World Ocean Radio - Pollution
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 to the plastic pollution problem, what does?
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.
This week the multi-part RESCUE series continues with a hypothetical tale of investment, manufacture and accounting, and the financial analyses of both sides of the balance sheet: the initial investments and benefits to investors and the long-term debits of extraction, public health, emissions, downstream effect, and what is left behind. What would project proposal budgets look like if all near and long-term costs were included? Would projects be viable and approvable? How would investments, incentives, and subsidies be recalculated? Would the public approve and would such projects be feasible at all?
RESCUE as an acronym offers a plan for specific action and public participation: Renewal, Environment, Society, Collaboration, Understanding, and Engagement.
This week on World Ocean Radio: a summary of fifteen new ocean challenges as identified by the conclusions of thirty conservation experts around the world, published in a July 2022 report in the journal "Nature Ecology and Evolution."
This week, part two of a two-part series laying out steps with examples that represent a coherent and provocative way forward toward a plastic-free future. In this episode we discuss the list of specific recommendations from the Pew Foundation / SYSTEMIQ Report, actions to redress the plastic pollution crisis--in effect a coherent Plan for Plastic.
A new analysis by The Pew Charitable Trusts, in association with SYSTEMIQ, finds that without immediate and sustained action, the annual flow of plastic into the world ocean could nearly triple by 2040. The study also identifies solutions that could cut this volume by more than 80% if we use technologies available today and if key decision-makers are willing to make the changes required. This week and next on World Ocean Radio we are laying out steps with examples that represent a coherent and provocative way forward toward a plastic-free future. Part one of a two-part series.
Pharmaceutical pollution is as important and critical a factor for public health as microplastics and other chemical wastes that enter the water cycle, marine biota, and our bodies. A recent study by researchers at the Global Monitoring of Pharmaceuticals examined 258 rivers around the world and found that pharmaceutical pollution is contaminating water on every continent.
This week we're discussing the consequences of consumption. We point to a recent exhibit in London entitled "Waste Age: What Can Design Do?" that highlights the fusion of nature and culture and the ways that we have produced a culture of waste. How might we transform our waste into materials that can be recycled, repurposed, and reprogrammed by design? What if we choose to create a culture designed to retain and maximize the built environment rather than destroy it? How do we transform waste into something lasting and sustainable?
This week on World Ocean Radio we're discussing recent reporting on the impact of deteriorated plastic waste and the ways that it has invaded our waterways, our oceans and our bodies. If we never made another piece of plastic again, are we able to ever be free of the damage plastic has already done worldwide? Can it be reversed? Are we even trying?
Waste and waste management are new and increasing challenges in recent decades. How do we dispose of toxic waste, plastic packaging, electronics, and other discards of modern society? Where does it all go? In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill outlines current efforts to recycle and repurpose trash in efforts to slow the contribution to the waste stream, and he suggests some new ideas for turning waste into profit.
A recent video showing a torrent of plastic rushing down a river in Guatemala prompted World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill to respond this week with a clarion call asking us to confront plastic pollution. In this episode he asks why, given our capacity for ingenuity, we currently lack the technology, motivation and incentive to clean up the plastic pollution problem plaguing the world ocean.
Waste and the management of it are new challenges in recent decades. How do we dispose of toxic waste, plastic packaging, electronics, and other discards of modern society? Where does it all go? In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill talks about current efforts to recycle and re-purpose trash in efforts to slow the contribution to the waste stream, and he suggests some new ideas for turning waste into profit.
The water crisis in Flint, Michigan points to tragic mismanagement of the city’s water supply in an effort to save funds—a decision which is destroying a community and will ultimately cost millions to fix. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will provide examples of some of the many losses the city and state will incur as a result of this negligence, and will suggest some things that can be learned from the crisis as well as the consequences of a deliberate governmental decision to put corporate and political interests before the health of the governed.
The price of oil has dropped to $50 per barrel and the landscape is changing: alternative energy is growing in success and popularity, industries have cancelled plans to drill in the Polar seas, there is talk of increased efficiency, improved technology, new energy policy, and “clean energy” are the buzzwords of our day. In this episode of World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill will discuss this shift away from oil dominance and will attribute it to a number of factors, including increased public awareness and education. And he will give three examples of ways in which we as individuals, communities, and corporations can seize this moment to move away from a system which has degraded our lives and environment for far too long.
Waste and the management of it are new challenges of these recent decades. How do we dispose of toxic waste, plastic packaging, electronics, and other discards of our modern society? Where does it all go? In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill talks about current efforts to recycle and re-purpose trash in efforts to slow contribution to the waste stream, and he suggests some new ideas for turning waste into profit.
Toxic chemicals released into watersheds and waterways remain a persistent problem despite the sounding of alarms, which for decades have railed against the uncontrolled use of fertilizers and pesticides. Today, the issue is as pervasive and as threatening as ever. In this episode of World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill shares research on international protections and management approaches and argues that despite best intentions, precautions against use and dispersal are limited, confused, mired in regulatory bureaucracy, and lacking in international consensus.
尽管有警报发出，但有毒化学物质仍被不断地排放到水域里。这一持久的问题是由于几十年来，人类对化肥和农药不加控制地使用所造成的。在今天，这一问题和以前一样普遍和可怕。在本期世界海洋电台节目中，我们将与您分享关于国际保护和管理方法的研究成果，我们认为尽管我们有最好的意图，但我们在化学品的使用和扩散上的预防措施是很有限的，而且陷入官僚化管理及缺乏国际共识的困境。
Les produits chimiques relâchés dans les bassins versants et les cours d’eau sont un problème récurrent malgré toutes les sirènes d’alarmes, qui se sont élevées depuis plusieurs décennies contre un usage non-contrôlé des fertilisants et pesticides. Aujourd’hui, le problème est encore plus présent et menaçant que jamais. Dans cet épisode de World Ocean Radio, nous partageons des recherches sur les protections internationales et les approches de gestion et nous soutenons que malgré les meilleures intentions existantes, les précautions contre l’usage et la dispersion sont limitées à cause de la régulation bureaucratique et du manque de consensus international.
Os produtos químicos tóxicos libertados em bacias hidrográficas e vias aquíferas são um problema que persiste, apesar do som de alarmes que, durante décadas, têm protestado contra o uso indiscriminado de fertilizantes e pesticidas. Hoje, o problema mantém-se tão generalizado e ameaçador como então. Neste episódio da World Ocean Radio partilhamos pesquisa sobre protecções e abordagens de gestão internacionais, argumentando que, apesar das boas-intenções, as precauções contra o uso e disseminação são limitadas, atoladas que estão em burocracia reguladora e na falta de consenso internacional.
An article published by The Guardian in October provides a stark exposé of one of the largest Chinese suppliers of premium tuna to the Japanese market. The findings were alarming: a company circumventing international conservation limits by simply ignoring them; a government unwilling to crack down on illegal fishing because it does not fit past patterns of behavior; an industry that does nothing to honor catch limits set by Regional Fisheries Management Organizations. The list of revelations goes on. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will further outline the article by journalist Shannon Service, in which she discusses political ambitions, military might, shady dealings, global protein supplies, marine resources, territorial aspirations, and political action.
The world ocean is sick. The symptoms are no longer deniable: reported oil spills, leaks, runoff, dying reefs, warming temperatures, melting ice, changing pH, depleted fisheries, and hypoxic zones. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will talk about the state of the world ocean, will discuss “sea blindness” as a symptom of our current condition, and will ask, “What will it take?”, suggesting that we know what must be done but we are not yet aware enough, mad enough, or desperate enough to do enough about it.
