Ted Danson: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them (3/22/11)
Ted Danson: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them Ted Danson, Actor; Environmentalist; Author, Oceana In the mid-1980s, actor Ted Danson was walking along a Santa Monica beach when he noticed a sign: \u201cWater polluted, no swimming.\u201d "Trying to explain that to my kid was hard," he says. Already wealthy and famous from playing Sam Malone on \u201cCheers,\u201d Danson decided then to use his celebrity to raise awareness about the plight of the world\u2019s oceans. \u201cIt sunk in that there is a lot that has come before us, there is a lot that will come after us, and that this time were are here is not just about us. It\u2019s about stewardship,\u201d he says. At Climate One, Danson talks about his life in activism and the manifold threats to oceans, the subject of his new book, Oceana. \u201cNo one disagrees that we\u2019re headed in the direction where we could conceivably commercially fish out our oceans \u2013 no more fish, jelly fish soup \u2013 if we do not stop fishing destructfully and wastefully,\u201d he says. Danson shares a statistic that points to one culprit: rampant overfishing by big boats. Ninety percent of the world\u2019s fishermen are small-scale operations, harvesting from the sea as they have for millennia, he says. These fishermen account for 10% of the global take. The other 90% is harvested by the remaining 10% of boats, commercial-scale trawlers, some with nets big enough to snare a 747. Once the nets are hauled up to the boat, \u201ca third of what the world catches is thrown overboard dead or dying because it\u2019s not the fish they\u2019re after.\u201d The situation is dire, but Danson cautions against despair. He published Oceana, he says, to leave those concerned about the oceans feeling hopeful and empowered to act. \u201cWhen you show up en masse in an email, you literally change policy around the world,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd it\u2019s the best feeling. To not be overwhelmed by headlines, and to know you are doing something about it. You will know, in your children or grandchildren\u2019s lifetime whether you succeeded. And that\u2019s cool. That\u2019s exciting. That\u2019s not overwhelming or depressing.\u201d This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco on March 22nd, 2011\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices