Not Business As Usual: Bill Reed & Rob Deitz
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“A person who knows that enough is enough will always have enough” – Lao Tzu (6th Century B.C.E.)
Like it or not, we are all consumers to some degree. But when is enough enough exactly? This week on Sea Change Radio, we dive into two very different ends of the consumerism pool.
First, we speak to the co-founder and CEO of Estancia Beef, Bill Reed, whose company is making inroads in the very competitive US market by importing grass-fed beef from Argentina. We’ll learn how his company can compete in both price and sustainability. Next, we hear from author Rob Dietz to discuss his thought-provoking new book “Enough Is Enough,” which sounds the alarm on the need to change the current internationally accepted standards for economic success.
Gone Fishin’: Australis Aquaculture CEO Josh Goldman
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Making responsible choices as a seafood consumer has never been more complicated. An average fish-eater might be aware that tuna is high in mercury, or that Chilean sea bass is over-fished, but even the most devoted environmentalists usually have to refer to their pocket Seafood Watch guide when perusing the fish counter at their local grocery store to make sure they’re choosing something that is a) sustainable, b) not filled with toxins, and c) something they know how to cook.
One of the developments in the 21st Century seafood industry, for better or for worse, is the growing market share that farmed fish represents. But are farmed fish sustainable? What makes one farmed fish a more responsible choice than another, or than a wild caught fish? Our guest today on Sea Change Radio is Josh Goldman, the CEO of Australis Aquaculture, the world’s largest producer of Barramundi, or what the company calls “sustainable sea bass.” Goldman walks us through innovations in aquaculture and tells us everything we’ve always wondered about fish farming – from why there aren’t any tuna farms to whether the all-powerful Japanese seafood industry is finally coming around to more responsible production practices.
To close the show, Sea Change Radio host Alex Wise reads an excerpt from Yale Environment 360 about the ongoing struggle to transform the Japanese seafood industry.
Rock & Droll: Chuck Leavell and “Rep.” Jack Kimble
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This week on Sea Change Radio we hear from two very different guests. First, it’s rock and roll legend, conservationist and environmental author, Chuck Leavell. He has played keyboards for the Rolling Stones since 1985 and is also known for his work with artists ranging from The Allman Brothers Band to Eric Clapton to The Black Crowes. Leavell talks to host Alex Wise about the ins and outs of his stellar career as a musician, his founding of the Mother Nature Network, his tireless work for sustainable forestry, and whether or not Alex’s favorite children’s story has a pro-environment message.
Next, Sea Change Radio takes a sharp right turn into the mythical 54th Congressional District of California with ersatz “Representative” Jack Kimble. Like some other members of Congress, Kimble does not let his abject ignorance stand in the way of strong opinion. You may find the interview puts you in mind of Lord Byron’s quote, “Fools are my theme, let satire be my song.”
Robert Boyd on the Hydrogen Economy
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One of the most alluring answers to the climate change conundrum is a transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to a hydrogen-based economy. As hydrogen power technology continues to evolve, it certainly seems like a promising way to decarbonize our energy system – but what are the practical considerations? Unlike carbon-based energy sources, there are no natural reservoirs of hydrogen on the planet; moreover, it must be bound to a carrier like natural gas or water. This week’s guest on Sea Change Radio is hydrogen vehicle fuel technology expert, Robert Boyd. Boyd and host Alex Wise discuss this relatively clean and plentiful resource, and what he and others are doing to help get us over the production and distribution hurdles that stand between us and a shift to a hydrogen-based economy.
Zac Unger: Looking Polar Bear Endangerment In The Eye
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We have all seen the mournful image of an unhappy polar bear isolated on a melting ice floe. It conveys the doom of that one bear as well as his species, and implies that we are all headed in that direction if something is not done about global warming.
Inspired by such images and his commitment to ecological conservation, this week’s guest on Sea Change Radio, Zac Unger, ventured up to the great white north to check out the plight of polar bears himself, up close. What he found surprised him. Embedding himself with scientists, Unger learned about how the bears are adjusting their diet, fasting periods and even breeding behavior in response to the warmer, longer summers that climate change is bringing. These adaptations, in conjunction with hunting prohibitions instituted late in the 20th century, have allowed the polar bear population to flourish. Continue reading Zac Unger: Looking Polar Bear Endangerment In The Eye
Strange and Rare Birds: Ralph Steadman & Ceri Levy
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Confronted with the topic of extinct birds, filmmaker and author Ceri Levy took an unorthodox route to raising awareness. He enlisted the irreverent and intoxicating painter, Ralph Steadman, who’s most famous as the partner-in-crime and illustrator for legendary gonzo journalist, Hunter S. Thompson.
Teeny Weeny Technology: Heather Millar on Nanoparticles
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Here’s a little exercise: take a pen and a blank piece of paper and write down everything you know about nano-technology. If you do this, you may find your essay to be pretty brief. You could take comfort to know you’re not alone in your ignorance of nano-technology. But perhaps you should not be feeling so comforted. In her recent Orion Magazine article, “Pandora’s Boxes,” today’s guest on Sea Change Radio, journalist Heather Millar, points out that nanoparticles are ubiquitous. Continue reading Teeny Weeny Technology: Heather Millar on Nanoparticles
Get The Lead Out: Kevin Drum & Sarah Hess
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The policy decisions we make today will have an impact on the next hundred years and beyond. It kind of makes you think, what policy decisions from the last century are we dealing with today? This week on Sea Change Radio, we focus on lead, a heavy metal whose regulation was slow to follow the discovery that it was highly toxic. The lag time meant the widespread use of this hazardous element as an ingredient in everyday substances like gasoline and house paint, and a toxic legacy that is still being felt.
First, host Alex Wise speaks to Mother Jones political writer Kevin Drum, who’s recently published a set of high-profile articles suggesting a link between lead levels in our environment and crime rates. Then, we hear from Sarah Hess, who shares her personal story of lead exposure and how it inspired her to become a community advocate for safe and lead-free playgrounds.
Tom Laskawy: Food Monopolies and the Antitrust Legacy of Robert Bork
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In the words of Robert Bork, the controversial legal scholar and one of the fathers of modern anti-trust law who died this past December 19th at age 85, “Courts that know better ought not . . . to make rules unrelated to reality.” Well, the reality that Prof. Bork and his fellow originalists strived for has manifested itself in a monopolistic food system that keeps prices low and our waistlines bulging. This week’s guest on Sea Change Radio, food writer Tom Laskawy, tells host Alex Wise why he believes that Bork’s ideas of linking economics to antitrust gave us cheap meat and dairy as well as massive quantities of processed food – and why that’s a problem. Here’s a link to Laskawy’s piece in Grist discussed at length on this week’s show.
Tim Faulkner: On The “Rhode” To Progress
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Frequent Sea Change Radio listeners know that we’ve covered many California-related environmental issues over the years – and for good reason. As the country’s most populous state, it’s an important barometer of our progress in the fight to become more sustainable. But what about our nation’s smallest state, Rhode Island? It counts too. This week, as we mark another year, we learn about the environmental issues facing little Rhode Island with Tim Faulkner, the Executive Editor of ecoRI news. Faulkner and host Alex Wise explore the challenges facing the alternative energy industry there as well as some of the long term policy goals that Rhode Island’s state government has set forth.