Mission Blue Project To Save Our Planet's "Blue Heart"

This year's TED prize went to Jamie Oliver, who used the wish that comes along with it to request the establishment of a campaign to teach our children how to eat healthfully. Last year's went to Sylvia Earle, an American oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence who is commonly referred to as "Her Deepness."

At the 2009 TED conference, she wished for help in saving our oceans.

"I'm haunted by the thought of what Ray Anderson calls 'tomorrow's child' asking why we didn't do something on our watch to save the sharks and bluefin tuna and squids and coral reefs and the living ocean while there still was time," she said. "And now is that time....

I wish you would use all means at your disposal -- films! expeditions! the web! more! -- to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas, hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet.

A year later, she finds a response to her call, reports Treehugger. Design firm Razorfish is starting the Mission Blue project, which will work through every possible means to create the marine preserves Earle wished for. The project already has a brand and a campaign of ocean awareness, which is set to launch in April.

The campaign will kick off with an exploratory and fundraising sea voyage to the Galapagos Islands, where ocean explorers from scientists to policymakers to artists will gain valuable new perspectives on the importance of Earth's watery portion. The money raised on this Mission Blue Voyage will contribute to a million-dollar fund to create new marine protected areas.

Planet Heritage Foundation has joined the fray by giving a $1 million grant to Earle's foundation. Other partners joining in the cause are National Geographic, IUCN, Google Earth and Deep Search Foundation.

With support like that, the oceans might just be in for a brighter, bluer future.

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng