This episode of the Blue Earth Podcast features Dr. Samantha Siedlecki of the University of Connecticut’s Department of Marine Sciences. Dr. Siedlecki works in the Coastal Biogeochemical Dynamics Laboratory at UConn’s Avery Point Campus. A beautiful waterfront campus in Groton, Connecticut, located on the Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Thames River. She is an accomplished biogeochemical oceanographer who is focused on investigating the coastal ocean, and forecasting scenarios,...

This episode of the Blue Earth Podcast is a story about a young man, a lifeguard, who didn’t like seeing the trash on his beautiful beach and decided to do something about it. Andrew Colabella, a driven individual, explains how he teamed with others to propose and enact ground-breaking legislation that successfully banned single-use plastics in a town of about 28,000 people; Westport, Connecticut’s restaurants and businesses. Westport is the same town that 11 years earlier was the first...

This episode of the Blue Earth Podcast features Dr. Patrick Heidkamp, Professor of Geography, and the current Chair of the Department of the Environment, Geography and Marine Sciences at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, CT. Southern has a new Werth Center For Coastal and Marine Studies, which is quite impressive. Check it out at https://www.southernct.edu/ccms Patrick shares his journey, which illustrates that it’s not always a straight line and the trip along the way...

This episode of the Blue Earth Podcast is a conversation with Dr. Wade Worthen, Professor of Biology at Furman University. As a community ecologist he uses insect communities as model systems. His views on biodiversity are important and enlightening. It’s the story of a man who in his youth couldn’t get enough of the neighborhood’s wooded wonderland. As he grew, so did his curiosity about the natural world. The family physician became a role model to learn more about science. Wade earned his...

This episode of the Blue Earth Podcast is a conversation with Ken Nedimyer, a CNN Hero for “Defending The Planet”. It’s a story about a former commercial fisherman who proactively worked with state and federal groups to ensure a sustainable future. His observations about reefs in jeopardy led to possible ways to save them. He became an innovative coral reef advocate and coral reef nursery innovator, not only in the Florida Keys but around the globe. Ken moved to Florida as a boy, he fell...

This episode of the Blue Earth Podcast is a conversation with Andy McNab. Andy’s youth was in New Zealand, by the ocean, where he frequently surfed and sailed. In 1979, aboard a 36-foot lightweight trimaran, he and some friends departed New Zealand on a five-month sail to San Francisco. Along the way they saw miles of unattended long line buoys. Also, even then, as they sailed through the Southern Pacific Gyre, which is today also known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, there was a...

This episode of the Blue Earth Podcast is a conversation with Jill Heinerth, a world famous underwater explorer. Jill’s specialty is cave diving. She photographs, films and writes about her journeys “Into The Planet”. https://www.intotheplanet.com Her awards and recognitions include the William Beebe Award from the Explorers Club, and being the first Explorer in Residence and recipient of the Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. For...

This episode of the Blue Earth Podcast is a conversation with Alexandre Tuel. It’s audio from a previous conversation that our host, Richard Hyman had with Alex. The two met when in 2019, when Alex invited Richard to be the Keynote at MIT Water Night. At that time Alex was the President of the MIT Water Club, and a  PhD Candidate at MIT, studying hydrology, climatology, and water.  Dr. Alex Tuel has graduated and is back in France conducting research.  He discusses how our climate,...

This episode of the Blue Earth Podcast is a conversation with Dr. Nicholas Bird. Nick takes us inside the intriguing world of hyperbaric medicine. Essentially born for the treatment of divers’ decompression sickness, today it goes way beyond diving, to treating diabetes, wounds and other ailments. Nick looks at life through a thoughtful lens. His career includes med school at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, being a Major in the U.S. Air Force during Operation Iraqi Freedom and...

This episode of the Blue Earth Podcast is a conversation with Clay Wilcox. He’s a friend of our podcast host, Richard Hyman, Clay is an accomplished SCUBA diver, U.S. mountain bike champ, commercial aviation pilot, and he’s quite the chef! Get this...as a teenager he spent a summer working in Martha Stewart’s kitchen! It so happened that Clay was mid-way through commercial diving school in New York, when he got a chance to board the famed ocean explorer, Jacques Cousteau’s ship, Calypso…as...

This episode of the Blue Earth Podcast is a conversation with Brian Adams, President and CEO of the Brain Institute of America. He simplifies an explanation of developing biomarkers for neurological disorders and malignancies of the brain, and ties the risks of BPA and other chemicals found in plastic food containers, bottles and even inside cans. For more information subscribe to our newsletter https://www.futurefrogmen.org/connect and look for us on social media @futurefrogmen. ---...

This episode of the Blue Earth Podcast is a conversation with Richie Kohler. He’s an explorer, technical wreck diver, shipwreck historian, filmmaker, and author. Richie was featured in Robert Kurson’s incredible book “Shadow Divers”. It’s a thrilling true story about Richie and John Chatterton’s quest to identify the wreck of an unknown WWII German U-boat (submarine), 65 miles off the coast of New Jersey. They dedicated six years of their lives attempting to identify the wreck. Richie has...

This episode is a conversation with John St. Augustine, one of America’s top talk radio hosts with over 14,000 episodes and 5,000 guests. He’s an accomplished author, public speaker and environmentalist. Today John’s work includes the Life 2.0 podcast, which can be found on Podbean and wherever you listen. Richard and John had a mutual friend in the deceased gifted songwriter and singer John Denver. John shares stories about Living an Uncommon Life, the title of one of his books. They also...

This episode of Blue Earth is a conversation with Souta Calling Last, The Executive Director of Indigenous Vision and an environmental justice advocate,  Souta is a Native American, of the Blackfeet and Blood tribes. She shares amazing influential stories from when she was a child and how they shaped her commitment to environmental stewardship. Souta has extensive experience in groundwater monitoring, watershed health, and community participatory-based research, and has extensive knowledge...

That’s how Breezy Grenier describes herself. This episode of Blue Earth is a conversation with Breezy. She’s on the go but we caught up with her just after she got her new 200 ton Captain’s license, and before the Downeast Challenge sailing race from Marblehead, Massachusetts to Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Breezy is a multidisciplinary ocean scientist by education, and also an accomplished mariner, educator and business entrepreneur. A modern day explorer with the ocean being her home,...

This episode of Blue Earth is a conversation with Father Andrea Vicini, S.J. of Boston College. He is Professor of Moral Theology and Professor of Bioethics. He holds numerous degrees including an M.D. from the University of Bologna and a Ph.D. from Boston College. His research interests include moral theology, bioethics, genetics and environmental issues.  Future Frogmen’s President, Richard Hyman, first met Father at Fairfield University, where he lectured on “Saving the Earth: Ethics,...

This episode of Blue Earth features a Southern Connecticut State University Masters student, who pitches a technology-based service that helps kelp farmers. Kelp grows in underwater forests, in shallow oceans, including in this case, Long Island Sound. Future Frogmen hosted this Shark Tank-like event In celebration of 2020’s World Oceans Week. Look for more episodes of Blue Earth at https://anchor.fm/blueearth or wherever you listen, e.g. Apple, Google, Spotify and more. For info on...

This episode of Blue Earth features two Southern Connecticut State University students, who each pitch an early stage business idea for a product that uses kelp. Kelp grows in underwater forests, in shallow oceans, including in this case, Long Island Sound. Today's ideas include an all-inclusive Kelp Festival and a Kelp Kombucha drink.  Future Frogmen hosted this Shark Tank-like event In celebration of 2020’s World Oceans Week. Look for more episodes of Blue Earth at...

This episode of Blue Earth features two Southern Connecticut State University students, who each pitch an early stage business idea for a product that uses kelp. This is the first of three episodes being released this week that all focus on different products created by university students with blue ways to make some green.  Today's students focus on two very different items that create a lot of waste, and eliminate a majority of those adverse impacts with their proposed products. These...

This episode of Blue Earth is a conversation with John Scott, Senior Chemist at the University of Illinois’, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center. He is focused on emerging contaminants such as microplastics, and is member of the Center’s Applied Research on Industrial and Environmental Systems (ARIES). John speaks about his research on microplastics, including sizes, shapes, and materials, plus chemical composition and absorption, field studies, how much we have yet to learn, and...

This episode of Blue Earth is a conversation with David Helvarg, an author, journalist, and environmental activist. He is also the founder and president of the Blue Frontier Campaign.  David shares positive constructive thoughts and ideas about topics including “50 Ways To Save The Ocean”, the Ocean Climate Action Plan, why your individual vote does matter, and the relationship between the environment and racial justice. David is a friend of Future Frogmen. Richard organized Connecticut’s...

This episode of Blue Earth is a Q&A between Demi Fox, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Northeast Regional Coordinator, and an 11 th grade science class at The Grauer School in Encinitas, CA. Topics include the sources of marine debris, zero waste initiatives, recycling, the value of taking small steps and changing mindsets. Demi is a friend of Future Frogmen. Her previous conversation with Richard can be viewed here. She received her B.S. in biological science from Florida State and...

This episode of Blue Earth is a conversation with Steve Gephard, a Supervising Fisheries Biologist with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Fisheries Division. He manages: 1.) The Diadromous Fish Program: Promoting conservation and restoration of fish that migrate between the ocean and freshwater, such as salmon, shad and eels. 2.) The Habitat Conservation and Enhancement Program: Protecting fish habitat through permit reviews and actively seeking to restore...

This episode of the Blue Earth Podcast is a conversation with Ms. Dianna Cohen, the Co-Founder and CEO of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, a nonprofit organization.  Dianna is also a visual artist, who primarily uses plastic bags as material. She has spoken at the United Nations and numerous international conferences, including the MIT Water Summit, where we met Dianna last year. Dianna studied Biology, Art, and Film at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and holds a BA in Fine...

This episode of Blue Earth is a conversation about Ecological Restoration in the Long Island Sound region. The Sound is a 120-mile long tidal estuary between Long Island, NY to the south and Connecticut to the north. It’s fed by both fresh water tributaries and saltwater from the Atlantic Ocean. Gwen MacDonald and Alex Krofta, both from Save The Sound discuss ecological restoration and share insights into water monitoring, fishways (ladders), green infrastructure, rain gardens, urban...