No living oceanographer has advanced our understanding of the seas as profoundly as keynote speaker Sylvia Earle. As a sustainability speaker, Sylvia Earle has addressed audiences in more than 90 countries. With each speech, she brings a career’s worth of observation and advocacy engagingly to life.

Sylvia Earle is one of the world’s most prominent and effective advocates for more effective stewardship of the natural world. An Explorer-in-Residence with the National Geographic Society, Earle is a scientist, a former government official, and a plainspoken champion of the seas.

In 1969, Earle and a team of fellow scientists lived for two weeks in an underwater laboratory near the US Virgin Islands. Earle has led more than 100 research expeditions to the ocean’s depths, and has logged more than 8,000 hours underwater. In 1979, she dove untethered to a record depth of 1,250 feet off the coast of Oahu. Once there, she spent two hours exploring the ocean floor.

Earle’s research has greatly deepened our understanding of marine ecosystems, and their relationship with terrestrial life. She has written more than 200 publications for scientific and general readerships, and frequently appears on radio and television.

After serving as Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Earle founded Deep Ocean Exploration and Research. The company builds and operates deep-ocean equipment designed to better document the seafloor surrounding the United States.

Earle has also served as director of the Aspen High Seas Initiative, the Marine Conservation Institute, Global Oceans, and other organizations. Through Mission Blue, Earle works to establish “hope spots,” areas of ocean treated similarly to national parks. Within eight years of the project’s debut, 85 hope spots had been established, with scores more nominated. Mission Blue is part of the broader Sylvia Earle Alliance.

Her work has earned Earle international recognition and high honours from dozens of countries.