Photo: Taylor Griffith/Mission Blue
Despite turning 88, Sylvia Earle is like "an octopus with all arms fully engaged" in her mission to save the ocean. The first woman to dive with scuba gear in the 1950s, the first person to walk on the ocean floor 1250 feet down in 1979, the first female chief scientist of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 1990, she has explored the oceans deeper and longer than any other woman on the planet. Since 2009, she has been creating a 'network of hope' through Mission Blue, which began with 19 Hope Spots - "areas critical to ocean health in that they have a significant amount of biodiversity." There are now 158. Mission Blue cooperates with more than 200 ocean conservation groups worldwide to galvanize local, regional, national and international protection. When people ask how they can help, she tells them to focus on what they love. "You know, we're causing the problems. So we can also cause solutions."
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