Only one percent of the ocean is protected. So says legendary marine scientist Sylvia Earle, winner of the TED Prize in 2009, and author of The World is Blue, How Our Fate and the Ocean’s are One (Random House, 2009). The TED Prize is awarded annually to three exceptional individuals who each receive $100,000 and, much more important, the granting of “One Wish to Change the World.” After several months of preparation, they unveil their wish at an award ceremony held during the TED Conference. These wishes have led to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact. Sylvia Earle’s wish is to protect our oceans.

Considered a Silent Spring for our era, Sylvia Earle portrays a planet teetering on the brink of irreversible environmental crisis. Publisher Random House notes that in the the book Earle says that there is reason for hope, but what we do—or fail to do—in the next ten years may well resonate for the next ten thousand. The ultimate goal, Earle argues passionately and persuasively, is to find responsible, renewable strategies that safeguard the natural systems that sustain us. The first step is to understand and act upon the wise message of this accessible, insightful, and compelling book.

Watch Sylvia Earle share her astonishing images of the ocean as she makes her TED Prize wish: