Best Peter Neill World Ocean Observatory Podcasts (2025)

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Joseph Conrad Rides the Wind 5:05

Play Pause

1h ago5:05

5:05

This week on World Ocean Radio Peter Neill shares thoughts and readings from Joseph Conrad and from UK writer Adrian Morgan's recent article entitled, “How Many Ways Has Joseph Conrad Described the Wind?" About World Ocean Radio World Ocean Radio is a weekly series of five-minute audio essays available for syndicated use at no cost by college and c…

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Peatlands 5:03

4d ago5:03

5:03

Peatlands, bogs, swamps, and wetlands are uniquely biodiverse natural spaces: soft coastal barriers that make immeasurable contributions to the health and sustainability of human endeavor. Left unprotected, their consumption contributes to a growing worldwide problem; conserved, they sequester carbon, enable wildlife, filter water, and protect us f…

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Blue Ocean Leadership 5:16

12d ago5:16

5:16

This week on World Ocean Radio we're discussing the "Mind Map of Blue Ocean Leadership,” a chart developed by a global constituency of business experts, graphed to show existing leadership design while suggesting changes that are different from conventional approaches, charted as a “mind map” intended to fix, clarify, and establish an effective pro…

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The Ocean as Peacebuilder 5:09

19d ago5:09

5:09

This week Peter Neill is reading from an article written by representatives of the UN IOC and the Natural Science Foundation of China, based on the concept of ocean as peacebuilder and amplifier of ocean sustainability. The authors argue that the ocean’s peace-building potential is inseparable from the objective and cooperative nature of ocean scie…

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The Moon and the Ocean 4:58

1M ago4:58

4:58

From an island perch in Maine, host of World Ocean Radio Peter Neill recently witnessed a full moon rising over the Atlantic Ocean. The silent, majestic way that it rose in the night sky got him ruminating about water, tide, sun, sea currents, power, light, nature, human emotion, and the often under-appreciated, surreal force of the moon. About Wor…

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What If? 5:06

1M ago5:06

5:06

This week: Is there no time left to explore other ways of seeing, being, solving, and surviving? Where can we place our energy and imagination to serve as functions of invention? What if there are new ways of thinking about what and how we invest for the future? About World Ocean Radio World Ocean Radio is a weekly series of five-minute audio essay…

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Who Cares About the Ocean? 5:11

2M ago5:11

5:11

On June 8th, World Ocean Day, the new film OCEAN, presented by Sir David Attenborough, debuted in theatres and maritime museums around the world, a celebration of the ocean’s beauty and distress, and a passionate call for urgent protection. Who cares about the ocean? What will it take to reverse perspective and increase engagement? How do we best c…

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AI and the Ocean 5:59

2M ago5:59

5:59

This week, host Peter Neill reads verbatim an AI response to an action posed. He asked Chat GPT to write 750 words in the style of Peter Neill on World Ocean Radio, taking on the topic of artificial intelligence and the ocean. The response was quite shocking. Tune in to this special 6-minute episode to hear the entire assignment. About World Ocean …

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Why War? 5:02

2M ago5:02

5:02

Why is there so much war? So much strife in the Middle East: what are we fighting for? This week Peter Neill,founder of W2O and host of World Ocean Radio, argues that it's all about the water. It's always been about the water: rivers, access to the sea...water is the source of life--and of conflict. Water, necessary to sustain our cities, our agric…

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Canals and the Circulation of Water 5:11

2M ago5:11

5:11

This week we're discussing the circulation of water worldwide, and the importance of our waterways--canals in particular--as the great highways and distribution centers of our busy lives, now storing and transferring water and energy, and revitalized for recreational use and enjoyment of natural spaces. About World Ocean Radio World Ocean Radio is …

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Ocean Literacy and How to Understand the Ocean 5:12

3M ago5:12

5:12

This week on World Ocean Radio we are discussing the Ocean Literacy movement and the need for more ocean science and fresh water understanding in the classroom. Ocean Literacy is comprised of seven basic principles, and host Peter Neill provides further perspective to include the global fresh water cycle by which to expand the principles into a set…

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Apprenticing: A Manifesto 5:14

3M ago5:14

5:14

Apprenticing has long been thought of as a term to describe someone working beside a master craftsperson to learn a trade and to refine a professional skill: whether it be pottery or electrical, cabinetry or plumbing. As an educational model it has long been mostly lost or forgotten, except in a place in midcoast Maine: The Apprenticeshop, where ap…

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What is Ocean Day Meant to Do? 4:47

3M ago4:47

4:47

Each year on June 8th we celebrate World Ocean Day to recognize our relationship with the ocean, the vast watery world that covers 71% of our planet. Despite gains in ocean education and increased awareness and importance of the Ocean Literacy movement, public awareness of ocean issues in the United States does not advance much over time. What does…

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Circulation 5:00

3M ago5:00

5:00

We live in a world of invisible circulation. It swirls in us and around us at all times, transporting and exchanging all things good and bad, some natural, some man-made. This week we're discussing the ocean-fresh water system--the full global circulation, from mountaintop to abyssal plain, upon which all life depends. About World Ocean Radio World…

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Will the Children Will Set Us Free? 5:07

4M ago5:07

5:07

Will the children set us free? Has it come to that? Have we abandoned the future for our children to solve, leaving them accountable for what we have failed to do? This week on World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill shares where he finds hope for the future, including in a web-based educational initiative that introduces children worldwide to the compl…

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15 Years of World Ocean Radio 5:09

4M ago5:09

5:09

This week marks the 750th episode of World Ocean Radio: 15 years of weekly short audio that reaches millions around the globe, sharing concepts, demands, and solutions related to ocean technology and science, policy, examples of best practice, personal reflections, and solutions for how the ocean connects, sustains, inspires, and engages us in comm…

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Running Home 4:58

4M ago4:58

4:58

This week on World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill reflects on the importance of water in our lives, our culture, our memories, our very being. Water, he argues, is the essence of home, and the grace and gift of knowing it’s there for our return. About World Ocean Radio World Ocean Radio is a weekly series of five-minute audio essays available for sy…

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Pope Francis and the Ocean, Laudato Si Revisited 5:00

5M ago5:00

5:00

Pope Francis, outspoken voice for climate and the environment, passed away on Monday, April 21st. Throughout his reign as leader of the Catholic Church, he was very clear in his views on climate change as a real factor in today's world, and expressed that we must understand and respond to these problems for our future survival. In 2015, Pope Franci…

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What About the Land? 5:05

5M ago5:05

5:05

Earth Day is April 22nd. In honor of our watery planet we revisit a land-centric episode this week on World Ocean Radio. What About the Land? 40% of the planet is used for farming and livestock, often degraded by unsustainable or destructive practices. Coupled with coastal, wetland and reclaimed land development in the name of urban expansion, we a…

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Revelations by Salt 5:00

5M ago5:00

5:00

Discovery of a curriculum developed for coastal Africa some years ago sent World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill on a journey of discovery and revelation about salt as a construct to be observed, understood, and taught. A western scientific perspective might teach students about salt from a chemistry-led lesson, whereas the African curriculum taught s…

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Terraqueous 5:06

5M ago5:06

5:06

ter·ra·que·ous /terˈākwēəs/ Adjective: consisting of land and water Mud season: a special time of year in the northeastern corner of the United States, when winter and spring collide in a soggy muck: the rains come, ice and snow melts, saturating the land, creating a terraqueous mess for cars and boots. This week on World Ocean Radio, we're applyin…

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World Water Day is March 22nd 5:06

6M ago5:06

5:06

March 22nd is World Water Day, a celebration of what Jacques Cousteau called The Great Hydrosphere, expanded beyond Ocean to include the entirety of the water cycle: the one natural system that controls our planet's utility. From mountaintop to abyssal plain, water is the great circulatory system that connects all things. This week on World Ocean R…

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Co-Relation 5:04

6M ago5:04

5:04

This week on World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill shares a smart, succinct new title from the Forerunners: Ideas First series entitled "Coralatations" by Melody Jue. The book is a philosophical exploration of coral reefs, technology, and media and how, through co-relation, we might expand our understanding of natural resources beyond endangerment to …

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Ocean Literacy: A Call for Action 5:44

6M ago5:44

5:44

Ocean Literacy is a bottom-up movement driven by classroom teachers who understand the full implication of education, adaptation, and innovation for our future. In Venice, Italy, in 2024, a conference gathered to address today's issues, and to produce the Venice Declaration for Ocean Literacy to provide goals and agenda items for the UN Ocean Confe…

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Water as a Metaphor for Resistance 4:46

7M ago4:46

4:46

"Power is like water. It flows all around us at all times. Sometimes it takes the liquid form of politics-in-action...Sometimes it takes the solid form of settled law: policy is power frozen. Sometimes it is like vapor in the air, invisibly shaping the climate and our behavior in just the way beliefs or ideology or emotions do..." So states Eric Li…

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Eco-Psychology 5:15

7M ago5:15

5:15

Eco-psychology studies the relationships between people and nature, and seeks to develop ways to expand the emotional connections between individuals and the natural world. There is progression in the term: understanding of Eco-psychology presents plans, promise, and action toward transformational outcomes, strategies, and prognoses for the future.…

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Eudaemonism: A Word for the Ocean 5:16

7M ago5:16

5:16

Eudaemonism: What does it mean? What does it have to do with happiness? And what is its context for the ocean? Tune in to find out. About World Ocean Radio World Ocean Radio is a weekly series of five-minute audio essays available for syndicated use at no cost by college and community radio stations worldwide. Weekly insights into ocean science, ad…

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A Distillation of Purpose 5:00

8M ago5:00

5:00

What are the five key reasons for ocean conservation? What are the five areas where progress matters most? With the world in an off-axis state of turmoil, W2O founder Peter Neill is taking stock this week, asking the questions and distilling the essential reasons why the ocean is central to human survival. About World Ocean Radio World Ocean Radio …

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An Exemplary Place in Iceland 4:52

8M ago4:52

4:52

This week on World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill shares views and observations of the town of Isafjordur, Iceland, and the values it possesses that give the area its unique identity. About World Ocean Radio World Ocean Radio is a weekly series of five-minute audio essays available for syndicated use at no cost by college and community radio station…

1
What's in a Knot? 4:59

8M ago4:59

4:59

KNOT: a word with many definitions: from a tight constriction to something hard to solve; a cluster of persons or things; an ornamental ribbon; a closed curve in three dimensional space. And of course, the word comes back to the ocean: is not the ocean a dynamic of knots: entangled and integral, inter-placed with ornamental flexible bodies, compris…

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At the Fishhouses 4:40

8M ago4:40

4:40

At the Fishhouses, is among our favorite poems here at World Ocean Observatory. In its richly-detailed mastery, it distills poet Elizabeth Bishop’s seaside meditations, evokes the clarity of meaning contained in personal encounters at the shore and with the ocean, and holds the reader and the listener in the space that lies between land and sea, a …

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Christmas at Sea 4:03

9M ago4:03

4:03

Each holiday season on World Ocean Radio we return with a special reading of "Christmas at Sea", an evocative poem by Robert Louis Stevenson written in 1883. Stevenson, the son of a lighthouse engineer, had intimate, first-hand knowledge of extreme weather, storms and nor'westers. Christmas at Sea An evocative seasonal poem by Robert Louis Stevenso…

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A Credo for the World Ocean 5:09

9M ago5:09

5:09

This week we're providing our listeners with a list of intentions that describe the World Ocean Observatory's statement of beliefs that drives all action. And we provide suggestions for those who may ask, "What can I do?" while encouraging determination to pursue the causes that you believe in. This week's episode is a statement of belief and inten…

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Complexity or Simplicity: A Path Forward Toward Ocean Solutions 5:24

10M ago5:24

5:24

The debate over the reality of climate change is over. There is no place on land or sea that is immune from the effects of extreme weather, fire, flood, inundation, erosion, and social impacts. This week we're discussing carbon as the key culprit to our current condition, and the multitudinous methods and suggestions and investments to remove carbo…

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Unmanned War at Sea 5:11

11M ago5:11

5:11

The face of war is changing quickly: cheap, unmanned, versatile drones and remotely operated aircraft, coupled with rapidly-advancing technology, ambiguous algorithms, accountability, and responsibility are shifting the shapes of war around the globe, especially as it pertains to the unseen and largely unmonitored high seas. With a world struggling…

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Displacement Reserves and the Repurposing of Abandoned Oil Wells 5:01

11M ago5:01

5:01

This week on World Ocean Radio we are examining Renewell, a company that has developed a method to repurpose abandoned oil wells across the United States into displacement reserves, effectively capping the more than 2 million abandoned, methane-leaking oil wells and converting them into renewable storage and renewed financial return. World Ocean Ra…

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Some Ocean Reading 5:06

11M ago5:06

5:06

This week on World Ocean Radio, two new books for readers to consider this fall: "The High Seas: Greed, Power, and The Battle for the Unclaimed Ocean" by Olive Heffernan, and "What the Wild Sea Can Be: The Future of the World Ocean" by Helen Scales. Both books evoke hopeful possibility while exploring the extent of the ocean and the implications of…

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Insuring the Deep Sea 5:01

12M ago5:01

5:01

Insurance is everywhere, established to transfer risk or to compensate for loss. Deep-sea mining has attracted much attention lately, as we look to offshore exploration and extraction for energy and mineral resources. As the UN International Seabed Authority deliberates standards and regulations related to drilling into the ocean floor, insurers of…

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Maritime Work 5:13

12M ago5:13

5:13

The maritime industry is a major contributor to our global systems: our economies, security, and stability. More than 80% of all international trade and transport moves across the ocean: shipbuilding, port operations, shipping, cruise lines, offshore energy, pipelines, salvage, communications, cables, insurance, ferries, exploration and science. Th…

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Visualizing Success 5:01

12M ago5:01

5:01

As we discuss resiliency, adaptation, and mitigation of climate and ocean, we must also invent--not to merely rearrange the elements of an old plan, but to imaging and consider some things new and different. If the ocean movement is to embrace the change required to respond to challenges worldwide, we must imaging new ways forward, confident in our…

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Understanding the Ocean in the 21st Century 5:14

1y ago5:14

5:14

It has been nearly twenty years since the Ocean Literacy Principles and Framework were first adopted by classroom educators to promote the ocean as a central focus for climate, water, food, health, exploration, science, and more. Today it has been incorporated into the agenda of the UN IOC; it seems Ocean Literacy is riding a new wave of interest a…

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Eustacy: A Word for the Ocean 5:10

1y ago5:10

5:10

Eustacy is a word used to describe worldwide changes of sea level. This is a new word for us: even though it seems we live in a eustatic world. We're using this newly-discovered word to distill the five areas of our existence where the ocean matters most: fresh water, the ocean-fresh water continuum, energy, food, health, and exchange. About World …

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UN Action: A Call for Ocean Communication 5:42

1y ago5:42

5:42

This week on World Ocean Radio: synopsis of a recent report by the UN Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission entitled "Call to All Voices of the Ocean – Consultation of Civil Society in Preparation of the Next United Nations Ocean Conference" addressing issues and providing recommendations and specific actions related to ocean climate, science,…

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Ocean Music 5:09

1y ago5:09

5:09

In this episode of World Ocean Radio we take listeners to the shore, to be reminded of the importance of silence, solitude and renewal in our lives, and of the healing power of the ocean--or water in any form--that is there for us, if and when we choose to stop and listen. World Ocean Radio offers five-minute weekly insights into ocean science, adv…

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Bright Ideas Toward a Sustainable Future 4:51

1y ago4:51

4:51

This week we are discussing two technological innovations—both bright ideas that could have huge impacts for useful, sustainable change for the future. The first is WaterCube, a machine that pulls vapor from the air and condenses it into liquid form for household use and disaster relief; the second is Sway, a farmed seaweed application designed to …

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Internal Price on Nature 5:07

1y ago5:07

5:07

As we review the state of climate change challenge and response, it becomes clear we are not succeeding. Is it possible to craft a new economic system that values natural resource sustainability over depletion of those resources? Can we conceive a new economics, a forward-directed system of financial valuation and exchange based on the asset value …

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Plastic: Cycle and Recycle 5:04

1y ago5:04

5:04

Plastic. It is ubiquitous. It is everywhere in our lives, yet we do not possess the cycle or recycle to continue production in a sustainable or environmentally friendly way. If offsets and recycling do not provide the answer, what does? About World Ocean Radio World Ocean Radio is a weekly series of five-minute audio essays available for syndicated…

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How Old is Water? 5:07

1y ago5:07

5:07

How old is water? Where on earth is water found? How is it circulated, cycled, and recycled? We know where water is distributed on the planet down to the fraction of a percentage. We know that water is finite in volume and its utility is constant. What happens when we pollute water? What happens when there is no water? We discuss this and more this…

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An Ocean Literacy Declaration 5:17

1y ago5:17

5:17

World Ocean Observatory is ever in search of new systems that convert knowledge into action, especially as they relate to ocean education and communication. Here on World Ocean Radio we often discuss the concepts and principles of ocean literacy, and the ways in which they can be distilled into learning opportunities for educators and students ever…

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My Meeting with the Alewives 5:08

1y ago5:08

5:08

World Ocean Radio: 5-minute weekly insights in ocean science, advocacy, education, global ocean issues, challenges, marine science, policy, and solutions. Hosted by Peter Neill, Founder of W2O. Learn more at worldoceanobservatory.orgBy Peter Neill, World Ocean Observatory