CBGS loves TED. On
TED, we can explore every aspect of our inherent nerdiness from science to the arts and everyone thinks
it’s cool. My personal hero is Dr.
Sylvia Earle and in 2009 she won a TED prize.
“The
TED Prize is awarded to an extraordinary individual with a creative and bold
vision to spark global change. By leveraging the TED community’s resources and
investing $1 million into a powerful idea, the TED Prize supports one wish to
inspire the world”.
You can view Dr. Earle’s talk about her prize
and her TED wish at the link below.
On November 25th, we will be watching the
culmination of Dr. Earle’s TED prize wish, manifest in the new documentary
“Mission Blue” which you can now find on Netflix. But don't watch it yet! wait for the 25th!
I would
like for you to watch Dr. Earle’s TED talk first and understand where she is
coming from, and I want you to learn a bit about my hero as well.
Dr. Sylvia Alice Earle, formally known as “Her Deepness”, was born in 1935 in New Jersey (she is 79 for
you non-mathematicians) and was raised as a regular middle class kid attending
public school etc. She attended Florida
State University for her undergraduate degree, and received her Master’s and
Doctorate from Duke University. She has
been a National Geographic Explorer in Residence, she was Time magazine’s first
“Hero for the Planet” and former Director of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. More
impressive though, is that she has her own LEGO figure and she was tapped as a
Knight of the Golden Ark in the Netherlands.
I do not have enough space to outline all of her fame here. The most amazing thing I feel about Dr.
Earle, is that she is utterly fearless in the face of all scary things. She holds a record for the deepest solo
dive to 381m (1250ft) and has faced innumerable sharks, killer whales, bone
crushing pressures, angry fisherman, and gavel wielding politicians all with
indomitable style. This tiny soft-spoken
woman has changed the way we look at the ocean.
I invite you now to learn all
that you can about her, to be inspired and to think about the idea that one
regular person CAN make a difference when they abandon fear and follow their
passion.
I hope that you enjoy learning about Dr. Earle and her quest
and if you do, pay her back by sharing this knowledge with others.
