Moirs Environmental Dialogues

The dolphins of Florida's Indian River Lagoon were dying at such an alarming rate that the situation was declared a marine mammal unusual mortality event. Most distressing is to see dolphins covered with skin-eating fungal infections. To save the dolphins, we must lessen the phosphorus and nitrogen entering the ecosystem. Rob talks with Stephen McCulloch, Founder/Manager of Marine Mammal Research and Conservation Program, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University at Fort Pierce. Steve rescued dolphins, manatees, and even Arctic seals in Florida. Since 1999 more than 200 marine mammals have been rescued. Steve recently helped transport and release almost 400 sea turtles; in FL effort that released 4,000 turtles. We can greatly reduce nutrient pollution in the Indian River Lagoon and lessen our subsequent role in the death of the lagoon dolphins by not using fertilizers with phosphorous and quick release nitrogen. Take Action with the Ocean River Institute.

Leesa Souto talks with Rob from the shores of Indian River Lagoon. When at the University of Central Florida, Leesa surveyed lawn care practices and the advantages, including cost savings, of fertilizing one’s lawn once a year, early in the Spring with a slow release nitrogen fertilizer. This will save one effort on a hot June day. We must not spread fertilizer close to waterways. Instead let the plants in buffer zones to do what they do best, take up nitrogen. Leesa is Executive Director of the Marine Resources Council. Volunteers have for 20 years monitored water quality. Sea grass die-off is the big concern this year for the lagoon. MRC works also on shoreline restoration fighting back invasive plant species. Right Whales are observed by volunteers in the Lagoon. Finally, Leesa is doing much to improve interactive educational displays at the Lagoon House.

No one has worked harder to defeat harmful algal blooms and to stop red tide outbreaks in Florida during the last six years than has Cris Costello of the Sierra Club. Cris talks with Rob about the many battles by both municipalities and counties across the state of Florida to pass strong responsible lawncare ordinances. Each ordinance has a “backbone” of responsible stewardship that Cris clearly points out. We talked the day after the city of Rockledge tabled the vote reduce nitrogen pollution to improved local ecosystems and economies. Cris and Rob also discuss how a good ordinance was defeated in Brevard County. Lessons learned along the way will with time, sufficient vetting, and burgeoning coalitions result in passage. Success in Tampa Bay when people modify their turf care practices lawns stayed green and water quality improved. Most remarkable has been the comeback and new growth of sea grasses – food for green turtles, nurseries for game fish.

Bristol Bay Alaska fishermen Katherine Carscallen and Brett Veerhusen talk with Rob about the world’s finest salmon fishery for indigenous people, for commercial fishermen and for recreational anglers. This is breathtakingly beautiful, awesomely wild country and a way of life that most of us assume no longer exists. Katherine and Brett want us all to care passionately for Bristol Bay and for the salmon known as “Alaska’s red gold.” Only then can we comprehend the problem with building the ginormous Pebble Mine at the head of all of Bristol Bay rivers. Will you care if Katherine’s and Brett’s livelihood is forever lost? Care if the land of walrus, seal, fish and eagle destroyed by a mining waste accident?

Patrick Paquette, a community organizer who represents bass fishing organizations in Massachusetts and Matthew McKenzie, Maritime History Professor at the University of Connecticut, talk with Rob about where have all the herring gone and how Cape Cod has changed over two centuries from a vibrant fishing community to something completely different. Patrick Paquette explains early efforts to save herring by collaborating with diverse interest groups through the CHOIR collaboration “where different voices needed to learn to sing in harmony.” He also noted a striped bass food shortage along the East Coast caused by industrial-scale fishing of coastal herring, mackerel and menhaden. Prof McKenzie tells the social and ecological history of the rise and demise of Cape Cod’s coastal fisheries in the nineteenth century. His book, Clearing the Coastline, includes Thoreau’s thoughts on Cape Cod fisheries and how these were adjusted by posthumous publishers to better fit what they wished to promote. Matt also tells of

In 1979 Raffi was kissed by a beluga whale. In that gentle gesture Raffi knew that for people to save wildlife or cleanup degraded environments there must be love for the other. Raffi’s Baby Beluga and Down by the Bay are songs cherished by families whose children are now adults continuing on. Raffi’s original philosophy of Child Honouring: How to Turn This World Around has become, more than a book, a covenant of nine principles: Respectful Love, Diversity, Caring Community, Conscious Parenting, Emotional Intelligence, Nonviolence, Safe Environments, Sustainability, & Ethical Commerce. Raffi tells how his work evolved from troubadour to champion of a global ethic that views life and communities through the lens of child honoring. Hear Raffi weave in the importance of stewardship and respect for families and environments from imperiled whales to global warming and climate change. Be inspired by a peacemaking culture of responsible stewardship for our world and all inhabitants on earth.

Elizabeth Saunders talks with Rob about Clean Water Action’s work to prevent harm from toxic chemicals in consumer products by encouraging the use of safer alternatives to toxic chemicals. Elizabeth coordinates a broad coalition working to prevent harm to our health from toxic chemicals. There is concern for people being poisoned by cadmium, lead, mercury, pvc’s and flame retardant chemicals. The top priority is to create a groundbreaking program to systematically replace toxic chemicals with safer alternatives. The MA Safe Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals bill will set up a process where use of safer chemicals can be mandated to replace the use of a harmful chemical whenever a better alternative is established. This is an incentive that rewards development of alternative chemicals with a mandate for its use. With this bill, MA can become a national incubator for less toxic chemical compounds. Perhaps someday the region will become known as “Safer Chemical Valley.”

Laura Henze Russell has suffered for twenty years from mercury poisoning that vaporized from dental amalgam (silver cavity fillings) in her teeth. Laura describes regaining her health. She will present 3 articles at her town meeting in Sharon, MA. Laura’s goals are 1, to learn the health impacts and health disparities associated with mercury poisoning; 2, to reduce the hidden river of toxic mercury in people; and 3, improve general health & lower health care costs. Laura is directing the Hidden River SafeAMER project at the Ocean River Institute. The goal is to pass the state Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals bill. This will set up a process where use of safer chemicals will be mandated. This is an entrepreneurial incentive that rewards the development of alternatives to toxic chemicals. By giving alternatives greater market share costs are brought down. Massachusetts can become a national incubator for less toxic, eco-friendly chemical compounds, “Safer Chemical Valley.”

It's the day after the 2012 election, Mike Dunmyer of Ocean Champions talks with me about how oceans benefitted. Ocean Champions is the political nonprofit that actively campaigns for good legislators. Currently Ocean Champions recognizes 31 decision-makers on the Hill as good on oceans. Setting a goal to up the number to 40, OC endorsed 46 candidates. Today the winners are 40 to 43 legislators with 3 of 4 leading in races too close to call. Ocean Champions are Democrats, Republicans and Independents Congressional leaders. Mike describes many of the endorsed candidates. Ocean Champions took the lead with others in a campaign to defeat a Congressman known as Ocean Enemy #1. Mike explains how despite failing to unseat progress is made in advancing ocean conservation. To discover who is and will soon be championing ocean conservation in Washington tune in and visit www.oceanriver.org for more information and biographies.

Mike Barrett is running for the Massachusetts State Senate. He is campaigning to represent the Third Middlesex district consisting of Waltham, Bedford, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Concord, Lexington, precincts 3, 8 and 9, Lincoln, Sudbury, precincts 1, 4 and 5, and Weston. In our talk Mike talks about his accomplishments in the House (1979-1985), including creation of the original hazardous waste super fund. In the State Senate (1987- 1995), Mike served as chief sponsor of the Toxic Reduction Act. If elected Mike will work on the Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals bill authored by Jay Kaufman. Living in Lexington, Mike is an advocate for the Bruce Freeman bike trail and wants to prevent MassPort's civilian Hanscom Airfield from encroaching into the adjacent National Park. To reduce our carbon footprint, Mike also explains why he is for a gasoline tax that will pay directly into public transportation. Mike's campaign website is www.barrettforstatesenate.org.

Eric Jay Dolin talks with Rob about his newest book: When America First Met China, an exotic history of tea, drugs, and money in the age of sail. Colonial Americans were hooked on China’s high-tech instruments of leisure, including high-priced teas, silks, rhubarb, porcelains and lacquer-wear. To feed American consumerism, US traders went to the ends of the world, over-exploiting people & natural resources, especially seals, sea otters, sandalwood & sea cucumbers. Our voracious appetite for China-built goods drove tragedies of commons, the taking of public resources at a global scale. Dolin helps us to better understand our trading with China long ago and what informs China’s understanding of us today. Our relationship with China began in 1784, when the Empress of China set sail frm NY Harbor. The exploding demand for goods & rush for items to trade led a driven Stonington sealer to discover Antarctica in a very small boat. Foreign trade came with great benefits and bad detriments.

John Williamson, charter boat captain, former commercial fisherman, fellow member of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary talks with Rob about ocean policy planning, fisheries and seafood. John gives us a fisheries overview “from 30,000 feet” of the incredibly complex issues involved where fishing is the last hunting in a wilderness we can not see. The ocean, in particular the 200 mile ribbon encircling the nation, is a public trust resource. There are no property owners, no gatekeepers or gamekeepers. We don’t know who all the users of the resource are. Much of the planning work is now being done by regional councils. Tune in and discover the many ways you can assist and participate in national and regional ocean policy making.

Mike Dunmyer, Executive Director of Ocean Champions talks with Rob about advancing ocean conservation in Washington DC. Ocean Champions recently held an event attended by 20 legislators speaking passionately to clean up our oceans, to better ocean wildlife conditions, and to have less slimy beaches. Ocean Champions succeeds by being the political voice in Washington for ocean conservation. This c4 political nonprofit is not tax deductible because individual gifts influence decision-makers. Mike introduces Senators and House members who are working to save our oceans and who today face challenges in the upcoming elections. He also describes the ocean-worthy merits of new challengers of a few who are bad for oceans. Mike concludes with three ocean legislation items where we can assist during the lame duck period: reducing marine debris, harmful algal blooms that include ocean dead zones, and importance of catch-shares for fishermen from Alaska halibut to New England groundfish.

George Divoky, founder of Friends of Cooper Island, talks with Rob about his work studying the Black Guillemot seabird in Arctic Alaska. Lori Wark, web producer for Friends of Cooper Island, joined the conversation to explain how to get involved in this research. Since 1975 George has spent his summers on remote Cooper Island. What began as an ornithologist's quest to understand the behaviors of a rare seabird, however, has turned into the story of a changing Arctic. Due to the recent melting of Arctic sea ice in summer, polar bears have begun visiting the island in search of food, reducing breeding success to near zero by 2009. After that devastating year, George came up with a solution to protect breeding birds and their chicks. By modifying hard plastic cases, George created bear-proof nest sites. The Black Guillemots began moving into their new homes in 2010 with great success. Tune in to find out how you can sponsor a nest site and help to keep the research going.

Michael Hopper, President of the Sea-Run Brook Trout Coalition (www.searunbrookie.org) talks with Rob about saving sea run brook trout. Once preferred by anglers in the 1700’s, these are brook trout that leave fresh water for the ocean life. Trout rejoin their freshwater brethren better fed and bigger, more salmon like. Buttermilk Bay at the top of Buzzards Bay has the finest runs for salters (sea-run brook trout). Theodore Lyman, III, found with Louis Agassiz (1867) that Red Brook in Wareham was the finest remaining salter run. The Lyman family saved the brook’s watershed until recently. It is protected today by the State (428-acre Red Brook Wildlife Management Unit) and The Trustees of Reservation (210-acre Lyman Reserve). Salter populations are hanging on in tidal creeks and rivers, a remnant of their former abundance. Saving sea-run brook trout means saving all the other fish and animals of the watershed. Tune in to help save salters and coastal ecosystems.

Peter Alexander (www.northeastgreatwaters.org) talks with Rob about life on a Maine island. He describes some of the assaults to coastal waters and ocean wildlife, along with the robust planning needed for restoration. For the past 3 years Peter has been leading the Gulf of Maine Habitat Restoration Initiative, which expanded last year to include Cape Cod and Rhode Island. He will host a New England Coasts Restoration Initiative Summit open meeting with of 400 invited. Peter succeeds by working with representatives from state and federal agencies, the non-profit community, and with members of Congress to build awareness and consensus on ocean restoration needs. Peter is also a founding member of the America's Great Waters Coalition representing 19 major waterways like the Great Lakes, Ohio River, and Chesapeake Bay. Peter has a MS in Environmental Studies, Antioch New England. He is a professional musician, who serves as president of the Maine Songwriters Association.