Here, by popular vote, are Rob’s Top Five Radio Episodes
1. Olivia Newton-John and Bert Lettsome
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Olivia Newton-John and her husband Amazon John Easterling talk with Rob Moir on what we each can do for a greener planet and about their work to save the Amazon Rainforest. Olivia tells why the rainforest is so important. Amazon John explains the remarkable health-giving properties of the Camu-camu fruit. This indigenous fruit is harvested from shallow boats and is a source of income for local peoples.
Rob talks with Bert Lettsome, a.k.a. ‘Washasha X’, Chief Conservation Officer of the British Virgin Islands in the second half of the episode. Bert describes why nature in the British Virgin Island is more diverse than anywhere else in the Caribbean. To protect it and maintain pristine, undisturbed nature in the Virgin Islands, we must all make choices. Listen to his song “Choices.” Bert tells us why mangroves are so vital with his song “Ras Mangrove.”
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2. Raffi
In 1979, Raffi was kissed by a beluga whale. In that gentle gesture Raffi knew that for people to save wildlife or cleanup degraded environments there must be love for the other. Raffi’s Baby Beluga and Down by the Bay are songs cherished by families. Raffi’s original philosophy of Child Honoring: How to Turn This World Around has become, more than a book, a covenant of nine principles: Respectful Love, Diversity, Caring Community, Conscious Parenting, Emotional Intelligence, Nonviolence, Safe Environments, Sustainability, & Ethical Commerce. Raffi tells how his work evolved from troubadour to champion of a global ethic that views life and communities through the lens of child honoring. Hear Raffi weave in the importance of stewardship and respect for families and environments from imperiled whales to global warming. Be inspired by a peacemaking culture of responsible stewardship for our world and all inhabitants on earth.
3. Alanna Mitchell
What does it mean for you and me when calcareous sea critters start to fizzle in rising seas? Alanna Mitchell will take us on a dive 3,000 feet into a far Tortuga sinkhole where no one has gone before to discover new life forms, new chemical compounds, and new insights into how it all comes together on the ocean planet. With her clear-eyed immediacy she writes in the style of Rachel Carson, yet more personable. We care that carbonic acid is increasing in seawater with increasing carbon in the atmosphere. During the last century and a half of human activity ocean water acidity has increased by 30%.
4. Skylar Bayer
Skylar reveals the truths behind the story of two buckets of scallop gonads lost during a hand-off outside a convenience store on Mount Desert. Flyers of missing scallop parts went up and out to media. Journalists from the Colbert Report traveled to the far-flung lobster state and were shocked by what they imaged – an obsessed woman with diabolical intentions to take over the world by doing science from her laboratory.
5. Eric Jan Dolin
Eric, back for another episode, talked with Liz Stebbins and Rob Moir about the history behind Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Hugh Glass, in The Revenant as well as back stories to film and awards. A riveting natural history writer, Dolin helps separate fact from fiction in The Revenant compared to the true story of “mountain men” in early 1800s America. From the decimation of the beaver and bison populations to selective hunting of seals in the Pacific Northwest, Dolin speaks to the tragedy of resource exploitation and in response, the birth of conservation.