World Ocean Radio

'Tis the season for our end-of-year episode. Each year at the holidays, World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill reads At The Fishhouses, a poem by Elizabeth Bishop. This perennial favorite is chosen for its relevance for the New Year and because it distills years of Bishop's seaside meditations, evoking the meaning contained in personal encounters with the ocean.

In this episode of World Ocean Radio we discuss The Earth Law Center, a New York-based environmental non-profit organization that is dedicated to the concept that Nature, as an ecosystem, deserves the same rights as humans to exist, thrive, evolve and be protected by law. We share the scope of their work and advocacy, their programs and values, and the communities that are served by their involvement in American and international environmental court cases, laws, briefs and resolutions.

This week on World Ocean Radio we introduce listeners to two women who are planning to embark on an unsupported exploration in the Arctic: 270 days at the Bamsebu trapper’s cabin in the high north. Hearts in the Ice is a citizen science initiative that Sunniva Sorby and Hilde Falun Strom will undertake in August 2019 as a means to create a global dialogue around the changes we are experiencing in the Polar regions that impact us all. We invite you to join the conversation at heartsintheice.com.

The Catalog of Life is an online database of the world's known species of animals, plants, fungi and micro-organisms. It holds the essential information on the names, relationships and distributions of over 1.8 million species worldwide. In this episode of World Ocean Radio we discuss the importance of such indices to help address the concerns of sustainability and biodiversity on our fast-changing planet. And we argue that, in addition to the collection of data, we must all put this knowledge to use for the future of the ocean and of all living things.

In this episode of World Ocean Radio we discuss publications, reports, and projects integral to the evolution of ocean policy and science, including the Atlas of Ocean Wealth, published by the Nature Conservancy in 2016, which provides a tool for understanding the true value of what Nature provides in previously unrecognized ways.

This week on World Ocean Radio we provide our annual observations on the Arctic Circle Conference in Reykjavik, Iceland. This year's report highlights not only on a seemingly insurgent presence by the Chinese but also a diminished presence by the United States, whose typically consequential interest in the Arctic was lacking. Also noticeably absent from the conversation: a perceived lack of representation by the Arctic's indigenous peoples. We'll discuss these things and more in this week's episode.

The first Arctic highway was the sea: a moving, shifting frozen system that allowed its inhabitants to be sustained for generations. Since 1974, two more roads have been carved from the Arctic landscape: the first to connect oil fields in the north to consumers in the south; and the second, opened this year, to connect Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk. This second project, more of a local endeavor, links the land's indigenous peoples to economic opportunity and affordable goods and resources. This week on World Ocean Radio we talk about these three roads and their impacts on the Arctic, for better and for worse.

Ships have long been used for exploration and trade, as well as for colonial expansion and conflicts at sea. We are using technological achievement to advance global influence, and the rules of engagement are ever-changing. In this week's episode of World Ocean Radio we share new technologies that accelerate sub-sea activities, some of the new technological achievements now being deployed, and the ways that the underwater zone is being used for offensive and defensive strategies in the modern age.

2018 was a summer of extremes: hurricanes, wildfires, drought, floods, heat, earthquakes, tsunami. It's increasingly evident that human intervention is largely responsible for these natural disasters and their outcomes. In this episode of World Ocean Radio we talk about the distribution of loss, recognizing the poorest among us to be the least resilient in the face of such disasters, and most likely to be affected by them. We discuss the growing likelihood that climate change will cause increased displacement around the planet and will make refugees out of many of us. Where will we go? What will we do when we get there? How will we survive?

For the past eight weeks we have been discussing the concepts of ocean literacy, a framework for formal and informal education to help us better understand the ocean's influence on us and our influence on the ocean. World Ocean Radio's Ocean Literacy series wraps up this week by challenging the existing methods for teaching and learning about the ocean, suggesting that traditional curricula could be re-examined and multi-disciplinary approaches explored so that we all may begin to understand the ocean as the defining feature of our planet and the influence it has on all things living on earth.

"The ocean is largely unexplored." So states the seventh and final Ocean Literacy principle, a series of fundamental concepts to help us better understand the ocean's influence on us and our influence on the ocean. World Ocean Radio's Ocean Literacy series continues this week with a discussion about how little we know about the ocean, and the need to designate vast marine protected areas around the world in order to protect the planet's natural biodiversity (known and unknown) from further destruction. This episode is part eight of a nine-part series on Ocean Literacy, an anthology of reflections, examples and illustrations that represent responses to the ocean and the environmental challenges we face.

"The ocean and humans are inextricably interconnected." So states the sixth Ocean Literacy principle, a series of fundamental concepts to help us better understand the ocean's influence on us and our influence on the ocean. World Ocean Radio's Ocean Literacy series continues this week with examples of the many ways that we are connected to the sea, from trade and transportation to the exchange of ideas and culture, to our connection through the global water cycle. This episode is part seven of a nine-part series on Ocean Literacy, an anthology of reflections, examples and illustrations that represent responses to the ocean and the environmental challenges we face.

"The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems." So states the fifth Ocean Literacy principle, a series of fundamental concepts to help us better understand the ocean's influence on us and our influence on the ocean. World Ocean Radio's Ocean Literacy series continues this week with a discussion about the complex biodiversity contained in the world ocean and the ways that such systems, relationships and processes might be observed and understood for scientific gain. This episode is part six of an eight-part series, an anthology of reflections, examples and illustrations that represent responses to the ocean and the environmental challenges we face.

"The ocean makes Earth habitable." So states the fourth Ocean Literacy principle, a series of fundamental concepts to help us better understand the ocean's influence on us and our influence on the ocean. World Ocean Radio's Ocean Literacy series continues this week with a discussion about the complex diversity contained in the world's ocean and the importance of a healthy ocean as the universal operating system that provides fresh air, water, food, and every nurturing condition upon which all life depends. This episode is part five of an eight-part series on Ocean Literacy, an anthology of reflections, examples and illustrations that represent responses to the ocean and the environmental challenges we face.

"The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate." So states the third Ocean Literacy principle, a series of fundamental concepts to help us better understand the ocean's influence on us and our influence on the ocean. World Ocean Radio's Ocean Literacy series continues this week with an overview of the various ways that the ocean influences all weather and climate on the earth. In this episode we examine the various ways that humans must change the behaviors that are most adversely affecting ocean chemistry: a delicate balance upon which all life depends. This episode is part four of an eight-part series on Ocean Literacy, an anthology of reflections, examples and illustrations that represent responses to the ocean and the environmental challenges we face.