Sylvia Earle Quotes
The Earth is a unique system in the universe, the only planet we know of that's hospitable for humankind.
Earle, Sylvia. The World Is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean's Are One. National Geographic Books, 2009.
This is an amazing observation for the time. Socrates did not think it impossible for man to rise above the atmosphere and he realized that the perspective gained from observation of earth would be invaluable. For an experience with looking at the earth from outer space, try “Google Earth.”
The Roman Catholic Church had stultified scientific thinking for over a thousand years where differing with accepted church doctrine was not only discouraged but was dangerous. Hicletas—see {590328}—realized that the earth rotated around its own axis three centuries before Christ, and his view was in the literature to which learned people had access. Copernicus later communicated this idea to the Pope but in much more delicate terms—see {590327}. He did not have the problems that Galileo endured with the Church for several reasons. There were different men controlling the church, the printing press had been invented and Galileo published a book that many could read, the Protestant Reformation had really frightened the Church fathers who felt more vulnerable and less tolerant.
Sylvia Alice Earle is an American marine biologist, explorer, author, and lecturer. She has been a National Geographic explorer-in-residence since 1998. Earle was the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and was named by Time Magazine as its first Hero for the Planet in 1998. She is also part of the group Ocean Elders, which is dedicated to protecting the ocean and its wildlife.
