Sea Change Radio

May

New Economic Horizons: Gus Speth & Will Raap

What would an economy built on principles of fairness and sustainability look like? How do we model it; where is it emerging; how do we collectively strategize to fully implement it? These are the questions that’ll be asked at the upcoming Strategies For A New Economy Conference hosted by the New Economics Institute. Sea Change Radio founder Bill Baue serves as this week’s guest host, speaking with two leading environmental thinkers who’ll be participating in the conference.

First, Bill talks to Gus Speth, a Law Professor at the Vermont Law School and the former Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. They discuss the problems with GDP-based economic growth strategies and how we might be able to look beyond striving for endless growth in a world with finite resources. Next, Bill speaks with Will Raap, the founder of both Gardener’s Supply and the Intervale Center, about the struggle to create systems change from the bottom up as well using the state of Vermont as a model for rebuilding our economies.

The New Arctic: A Thawed Diamond

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This week on Sea Change Radio we begin a two-part series on the Arctic. If you’re looking for present-day observable impacts of global warming, head North, where the melting of the polar ice cap has opened up oil reserves, shipping lanes, and many other opportunities for trade and transport. If you’re looking for a preview of the unanticipated consequences of climate change, including new sorts of geopolitical conflict over territory and commerce, the Arctic is also a good place to watch that unfold.

Our guest this week is author David Fairhall, whose book Cold Front: Conflict Ahead in Arctic Waters explores these very issues. Fairhall and host Alex Wise talk about the environmental, economic, and political ramifications of a new, thawed Arctic, and discuss whether the last best hope for ecological preservation in the Arctic lies in the hands of the scientific community.

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May

Low-Carbon Living: Sweating The Right Stuff

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Are you the kind of person who calculates your carbon footprint the way some folks count calories? And if you aren’t should you be? This week’s guest on Sea Change Radio, Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel, and her colleagues from the Union of Concerned Scientists have written a guide that makes it easier to reduce your carbon footprint by 20% – without sweating the small stuff.

Fair Is Fair: Rodney North & Evan Gillespie

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Advocates for environmental sustainability would all agree that long-term solutions are going to require changes in consumer behavior. But even the most conscientious consumers sometimes find themselves stumped by confusing labeling and policies that get in the way. Our two guests this week on Sea Change Radio are each trying to make it easier to be a responsible consumer. First we will hear from Rodney North of Equal Exchange, the first organization that promoted socially responsible goods as “fair trade.” He provides the background and discusses some of the controversies around fair trade labeling of goods. Next, host Alex Wise talks with the Sierra Club’s Evan Gillespie, who’s leading a campaign to push for energy reform in California, including a solar bill of rights.

In the Shadow of the Smokestacks (Part II): Richmond, CA

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Last week on Sea Change Radio, we discussed the Chevron Refinery in Richmond, California, and the social movement that’s pushing back against one of the world’s largest corporations there. This week, we hear from Roger Kim, the Executive Director of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, a non-profit that enables disenfranchised communities to fight for social justice. Then, host Alex Wise talks with Greg Karras, a scientist from Communities for a Better Environment, about the adaptations oil refineries are making as we hit and pass peak oil and how these changes will affect the health of the planet.

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Apr

In the Shadow of the Smokestacks (Part I): Richmond, California

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Richmond, California is one of the many communities in America where economic and environmental injustice intersect. A waterfront city in the San Francisco Bay Area, you might expect it to be dominated by affluence and comfort, but you’d be mistaken. Back in 1901 Standard Oil moved in, and built what currently operates as the Chevron Richmond Refinery, and since then, the city of Richmond has literally grown up in the shadow of the smokestacks. Chevron has not been the most responsible of neighbors, and those of us who have lived in the Bay Area for a while can’t help but associate Richmond with chemical leaks and warnings for residents not to leave their homes. But this week’s guest on Sea Change Radio has an inspiring story of a community coming together to blow back at the smokestack. Host Alex Wise speaks with Greg Karras, a senior scientist at Communities for a Better Environment, an organization that advocates for working-class communities like Richmond that don’t have the money or political influence to fight Big Oil by themselves.

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Apr

Chris Mooney: Inside The Republican Brain and Climate Denialism

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If you’re listening to this show, chances are you believe that climate change is real, that it’s a problem, and that human actions have brought us to where we are today.

Some Sea Change Radio listeners are Democrats, some are Republicans, and a large number may not identify with either party – but all are probably pretty concerned about responsible environmental stewardship, irrespective of their specific political party affiliation.

There is one political party here in the United States, however, whose official position is to deny the threat of climate change and block any and all attempts to slow environmental degradation, in spite of the large body of scientific research that contradicts that position. Our guest this week on Sea Change Radio is Chris Mooney, whose book The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science — and Reality explores why so many Republicans refuse to accept things that most experts identify as factual. Mooney talks with host Alex Wise about the book, what he posits, and the research that backs him up.

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Apr

Winds of Change: The DeepCwind Consortium

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You probably remember the Cape Wind project. It is America’s first offshore wind farm, located in Nantucket Sound, but coastal residents who considered it an eyesore have been anything but breezy, costing the project dearly in delays and dollars. This week’s guest on Sea Change Radio has a model for offshore wind power that can bypass the objections of the “not-in-my-beachview” crowd.

Host Alex Wise talks with Dr. Habib Dagher who manages the DeepCWind Consortium, a floating wind turbine project which is scheduled to launch off the coast of Maine in the summer of 2013. Unlike the Cape Wind project, this offshore wind project is floating, and it’s far enough away from land that it can’t be seen from the coast. Dr. Dagher talks about the exciting solution that floating turbines could offer, the magnitude of this technology’s capacity for energy capture, and some of the challenges facing the offshore wind industry on the whole.

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Apr

Designer Genes Without Labels: The Fight For GMO Transparency

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Have you ever tasted a strawberry whose DNA was altered to include fish genes? In the United States, genetically modified foods are not generally labeled as such. This week’s guest on Sea Change Radio is Charles Margulis, Communications and Food Program Director at the Center for Environmental Health and former lead for Greenpeace’s Genetic Engineering Campaign. Margulis believes that American consumers have the right to know when they are eating genetically modified organisms, or, as he calls them, unlabeled experimental foods. Listen as he speaks with host Alex Wise about the rise of the GMO, the movement pushing for more regulation of GMOs, and the substantial resistance that proponents of GMO labeling have encountered.

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Mar

From Vine To Cork: Sustainable Wine-Making Practices

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You are planning a nice dinner party and you want to buy a bottle of wine. How do you stay true to your environmental commitment when choosing a wine? Do you need to buy organic wine, or are there other factors that are more significant? And what about the cork? Does it matter what stops the bottle up? Today on Sea Change Radio we explore wine – what goes in the bottle and what seals it. First, we hear from winemaker Christopher Vandendriessche who discusses practices in the industry that do and do not promote sustainability, and how his small family-run winery, White Rock Vineyards, works to conserve natural resources while producing excellent-tasting wine. Next, host Alex Wise speaks to environmental journalist and educator Andrew Revkin, who has been leading a documentary filmmaking project on the sustainability of cork. They talk about cork and the movement toward synthetic corks and aluminum screw-tops.