World Ocean Radio

This week on World Ocean Radio we discuss the Sargasso Sea--a verdant, vital ecosystem that supports a great diversity of life, provides shelter for marine mammals, and serves as a repository for much of the spoils of human endeavor: shipping, fishing, harvesting, and pollution. And we discuss conservation efforts including the Hamilton Declaration and the formation of the Sargasso Sea Commission,...

Our annual gift to World Ocean Radio listeners. In this episode, host Peter Neill reads "At the Fishhouses" by Elizabeth Bishop, a poem from 1955 that distills Bishop's seaside meditations and evokes the clarity of meaning contained in personal encounters with the ocean. A favorite of ours, with profound relevance for the New Year. Please enjoy. World Ocean Radio: 5-minute weekly in...

This week on World Ocean Radio we introduce listeners to a word many may have never heard before: xenobiotic--defined as a chemical substance found within an organism that is not naturally produced or expected to be present--often referred to as a pollutant. Dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls, carcinogens, drugs, food additives, hydrocarbons, plastics, pesticides--all manner of human-driven int...

This week on World Ocean Radio, we're discussing the final declaration of the climate pact post-COP26, in which the ocean was finally acknowledged as the intangible link between climate and biodiversity, and recognition of the need for integration of ocean-based actions into mandates and work plans. For the first time, the ocean is finally included in discussions about our climate future. Whi...

This week on World Ocean Radio: new systems thinking offers alternatives to failing structures and behaviors. As food, energy and water are the three aspects most relevant to future survival, we argue that we must examine the innovations that pertain to each: aquaculture, renewable energy and desalination--to create an integrated, self-supporting new system is key to a sustainable future. About Wo...

How do we govern and manage the ocean inside and outside of national jurisdiction in order to use it responsibly and assure its long-term potential? How do we collectively affirm the transformational change required to meet the conditions and challenges we face worldwide? In this week's episode of World Ocean Radio we seek answers in a recent article published in "Proceedings of the US N...

This week on World Ocean Radio we're discussing energy present and energy future, and the ways that alternative energy technologies are changing the landscape as our energy needs grow. We offer examples of proven alternative fuels such as wind, solar, wave and tidal energy and share some lesser-known technologies such as salinity gradient power and geo-thermal energy that could use the power...

This week on World Ocean Radio we're defining "backwash" as the movement of water for filtration, for desalination, and for clearing of debris and toxins, and we're discussing methods that clean and protect Nature, using the strategies of bio-remediation to detoxify and cleanse against the human-caused destruction of natural systems. Peter Neill, Director of the World Ocean Obs...

In this episode of World Ocean Radio we take listeners to the shore, to be reminded of the importance of silence, solitude and renewal in our lives, and of the healing power of the ocean--or water in any form--that is there for us, if and when we choose to stop and listen.  About World Ocean Radio Peter Neill, Director of the World Ocean Observatory and host of World Ocean Radio, provides coverage...

In this brief series we have explored technologies, initiatives and other advancements for aquaculture with the power to improve efficiency and safety as a positive contribution to our future food supply and global health. This week represents the fourth and final installment of the series, focusing on the broader view of the word "aquaculture"—Water plus Culture—the universal source and...

In this brief series we're exploring disruptive technologies for aquaculture, specific initiatives and other advancements to improve efficiency and safety as a positive contribution to out future food supply and global health. This week we are discussing the challenges to aquaculture, the perils of some new unmanned technologies on the horizon, the pros and cons of offshore systems, and the s...

In this brief series we're exploring disruptive technologies for aquaculture, specific initiatives and other advancements to improve efficiency and safety as a positive contribution to out future food supply and global health. This week we are acknowledging some of the improvements made by the aquaculture industry in terms of feed, antibiotics, waste, disease, off-shore structures, water trea...

Without mitigation of consumption and illegal fishing, we face a global crisis of protein supply to feed a growing world population. Over the next few editions of World Ocean Radio we will explore disruptive technologies for aquaculture, specific initiatives and novel technologies and other advancements to improve efficiency and safety of aquaculture as a positive contribution to out future food s...

Sea level rise and coastal inundation are changing the agricultural landscape around the world. Fortunately, saltwater irrigation has been studied for decades, and experiments have succeeded while research and experiments have grown and demonstrated the viability of some plants such as halophytes that have the potential to change our conventional food landscape. In this episode we explore question...

According to the US Geological Survey, 70% of the available freshwater worldwide is used for irrigation. Industrial agriculture and modern irrigation practices have today brought us to a global water crisis. This week we're discussing what has been called the “irrigation efficiency paradox,” when farmers use more water, even as they are becoming more efficient in their irrigation practices. W...

Intense weather events are calling attention to not just local but worldwide water crises caused by climate. Coastal inundation, community disruption, dislocation and recovery are problems that we seem increasingly unable to withstand. This week on World Ocean Radio: the Danish Hydraulic Institute and their experiments with the concept of "sponge cities", a revolutionary planning tool to...

Visualization is a powerful tool for understanding beyond data, opening our minds and enabling transformative change through a new way of seeing. This week we're discussing the Spilhaus World Ocean Map, a projection of earth centered on Antarctica that makes the ocean the focus of an astonishing worldview, pushing the land to the outer edges of the square and re-organizing our global geograph...

This week on World Ocean Radio we are discussing hydrology, the "hydrospatial" perspective, and the importance of multi-dimensional analyses and visualizations for planning and decision-making that break down the artificial disciplinary boundaries of science to allow for comprehensive inclusion of multiple perspectives and better understanding of complex ocean systems for international g...

This week on World Ocean Radio we're looking to the night sky, to ponder the wonder contained therein, and to explore the danger of polluting it forever in the name of modern navigation and instant communications worldwide. About World Ocean Radio Peter Neill, Director of the World Ocean Observatory and host of World Ocean Radio, provides coverage of a broad spectrum of ocean issues from scie...

This week on World Ocean Radio we reflect on "blue" and the profound stages of meaning beyond the color of the sea and sky to encompass depth, stability, wisdom, faith, truth, redemption, and the natural world.  About World Ocean Radio Peter Neill, Director of the World Ocean Observatory and host of World Ocean Radio, provides coverage of a broad spectrum of ocean issues from science and...

Four Essential Steps toward a Responsible U.S. Ocean Policy  International agreements are essential if we are to sustain natural resources as natural capital for our future. In this episode of World Ocean Radio we outline four major environmental treaties the United States never ratified—but should. World Ocean Radio: 5-minute weekly insights in ocean science, advocacy, education, global ocean iss...

This week on World Ocean Radio: an idea to confront the big polluters of the fossil fuel industry for their indifference to redress, by attaching reparations for the exploitation of natural resources over time, thereby providing incentives for new, non-polluting technologies of energy generation, storage and distribution toward a more sustainable future for our climate and ourselves. World Ocean R...

This week on World Ocean Radio we are discussing the challenges of excess carbon dioxide in the air and some of the engineered solutions now being employed to sequester carbon from the ocean and transform it into a solid.  The "BLUEprint Series: How the Ocean Will Save Civilization" outlines a new and sustainable path forward, with the ocean leading the way.  About World Ocean Radio Sinc...

To execute transformative response to the challenges of the 21st century we will need a new style of leadership action: from governance and corporate consciousness to manufacturing, engineering and design, from research to education to new moral standards at all levels of society. What are the change agents that will allow us to realize change? What are the financial tools that will include equity...

This week on World Ocean Radio: part 43 of the BLUEprint Series outlining a new and sustainable path forward with the ocean leading the way. In this episode we introduce listeners to The Transition Network, outlining some of the 1,150 global initiatives that reflect the principles and practical actions of community, sustainability, resilience, justice and change.  World Ocean Radio: 5-minute weekl...