Dr. Diva Amon, Behind the Bubble

What this episode covers

Dr. Diva Amon, along with our host Erik Weihenmayer, and a handful of additional explorers were tapped to guide actor Will Smith through some of earths greatest wonders and hidden secrets. This was for National Geographic’s series, Welcome to Earth. Diva is a marine biologist focused on the little-known habitats and animals of the deep ocean. She regularly ventures down into the depths in submersibles, with her deepest dive to the Cayman Trench. That’s about 8 thousand five hundred feet below the surface In this episode, Erik and Diva compare a few notes on things like being an unlikely hero, establishing routines in the middle of chaos, dancing with feelings of fear, confidence (or lack of), especially when you’re at the forefront of something new for which no guidebook exists. Why hope is so important in the face of a plastic bag floating past the window of your submersible 3000 down in the ocean. What’s it’s really like in those teeny underwater vessels called submersibles? Diva is working to make positive changes in the way the ocean is used and managed. On that point she shared, “all of humankind, not just an elite few should know enough to inform the decisions that we are making, because ultimately that's the way that we're gonna preserve it for generations to come. We all have a stake, but we all don't have a seat at the table right now, and we need to work to change that.”