To : All attending the Conference on Biodiversity

It is June 21 -- the day I am supposed to depart to join you in London to discuss matters of great importance to all us all. It is hard to imagine anything that could keep me from coming, but something -- actually someone -- has done just that. My soon to-be-grandson, who was scheduled to arrive more than a week ago, is still biding his time, and therefore I must bide mine as well as remain here with my daughter.

I regret not being with you in person, but I do want to share some thoughts provoked by this special time in my life.

As I wait for my grandson to be born, I wonder what I will say if, 20 or 30 years from now he asks, "You were there, Grand Ma -- you swam with whales. You were there when wildlife -- seals, dolphins, huge populations of fish -- in the ocean were being destroyed. You actually saw coral reefs alive and well, dived among creatures of the deep sea. Why didn't you do something to protect them?"

As it is, there are places I knew and loved as a child that I cannot take my own children because many of the special beaches and marshes and rocky coves are hopelessly polluted and are now parking lots and shopping malls and marinas. I can't show them skies dark with migrating birds or see turtles come ashore to nest near where I lived with my parents in Florida. I wouldn't dream of suggesting that they drink from any of the brooks or streams or wells that I did not so many years ago and am wary even of swimming in many of my once favourite places.

Fortunately for you and me and all the rest of humankind, our predecessors have taken measures to help protect the planetary assets upon which we are all dependent. Parks and sanctuaries do exist, and there are policies that help safeguard what remains of the natural systems that have been developing for more than four million years. But there is plenty of evidence all around us that much more must be done if we are to continue enjoying the natural benefits that we now take for granted.

I am haunted by the awareness that this is a pivotal time in history. What we do, consciously -- or do not do because of complacency, indifference or ignorance -- will have a magnified impact on all that follows. In the past 25 years, we have learned more about the oceans than during all preceding history. At the same time we have witnessed -- and caused -- change on a geological scale. We have changed the chemistry of the oceans through what we have put into the sea, especially in coastal areas where about half of human kind lives and works. We have altered the number and kind of creatures that live in the ocean. Last year for the first time, more than 100 species of marine fish were cited as threatened by the World Conservation Union and given Red Data Book listing.

Biodiversity of the planet -- the theme of this meeting -- is at risk. Recent awareness of the immense variety of life in certain terrestrial systems -- and the disastrous consequences of destroying them -- has helped arouse public support for their protection, especially for rainforests. There is far less awareness of the threats to the diversity of life on a grand scale -- in the sea. Fish and other marine creatures are still regarded mostly as commodities -- not as wildlife that serves humankind best by being what they are naturally vital components of our life support system.

An alien observing Earth from afar could readily grasp what many terrestrial primates do not: earth is basically a marine environment. More than 95 per cent of the biosphere is ocean, and all the kingdoms and nearly all of the phyla of plants and more than 30 phyla of animals have at least some representation in the sea and many are entirely marine. A dive into the sea is like diving into living history. A cross section of the many variations on the theme of life that have ever been are still there, not as dry fossils but as active ingredients in the mechanisms that make this planet work: the Archeae, bacteria, fungi, more than a dozen major divisions of plants, and animals including protozoans, sponges, bryozoans, ctenophores, coelenterates, echinoderms, anthropods, tarigrades, mollusks, branchiopods, sipunculids, nematodes, annelids, pogenophorans and so on. Only about half of the major divisions of plants and animal life known occur on the land, yet our concerns have focussed on terrestrial ecosystems and species with respect to protective measures, probably because we know them better and can see more readily their relevance to us and the threats to their future than the problems facing marine life.

But there is also a widely held view that the sea is so vast and life so abundant and resilient that we can get away with taking immense quantities of living creatures out of the sea and dumping in immense quantities of what we do not want nearby. Nature has recently been delivering a resounding wake-up call, however. Unless actions are taken soon, we may forever miss the chance to restore many species and systems that are now under unprecedented stress.

A major part of the problem relates to ignorance. When we know better, we tend to do better, especially when we understand that our own best interests are at stake. Major new discoveries in recent years suggest not only the magnitude of what we have not known in the past while making policies that determine our future -- but also that we should be extremely cautious -- knowing how much more is to be discovered. When I took my first class in oceanography in 1955, the nature of the deep scattering layer was unknown, continental drift was an idea held up for ridicule, the existence of 60,000 kilometres of mountains in the deep sea a new and interesting concept, and the implications of plate tectonics and sea floor spreading unimagined -- as were the existence of hydrothermal vents, communities of deep sea life based on chemosynthesis, and the kingdom now known as the Archeae. What more awaits in the 99% of the deep sea that has yet to be explored? We have not yet even been able to manage a direct meeting with the largest invertebrate known, Architheuthys rex, the giant squid or repeat a manned visit to the deepest sea, first made in 1960. Imagine not being able to find a land creature as long as two city busses!

Despite the unknowns, we have been able to bring about unprecedented change in this vast unexplored realm.

I worry a great deal about the collapse of populations of fish that have succumbed to a level of predation unprecedented in the history of life on earth both in terms of scale and comprehensiveness. I agonize about the enormous levels of pollutants that have been generated in my lifetime by my species that ultimately make their way into the sea. I wonder -- as do many of you, I suppose -- what can I, just one person, possibly do to help humankind achieve harmony with the rest of the living world, to use -- but not use up -- the natural systems that sustain us?

I find hope in history. Individual actions not only matter; perhaps the inspirations that strike all of us from time to time are at the heart of all human endeavors, good and bad. I find myself doing what I hope you will do as well -- look in the mirror and ask, "What talents do I have that can be used to make a difference?" Each of us has power. Some have a way with music, some are great mathematics. Some are skilled in matters of law or basketball or business or are fine teachers or engineers or poets or artists or scientists. Maybe you have a special sense of caring, a sensitivity for people, a passion for history or a love of nature, a knack for solving puzzles or a whimsical sense of humour that sets you apart. Whatever your special powers, all are needed to do what must be done if -- on our watch -- we are to not only reverse the trend towards consuming the natural systems that support us and stabilize the needs of our species with respect to the rest of the natural world, but to also restore what we can of what has been damaged.

In short, if each of us in our own way -- within the framework of our own lives -- can achieve some measures of success in leaving the world in better shape that we have found it, our species -- on the planet for a few million years -- will have a better chance at having a future as enduring as the staying power of say, dinosaurs (150 million years) or sharks (300 million) or squids and horseshoe crabs (400 million) or even the Archeae (about 4 billion). I shall be thinking of you as the conference goes on -- and hope that each of you will take pleasures in using your power to help take care of the blue planets that takes care of us.

With warm regards,

Sylvia A. Earle.