Planet Watch Radio Podcast

How does what we're learning about the great apes teach us about our humanity and hopes for survival on planet earth? Our guest on this week's Planet Watch is Michelle Merrill. She is currently an independent consultant (perplexedprimate.org) and the founder of Novasutras.org. She taught anthropology and sustainability courses at Cabrillo College from 2006 to 2013. She then had a 2 1/2 year research fellowship at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, doing work that led to her book on education for sustainability in Asia. She earned her Ph.D. in biological anthropology from Duke University in 2004. She worked with bonobos at the Language Research Center at Georgia State University, then in the rainforest of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) in the mid-1990s. She went on to do her dissertation research on social learning and the evolution of culture through a study of orangutans in the Sumatran rainforests. Air Date: June 24, 2018 on KSCO radio station AM1080  

On the podcast we hear an interview with deep sea researcher Linda Snook whose work takes her 1500 feet down underwater in a tiny submersible. The creatures she sees few people lay eyes on in a lifetime; giant sea bass, strange worms, and lantern fish are some of the surprises she finds on old oil rigs. Linda was part of the 2005 Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Deep Habitat Assemblages - Research Monitoring and Assessment team and has co-authored a number of articles on her research for NOAA and the Bulletin of Marine Science. She also recently participated in a study on the effects of the electromagnetic fields (EMFs) generated by submarine power cables on aquatic organisms. Then, stories from Cabrillo College journalism students on topics ranging from elephant seals to landfills to sudden oak death. Air Date: June 17, 2018 on KSCO radio station AM1080

David Clague is our guest on Planet Watch. He is a senior scientist and volcanologist at MBARI, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. He talks about how Kilauea and other large active volcanoes help us learn more about our planet. Dave’s research interests are nearly all related to the formation and degradation of oceanic volcanoes, particularly Hawaiian volcanoes, mid-ocean ridges, and isolated seamounts. Topics of interest include: compositions of mantle sources for basaltic magmas and conditions of melting; development and evolution of magma chambers beneath spreading centers and Hawaiian volcanoes; volatile and rare-gas components in basaltic magmas and their degassing history; chronostratigraphic studies of eruption sequence and evolution of lava chemistry during volcano growth; subsidence of ocean volcanoes and its related crustal flexure, plate deformation, and magmatic activity; formation of cumulate xenoliths during different stages of Hawaiian volcanism; transport of volcaniclastic sediment

At the University of California, students and faculty are engaged in a campaign to get one of the country's largest public university systems to divest their financial interests in fossil fuel companies on moral grounds and with the argument supporting polluting industries that contribute to global warming is contrary to the values of the institution.They are having some successes and some set-backs along the way. In this episode we hear from two students who are busy engaging in activism and advocacy on this issue.

Stan Sokolow trained and practiced as an orthodontist most of his life. But his interest in solving the world's transportation problems became an obsession when he got inspired by reading about successes in other countries with this innovative solution. Find out which cities are already using this method of people moving and which are about to adopt it. What about self-driving buses? Would you ride on one? Here is more information on BRT:

Jonathan Fortney is a planet hunter. His job as head of UC Santa Cruz's Astronomy Department is to look for exoplanets, planets orbiting other solar systems. He talks about what it would mean to find life, any life, elsewhere and how that ties in to our own stewardship of our own living planet.

What's so green about skyscrapers? What are the top three best ways to "green them up"? How long until owners recoup their investment in green retrofits? Find out with green building guru, Barry Giles, CEO of BREEAMUSA. Barry is the CEO of BREEAM USA and BuildingWise, as well as a LEED Fellow and a BREEAM Fellow with over 35 years in construction and facilities maintenance. He is a past member of the GBCI’s Credentialing Steering Committee and a past member of the Materials & Resources TAG and the LEED Curriculum Committee. Barry has consulted on or is currently working with 150 high performance existing buildings, along withLEED® and BREEAM® services, and has provided operations efficiency training, energy audits, and carbon footprint analysis, to government agencies, major commercial and institutional projects. As one of the founding members of the LEED-EB Core Committee, Barry assisted the USGBC’s education department in developing the LEED-EB training workshop that debuted in late 2003. A Senior LEED-EB

An interview with Scott Wing, Curator of Fossils at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History and a Yale educated expert in what happened when earth had its last period of global warming. We'll talk about what he learned that could help us understand and avoid repeating that turbulent time. Scott is a great storyteller and passionate advocate for the environment.His work was featured in this article in National Geographic. https://paleobiology.si.edu/staff/individuals/wing.cfm If you like this show, you'll also be interested in programs #0059 and #0060 about ancient earth and what it can tell us about the future.

A visit with Patricia Rain, the Vanilla Queen and a look at the future fate of our favorite flavors. Patricia Rain is an author, educator, culinary historian, and owner of The Vanilla Company, a socially conscious, product-driven information and education site dedicated to the promotion of pure, natural vanilla, and the support of vanilla farmers worldwide. The Vanilla Cookbook (Celestial Arts, 1986) established her as an authority on this exotic rainforest product.  She has continued to do research on the uses of vanilla in a diverse variety of applications: as a flavor in both sweet and savory foods; as a medicinal; as a fragrance; and in aromatherapy.  The Vanilla Chef (Vanilla Queen Press, 2002) is a companion book to the Internet business. Vanilla:  The Cultural History of The World’s Favorite Flavor and Fragrance (Tarcher, a member of the US Penguin Group, 2004) is her most recent book. Will there be vanilla, chocolate, and coffee in three decades? What can we do about the threats to the ecosystems

Guests Len Beyea, an energy efficiency engineer/expert on green buildings and efficiency and Peter Drekmeier, former Mayor of Palo Alto and an eco warrior for the Tuolumne River, among other causes, share their insights on how local municipalities and private companies can drastically reduce their carbon footprint by lowering energy use in buildings. Plus a little April foolish news.      

Dark Skies, Starry Nights: What have we lost by lighting up the world with artificial light? What can we gain by helping the skies stay dark at night, and infusing our days with natural light? How is artificial lighting impacting wildlife? What is being done to protect our sleep problems and loss of the night sky view? These are some of the questions we'll be taking up with members of the International Dark Sky Association Lisa Heschong and Jeff Parry.

Peter Fiekowsky is an entrepreneur committed to leaving a world we're proud of for our  children.  He is a founder of initiatives in climate restoration: 300x2050.com  and Healthy Climate Alliance. Founder and president of AVI LLC. Board  member of Repower Capital Inc. MIT physicist with 27 patents. Peter is an expert at identifying  and specifying intended outcomes so that pathways to success are  quickly identified and effective, committed teams are assembled that  achieve them. He connects experts and organizations that can contribute  to major initiatives from a variety of angles, and he supports them in  working collaboratively and constructively towards common goals. Peter’s current focus is on restoring a healthy climate for our children. 300x2050.com  provides links between potential funders and climate restoration  practitioners, facilitating funding that allows climate restoration work  to be scaled up. The Healthy Climate Alliance serves as a hub to  connect and support nine key communities--nota

We present a conversation with Dr. Mary Wilcox Silver,Professor Emeritus of Ocean Sciences, one of the first women to head a major Ocean Sciences department at a UC. Her works focuses on phytoplankton and ocean food webs. What do phytoplankton have to do with Alfred Hitchcock's movie, The Birds? Find out how Mary Silver figured out the answer!

James Zachos's investigations of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum and other major climate shifts in Earth's past are highly relevant to understanding how human activities are driving modern-day global climate change. A study he coauthored in 2016 shows that the current rate at which carbon is being released into the atmosphere is unprecedented in at least the past 66 million years. He and his associates are also investigating ocean acidification (see acid oceans) that accompanied the extreme transient warmings. Zachos is a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz. In addition, he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Geophysical Union, California Academy of Sciences, and Geological Society of America. He received the 2016 Milutin Milankovic Medal from the European Geosciences Union. His work has been widely featured in media coverage of climate change, including articles in the New Yorker and National Geographic magazines. Air Date: March 4, 2018 on KSCO radi

In this episode, we look at how archeologists are working with native tribes to mitigate the impact of sea level rise on native burial sites. We explore mapping the complex webs of interdependence involved in one native fishery and how that sheds light on our own food systems. Our guest is Mike Newland, a professional Archaeologist from Sonoma State University who is a leader in addressing issues involving cultural heritage and climate change. Plus, a look at using archeology to reunite the cremains of loved ones with their relatives after the Santa Rosa fires in California.

Dr. Surya Prakash, author of Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy, which he co-wrote with George Olah and Alain Goeppert. Find out about his latest discovery for converting methane gas to plastics and other chemical science breakthroughs such as methanol which can reduce pollution. Prakash is holder of the George A. and Judith A. Olah Nobel Laureate Chair in Hydrocarbon Chemistry at the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute and Department of Chemistry at the University of Southern California.

In this podcast we present an interview with former Director of the California Coastal Commission, Charles Lester. Lester presided over the most powerful regulatory body in the nation when it comes to coastal protection under Governors Davis, Schwarzenegger, and Brown. He'll talk about protecting our coasts against drilling, development and sea level rise among other things. Plus news and a report about Watsonville Wetlands Watch, a program to protect what's left of this precious natural area. Air Date: February 11, 2018 on KSCO radio station AM1080

A conversation with David Orr, writer and professor emeritus of environmental studies and political science from Oberlin College about the future of American democracy. What do we do to repair the damage being done to our basic institutions by the current administration? What happens after 2018, 2020, and next week if there is a constitutional crisis? How does that relate to saving the environment? Tune in and find out. Dr. Orr is spearheading a project to develop conversations across the country about "what do we do now?" For more information on Dr. Orr's new project: www.stateofamericandemocracy.org  Air Date: February 4, 2018 on KSCO radio station AM1080    

How will Trump's tariffs on solar panels affect efforts to install millions of solar panels and fight climate change? Who are the winners and losers in this trade game? We'll hear from Markus Beck CTO of Siva Technologies, a solar manufacturing firm in the Bay Area, and Antony Tersol, Principal at Applied Solar Energy in Monterey. Air Date: January 28, 2018 on KSCO radio station AM1080

The president's efforts to open most of the U.S. coastlines to oil drilling has sparked a bipartisan condemnation and resistance across most of the affected states. In this episode we hear from Dan Haifley, Executive Director of O'Neill Sea Odyssey and former Director of Save Our Shores about efforts to resist drilling of California and other coastlines. We also hear from Natural Resources Secretary for California, John Laird about legal and political maneuvering to avoid offshore drilling.  Air Date: January 21, 2018 on KSCO radio station AM1080