Sylvia Earle: Protect the Blue Heart of the Planet

Here is another fantastic talk from TED. The speaker, Sylvia Earle, has been a pioneer of deep ocean exploration for more than forty years. She not only has led more than 50 undersea expeditions but also has been an active advocate for our oceans and the creatures who live in them.

This presentation has won the TED prize this year and is one of my personal favorite. The whole speech was almost statistics-free and thus not hard to understand at all. Ms. Earle replaced simple PPT with video cuts, which truly reveal the beauty of nature, and her voice was so calm and persuasive that it was like watching a narrated film all the way through. In this smart way, she minimized her role which distracted audience's attention and magnified the beauty of the ocean, which filled people with awe. This is a great way to present environmental issues. After all, isn't the beauty of nature that touches our heart and is worth our effort?

When discussing science issues that involve the design of the creator, I sometimes feel small with my major in economics and finance. Compared to the natural system, the financial market made by human are only measured by money and can be easily destroyed by greed or silliness. Ms. Earle made a quite funny joke that when she intended to show people at the World Bank the beauty of earth, they only see assets. 

Anyway, it's like if a leader has to unite a team, he has to do some contact work or other little but necessary things to keep the whole team from troubles--finance is like those little but necessary things. On the other hand, to have the whole team inspired and maximize productivity, the leader need to keep the ultimate goal present for everyone--understanding and protecting the beauty and wisdom of nature is the ultimate goal.

OK, that's all for today. Are you ready for a-20-minute journey?

Further information:

• Watch the talk on TED.com here
• Sylvia Earle's website about her books and research
• Sylvia Earle on National Geography
• As mentioned in Ms. Earle's speech, Google Earth has upgraded to enable viewer dip into the ocean around the globe. Here and here are some further introduction of the new feature, and download Google Earth here.