When the Dr. Sylvia Earle — a spry 90 years old, known worldwide as “Her Deepness” — joined Zainab Salbi, co-founder of Daughters for Earth, on stage at Climate Week, the room leaned in. Earle spoke with urgency about the greatest losses the seas have ever known: acidification rising to dangerous new levels, ecosystems collapsing quietly out of sight. “What happens under the ocean,” she reminded us, “determines the life we live above it.” It was a sobering truth — but also a call to action. Together, their conversation wove a thread from harm to hope, and finally to help: a reminder that women, awareness, and simple choices can turn the tide.
Harm
Dr. Earle didn’t soften the facts. The ocean has absorbed more than 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases, and its chemistry is shifting faster than at any time in human history. Rising acidity is dissolving coral reefs and silencing entire ecosystems before most of us ever see them. As Zainab reflected, “It’s what’s happening under the surface that’s already hurting us over it.”
Hope
Yet amid the loss, Earle offered luminous hope. Life in the sea is resilient when given the chance. “If we stop the harm,” she said, “the ocean can heal itself—and in doing so, heal us.” Women across coastal communities are already proving this: restoring mangroves, rebuilding reefs, and protecting blue-carbon ecosystems that hold immense power to stabilize our climate.
Help
In this Climate Week talk, both women reminded the audience that action begins not in boardrooms, but in hearts and homes:
- Choose sustainable seafood—or skip it altogether.
- Reduce single-use plastics.
- Support ocean conservation groups and the women leading them.
- Support leaders and policies that safeguard our oceans.
What happens under the waves shapes the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the balance of life itself. “What we do now,” Dr. Earle said, “will determine the fate of everything we love.”
Together, their conversation left the audience with a clear current of truth: the ocean’s story is our story—and we still have time to change the ending.
Learn more about Dr. Earle’s mission at Mission Blue
