-
So, of all my childhood memories,
-
there is one that stands above the rest.
-
And that is the time that my brave parents
-
rented an RV, packed it
with me and my brothers,
-
and drove west
from our house in Minneapolis,
-
out to Yellowstone National Park.
-
We saw all the sights, like the geysers,
we stopped at the Badlands,
-
but more than any of the places,
I remember this as an adventure.
-
This was my introduction to the Wild West.
-
But it wasn't until I got older
-
and I learned more
about the National Park System
-
that I realized just how lucky I was.
-
One, to have that experience,
-
but also that, hundreds of years ago,
-
people had the foresight
to set aside the very best places,
-
the very best ecosystems
in the country, for everyone.
-
And for future generations.
-
And to really appreciate
just how prescient that idea was,
-
you have to go back
-
and you have to look at the history
of the National Parks Service.
-
So, a lot of people know, the first
national park was Yellowstone, in 1872.
-
A lot of people think of John Muir,
the poet, naturalist,
-
who was such a visionary
-
in getting people inspired
by the idea of conservation --
-
that we need to take
the best places and protect them.
-
He had an audience in very high places --
-
there's a great story
of Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir
-
going hiking, in Yosemite,
during his presidency,
-
four days, completely off the grid,
just the two of them.
-
Can you imagine a president
-
actually just going completely
off the grid for four days?
-
(Laughter)
-
No tweeting.
-
(Laughter) (Applause)
-
Like that idea.
-
(Applause)
-
But he had a great impact
on Theodore Roosevelt.
-
And he created dozens of national parks,
-
hundreds of thousands of square acres
of national wildlife refuges.
-
It was an important administration,
but it wasn't a done deal.
-
Even less than 10 years
after he created all of those new places,
-
the future of those places
was very much in doubt.
-
And it wasn't until this guy,
Stephen Mather,
-
a businessman from Chicago,
-
wrote an angry letter
to the Department of the Interior, saying,
-
"You guys aren't doing a good enough job
protecting and preserving these places."
-
Then, something was done about it.
-
The Department of the Interior
wrote him back.
-
"Mr Mather, if you care
so much about this,
-
why don't you come to Washington
and do it yourself?"
-
(Laughter)
-
And he did.
-
He took a job at the Department
of the Interior,
-
but more importantly,
he started a campaign.
-
He actually had a meeting
two blocks from here, in 1914,
-
in California Hall,
-
and he brought together the park
superintendents and a few other people
-
who cared about this idea of conservation.
-
And they put together a plan,
they hatched a campaign
-
that eventually led to the
National Park Service in 1916.
-
And that's really important.
-
Because it went from an idea
that we should protect these places
-
to an actual plan,
-
a way for people to enlist
and carry that idea forward
-
for future generations,
-
so little kids like me can go
and have these amazing experiences.
-
That is the history
of the National Parks on land.
-
The ocean, what I want
to talk to you about today,
-
is a completely different story.
-
And we are almost precisely
100 years behind.
-
So, the first marine
sanctuary was in 1972,
-
after the oil spill in Santa Barbara,
-
people got interested
in taking that concept
-
and applying it
to underwater environments.
-
We've had our own John Muir,
who's Dr. Sylvia Earle,
-
who's been a tireless advocate
-
for creating these marine
protected areas around the world.
-
So, I know there's a lot
of bad news about the ocean,
-
there's plastic pollution,
coral bleaching, over-fishing --
-
it's hard to take it all in sometimes.
-
But this idea of setting aside
places for nature is working.
-
Science tells us that if you
set these places aside,
-
nature will come back
and we can keep the oceans healthy.
-
So we know this idea works.
-
And Dr. Sylvia Earl
has been influential, like John Muir,
-
with administrations --
-
George W. Bush and Obama
were both fantastic ocean presidents,
-
creating marine protected areas
all around the country.
-
This is not a conservative idea
or a liberal idea,
-
it's not even an American idea,
-
it's just a good idea.
-
(Laughter)
-
(Applause)
-
But --
-
(Applause)
-
Here we are, a few years later.
-
And now the administration is proposing
to roll back a lot of the progress
-
we've made in the past 20 years.
-
So, so, don't mourn -- organize.
-
We need to do what
Stephen Mather did 100 years ago.
-
We need to start a campaign
to get people engaged with this idea.
-
And I think we need a league
of citizen scientists for the ocean.
-
And I've seen glimpses of this future
and I know that it's possible.
-
My friend Erik and I started building
underwater robots,
-
these little swimming cameras
with lights that you can see underwater.
-
We started building these
in his garage, five years ago,
-
and we've watched that grow
-
into this community of thousands
of people around the world,
-
who believe that everybody
should have access to these places.
-
We all deserve the tools
to go and explore.
-
There's stories like Laura James,
-
who used her robot to find out that
sea stars in her area were dying.
-
And she started this whole
citizen science campaign,
-
collected data and drove awareness
for sea-star wasting syndrome,
-
to try and figure out
what was happening there.
-
There are stories of fishermen in Mexico,
-
who used the robot to create
marine protected areas
-
where Nassau grouper were spawning,
to protect the future of this species.
-
It's really amazing stuff.
-
We found that if you give
people the tools,
-
they'll do the right thing.
-
But we need to take it a step further.
-
And, actually, I think we can dust off
Stephen Mather's playbook.
-
So what did he do?
-
So, the first thing that he did
was he focused on infrastructure.
-
So 1914 wasn't just
the time for the parks,
-
it was also a time for the automobile,
-
the Model T was rolling off the line
-
and Stephen Mather understood
-
that this was going to be
an important part of American culture.
-
And so he partnered with highway
associations around the country
-
to build big, beautiful highways
out to these parks.
-
And it worked, he's basically
invented car camping.
-
And he knew that if people
didn't go to these places,
-
that they wouldn’t fall in love with them
and they wouldn't care.
-
So that was a really insightful
idea that he had.
-
The second thing they did,
-
was they focused
on visionary philanthropy.
-
So, Stephen Mather was a successful
businessman from Chicago,
-
and anytime there was
a Parks Association that needed funding,
-
anytime there was a Highway
association that needed funding,
-
they'd step in, write
the checks, make it happen.
-
There's a great story
of his friend William Kent,
-
who recognized there was a small patch
of redwoods left on the base of Mount Tam,
-
and so he quickly bought the land
-
and donated it
to this National Parks effort.
-
That's Muir Woods today --
-
it's one of the most popular
national parks in the whole country.
-
My parents are visiting here
from Minnesota,
-
and they don't really even
care about this talk,
-
all they're talking about
is going to Muir Woods.
-
(Laughter)
-
But the last thing is critical.
-
Is Stephen Mather focused on engagement?
-
In one of the first meetings that they had
around this new system, he said,
-
"If you're a writer,
I want you to write about this.
-
If you're a business owner, I want you
to tell your clubs and your organizations.
-
If you work for the government,
I want you to pass regulation."
-
Everybody had a job.
-
"Each of you, all of you,
have a role to play
-
in protecting these places
for future generations."
-
Each of you, all of you.
-
I love that.
-
That's the plan --
simple, three-point plan.
-
I think we can do the same.
-
So, this was the headline
when Obama created
-
the Papahanaumokuakea National Monument:
-
"Lots to see, but good luck
trying to get there."
-
But like Mather, we should focus
on the technology of our time,
-
all of this new, amazing,
digital infrastructure
-
can be built to engage people
with the oceans.
-
So, the National Marine Sanctuary
-
has created all these
wonderful VR 360 videos,
-
where you can actually go
and see what these places look like.
-
Our team is continuing to build new tools,
-
this is our latest, this is
the trident underwater drone,
-
it's a diving submarine, it's sleek,
you can fit it in a backpack,
-
it can go down to 100 metres,
deeper than most divers can go.
-
They can see these environments
that most people have never had access to.
-
New tools are coming
and we need even better tools.
-
We can also use
more visionary philanthropists.
-
So, when Erik and I started this,
we didn't have any money,
-
we were building this in his garage.
-
But we went to Kickstarter.
-
And we found over 1,800 people,
-
almost a million dollars
we've raised on Kickstarter,
-
finding other people who think,
-
"Yeah, that's a good idea.
-
I want to be a part of that."
-
We need more ways for people
to get engaged,
-
and become visionary
philanthropists themselves.
-
We've also had
traditional philanthropists,
-
who've stepped up to fund us
-
in the SEE initiative --
the Science Education and Exploration,
-
who are going to help us get donated
units out to people on the frontlines,
-
people who are doing the science,
people who are telling the stories,
-
and inspiring communities.
-
You can go on to openexplorer.com
and see what people are doing,
-
it's hugely inspirational.
-
And it will also, hopefully,
spur you to get involved.
-
Because there is plenty of room
to get involved.
-
We want to hear what ideas you have
for telling these stories.
-
Because that's just it --
this is all about engagement.
-
There's all sorts of interesting,
new ways for people to participate
-
in the protection of these places.
-
And the understanding.
-
Like, Reef Check -- scuba divers
are going down and swimming transects
-
and counting fish and biodiversity data.
-
They're getting the information we need
to protect these places.
-
If you're going down to the beach,
participate in MPA Watch.
-
Document what activities you see
going on in these different areas.
-
There is room for everybody
to participate here.
-
And that's just it, that's what we need.
-
We need to build a future
for our grandkids' grandkids.
-
Last month, I went out sailing,
-
and we got out to the Farallon Islands,
25 miles off the Gate.
-
And most people think of this
as kind of a bird sanctuary,
-
but we took our robot and we sent it in.
-
And the people on the boat were astonished
at the life beneath the surface.
-
I mean, these are really,
really important ecosystems.
-
Really, and this is a whole
wild world we haven't yet explored.
-
And we have an opportunity right now,
-
just as they did 100 years ago,
-
to protect these places, to put in a plan,
to keep people engaged.
-
So last year, when the executive
order came out,
-
putting all of the progress we've made,
-
all of these new marine protected
areas, under review,
-
there were over 100,000 people
who commented online.
-
Almost all of these letter were saying,
-
"Don't do it; protecting these places
is the right thing to do."
-
My message to those 100,000 people,
those 100,000 letters is,
-
don't wait for Washington.
-
We can do this ourselves.
-
Thank you.
-
(Applause)