Let's protect the oceans like national parks | David Lang

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 a 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 --

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 meters, deeper than most divers can go.

It 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,

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 letters 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)