Sylvia Earle
Sylvia Earle is a marine biologist, oceanographer, author, and lecturer. She has dived into all five of the worlds oceans, and tries to establish marine protected areas (MPA), or as she calls them Hope spots, around the globe. She created Mission Blue, which is a company that inspires action to explore and protect the ocean. Under her leadership, they create communication campaigns in order to elevate these hope spots and get attention through documentaries, and social media. Mission Blue also goes on multiple expeditions exploring the sea and trying to shed light onto the problem. The Mission Blue alliance includes more than 200 ocean conservation groups, of many different capacities.
Earle went to college at Florida State University, where she was able to first be introduced to SCUBA gear. After graduating with a botany major in 1955, she went to Duke for a master program in botany. Her postgraduate experiences consisted of exploration and research. This took her all around the world, and later in her career she was able to explore the Galapagos islands, China, and Bahamas. She became a research biologist and curator of phycology at the California Academy of Sciences. There are a multitude of accomplishments and jobs that Earle had been a part of, it amazes me!
She was the first woman to serve as the chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). She also became the National Geographic Society’s first female exporer in residence. She paved the way for female scientists. She also published over 100 scientific papers in her career.
