Moir’s Environmental Dialogues

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.

Ocean River Institute’s spring intern, Noa Randall, talks with Rob about kelp forests and sailing on a tall ship in Pacific Ocean. Noa discusses her experience snorkeling along the coast of Catalina Island. She spotted a sea lion gliding between kelp fronds, wanting to play but just as easily ready to attack. She found on the rocky wall tube snails with their plumed crowns swaying in the water attempting to catch zooplankton. As she swam back towards shore, Noa floated over congregating Leopard Sharks and some Shovelnose Guitarfish. We also talk about the giant black sea bass, their history and presence in that ecosystem as a popular sport fish. The program finishes up by telling listeners what campaigns ORI is currently working on and what they can do to help. Tune in!

Rob Moir’s guests are Noa Randall and Ryan Czekanski-Moir of the Ocean River Institute. They talk about proposing sanctuary for sharks in the Straits of Florida. Ryan covers the geology of the area and explains how to the east is the Oculina Reef with coral thickets and in deeper water the Blake Plateau, where a host of organisms live. Noa talks about the Lemon and Sandbar Sharks, as well as less abundant sharks. Recently, 40-50 sharks were seen off Jupiter and all were caught by long-liners. We are working with local communities to build a nomination for a National Marine Sanctuary and invite listeners to join with us.

Marty Baum is the Indian Riverkeeper. Marty is deeply connected to Florida's coastal with family ties back to 1866. The estimated annual economic value of the Indian River Lagoon is $3,725,900,000. Marty is alarmed by the recent deaths of 58 manatees and relates this to the shocking die-off of sea grass last summer. Pelicans are found suffering like never before. More than half of the Lagoon dolphins are sick, weakened by nitrogen pollution and poisoned by methyl mercury produced by nitrogen fertilizer. Everyone along Indian River Lagoon is directly dependent upon the health and vigor of the ecosystem. We must demand clean water. Every single one of us via our property values, wages, tax bases, services, recreation or our direct livelihoods, benefits from the Lagoon. Essentially, everything about our way of life here is enhanced and given greater value due to the influence of the Indian River Lagoon.

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.

Today Rob Moir is back, hosting Captain Nancy Beaver of Sunshine Wildlife Tours and his intern Noa Randall, to talk about what’s happening in Indian River Lagoon and learn more about the special wildlife that inhabits this area. Captain Beaver tells us about how Bird Island was recently designated as a Critical Wildlife Habitat, which is super important in helping to inform the public about the importance of this region. In addition, the work ORI was helping with down along the lagoon has continued and finally all the counties lining this body of water have passed fertilizer ordinances! Great progress! Nancy explains more about some of the unique animals that call this lagoon, and Bird Island, home including the Roseate Spoonbill, the Magnificent Frigatebird, and the Bottlenose Dolphins. Though lots of good work has been done already, there is always more we can do to help protect and preserve our environment. Keep up your support!

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.

Tales of Russia’s Sacred Sea, Lake Baikal are told by Peter Thomson, Environment Editor at the public radio program The World. Peter describes visiting the world’s deepest, oldest, and largest supply of fresh water in his new book, “Sacred Sea: A Journey to Lake Baikal.” For scientists, Baikal is an enigma: at once both a healthy and a dying ecosystem. Peter eloquently describes diving deep beneath cold, shimmering seas. The waters are unbelievably clear thanks to “the zillions of epischura trawling at any one time like a vast armada of aquatic vacuum cleaners, filtering Baikal’s water with extraordinary efficiency.” These shrimp-like critters are consumed by remarkable fish called “golomyonkas.” These fish swim perpendicular like seahorses and are, in turn, food for nerpas, the Baikal Seal. Despite the clash of two very different fundamental faiths, complete with mirages and miracles, Peter finds hope in those struggling to save Lake Baikal.

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.

Dyan DeNapoli, author of the newly released book The Great Penguin Rescue, tells the remarkable story of the largest and most successful wildlife rescue ever mounted. On June 23, 2000, an iron-ore carrier named the Treasure foundered off the coast of Cape Town between two of the main breeding islands for the African penguin. Already classified as a species vulnerable to extinction, the oil slick threatened to destroy nearly half the world population. Penguin experts, including Dyan, were flown in from around the world to manage a battalion of 12,500 volunteers who worked more than 556,000 hours force-feeding, washing, and rehabilitating 19,000 oiled penguins, and moving another 19,500 penguins from their islands to prevent them from getting oiled. Dyan’s account is an endearing tale of perseverance to overcome devastatingly daunting obstacles to bring the African penguin back from the edge of extinction.

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!

David Helvarg, founder and Executive Director of Blue Frontier, spoke with Rob about what is happening in Washington and about his latest book: Saved by the Sea, Hope, Heartbreak, and Wonder in the Blue World. The Blue Vision Summit 5 was held in Washington DC with Peter Benchley Ocean Awards for excellence in stewardship, science, policy, marine exploration and youth activism. More than 200 ocean conservation advocates met with 163 legislators on the Hill. Rob talks of his New England delegation meeting with Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, as well as staff members of 7 other NE legislators. Issues of concern included support of the Illegal International Unregulated, Unreported Fishing Bill; opposition to Offshore Drilling in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans; Bristol Bay Alaska fishermen and tribal groups’ effort to stop a 4 mile in diameter copper pit mine called Pebble Mine; and a Climate Change Education Bill involving families and adult decision-makers.

David Helvarg, founder and Executive Director of Blue Frontier, spoke with Rob about what is happening in Washington and about his latest book: Saved by the Sea, Hope, Heartbreak, and Wonder in the Blue World. The Blue Vision Summit 5 was held in Washington DC with Peter Benchley Ocean Awards for excellence in stewardship, science, policy, marine exploration and youth activism. More than 200 ocean conservation advocates met with 163 legislators on the Hill. Rob talks of his New England delegation meeting with Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, as well as staff members of 7 other NE legislators. Issues of concern included support of the Illegal International Unregulated, Unreported Fishing Bill; opposition to Offshore Drilling in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans; Bristol Bay Alaska fishermen and tribal groups’ effort to stop a 4 mile in diameter copper pit mine called Pebble Mine; and a Climate Change Education Bill involving families and adult decision-makers.