trees, watersheds and wildlife.
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12:14 - 12:18And in 1872, with Yellowstone National Park,
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12:18 - 12:21the United States began establishing a system of parks
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12:21 - 12:26that some say was the best idea America ever had.
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12:26 - 12:30About 12 percent of the land around the world is now protected:
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12:30 - 12:34safeguarding biodiversity, providing a carbon sink,
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12:34 - 12:36generating oxygen, protecting watersheds.
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12:36 - 12:41And, in 1972, this nation began to establish a counterpart in the sea,
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12:41 - 12:43National Marine Sanctuaries.
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12:43 - 12:45That's another great idea.
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12:45 - 12:47The good news is
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12:47 - 12:51that there are now more than 4,000 places in the sea, around the world,
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12:51 - 12:53that have some kind of protection.
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12:53 - 12:55And you can find them on Google Earth.
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12:55 - 12:57The bad news is
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12:57 - 12:59that you have to look hard to find them.
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12:59 - 13:01In the last three years, for example,
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13:01 - 13:07the U.S. protected 340,000 square miles of ocean as national monuments.
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13:07 - 13:10But it only increased from 0.6 of one percent
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13:10 - 13:15to 0.8 of one percent of the ocean protected, globally.
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13:15 - 13:18Protected areas do rebound,
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13:18 - 13:20but it takes a long time to restore
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13:20 - 13:2450-year-old rockfish or monkfish, sharks or sea bass,
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13:24 - 13:26or 200-year-old orange roughy.
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13:26 - 13:29We don't consume 200-year-old cows or chickens.
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13:30 - 13:33Protected areas provide hope
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13:33 - 13:36that the creatures of Ed Wilson's dream
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13:36 - 13:40of an encyclopedia of life, or the census of marine life,
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13:40 - 13:44will live not just as a list,
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13:44 - 13:48a photograph, or a paragraph.
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13:48 - 13:51With scientists around the world, I've been looking at the 99 percent of the ocean
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13:51 - 13:55that is open to fishing -- and mining, and drilling, and dumping, and whatever --
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13:55 - 13:57to search out hope spots,
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13:57 - 14:01and try to find ways to give them and us a secure future.
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14:01 - 14:03Such as the Arctic --
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14:03 - 14:06we have one chance, right now, to get it right.
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14:06 - 14:09Or the Antarctic, where the continent is protected,
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14:09 - 14:15but the surrounding ocean is being stripped of its krill, whales and fish.
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14:15 - 14:20Sargasso Sea's three million square miles of floating forest
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14:20 - 14:23is being gathered up to feed cows.
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14:23 - 14:2797 percent of the land in the Galapagos Islands is protected,
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14:27 - 14:31but the adjacent sea is being ravaged by fishing.
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14:31 - 14:33It's true too in Argentina
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14:33 - 14:36on the Patagonian shelf, which is now in serious trouble.
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14:36 - 14:41The high seas, where whales, tuna and dolphins travel --
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14:41 - 14:44the largest, least protected, ecosystem on Earth,
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14:44 - 14:47filled with luminous creatures,
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14:47 - 14:50living in dark waters that average two miles deep.
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14:50 - 14:53They flash, and sparkle, and glow
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14:53 - 14:56with their own living light.
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14:56 - 14:59There are still places in the sea as pristine as I knew as a child.
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14:59 - 15:03The next 10 years may be the most important,
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15:03 - 15:07and the next 10,000 years the best chance our species will have
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15:07 - 15:13to protect what remains of the natural systems that give us life.
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15:13 - 15:16To cope with climate change, we need new ways to generate power.
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15:16 - 15:22We need new ways, better ways, to cope with poverty, wars and disease.
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15:22 - 15:26We need many things to keep and maintain the world as a better place.
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15:26 - 15:29But, nothing else will matter
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15:29 - 15:32if we fail to protect the ocean.
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15:32 - 15:36Our fate and the ocean's are one.
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15:36 - 15:40We need to do for the ocean what Al Gore did for the skies above.
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15:40 - 15:43A global plan of action
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15:43 - 15:45with a world conservation union, the IUCN,
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15:45 - 15:47is underway to protect biodiversity,
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15:47 - 15:51to mitigate and recover from the impacts of climate change,
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15:51 - 15:55on the high seas and in coastal areas,
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15:55 - 15:59wherever we can identify critical places.
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15:59 - 16:03New technologies are needed to map, photograph and explore
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16:03 - 16:07the 95 percent of the ocean that we have yet to see.
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16:07 - 16:10The goal is to protect biodiversity,
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16:10 - 16:12to provide stability and resilience.
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16:12 - 16:14We need deep-diving subs,
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16:14 - 16:17new technologies to explore the ocean.
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16:17 - 16:20We need, maybe, an expedition --
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16:20 - 16:22a TED at sea --
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16:22 - 16:24that could help figure out the next steps.
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16:25 - 16:28And so, I suppose you want to know what my wish is.
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16:29 - 16:34I wish you would use all means at your disposal --
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16:34 - 16:37films, expeditions, the web, new submarines --
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16:37 - 16:40and campaign to ignite public support
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16:40 - 16:43for a global network of marine protected areas --
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16:43 - 16:47hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean,
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16:47 - 16:50the blue heart of the planet.
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16:50 - 16:52How much?
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16:52 - 16:55Some say 10 percent, some say 30 percent.
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16:55 - 16:59You decide: how much of your heart do you want to protect?
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17:00 - 17:02Whatever it is,
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17:02 - 17:05a fraction of one percent is not enough.
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17:06 - 17:08My wish is a big wish,
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17:08 - 17:12but if we can make it happen, it can truly change the world,
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17:12 - 17:15and help ensure the survival
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17:15 - 17:21of what actually -- as it turns out -- is my favorite species;
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17:21 - 17:23that would be us.
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17:23 - 17:25For the children of today,
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17:25 - 17:27for tomorrow's child:
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17:27 - 17:31as never again, now is the time.
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17:32 - 17:33Thank you.
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17:33 - 17:48(Applause)
- Title:
- My wish: Protect our oceans
- Speaker:
- Sylvia Earle
- Description:
-
Legendary ocean researcher Sylvia Earle shares astonishing images of the ocean -- and shocking stats about its rapid decline -- as she makes her TED Prize wish: that we will join her in protecting the vital blue heart of the planet.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 17:55
TED edited English subtitles for My wish: Protect our oceans | ||
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