Description
World Ocean Radio is a weekly podcast offering 5-minute episodes relevant to ocean and climate issues. Topics include science, education, conservation strategies, advocacy, emerging technology, and exemplary global projects and innovations. All episodes engage listeners and invite them to get informed about local and global issues. We share the knowledge that we are all connected by the issues facing us today and we believe we can be galvanized by the possibility of the solutions yet to discover. World Ocean Radio broadcasts meaningful, relevant, science-based information for us all about the state of the world ocean and global climate. Our perspective is to offer first-person essays that report on the issues we’re most concerned with today: ocean acidification, overfishing, a changing Arctic, fossil fuels and hydro-fracking, climate change and the threats of extinction, ocean and climate policy, governance, cultural tales that inspire, innovative and emerging technologies, plastic pollution, threats to the coastal zone, warming seas and subsequent species migration, and so much more. The common threads in each radio broadcast are that they offer relevant information about the state of the planet, and about how we can become more involved and take action.
Objectives and beneficiaries
There’s no shortage of dire environmental news in the 21st century: watershed and coastal pollution; nitrogen runoff from an industrialized world; a warming planet; warming oceans and subsequent migrating fish species; plastic gyres swirling in our seas; threatened pristine waters in our quest for more and cheaper fossil fuels; polluted water due to hydro-fracking; overfishing; threats of extinction and trophic cascade; more extreme weather and coastal erosion.
But there is also plenty of good news: coastal communities with innovative adaptive technologies for a changing landscape; preservation and celebration of maritime heritage on a global scale; more science-driven attention being given to our changing climate.
We talk about it all on World Ocean Radio. Our objective is to expand public awareness of the implication of the ocean for the health of human survival and of the need to develop a new climate strategy for a sustainable future.
Strong points of the solution
The issues facing the world today have global consequences. We are all connected by the sea, no matter where we live on the planet. That is our biggest driving message on World Ocean Radio: that no matter where we are, overfishing affects us. Sea level rise and extreme weather affect us whether we’re in an African desert or on a mountaintop. We are all connected by the issues and problems we face. The sea connects ALL things. The purpose of World Ocean Radio is to provide a collective voice for many ocean voices, a central place of exchange of content and accomplishment, a promoter of best practices and innovation, and an effective connection for the global ocean community.
Expected results and benefits for climate change adaptation and mitigation
At World Ocean Observatory we advocate for a sustainable planet through many communications tools, but our most frequent and well-known program is World Ocean Radio. We broadcast to more than 2 million listeners in more than 10 countries, and are heard on college and community radio stations around the United States and Canada. We believe that by connecting with listeners about the important issues that we are engaging an expanding global community of literally millions. We are steadfast in our belief that we must increase awareness and change perceptions and that we must move beyond wishful thinking and engage a growing number of climate and ocean advocates at a scale that truly matters. By providing an informed, exciting, relentless and enduring program such as World Ocean Radio, we are spreading awareness and understanding and changing perceptions amongst students, educators, policy makers, and others who care about a sustainable future.
Scalability potential of the solution
In June 2014, we began broadcasting a selection of episodes in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Swahili. In 2015 we added Mandarin. Our goal is to introduce World Ocean Radio to new audiences in Europe, Africa, South America and Latin America. A skilled team of freelancers accurately transcribe episodes, and audio recordings are performed by a team of native speakers in each language.
[Editor's Note: All information published as submitted by the author(s). Minor edits may have been made for length and clarity.]
