Pope Francis, outspoken voice for climate and the environment, passed away on Monday, April 21st. Throughout his reign as leader of the Catholic Church, he was very clear in his views on climate change as a real factor in today's world, and expressed that we must understand and respond to these problems for our future survival. In 2015, Pope Franci…

Earth Day is April 22nd. In honor of our watery planet we revisit a land-centric episode this week on World Ocean Radio. What About the Land? 40% of the planet is used for farming and livestock, often degraded by unsustainable or destructive practices. Coupled with coastal, wetland and reclaimed land development in the name of urban expansion, we a…

Discovery of a curriculum developed for coastal Africa some years ago sent World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill on a journey of discovery and revelation about salt as a construct to be observed, understood, and taught. A western scientific perspective might teach students about salt from a chemistry-led lesson, whereas the African curriculum taught s…

ter·ra·que·ous /terˈākwēəs/ Adjective: consisting of land and water Mud season: a special time of year in the northeastern corner of the United States, when winter and spring collide in a soggy muck: the rains come, ice and snow melts, saturating the land, creating a terraqueous mess for cars and boots. This week on World Ocean Radio, we're applyin…

March 22nd is World Water Day, a celebration of what Jacques Cousteau called The Great Hydrosphere, expanded beyond Ocean to include the entirety of the water cycle: the one natural system that controls our planet's utility. From mountaintop to abyssal plain, water is the great circulatory system that connects all things. This week on World Ocean R…

This week on World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill shares a smart, succinct new title from the Forerunners: Ideas First series entitled "Coralatations" by Melody Jue. The book is a philosophical exploration of coral reefs, technology, and media and how, through co-relation, we might expand our understanding of natural resources beyond endangerment to …

Ocean Literacy is a bottom-up movement driven by classroom teachers who understand the full implication of education, adaptation, and innovation for our future. In Venice, Italy, in 2024, a conference gathered to address today's issues, and to produce the Venice Declaration for Ocean Literacy to provide goals and agenda items for the UN Ocean Confe…

"Power is like water. It flows all around us at all times. Sometimes it takes the liquid form of politics-in-action...Sometimes it takes the solid form of settled law: policy is power frozen. Sometimes it is like vapor in the air, invisibly shaping the climate and our behavior in just the way beliefs or ideology or emotions do..." So states Eric Li…

Eco-psychology studies the relationships between people and nature, and seeks to develop ways to expand the emotional connections between individuals and the natural world. There is progression in the term: understanding of Eco-psychology presents plans, promise, and action toward transformational outcomes, strategies, and prognoses for the future.…

Eudaemonism: What does it mean? What does it have to do with happiness? And what is its context for the ocean? Tune in to find out. About World Ocean Radio World Ocean Radio is a weekly series of five-minute audio essays available for syndicated use at no cost by college and community radio stations worldwide. Weekly insights into ocean science, ad…

What are the five key reasons for ocean conservation? What are the five areas where progress matters most? With the world in an off-axis state of turmoil, W2O founder Peter Neill is taking stock this week, asking the questions and distilling the essential reasons why the ocean is central to human survival. About World Ocean Radio World Ocean Radio …

This week on World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill shares views and observations of the town of Isafjordur, Iceland, and the values it possesses that give the area its unique identity. About World Ocean Radio World Ocean Radio is a weekly series of five-minute audio essays available for syndicated use at no cost by college and community radio station…

KNOT: a word with many definitions: from a tight constriction to something hard to solve; a cluster of persons or things; an ornamental ribbon; a closed curve in three dimensional space. And of course, the word comes back to the ocean: is not the ocean a dynamic of knots: entangled and integral, inter-placed with ornamental flexible bodies, compris…

At the Fishhouses, is among our favorite poems here at World Ocean Observatory. In its richly-detailed mastery, it distills poet Elizabeth Bishop’s seaside meditations, evokes the clarity of meaning contained in personal encounters at the shore and with the ocean, and holds the reader and the listener in the space that lies between land and sea, a …

Each holiday season on World Ocean Radio we return with a special reading of "Christmas at Sea", an evocative poem by Robert Louis Stevenson written in 1883. Stevenson, the son of a lighthouse engineer, had intimate, first-hand knowledge of extreme weather, storms and nor'westers. Christmas at Sea An evocative seasonal poem by Robert Louis Stevenso…

This week we're providing our listeners with a list of intentions that describe the World Ocean Observatory's statement of beliefs that drives all action. And we provide suggestions for those who may ask, "What can I do?" while encouraging determination to pursue the causes that you believe in. This week's episode is a statement of belief and inten…

The debate over the reality of climate change is over. There is no place on land or sea that is immune from the effects of extreme weather, fire, flood, inundation, erosion, and social impacts. This week we're discussing carbon as the key culprit to our current condition, and the multitudinous methods and suggestions and investments to remove carbo…

The face of war is changing quickly: cheap, unmanned, versatile drones and remotely operated aircraft, coupled with rapidly-advancing technology, ambiguous algorithms, accountability, and responsibility are shifting the shapes of war around the globe, especially as it pertains to the unseen and largely unmonitored high seas. With a world struggling…

This week on World Ocean Radio we are examining Renewell, a company that has developed a method to repurpose abandoned oil wells across the United States into displacement reserves, effectively capping the more than 2 million abandoned, methane-leaking oil wells and converting them into renewable storage and renewed financial return. World Ocean Ra…

This week on World Ocean Radio, two new books for readers to consider this fall: "The High Seas: Greed, Power, and The Battle for the Unclaimed Ocean" by Olive Heffernan, and "What the Wild Sea Can Be: The Future of the World Ocean" by Helen Scales. Both books evoke hopeful possibility while exploring the extent of the ocean and the implications of…

Insurance is everywhere, established to transfer risk or to compensate for loss. Deep-sea mining has attracted much attention lately, as we look to offshore exploration and extraction for energy and mineral resources. As the UN International Seabed Authority deliberates standards and regulations related to drilling into the ocean floor, insurers of…

The maritime industry is a major contributor to our global systems: our economies, security, and stability. More than 80% of all international trade and transport moves across the ocean: shipbuilding, port operations, shipping, cruise lines, offshore energy, pipelines, salvage, communications, cables, insurance, ferries, exploration and science. Th…

As we discuss resiliency, adaptation, and mitigation of climate and ocean, we must also invent--not to merely rearrange the elements of an old plan, but to imaging and consider some things new and different. If the ocean movement is to embrace the change required to respond to challenges worldwide, we must imaging new ways forward, confident in our…

It has been nearly twenty years since the Ocean Literacy Principles and Framework were first adopted by classroom educators to promote the ocean as a central focus for climate, water, food, health, exploration, science, and more. Today it has been incorporated into the agenda of the UN IOC; it seems Ocean Literacy is riding a new wave of interest a…

Eustacy is a word used to describe worldwide changes of sea level. This is a new word for us: even though it seems we live in a eustatic world. We're using this newly-discovered word to distill the five areas of our existence where the ocean matters most: fresh water, the ocean-fresh water continuum, energy, food, health, and exchange. About World …

This week on World Ocean Radio: synopsis of a recent report by the UN Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission entitled "Call to All Voices of the Ocean – Consultation of Civil Society in Preparation of the Next United Nations Ocean Conference" addressing issues and providing recommendations and specific actions related to ocean climate, science,…

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. World Ocean Radio offers five-minute weekly insights into ocean science, adv…

This week we are discussing two technological innovations—both bright ideas that could have huge impacts for useful, sustainable change for the future. The first is WaterCube, a machine that pulls vapor from the air and condenses it into liquid form for household use and disaster relief; the second is Sway, a farmed seaweed application designed to …

As we review the state of climate change challenge and response, it becomes clear we are not succeeding. Is it possible to craft a new economic system that values natural resource sustainability over depletion of those resources? Can we conceive a new economics, a forward-directed system of financial valuation and exchange based on the asset value …

Plastic. It is ubiquitous. It is everywhere in our lives, yet we do not possess the cycle or recycle to continue production in a sustainable or environmentally friendly way. If offsets and recycling do not provide the answer, what does? About World Ocean Radio World Ocean Radio is a weekly series of five-minute audio essays available for syndicated…

How old is water? Where on earth is water found? How is it circulated, cycled, and recycled? We know where water is distributed on the planet down to the fraction of a percentage. We know that water is finite in volume and its utility is constant. What happens when we pollute water? What happens when there is no water? We discuss this and more this…

World Ocean Observatory is ever in search of new systems that convert knowledge into action, especially as they relate to ocean education and communication. Here on World Ocean Radio we often discuss the concepts and principles of ocean literacy, and the ways in which they can be distilled into learning opportunities for educators and students ever…

World Ocean Radio: 5-minute weekly insights in ocean science, advocacy, education, global ocean issues, challenges, marine science, policy, and solutions. Hosted by Peter Neill, Director of the W2O. Learn more at worldoceanobservatory.orgBy Peter Neill, World Ocean Observatory

"The state of the ocean is not good." So states Vidar Helgesen in the forward to the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) State of the Ocean Report that was released in May. This week on World Ocean Radio we are summarizing the findings. About World Ocean Radio World Ocean Radio is a weekly series of five-minute audio essays avai…

On June 8th each year we come together as a global community to celebrate World Ocean Day, a date set aside to recognize our relationship with the ocean. Public awareness of ocean issues in the United States barely advances year on year, despite consistent efforts by conservation, ocean, and other environmental organizations like World Ocean Observ…

We have launched a Substack to share a plan for specific action and public participation. In this two-episode arch we reintroduce listeners to RESCUE: a 33-part series outlining a plan for specific action and public participation, providing a blueprint for how the ocean can save civilization. In the series we cover ocean topics related to Science, …

We have launched a Substack to share a plan for specific action and public participation. This week and next on World Ocean Radio, we will reintroduce listeners to RESCUE: a 33-part series outlining a plan for specific action and public participation, providing a blueprint for how the ocean can save civilization. In the series we cover ocean topics…

After a recent visit to Japan, an island nation, World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill ponders, what if, as in Japan, we applied values individually, locally, and nationally to our purchases, foodways, institutions, public relations, our life choices? Look from the East, look from the West: are we not all islanders? About World Ocean Radio World Ocean…

Bio-regions on Earth are organized into types, then realms, and are further distinguished and mapped for planning, strategizing, developing, and as a tool for protection of the planet. A major trouble with bio-regional mapping is that it neglects nearly 83 percent of the ocean–beyond marine protected areas–leaving the high seas and deep sea unaddre…

This week on World Ocean Radio we're defining new ways to consider profit as a return on investment--not as an enemy of change but as a catalyst for a sustainable strategy for the future. An effective sustainability strategy must include the true asset cost of natural resources and the post-production costs of downstream effects to include pollutio…

This week on World Ocean Radio we're sharing some methods and means to make small and large changes that can have effects on the climate and sustainability challenges that are caused in large part by the consumer choices we make every day. About World Ocean Radio World Ocean Radio is a weekly series of five-minute audio essays available for syndica…

This week on World Ocean Radio we're discussing a recent trip to Lisbon, Portugal to attend the Economist Ocean Summit. One such conversation we participated in was on the topic of regulation--those systems and structures that frame best practices and are designed to control abuse. Regulation is conflicting and contradictory, especially when most r…

A nocturne is a short musical composition: dreamy, romantic, suggestive of the night, a passage from one place to the next. This week we're asking: What comes next for our collective energy and focus? What it is that will get us safely from this place of climate crisis and uncertainty to another place of reinvention, newly-conceived solutions, and …

What are the five areas of our collective existence on earth where the ocean matters most? If we are looking for a context to drive motivation and action, we have in our view the necessary clear focus through these absolutes--water, energy, food, health, and exchange--that can guide us toward a sustainable future, with the ocean at our center. A we…

In business, as in life, there is a balance sheet, a statement of assets, profit and loss, income and expense, showing whether our accounts are in balance, or not. In a consumption and production driven society, we must understand the asset value, balance and imbalance of our planet's natural resources: coal, oil, gas, minerals, water, and food: th…

Seafood is a world staple, under siege by increased consumption and over-fishing. Aquaculture is the necessary alternative, yet is a polarizing issue in coastal communities. What are we to do? This week we explore two Maine-based successes in aquaculture that are building local supply chains, increasing resilience in rural communities, promoting en…

"We are not blind to the overall problem, and if we were in doubt, recent climate-explained events, near and far, should open our eyes more widely. With climate conditions constantly in the news, public awareness must follow," says Peter Neill, director of the World Ocean Observatory. This week on World Ocean Radio we wrap up a two-part series with…

In this episode and the next, World Ocean Radio reports on the status quo, business-as-usual, tunnel vision conclusions at COP28 in Dubai, hosted by the United Arab Emirates, December 2023. While many millions of dollars and intentions were pledged toward solutions, the focus and associated response was too narrow and inadequate to address the defi…

Devastating weather and water events abound worldwide. Rain, flooding, strong winds, extreme high tides, coastal erosion and inundation have caused havoc in ports and on waterfronts. These events are neither new nor are they going away any time soon. While we will continue to rebuild and revive, the time is now to plan a response as complicated as …