Carl Safina
Tune in to the series, which focuses on successful community steps toward reviving marine life everywhere from Zanzibar to Trinidad, via PBS (). CW had a chance to catch up with Safina, and here’s what he had to say:
CW: How does this series allow you to combine your personal passions with a professional project?
CS: My passion is the ocean and trying to conserve and maintain the viability of all the things about the ocean that everyone enjoys. I did fisheries-policy work for a decade, and I studied seabirds for more than a decade. Being able to talk about it as my work is a thrilling privilege. The series is a new and different way of getting the word out.
CW****: Your prognosis about our planet links consequences of actions yesterday and today with tomorrow, not just for humans but for all plant and animal systems. Why does a diverse ecosystem matter?
CS: We’d like to live in an enriched world, not a world that’s depopulated of other beings that have come over these many millions of years to be with us. I’d rather wake up in a world that has more rather than fewer living things that enrich us on a permanent basis.
CW: Liveaboard sailors are driven by their passion for this lifestyle and the freedom it lends; for many of the people with whom you’ve come in contact, sailing and the water-based life aren’t choices—they’re a matter of survival. Based on the stories you’ve uncovered, is there a lesson for recreational sailors inherent in their condition?
CS: The ocean is alive. It’s not just a liquid surface and wind. It’s a living system, and within it are many kinds of things. Many of the things we don’t actually see support the things on which millions of human lives depend.
CW: If viewers have time to catch only one show, which one would you suggest?
CS: People don’t have to watch them on TV. You can watch them on the web, and share them. I don’t know how to pick one. I like them all.
