The Sargassum Podcast

Florence Ménez est titulaire d’un PhD en anthropologie culturelle et sociale (EHESS, Paris) et d’un PhD en Histoire sociale européenne contemporaine (Université Ca’Foscari, Venise). Elle est coordinatrice du projet de recherche-action SaRiMed (2021-2023), concernant les impacts sanitaires des sargasses en Martinique et à Marie-Galante (Antilles françaises). SaRiMed est financé par la Fondation de...

LINK TO LISTENERS SURVEY: https://forms.gle/cWVDc9ZUDM56mFsG8 Our guest today is Teresa Chavez-Capilla who is an environmental and bioanalytical chemist, working as a post-doc at the University in Bern, Switzerland. She is working in the Soil Science Unit within the Interfaculty Cooperation Project One Health, which looks at the microbial-mediated effects and transformations of different pollutant...

Luis Macías es un experto en comercio internacional con un doctorado en Sociedad de la información y conocimiento, con más de diez años de experiencia en desarrollo empresarial y coordinación de proyectos. Forma parte de la “Earth Life University” en Playa del Carmen, México y además es el cofundador de Alquimar. Alquimar es una empresa dedicada a obtener productos de alto valor a partir del sarga...

Our guest today is Andrés Bisonó León who is the CEO and co-founder of SOS Carbon. He is from the Dominican Republic and studied mechanical engineering and finance at Drexel University in Philadelphia. SOS Carbon started as an R&D based at MIT in 2018. After successfully validating the technologies and system, the leading team developed a spinoff project. SOS Carbon is an environmental service...

Pierre-Antoine Guibout est le fondateur de Sargasse Project, un projet de transformation des sargasses en pâte à papier destinée à la fabrication de papier, carton, et plus largement tout objet en cellulose moulée. Originaire de Bretagne (France), Pierre-Antoine Guibout a mené des études en droit des affaires (université de Rennes) et en droit financier (ESCP et université de Paris XI), ce qui lui...

Sven Jense is the founder of Climate Cleanup an entrepreneurial non-profit organization with the mission of restoring the global carbon balance by removing 1500 gigaton of CO2 out of the atmosphere using natural climate solutions (NCS). One of the most promising and scalable solutions is seaweed. Eelco Leemans joined Climate Cleanup to work on marine solutions and how the oceans can help to seques...

Jerry Mang’ena is a Marine Biologist, Aquapreneur, and the co-founder and director of Aqua-Farms Organisation in Tanzania. He is a tutor at the School of Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Technology of the University of Dar es Salaam a co-organizer of TEDxOysterbay, a Mandela Washington Fellow, a Global shaper and a Climate Reality leader. Jerry has been able to penetrate the international seaweed ma...

Our guest today is Marion Sutton, an oceanographer and project manager in the Environmental Applications Department of Collecte Localisation Satellites or CLS for short. She was in charge of developing new environmental products and services based on Earth Observation data for the oil & gas and maritime transportation industries. She is now in charge of several projects to valorise the use of...

We made it to 20 Episodes!    Here a little flash back!   Thanks to all our listeners and our amazing guests so far! Lowell  Iporac from Florida International University   Vanessa Selk from Tout monde art Foundation  Dayre Catzim from Salgax  Victor Smetacek from Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research   John Milledge from Gre...

Christophe Mouvet est hydrogéochimiste, docteur en hydrobiologie, ingénieur au BRGM (Service géologique national) à Orléans (France), à la Direction Eau, Environnement, Procédés et Analyses. Durant les 10 dernières années, il s’est beaucoup intéressé au chlordécone ; il avait travaillé sur l’arsenic dans une phase antérieure de sa carrière. Christophe Mouvet est le chef du projet Sarg As Cld , lau...

Jake Kheel is an environmental innovator whose efforts in the Dominican Republic with the Grupo Punta Cana Foundation have won numerous awards and made the country’s tourism more competitive and environmentally sustainable. Jake directs the Center for Sustainability, a think tank partnering with renowned universities to conduct environmental research. He helped pioneer one of the Caribbean’s large...

En este episodio hablamos con la bióloga marina mexicana Verónica Monroy que nos habla de todos los bichitos asociados con el Sargazo. Verónica es experta en taxonomía, biología y ecología de crustáceos e invertebrados asociados a praderas de pastos marinos y arrecifes coralinos. En 2018 comenzó a estudiar la epifauna asociada al sargazo pelágico y desde 2019 trabaja como investigadora postdoctora...

In this episode we talk to Jasmine Harrison and Mark Sealey. Both of them have completed the 2020 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge and rowed 3000 miles from the Canary Island of La Gomera to Antigua. More people have climbed Everest in one year than have rowed the Atlantic Ocean, and it is rightly considered to be one of the toughest challenges on the planet. Jasmine Harrison represented the tea...

Nous continuons avec l’artiste Louisa Marajo, pour qui les sargasses constituent depuis 2018 une source d’inspiration. Louisa Marajo est d’origine martiniquaise, vit et enseigne à Paris, mais crée souvent in situ sur le littoral de son île natale. Elle a exposé récemment ses œuvres à Paris, ainsi qu’à Miami. Elle co-organise depuis 2019 l’exposition Homo Sargassum avec Vanessa Selk ( podcast sur y...

Our guests today are Melissa de Freitas, Maxine Trotman and Tessa Davy.  Melissa is a Geophysicist working as Energy Officer at the Energy Unit  of the Government of St. Vincent. Maxine currently lives in Atlanta  Georgia and organizes relief effort from there and Tessa is a retired  healthcare professional and is currently on St. Vincent for her tourism  related work. Mel...

In this episode we talk to Brigitte Gavio who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. She leads the Research Group in Molecular Systematics and Biogeography of Marine Macroalgae and her research focuses on taxonomy and biogeography of marine algae. Listen to the episode to hear about: - The importance of Sargassum for sea turtles (7:00) - Cur...

Our guest today is Dr Ashley Johns, the founder of Constructive Solutions which is helping with disaster relief efforts in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He has 20 years experience in disaster response and is an Island Innovation Ambassador. His island Bequia is the closest of the Grenadine islands to St. Vincent and was and is heavily affected by the ash cloud from the recent eruptions of La Sou...

To see videos and pictures head to our youtube channel and watch the interview there: https://youtu.be/bOfXRGUunBo          Our guest today is Stacey Alvarez, a digital sales manager, legal  assistant, educational consultant and Island Innovation Ambassador from  Barbados. Her island was and is heavily affected by the ash cloud from  the recen...

E14: Conserving an incredible ecosystem with Teresa Mackey and Dr David Freestone of the Sargasso Sea Commission The Sargasso Sea Commission was established in 2014 with the goal of conserving the Sargasso Sea. Ms. Teresa Mackey is the Programme Manager of the Sargasso Sea Commission and has been working with it since 2017. Dr. David Freestone is the Executive Secretary of the Sargasso Sea Commiss...

En este episodio hablamos con Deemian Vera  y Dagoberto Ruiz de la empresa mexicana de ingeniería marítima Dakatso. Demian nos habla de las barreras anti-sargazo, los botes de recolección del sargazo y su último producto: el “sargcreto”. Para ellos sargazo es un gran problema cuando llega a las playas de México, pero a la vez es una gran oportunidad como empresa para poder aportar su granito...

In this episode we talk to Paola Díaz a biologist from Honduras currently studying a masters in Integrated Management of Tropical Coastal Areas at the University of Costa Rica. Her upcoming project with Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología at the University of Costa Rica involve the documentation of the arrivals of Sargassum to Central America. According to her most people thin...

In this episode we talk to Chris Gug who is better known as just Gug. He is regarded as one of America's foremost underwater photographers. Gug has been making waves in the art scene for well over a decade and has won countless awards, many of which are internationally acclaimed. He didn’t receive a formal photography education, but acquired his skills while living full time on dive boats, shootin...

In this episode we talk to Jason Cole and Jorge Vega Matos, who are part of the 20-person strong team at C-Combinator, a public benefit corporation creating valuable circular economies based on Sargassum that can address regenerative agriculture, sustainable manufacturing, and scalable carbon sequestration. Jason Cole is the Executive VP for Innovation and Jorge Vega Matos is VP for Marketing &amp...

In this episode we talk to Dr. Debbie Bartlett.  She is Professor of Environmental Conservation at University of Greenwich. Her background is in consultancy, and she had experience of working for local authorities and government agencies before moving to full time employment in academia. Together with John Milledge who we interviewed in Episode 5 she works on a Darwin Plus Project to find Sus...

In this episode we talk to Javier Diaz. He is a Marine Biology Master student at University of Groningen, researching the importance of healthy fish nursery habitats in Curaçao, where he is from. He is also a board member and the research coordinator at Stichting Uniek Curaçao, a NGO group that works towards heightening the life quality of the local residents and among other things is removing Sar...