--- title: Climate Change: Sylvia Earle Urges Progress on Oceans Week description: Famed marine biologist Sylvia Earle issued an urgent call for humans to protect the world's oceans in the face of climate change canonical: https://time.com/4808959/climate-change-sylvia-earle-oceans-week/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-07T16:10:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T07:11:45.000Z article:section: Science og:title: Marine Biologist Has a Message for Climate Change Deniers og:description: "Get over it" og:url: https://time.com/4808959/climate-change-sylvia-earle-oceans-week/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb7146630bc5119e/6988d09e97cdffb4476b1124/sylvia-earle-e1635277576722.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1600 og:image:height: 900 og:image:alt: Dr. Sylvia Earle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Marine Biologist Has a Message for Climate Change Deniers twitter:description: "Get over it" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb7146630bc5119e/6988d09e97cdffb4476b1124/sylvia-earle-e1635277576722.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Marine Biologist Has a Message for Climate Change Deniers: 'Get Over It' > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=c1c30733-ca85-46e3-a317-9a3f1035613f&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Sylvia Earle's Message To Climate Change Deniers: "Get Over It" [Watch (HLS stream): Sylvia Earle's Message To Climate Change Deniers: "Get Over It"](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZXT1wCp5.m3u8) (2:14)  _Published 2017-06-06. World-renowned oceanographer and explorer Sylvia Earle sat down with TIME ahead of World Ocean's Day and shared her message on climate change and ocean conservation._ by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/) and [Julia Lull](https://time.com/author/julia-lull/) Updated: Dec 13, 2023 7:11 AM UTCPublished: Jun 7, 2017 4:10 PM UTC by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/) and [Julia Lull](https://time.com/author/julia-lull/) Updated: Dec 13, 2023 7:11 AM UTCPublished: Jun 7, 2017 4:10 PM UTC Famed marine biologist Sylvia Earle issued an urgent call for humans to protect the world’s oceans and the planet more broadly in the face of climate change at the launch of [Oceans Week](https://oceanconference.un.org/). “We must take care of the ocean. We must take care of the natural world from the skies above to the depths below,” Earle tells TIME following a panel at the [Explorers Club](https://explorers.org) in New York City. “We must take care of the living earth as if our lives depend on it. Because they do.” Oceans play a key role dictating the planet’s climate and also act as an [indicator of global warming](http://time.com/4786586/global-warming-antarctica-green/). Ocean water continues to absorb heat, and has reached [new temperatures heights](https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-sea-surface-temperature) in the last half century. Sea levels have also risen in the same time period and are [expected to spike dramatically,](http://time.com/4257194/sea-level-rise-climate-change-miami/) threatening coastal cities in the coming decades without action to slow them. And finally, climate change has shifted ocean acidity levels affecting marine species. For all these reasons, Earle says the oceans deserve more attention from policymakers dealing with climate change. “It is puzzling and mystifying to some of us that the ocean has not been at least equally on the ballot sheet with the atmosphere above,” she says. “But now I think we are getting there.” This year’s Ocean Conference, a gathering in New York City sponsored by the United Nations, has drawn scientists, government officials and business leaders from across the globe to focus on the importance of [protecting oceans](http://time.com/4806727/climate-change-oceans-pollution-un/). That’s a step in the right direction, says Earle. “We have learned so much in the last half century,” she says. “Armed with knowledge we have power. That is the best cause for hope.” ## Transcript [ NOISE ] To those who doubt that humans are driving the acceleration of planetary warming, of climate change, of our ability to change the nature of nature, get over it. Get over it. Wake up. realize, then do what you can do. Or least, [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Don't get in the way. [ MUSIC ] It's taken a long time, too long, in fact. To recognize that everything that people care about is anchored in understanding the ocean and taking care of the ocean. I once thought as many people did that the ocean was too big to fail. That the ocean seemed a logical point to put things we don't want on the land, a place to dump garbage, sewage, and all the rest. Now that ocean is washing and plastic and other degree are cast of things. And we can take anything out of the ocean we used to think. We have policies that are really shape by that attitude that the ocean could infinitely keep producing and producing now we know other waters [ MUSIC ] It's tragic that the United States is not strongly leading the effort to do what humans can do to reduce carbon emission, to respect the ocean, to respect the atmosphere, to look at the natural processes and how we are impacting them and alter our ways accordingly because it's our survival that's at risk. Of course it's The economy, and of course it's our health. Naturally it's our security. Most of all, it's our existence on the line. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] We must take care of the ocean. We must take care of the natural world, from the skies above to the depths below. We must take care [ MUSIC ] Of the living Earth as if our lives depend on it, because they do. 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