Hold up a mirror and ask yourself what you are capable of doing, and what you really care about. Then take the initiative - don't wait for someone else to ask you to act.
Sylvia EarleRead
When I write a scientific treatise, I might reach 100 people. When the 'National Geographic' covers a project, it communicates about plants and fish and underwater technology to more than 10 million people.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the vast difference in audience reach between individual scholarly work and mainstream media.
Sylvia Earle emphasizes the immense power of media platforms like 'National Geographic' to disseminate scientific knowledge to a much larger audience compared to academic writings. She points out that while academic publications may only reach a few hundred readers deeply engaged with the subject, popular media can spark interest and educate millions, thus amplifying the impact of science on the general public and fostering greater awareness of environmental issues.
Themes
ScienceCommunicationMediaEducationImpact
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a conference on the importance of science communication.
More from Sylvia Earle
All quotes →I'm haunted by the thought of what Ray Anderson calls 'tomorrow's child,' asking why we didn't do something on our watch to save sharks and bluefin tuna and squids and coral reefs and the living ocean while there still was time. Well, now is that time.
Sylvia EarleRead
Even if you never have the chance to see or touch the ocean, the ocean touches you with every breath you take, every drop of water you drink, every bite you consume. Everyone, everywhere is inextricably connected to and utterly dependent upon the existence of the sea.
Sylvia EarleRead
There is a terribly terrestrial mindset about what we need to do to take care of the planet-as if the ocean somehow doesn't matter or is so big, so vast that it can take care of itself, or that there is nothing that we could possibly do that we could harm the ocean...We are learning otherwise.
Sylvia EarleRead
No water, no life. No blue, no green.
Sylvia EarleRead
I have come up at the end of a dive, and the boat was not where I left it. I had to take care of a buddy who did panic. But I was confident the boat would come back.
Sylvia EarleRead
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