There's something missing about how we're informing the youngsters coming along about what matters in the world. We teach them the numbers and the letters, but we fail to communicate the importance of our connection to the living world.

All through college, I had frequently been the only girl in a science class - which wasn't such a bad deal.

When I first ventured into the Gulf of Mexico in the 1950s, the sea appeared to be a blue infinity too large, too wild to be harmed by anything that people could do.

For humans, the Arctic is a harshly inhospitable place, but the conditions there are precisely what polar bears require to survive - and thrive. 'Harsh' to us is 'home' for them. Take away the ice and snow, increase the temperature by even a little, and the realm that makes their lives possible literally melts away.

Not only who am I, but who are we? And where are we going? It's the "we." It's the social connections that are special to human beings.

If you think the ocean isn't important, imagine Earth without it. Mars comes to mind. No ocean, no life support system.

I love music of all kinds, but there's no greater music than the sound of my grandchildren laughing; my kids, too.