Sylvia Earle (SD) Part 1

"I can still feel that leap of enthusiasm, and real joy, at the prospect of finally getting out to the beach, and running around,” says Sylvia Earle, recalling her move to coastal Florida at age 13. “Probably the most important thing, to me, aside from just the freedom of it and the power of it, was the kind of creatures that you could see along the beach, that you can't find anywhere else." That child's fascination with the crabs she found scurrying in the sand, was the beginning of a remarkable career in marine science. Today, Sylvia Earle is the best-known woman marine scientist on the planet. Among other accomplishments, she has walked untethered on the sea floor at a lower depth than any other human being. When Sylvia Earle first began her career, she met resistance. Some people could not accept a woman traveling with men on long scientific expeditions, but her remarkable accomplishments have won her a position in the oceanographic community that transcends boundaries. Botanist, biologist, conservationist, entrepreneur, Sylvia Earle has followed whales in the open sea, fought with sharks, and lived for weeks at a time on the floor of the sea, in the Tektite undersea station. She has challenged and overcome every obstacle that stood in the path of her burning curiosity about the magical world beneath the waves. Today, Dr. Earle is Explorer in Residence at the National Geographic Society. To date, she has led over 70 expeditions, logging more than 6500 hours underwater. In this two-part podcast, recorded at the Auberge du Soleil in California’s Napa Valley during the 2014 International Achievement Summit, Dr. Earle warns her listeners that mankind's fate is inextricably bound up with the fate of the global ecosystem, particularly the world's oceans.