Impact

OCEAN HOPE SPOTS ARE BEAUTIFUL & GROWING NOW

Courtesy of Mission Blue. Swirling Fish.

If you enjoy breathing, you’ll want to read this.

Renowned marine biologist, oceanographer, and activist Dr. Sylvia Earle points out that most of our oxygen comes from small organisms that make up the plankton in the sea. Oceans are what make our planet habitable. They affect the weather, chemistry, food, and air supply that sustains all life.

Earle also points to the fact that it is a dark and dying world under the sea, due to pollution, climate change, overfishing, and other negative human impacts.

But Earle sees hope. Just as spots of decay can grow to consume or kill something beautiful, spots of beauty can grow to revive something in decline.

Earle sees this as a strategy for saving our oceans and all life supported by them -- including ours. Her organization, Mission Blue, has galvanized over 100 organizations, from around the world, who focus on marine preservation, and together they are working to create and maintain a global network of these Hope Spots -- Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

Functioning much in the same way as nature preserves do, MPAs offer a safe haven for plant and animal life, with clean healthy water, earth, and air.

“Hope Spots are special places that are critical to the health of the ocean — Earth’s blue heart,” says Earle.

Hope Spots are hoped to be the “seeds of tomorrow’s healthy ocean.”

About 12% of the land around the world is now under some form of protection (as national parks, world heritage sites, monuments, etc.), while less than 3% of the ocean is protected in any way.

Mission Blue was formed in response to Earle’s 2009 TED Prize wish: “to use all means at your disposal — films, expeditions, the web, new submarines — to create a campaign to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas; Hope Spots large enough to save and restore the blue heart of the planet.”

Mission Blue’s networks of MPAs maintain healthy biodiversity, provide a carbon sink, generate oxygen, preserve critical habitat and allow low-impact activities like ecotourism to thrive.

Check here for a full list of current Hope Spots and to nominate a new Hope Spot. And check out Hope Spot Expeditions, trips that you might join, which explore and aim to promote awareness.

Past Hope Spot Expeditions included trips to South Africa, Swan Islands, Cuba, Belize, and the Gulf of California, Mexico, which boasts about one-third of the world’s total number of marine mammal species, nearly 900 fish species, of which about 90 are endemic to the area, as well as more than 170 seabird species.

Actor, filmmaker, and Oscar-winning producer of The Cove, Fisher Stevens, and Robert Nixon, co-directed Mission Blue, an award-winning new documentary, which highlights Earle’s life and work.

Now 79 years old, Earle began diving in the 1950’s. The film incorporates photos and videos from decades earlier and it is remarkable to see how dramatically -- and frighteningly -- the state of the oceans has changed since then.

Half the planet’s coral reefs alive back then are now gone. Many more are in steep decline. There are more than 500 coastal dead zones. And major fish populations have been decimated.

The Sylvia Earle Alliance (SEA) has embarked on a series of expeditions to expand and promote Hope Spots. They share stories and images of this important work through documentaries, social and traditional media, and Google Earth’s “Explore the Ocean” layer.

Earle has dedicated her academic career to championing preservation of the seas.

She is beloved and highly respected. She is called Her Deepness by the New Yorker and the New York Times, Living Legend by the Library of Congress, and the first Hero for the Planet by Time Magazine.

Earle formerly served as Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), she founded numerous related research and advocacy organizations, holds 22 honorary degrees, and has authored more than 180 scientific, technical and popular publications.

She holds more than 100 national and international honors, including the 2011 Royal Geographical Society Gold Medal, 2009 TED Prize, the National Women’s Hall of Fame, Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year, and UN Global 500.

Earle has logged more than 100 expeditions and 7,000 hours underwater. She held the solo deep-submersible dive record of 3,300 feet (until filmmaker James Cameron recently broke it).

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Fish in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 03.07.15. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!