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As the author of “Jaws,” Peter Benchley, put it, “You could start now, and spend another forty years learning about the sea without running out of new things to know.” This week’s guest on Sea Change Radio would surely concur. Richard Delaney, the President and CEO of the Center for Coastal Studies, has spent the past forty some-odd years on Cape Cod, striving to understand the fathomless and majestic depths of the ocean. In our discussion, we look at the impact that pollution and climate change are having on the Cape’s fragile ecosystem, how shark, whale and seal populations have been affected, and what these changes mean for the area’s seafood industry. We also note that Delaney’s organization is currently hosting a free online film festival, coincidentally dubbed Sea Change Film Shorts 2020.

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Many of us are about to embark on our first COVID-19 holiday shopping season. With so many of our favorite stores closed or out of business, a logical alternative is to buy online. But before you log into Amazon to fill your shopping cart, you might want to listen to this week’s episode of Sea Change Radio. Today we welcome two sociologists whose new book is called The High Cost of Free Shipping: Amazon In The Global Economy. We talk about the impact that this e-commerce giant’s exponential growth has on vulnerable populations, how the is public subsidizing the modern-day robber baron, and whether there may be ways to curb some of the company’s more predatory practices.

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This week on Sea Change Radio, we figured you might need a respite from biting your nails down to the quick over the election, so today we are speaking with two Americans living overseas about their respective work to make the world a better place. First, we welcome back to the show Michael Payne, a former windpower executive and cycling advocate, to get an update on how alternative energy and self-propelled transportation are progressing in his adopted country of the Netherlands. Then, we speak to Julienne Oyler from Rwanda about her nonprofit, the African Entrepreneur Collective, an organization which helps support small businesses in Africa.

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This week on Sea Change Radio, we hear host Alex Wise’s thoughts on the 2020 election as we enter the final week of the campaign. Then, we speak to Ian Urbina, a longtime investigative reporter for the New York Times whose latest book The Outlaw Ocean reveals many of the hidden costs of the seafood and shipping industries. After listening to Urbina discuss his book that took five years to research and led him around the globe through some of the deadliest waters on earth, it’ll make you realize that the reason something is impossibly cheap is because far too often it involves impossible human suffering.

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The clock is ticking down on Decision 2020. Whether they are talking about record turnout, or voter suppression, or the reliability of polling data, the pundits are in agreement on one thing: 2020 is an election like no other. This week on Sea Change Radio, we are speaking with political consultant Aaron Huertas about how this unique election is unfolding. We learn about how and when Americans are exercising their franchise, the growth in early voting around the country, hot spots for voter suppression, and what all of us can do to make a difference before the last ballot is cast.

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When a member of your household feels unwell, a good first step is to find the thermometer — if there’s a fever, it could be something serious. Well, these days our planet is exhibiting signs of illness, from swarms of locusts in East Africa and southwest Asia, to the smoke spreading from California’s infernos, to a massive release of greenhouse gasses from once-frozen, now-burning Siberia. And Covid itself may serve as both a metaphor and an exemplar of the inextricable connection between the planet’s health and that of our species. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to Howard Frumkin, a physician and environmentalist who recently coauthored a book entitled Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves. We talk about how the pandemic exposes planetary health issues related to food, population, and politics, and touch on what we can do to bring the patient’s fever down.

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A few years ago, we discussed a high profile case, Juliana v. U.S., brought by 21 remarkable young plaintiffs across the country. The plaintiffs, most of whom were children when the case was first filed, essentially argued that their government had a legal obligation to protect them from the effects of climate change, an obligation they were failing to meet. This week on Sea Change Radio, we get an update on the lawsuit from journalist Lee van der Voo who has chronicled the case in her new book, As The World Burns. Then we dig into the Sea Change Radio archives and hear a bit from our 2017 conversation with Philip Gregory, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the Juliana case.

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As 2020, aka the year from hell, rolls on, we thought it might be a good time to revisit an uplifting voice from less troubled times. This week on Sea Change Radio, we dig into the archives and listen to our 2017 discussion with British writer and environmentalist, George Monbiot. We talk about his book, Out of the Wreckage, where Monbiot examines how our politics have been mired between the redundant doctrines of Keynesianism and neoliberalism – and he reminds us of the importance of recognizing altruism and of the power of narrative in the human psyche. In addition to providing some insight into how we ended up here, it’ll hopefully help you take your mind off of this dismal year.