![Cycles and connections, from the mountaintop to the abyssal plain Fresh Water](https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/files/imagecache/exhibit_grid_image/category_pictures/FRESH-WATER-mid-size.jpg)
After more than 430 episodes of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill takes this week to outline what the World Ocean Observatory does, and the ways in which we reach people around the globe through various programs, social networks, and our vast website of educational resources.
The Chicago Ship Canal is a major feat of civil engineering, and has been controversial and problematic since the beginning. Pollution from an ever-growing human population, the added demand for increased ship and barge traffic, and the introduction of Asian carp into the waterway in the 1970s have posed increased challenges and new threats both upstream and downstream. In this episode of World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill outlines the present situation and the expensive, multi-year plan to restore a natural barrier that was destroyed more than 100 years ago.
Since the creation and ratification of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), many international experts have debated how best to create a binding instrument to address marine areas outside of national jurisdiction—the high seas. In this episode of World Ocean Radio we detail the complex and time-consuming process of creating, coordinating and implementing international ocean policy. And we hail the work of the many people who contribute to building an effective, practical, and applicable agreement for the benefit of all.
Summertime along the coast offers us the opportunity to reflect on why the ocean matters, and its importance in our lives. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill shares insights from the great American naturalist and author Rachel Carson, by reading from her seminal book "The Edge of the Sea."
An innovative company in Iceland has developed a product from fish skin to treat chronic wounds so that new skin can grow. Called Omega 3 Wound, developed by Kerecis Limited, and approved by the FDA, this product illustrates that we have the capacity to use 100% of the fish, thereby maximizing the value of the catch and accelerating economic opportunity around the globe.
As Finland begins to outline its Arctic Council agenda for the next two years, Russian involvement and investment in the region continues to grow at a fast pace. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill explains Russia’s history in the Arctic and their present and future interest, centered primarily on the extraction of oil and mineral resources. And he cautions that Russia, with their advantage to the region via fleet size and access, shows little concern for the consequences of the inevitable negative outcomes from increased exploitative activity.
The ocean is continually and exhaustively over-exploited: over-fishing by international fisheries, sand mining for construction projects and artificial islands, coral reefs and marine species for medical advances, and deep sea mining for minerals. In this episode of World Ocean Radio we discuss the controversial Solwara One project proposed by Nautilus Inc. for mining minerals offshore Papua New Guinea. We share outcomes from the Nautilus Annual Meeting and read a selection of comments from community members opposed to the project.
Age old discoveries and scientific advances have long dispelled the belief that the earth is flat. Recent technological advances have moved recorded data into third dimension visualization, yet today we continue to depict and understand the world in two dimensions. In this episode of World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill asks us to consider how we might add dimension to our ways of thinking in order to fully understand and interact with Earth's dynamic systems.
As a follow up to a World Ocean Radio episode from mid-May, we offer an overview of the Ocean Conference in New York last week which sought to reach outcomes toward sustainable development goal (SDG) 14: to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. And in this episode we encourage all listeners to become agents for change by choosing one ocean issue and investing talent and action toward a solution.
At the United Nations Ocean Conference in New York in June, each attending delegate was presented with a new book by co-authors Dr. Gregory Stone and Nishan Degnarain. “Soul of the Sea in the Age of the Algorithm, How Tech Start Ups Can Heal Our Oceans,” surveys the evolution of ocean exploration and exploitation through three phases of global change. "Soul of the Sea" sets out just how grave the problems facing our oceans are, but also how solvable they can be.
Water conflict is nothing new. We have been fighting wars over the most valuable resource on the planet since thousands of years B.C. In this episode of World Ocean Radio we highlight the Pacific Institute as a provocative source of information about the world's freshwater resources, including a comprehensive chronology of water conflict complete with historical context.
On June 8th we celebrate World Ocean Day, a day to recognize our relationship with the ocean through global connection and stewardship. In this episode of World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill discusses what World Ocean Day is meant to do and will ask, "What does it take for the will of the people to coalesce around a single issue, to be informed and changed into a voice for change?"
In this week’s episode of World Ocean Radio we discuss the work of artist Jason deCaires Taylor, creator of underwater sculpture museums that explore the balance between society and nature and speak to how humans have affected the environment and our future place in it. His works, located in underwater museums offshore of Cancun and Spain, ask us to examine the transformations of nature and challenge our perspectives on life, community, identity, empathy, and understanding.
In this episode of World Ocean Radio we discuss some of the 2016 winners of the Movement for Change Initiative's "Lighthouse Activities"--some of most innovative examples of what people around the world are doing to address climate change and to benefit the planet.
On June 5th the United Nations General Assembly will convene for The Ocean Conference in New York City to set objectives, cultivate partnerships, and build consensus for the further implementation of sustainable development goal 14—Life Below Water. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill describes the sustainable development goals and lays out the plan for this major four-day event and the final report which will follow as an agenda for targeted success by 2030.
We are living in a time of great environmental, social, and political change, and our outdated ways of living and governing are failing. The 21st century is crying our for invention and innovation. One such provocative idea is the evolution toward governance and management around eco-regions such as coastal zones, watersheds, deep ocean, and more as a way to shift our approach for the future. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill breaks down the concept of eco-politics: new practices, laws, energy, and education designed to bring about a more successful response to the challenges of this new century, and beyond.
Arctic ice is melting at record levels, revealing an ocean open and vulnerable to enterprise and extraction. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill suggests that the Arctic be treated like the Antarctic-—a place for research and conservation rather than one of exploitation and exhaustion.
China is the world's largest consumer, producer, and exporter of every fish species caught by their vast industrial fishing fleet, at a rate on track to decimate the global fish supply in the not-too-distant future. Indifference to treaty quotas, illegal species catch, fishing outside of national jurisdiction, and other government sanctioned activities have propelled China to the status of largest consumer of natural resources on the planet. In this episode of World Ocean Radio we report on the problems generated by an insatiable appetite for fish, regardless of the global consequences.
Seaports have long been places of commerce and trade: hubs connecting land and sea in an import/export exchange that contributes to regional, national, and global economies. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill discusses the history of the port of Gaza on the Mediterranean Sea, the long-standing Israel-Palestine conflict, and recent interest in a project to build an artificial island off the coast for the purposes of creating a modern seaport which could possibly break through the political paralysis of the region, create employment opportunities, and enable an import/export revival.
In the face of an all-out attack by the Trump administration on environmental regulations and values, how do we create a new strategy for Nature? In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill posits this question and lays out a new organizing strategy for our natural systems, including and foremost our relationship with the global water cycle.
Since the U.S. election in November, the Trump Administration has taken bold action to change the policies, regulations, and environmental protections that have been in place since the beginning of the 20th century. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill talks of the steps being taken by environmental groups and organizations to maintain historical protections. And he argues for the necessity of a more broad spectrum view to confront specific problems, recognizing the need for an understanding of integrated natural systems and global solutions required to manage local impacts.
In September of 2016, World Ocean Observatory began a collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution's Ocean Portal to promote the Earth Optimism Summit in Washington, D.C. during Earth Day weekend in April. For the past six months we have searched for and reported on examples of ocean optimism and innovative projects around the globe. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, our final episode in the Earth Optimism Series, host Peter Neill hails the work of the Smithsonian Institution and the Ocean Portal in their preparation for this global event, and outlines the mission of the summit as well as the need for optimism and why it should be celebrated.
In this episode of World Ocean Radio, written during a blizzard raging off the Maine coast, host Peter Neill reflects on the vulnerability of the ocean and the implications of the aggressive destruction of natural resources. And he asks, “Are we really prepared to destroy the global ocean and all its potential for sustaining us into the future?”
Insurance touches every aspect of our lives, protecting us from financial loss. As climate change is continually felt everywhere on the planet, how might we protect against the impacts of extreme weather, sea level rise, and more? In this episode of World Ocean Radio we outline the role of insurance companies and the ways in which insurance must adapt as a risk management tool for the world's most vulnerable.
This week we continue the Earth Optimism Series, a 24-episode project in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution's Ocean Portal, to celebrate ocean solutions and innovative projects in the context of the Earth Optimism Summit, April 2017. In this episode of World Ocean Radio we discuss the history of the recycling movement and the modern day efforts of local groups such as ecomaine, a waste-to-energy and single-sort recycling facility in Southern Maine. And we offer suggestions for what we can do as consumers and citizens to mitigate waste from the trash cycle, and to keep plastics out of landfills and the ocean.