Reflections

Peter Neill, Director of the W2O and host of World Ocean Radio, provides coverage of a broad spectrum of ocean issues from science and education to advocacy and exemplary projects. World Ocean Radio, a project of the World Ocean Observatory, is a weekly series of five-minute audio essays available for syndicated use at no cost by community radio stations worldwide.
 

For centuries the ocean has seemingly received and assimilated our waste of every kind: sewage, garbage, chemical effluent, lost ships, etc. We've given little thought to our power plants and our tailpipes—that these emissions would dissolve into the air instead of the water where it turns into acid concentrated enough to change its pH. Because the ocean is so vast, how could these seemingly little bits of human activity amount to much, and what could dissuade us from the benefits of the industrial revolution, technological advancement, and improved quality of life?

We at the World Ocean Observatory use the belief "The Sea Connects All Things" as the basis for our work to inform citizens and unite to sustain the ocean through change of human behavior on land and sea. What does this sentence actually mean? In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will deconstruct the meaning of this declaration and will argue that if we truly understood its meaning our values, actions, and behaviors would reflect a more practical, smart approach to our future.

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Each year during the holidays, World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill reads "At The Fishhouses" by Elizabeth Bishop. This poem was chosen above all others not only for its relevance for the New Year, but because it distills years of Bishop's seaside meditations and evokes the clarity of meaning contained in personal encounters with the world ocean.

Peter Neill, Director of the W2O and host of World Ocean Radio, provides coverage of a broad spectrum of ocean issues from science and education to advocacy and exemplary projects. World Ocean Radio, a project of the World Ocean Observatory, is a weekly series of five-minute audio essays available for syndicated use at no cost by community radio stations worldwide.