When I was 12, we moved from New Jersey to Florida. The Gulf of Mexico was literally my backyard. Every day, I could see the ocean. At low tide I went out and played in seagrass meadows that used to come right up to the shore, filled with tiny seahorses, pipefish and soft corals. There was so much life! But then I witnessed the change, the loss of the shoreline, the loss of the mangrove trees, the loss of the seagrass meadows. Shallow bay areas were turned into parking lots.

The ocean is our life support system. No blue, no green. It's really a miracle that we have got a place that works in our favor.

I've had the joy of spending thousands of hours under the sea. I wish I could take people along to see what I see, and to know what I know.

It has taken these many hundreds of millions of years to fine-tune the Earth to a point where it is suitable for the likes of us.

With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you're connected to the sea. No matter where on Earth you live.

We have the capacity to alter the nature of nature. No, we don't have just the capacity - we are altering the nature of nature, the natural systems that cause the planet to function in our favor.

We have to look in the mirror first. What are we doing? How can we make a change? It always starts with looking in the mirror. Every individual can. Every individual can make a difference either by proactively doing something positive or by doing nothing. That's a decision, too.