Through compelling personal stories Sylvia Earle puts the peril of the ocean and its life in perspective for a wide public audience. * Less than 10% of all fish species remain. * Half the coral reefs globally have died or are in sharp decline. * Since the 1950s 300 dead zones--oxygen-deficient areas that can't sustain life--have appeard along coasts. * Contaminated water is increasing disease worldwide, including cholera. * Pollutants in seafood is sickening growing numbers of people. * The human impact on oceans and subsequently on climate change is effecting the future of the planet. * The next ten years may be the most important in the next 10,000 years--either because we have turned current environmental declines around, or we have not.

Four main messages are major: why everyone should care about the ocean, a living entity; that its decline is directly linked to what we put into it; that the decline of our atmosphere is linked directly to the ocean's health; that there are ways to act to ensure its future health.