I think a human animal is far more wild and unpredictable and dangerous and destructive than any other animal.
Today, I’m a conservationist because I believe that my species doesn’t have the right or option to determine the fate of other species, even ones that inspire fear in us.
What drives me is that moment of discovery. I love the unknown.
Many of the medicines we use today, to fight everything from AIDS to cancer, originate as a toxin in an amphibian skin. When we lose these animals, we lose resources. We lose keystone species in the environments where they live.
We know that when push comes to shove, [we can] drive ourselves to save our planet.
I love people who have died trying to save wildlife. When I see that passion, that gives me hope.
We live in a time where we have more extinction happening on our planet than since the dinosaurs were wiped out 50 million years ago.
I'm glad I'm inspiring somebody.
When you're in the middle of nowhere, when you're on this tiny little island, probably one of ten people ever to step foot on this island, it's taken you a week to get there by boat - and you step near to an albatross nest. It doesn't even look at you as the enemy. You get this great nature moment. Until you realize the albatross, along with the thousands of other winged albatrosses next to it, has constructed its nest of trash.
I'm a biologist. At my core, I'm a naturalist.
The number one issue that Ocean Mysteries has opened my eyes to is, no matter where you are, whether you're on a beach in Hawaii, you're diving in the Pacific, you're in a remote archipelago, or you're in the middle of nowhere - I am blown away and sobered and crushed, emotionally crushed, by the amount of marine debris, of garbage, that is now in our ocean.
In my heart, ever since I [was] a little kid, I've been an explorer.
I am really inspired when I am in an experience, at the front lines of conservation, and I see someone - a woman, a man, a child, a person - who has given up an opportunity to have a family, an opportunity for financial riches, even an opportunity for security, [to] put their whole life on the line to protect a species.
Whether it's exploring the woods around where I grew up, or even today exploring the coastal habitats and environments where I live in New England, or in a remote wilderness we're featuring in one of my series - I love to be in the field and I love to explore.
Many scientists would argue that we are now in what is called Extinction, and it's caused by this perfect extinction storm: climate change, habitat loss, pollution, unsustainable exploitation of species and habitat resources, and of course, human population explosion. All of these factors work together and conspire to drive a species to extinction on our planet, every half an hour.
I am really sobered by what's happening to ecosystems around our planet and to the wildlife that is to be found there.
We live in uncertain times when it comes to the future of life on Earth.
Running is my addiction. It's always present. I'm constantly thinking about my next run.
It's the best - combining the mediums of television, documentary, and books, to give you this transmedia experience for kids, for families, and for teachers.
Our health as a society, our robustness as a community, as a nation, as a people, is not only dependent upon fiscal stability, military might, political strength - it's also dependent on a healthy planet.
The challenge is that we live in a time where there's a lot of crap on television.
The natural resources we've depended on, if the places where they exist are not stable, our own livelihood and our health is put at risk.
We are not far away from the point of no return when it comes to life on earth, and we have some radical choices to make.
I'm really worried about what the world is going to be like when my daughters are young women, [when] they are young leaders or mothers or businesspeople - whatever they're going to be. I'm afraid they're going to have a less healthy and less biologically rich planet.
I think the hardest part about my job is the best part of my job - the travel.
