World Ocean Radio - Climate

Climate
August 14, 2023

We are nearing the end of the 33-part RESCUE series. This week we turn our attention to the young people around the world that are approaching outdated conventions with resilience and resolve. Thousands upon thousands of youth activists are having their voices heard and their calls to action heeded. We must reinforce their resolve, their commitment and their acceptance of RESCUE: R for renewal; E for environment; S for society; C for collaboration; U for understanding; and E for engagement.

April 10, 2023

This week we continue the multi-part RESCUE series with an outline of the four technological focus areas of the recently announced Ocean Climate Action Plan, the organizing connection of which is technology. Guiding the actions of the plan are a commitment to be responsible stewards of a healthy and sustainable ocean, to advance environmental justice and engage with all communities, and to coordinate action across governments.

January 30, 2023

This week we continue the multi-part RESCUE series with observations about the climate future and our relationship to facts and truth, the spread of misinformation, the belief in and skepticism of science, denial, inaction, and vested interest in the status quo. If we are to enact the changes required to move toward a more sustainable climate future, how do we, collectively, turn toward acceptance of scientific fact and affirmation of a new world view? RESCUE as an acronym offers a plan for specific action and public participation: Renewal, Environment, Society, Collaboration, Understanding, and Engagement.

December 6, 2022

In this episode we provide three examples of initiatives, proposals and financial solutions that could change the shape of our climate future, including the Bridgetown Initiative by Mia Amor Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, whose radical plan lays out specific actions to reform the global financial architecture to respond to the critical impacts of climate. Each of the initiatives discussed were cautiously embraced by world leaders and the status quo. Is change possible? What will it take?

November 28, 2022

The 27th Conference of the Parties (COP 27) closed recently in Egypt. Reactions to outcomes of the climate change conference have been mixed, and the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan, which should have provided a comprehensive outline for concrete action, read more as a description of aspiration and suggestion: a plan to plan to plan a plan. Should we have expected more?

November 22, 2022

This week on World Ocean Radio we're discussing COP27, the annual Conference of the Parties, that took place this year in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. What should we expect for outcomes of the conference? Empty pledges and resolutions unmet? Or will actionable, lasting national commitments be forthcoming and methane emissions at last curtailed? The truth will be in the details.

November 1, 2022

This week on World Ocean Radio we're discussing the harsh realities of 21st century storms in the face of climate change: hurricanes more powerful, more destructive, and more impactful on our ways of life. And we're asking, what will we pay if we continue to deny the realities of our climate challenges, and when will we accept responsibility for such disasters now and into the future?

October 17, 2022

This week on World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill shares observations from a recent trip to Greenland in collaboration with the Arctic Futures Institute. While visiting the four major coastal towns along the western coast, the melting glaciers that cover most of Greenland were dramatically visible. In this episode he discusses the several consequences of climate change and the rapid loss of sea ice.

October 4, 2022

This week on World Ocean Radio we're talking about the circulation of water worldwide, and the importance of canals and waterways to bring us together and sustain us into the future.

September 20, 2022

This week on World Ocean Radio: a summary of fifteen new ocean challenges as identified by the conclusions of thirty conservation experts around the world, published in a July 2022 report in the journal "Nature Ecology and Evolution."

September 21, 2020

This week on World Ocean Radio: part six of the multi-part BLUEprint series. In this episode–Climate Equity–we talk about the continued devolving U.S. response to the Paris Climate Accord and the potential pitfalls of indifference, inadequate reaction and failed governance. The "BLUEprint Series: How the Ocean Will Save Civilization" outlines a new and sustainable path forward, with the ocean leading the way.

February 10, 2020

Carbon offset programs offer ways for retailers and consumers to help address the challenge of climate impacts and environmental consequences, and can provide an effective means of contributing to conservation and sustainable practices . In this episode of World Ocean Radio we share a carbon offset initiative in partnership with South Pole and UCapture that supports progressive action toward a carbon-diminished future.

August 13, 2019

Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity's annual demands on Nature exceed the capacity for Earth's ecosystems to regenerate those resources within that year. In this episode of World Ocean Radio we discuss the red alert that is this overshoot day, 2019, showing that we are living beyond nature's means to sustain our growing demands.

July 23, 2019

"Mother Earth has the following rights: To life, to the diversity of life, to water, to clean air, to equilibrium, to restoration, and to pollution-free living." So states the Law of Mother Earth, a Bolivian law passed in December 2010 as a binding societal duty. Bolivia is the first country on Earth to give comprehensive legal rights to Mother Nature, and in this episode of World Ocean Radio we explore the language contained in the legislation and assert that Bolivia may be inventing a social model that will show how we as a global community might transcend conflict and division toward a harmonious and sustainable future.

June 11, 2019

This week on World Ocean Radio we're talking about solutions to the climate challenge by highlighting some modern examples of and possibilities for conversion: industries across America shifting from conventional and failing ways of doing business to an embrace of enterprising and inventive opportunities for a sustainable future.

April 29, 2019

How does the Green New Deal integrate with the best desired practices and changes for the ocean? In this episode of World Ocean Radio we outline a paper published by The Ocean Foundation that addresses three ocean areas that must be considered as part of a vision and strategy for developing a more sustainable economy: shipping, energy production and food security.

March 26, 2019

World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill recently returned home from a trip to Antarctica aboard MS Island Sky with scientists from Woods Hole and a film crew from BBC-ONE, sharing insights and knowledge with other citizen scientists aboard. In this episode he offers reflections on his experiences in the last wilderness.

October 15, 2018

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?

August 14, 2018

This week's episode of World Ocean Radio kicks off a multi-part series on the Ocean Literacy Principles. The next eight episodes will provide an anthology of reflections, examples and illustrations that represent responses to the ocean and the environmental challenges we face. We will focus not only on ocean science and the ways that the Ocean Literacy curriculum aligns with the current educational system in the United States, but also on the ways that ocean relates to climate, fresh water, food, energy, health, work, trade, transportation and much more.

April 9, 2018

Laws protect us from abuse, they preserve the stasis of systems, and they maintain stability and sustainability. We live in a time when the vast majority of the world's wealth is derived from the exploitation of natural resources, and there are laws and legal responses to protect those resources from corruption. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill outlines a series of additional laws that are intended to protect Nature and its resources--water, fresh air, food, and all living organisms--from corrupt values, indifference, and the consequences of exploitation. And he reaffirms the importance of the Public Trust Doctrine which demands that all resources must be sustained for the benefit of ensuing generations. "Nature and the Rule of Law" is part one of a two-part series dedicated to environmental law.

October 10, 2017

This week on World Ocean Radio: part three of a multi-part series on the Arctic. In this episode, host Peter Neill discusses the melting of sea ice, its causes, the adaptation of native Arctic people, and the potential for future exploitation and passage as sea ice continues to recede.

September 11, 2017

Natural forces unleashed an epic scale of destruction on Houston and surrounding areas of Texas. Built upon consumption, unmitigated growth, and fossil fuels, critics now point to the consequences of development based on an outdated paradigm. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill asks, “What are the questions we should be asking, and what are the lessons to be learned from this catastrophe?” and he suggests a new, reorganizing principle on which to rebuild, one that redesigns in the face of a changing climate future, and one that manages growth and treats water as an asset, not an enemy.

July 31, 2017

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."

May 22, 2017

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.

March 14, 2017

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.