Moirs Environmental Dialogues

The growing oil spill disaster in the Gulf is wreaking immediate and lasting damage on wildlife and the economy, environment and human health. Rob speaks with Mike Dunmeyer of Ocean Champions about turning this disaster into some positive actions. What actions are Obama taking to halt new ocean drilling and get strong climate legislation? What are the various clean energy solutions out there to fight the climate crisis and grow a green economy? First step is to reinstate the national moratorium on all new ocean drilling. Second is to set carbon emission reductions and establish a cap and trade system will help industry and spur new jobs. Hear what Ocean Champions is doing in Washington to turn this drilling travesty into a positive by getting a national ocean policy established. Rob shares the work the Ocean River Institute and its network of ecostewards are doing to call for clean energy, no new drilling, and a National Ocean Policy.

Discover the life of sturgeon around the world. Hear how people are working to better know and save these ancient long-lived fish. Dr Boyd Kynard returns as my guest with tales of sturgeon and other migratory fish beyond New England. Dr Kynard built and operates the Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center in Amherst, MA. He has developed remarkable telemetry tracking devices that are documenting and unlocking the secrets of fish behaviors. Scientists from around the world come to the Amherst lab to learn the research tools for migratory fish back home. Known as the migratory fish missionary, Dr Kynard transported tons of research equipment aboard a ship that traveled through the Bosporus Straits, over the Black Sea to the Danube River where seven species of sturgeon dwell. He established a fish laboratory in Romania and also established a migratory fish lab in China, downriver of the Three Gorges Dam.

Sturgeons and lampreys are truly ocean river dwellers. My understanding and awe of anadromous fish was forever altered by lamprey nest building behavior and what the behavior of two sturgeon told Dr Boyd Kynard last month. Many years ago, he discovered in his neighborhood the only Massachusetts tributary river of the Connecticut River watershed that is not dammed, the Fort River. We talk about an amazing fish, the lamprey, which stops feeding in Long Island Sound to travel to the Pelham Hills transporting carbon and ocean chemicals including boron to endow ecosystems far from the sea. Discover the many ways lamprey leave an environment better off than found. Don’t miss Dr. Kynard’s remarkable research findings of Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon populations in the CT and Merrimack Rivers. Both sturgeon and lamprey are resilient, long-lived fish, ocean wanderers with life histories and survival strategies very different from the well-studied salmon.

Marine biologist, Lianna Jarecki, PhD, takes me into a threatened British Virgin Island salt pond. Lianna explains the complex biology from blue-green algal mats to mangroves with clapper rails, to black-necked stilts and flamingos atop the salt pond food pyramid. In the second half, Noni Georges of the Virgin Islands Environmental Council (VIEC) tells a local version of the David and Goliath story. The largest developers in the world spent millions planning to develop with gov permission to disregard all environmental regs (destroy) the most pristine portions of the Tortola, Beef Island. Islanders outraged with the potential loss of mangrove shores, salt ponds and most of all, the Fisheries Protected Area took action that began with a senior paper by a young law student Noni Georges. The court case became a first for the Caribbean where Islanders stood up to developers. Noni explains how VIEC won the case and how this is only the beginning with the developers appealing.

Alanna Mitchell will take us on a dive 3,000 feet into a far Tortuga sinkhole where no one has gone before to discover new life forms, new chemical compounds, and new insights into how it all comes together on the ocean planet. Alanna Mitchell is journalist who travels with ocean scientists and marine biologists to discover how we live with oceans and depend on marine life. With her clear-eyed immediacy she writes in the style of Rachel Carson, yet more personable. We care that carbonic acid is increasing in seawater with increasing carbon in the atmosphere. During the last century and a half of human activity ocean water acidity has increased by 30%. What does it mean for you and me when calcareous sea critters start to fizzle in rising seas? Alanna Mitchell shares her experiences with us and will read of her dive from her book, Seasick: Ocean Change and the Extinction of Life on Earth.

Grab a paddle and pull. Lara Hansen, PhD, will talk of how we can no longer disregard the inevitability of drastic climate change. So many decisive factors are affected that we are in crisis, a climate crisis that affects everything we do. Time to do something about it. Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases is a big piece of the solution puzzle. Yet, we also have to figure out how to deal with all of the effects of the climate crisis—from sea level rise to warming waters, less oxygen, to spread of disease. Climate crisis must factor into the decisions we make about natural resource management, human community development and how we live in changing watersheds. Dr. Lara Hansen of EcoAdapt will draw on ecosystem experiences and insights to offer proven tools for ecostewards. Tools include the Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (CAKE) an innovative community of practice and the book Climate Savvy: Adapting Conservation and Resource Management to a Changing World (Island Press).

If you care about the oceans why you should care about fishing? Amanda Leland and Tom Lalley of the Environmental Defense Fund will tell. Much has been said about what is wrong with overfishing and how management efforts frequently fail. Drawing on personal experiences with sea urchins and a tale of red snapper, as well as years of research and listening to fishermen, we’ll learn how complex and unpredictable ocean wildlife and ecosystems actually are. Discover how this ocean environmental and economic problem can be solved, and what you can do to help. The Environmental Defense Fund offers us educational resources and a tool box for recovering groundfish that include cod, fluke, and haddock, pelagics including tuna and swordfish, and schooling fish: herring, sardine and mackerel. By sharing the catch with less waste and more profit, fish and fishing communities both survive.

Sherman’s Lagoon syndicated cartoonist Jim Toomey and Blue Frontier Campaign president David Helvarg talk about the goals and accomplishments of the National Ocean Policy Task Force. Claudia the crab & Finley the fish wearing blue shirts, two members of a national movement involving thousands of people for ocean conservation from the capital steps in Honolulu east to Cambridge MA Community Center, New Orleans north to Anchorage. David Helvarg’s “Seaweed Rebellion” has brought people together, provided unity and focus while enhancing awareness of the grassroots (seaweed holdfasts) ocean movement. Mike Dunmeyer, Ocean Champions Executive Director, joins in with the latest on the Ocean Policy Task Force’s work to create a National Ocean Management Policy Framework and their recently released draft: “Interim Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning.” Hold on to your mask and flippers.

Peter Alexander of the Gulf of Maine Restoration and Conservation Initiative will tell us about a new effort to tackle the growing impacts of human activities in the Gulf of Maine. The beautiful Gulf of Maine appears to many to be a relatively pristine ecosystem. Beneath the waves and along the shores serious problems have been building up over time—and not just the well-publicized crash of native fisheries. Abandoned fishing gear, invasive species, municipal waste, pollution from agricultural and residential runoff, and loss of fish and wildlife habitat are causing enormous harm, and until now there has been no comprehensive plan to deal with these and other problems. Discover what locals are doing and interested citizens can do to make a difference.

Discover how to reduce our carbon footprint, reverse rates of greenhouse gas build-up while creating green jobs and healthier environments with Professor William Moomaw, Senior Director, Tufts Institute of the Environment; Co-Director, Global Development and Environment Institute; and Lead author, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2003.

Randy Olson, marine biologist and filmmaker talks about “shifting baselines” for ecosystems and his newest film Sizzle to premier in NYC on Oct 23. Shifting baselines are the chronic, slow changes to an ecosystem or place that one is not apt to notice until. It is more difficult to appreciate and understand what has been lost in a degraded system if a baseline of what is there had not been established in the past. Sizzle, the documentary, addresses climate change without the graphs, but with disagreeable scientists and with sophisticated humor. Randy Olson explains the distinctions and advantages to “mockumentaries” versus documentaries, where media respects the better understandings that listeners have in order to get the parody. www.sizzlethemovie.com Dave Wilmot tells of marking-up a bill in DC for tackling harmful algal blooms and ocean hypoxia. www.oceanchampions.org Chukchi Sea hairy blob days are numbered.

Roz Savage rowed 3,158 miles solo across the Pacific Ocean, west from Hawaii, to arrive at the low coral atoll islands of Kiribati, Eastern Pacific on Sept 9, 2009. 104 days at sea. 203 total days alone at sea for her Pacific crossing with 99 days from CA to Hawaii in 2008. Roz uses her ocean rowing adventures to help inspire action for healthier oceans and cleaner skies, the challenges of climate change to stop detrimental effects of lethal overheating and turn toxic tides. Hear Roz describe close encounters with a whale shark, large seabirds and flying squid. Learn how one person lived alone at sea while networked via the Internet with many. Be inspired by a woman who quietly did the never-been-done, over 1.3 million oar strokes west from California with two oars, gloves, sliding seat, sunscreen and bean sprouts. Meet Roz on Oct 17 at the Regatta Bar in Cambridge MA, info at www.oceanriver.org

ACE builds the power of communities of color and lower income to eradicate environmental racism and classism and achieve environmental justice. Everyone has the right to a healthy environment and to be decision-makers in issues affecting our communities. ACE is anchoring a movement of people who have been excluded from decision-making to confront power directly and demand fundamental changes in the rules of the game Together we can achieve our right to a healthy environment. In this episode we will hear from urban youth about two projects: Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project, where school-based environmental justice curriculum, an after-school youth leadership program and youth-led organizing all come together for youth leadership in the neighborhood; and The T Rider's Union organizing public transit riders to build a unified voice and movement for better transportation serving transit dependent communities where riders are not likely to own cars. www.ace-ej.org

All together now! The Massachusetts Ocean Partnership is committed to helping Massachusetts create and implement the best ocean management plan possible. A plan that fairly represents all interests, that is based on the best available scientific information and, ultimately, supports resilient ocean ecosystems, productive economies and vibrant communities. Discover the diversity of voices, the plethora of interests, coming together to promote healthy, resilient ocean ecosystems and thriving, sustainable marine dependent communities. No small challenge that in this episode of Moir’s Environmental Dialogues. For more information go to www.massoceanpartnership.org

Fish are fighting back to unite rivers with oceans. Prescott Brownell of NOAA, Dr Piotr Parasiewicz and Joe Rodgers of the Rushing Rivers Institute talk with Rob about the ecological challenges confronting anadromous fish species. Fish have a vital role in the overall health of river ecosystems. Discover complex and interdependent relationships in the riverine and marine food webs of fish. Hear about the progress being made in restoration of anadromous fish species on the Atlantic coast and in our watersheds.

Meet the Whale Guardians of Stellwagen on this episode of Ocean River Shields of Achilles. For Right Whales feeding on Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary life became safer thanks to government actions that followed a close look at the data from whale watchers. Superintendent Craig D. MacDonald, Ph.D.; Benjamin D. Cowie-Haskell, Assistant Superintendent; David Wiley, Ph.D., Research Coordinator; and Nathalie Ward, Sanctuary Advisory Council Coordinator talk with Rob Moir about what led the federal government to move the shipping channel into Boston, changed the charts, for the sake of right whale. Right whales are just one of many magnificent marine animals that inhabit Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Discover what further actions are being taken and what you can do to better protect right whales and marine life off Massachusetts and Cape Cod Bays.

The ocean has its stories to tell – as anyone who has ridden its waves or walked its shores knows. The stories are as simple as beauty and as complex as… well, say, watershed ecosystems or estuary ecology. Understanding the complexities help us appreciate our oceans and also helps us learn to take better care of them. This is what a new term is all about – Ocean Literacy. While complex, this Ocean Literacy doesn’t have to be confusing. In fact, it can be downright exciting, fun, and (who would of thought?) danceable. U.C. Berkeley's Craig Strang (of Lawrence Hall of Science, COSEE and MARE fame) along with environmental troubadours extraordinaire, the Banana Slugs String Band, will be our guides on this adventure. Doug Dirt Greenfield, “Airy” Larry Graff, “Marine” Mark Nolan, and “Solar” Steve Van Zandt of the Banana Slug String Band will give us the downstream low-down on watersheds and bays, salty and fresh. So get ready to get down!

Live from ORI world headquarters in Harvard Square, Dr. Piotr Parasiewicz of the Rushing River Institute returns with tales of government permitted withdrawals and hot effluent discharges into a vital coldstream river threatening salmon and indigenous fish. Meg Sheehan and Jana Chicione of Concerned Citizens of Russell will join the show.

Live from Cape Cod, Rob will speak with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies including Richard Delaney, Dr. Stormy Mayo and Tanya about what is being done and what you can do to save whales and to better the ocean environment that whales depend on. Ocean Champions will update on a bipartisan bill on Capital Hill for research and mediation of harmful algal blooms that includes red tide.

We’ll explore the state of the ocean and look beyond the cascading ecological disasters that are altering it including industrial overfishing, pollution, coastal sprawl and climate change. David Helvarg will address the urgent need and opportunity for change. He will talk about the Seaweed Rebellion, a marine grassroots initiative by coastal and ocean activists including surfers, sailors, scientists, environmentalists, maritime workers, coastal communities and many others. He’ll address the possibilities for restoring healthy seas from his ‘50 Ways to Save the Ocean’ book that outlines what any citizen can do. David is working with President Obama’s Ocean Task Force to bring an “ecosystem based approach” to government policy on America’s great blue frontier. Ocean Champions’ Dave Wilmot will give insights from his work with national decision-makers