Sylvia A. Earle

Now I'm afraid because I don't see sharks when I go diving.

We've eliminated more than half of them since I began diving.

In 2009, I wished for expeditions, films, the web, new submarines that inspire action.

In the same week that Google launched the first 10 hope spots on Google Earth.

In 2010, at a TED at Sea expedition to the Galapagos Islands, we gathered together about 100 big thinkers to figure out

What can we do to change this trajectory of decline?

On the spot, a commitment was made to protect the high seas, starting in the Sargasso Sea.

Sargasso Sea Hope Spot, the open ocean home for turtles and whales and sharks and thousands of other sea creatures.

Another commitment was made to create a film, Mission Blue, and another one, Sea of Hope.

Oceans 5 and Ocean Elders were launched.

Funds were created and secured to help protect the Galapagos Islands.

Five years later, with climate a top priority, TEDxC2 sailed to the South Pacific.

Champions were enlisted to help with the protection of the top of the world, the high seas in the Arctic, and to stop the trade in wildlife like polar bears for rugs and for trophies.

Others were enlisted to bring about full protection for krill and other wildlife in the waters around the Antarctic continent, along with other great ideas to try to protect the ocean's blue heart.

Sometimes I'm asked, so what's the best place to go diving?

And I say, almost anywhere 50 years ago.

So much has changed.

These are coral reefs.

They have top priority for protection.

We can't put them back once they're gone.