How the Super Bowl Could Power Your Next Flight. That story and more on H2O Radio’s weekly news report about water.

Headlines:

As profits roll in, oil giants double down on fossil fuels.

Canada joined other nations in putting the brakes on this controversial ocean activity.

So-called “glacial lake outburst floods” threaten millions of people worldwide.

How chicken wings from the Super Bowl will take flight.

This Week in Water for February 12, 2023

A Grueling Sporting Event Is Doing Science. That story and more on H2O Radio’s weekly news report about water.

Headlines:

The UN voted to send climate change issues to the World Court.

Despite studies showing the potential dangers of seabed mining, the process could soon move forward.

The “lung function” of the cold, oxygen-rich water near Antarctica could collapse within 30 years.

The world's toughest and longest sailing race is doing critical ocean science.

This Week in Water for April 2, 2023

Where’s Crawford Lake—and Why Should You Care? That story and more on H2O Radio’s weekly news report about water.

Headines:

Canada calls for a moratorium on seabed mining, as a ten-day conference is under way to consider regulations.

Mud at the bottom of a Canadian lake shows we're in a dangerous new epoch caused by humans.

According to new research, climate change is turning the ocean green.

Using “molecular scissors” to make paper that's better for the environment.

This Week in Water for July 16, 2023

How are spaces once imagined to be empty, vast, and mysterious transformed into something with material and cultural value? Two authors tackle this same question, one from the perspective of the seafloor, and one from Canada’s oil sands: key spaces where the meaning of sustainability is actively negotiated. Deepwater Alchemy: Extractive Mediation and the Taming of the Seafloor by Lisa Yin Han looks at oceanic media and shows how deepwater mediation is entangled in existential hopes and fears for our planetary future. Petroturfing: Refining Canadian Oil through Social Media by Jordan B. Kinder looks at how an increasingly influential network of pro-oil groups in Canada work to reform the public view of oil extraction as something socially, economically, and ecologically beneficial. Here, Lisa and Jordan are joined in conversation with Thomas Pringle.


Lisa Yin Yan is assistant professor of media studies at Pitzer College.

Jordan B. Kinder is assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Thomas Pringle is assistant professor of cinema and media studies at the University of Southern California. Pringle is co-author, with Gertrud Koch and Bernard Stiegler, of Machine.



REFERENCES:
Nature’s Metropolis / William Cronon
Ethical Oil / Ezra Levant
Tar Wars / Geo Takach
Sustaining Seas / eds. Elspeth Probyn, Kate Johnson, and Nancy Lee (referencing essay by Lesley Green)
Oceaning / Adam Fish
Animal Revolution / Ron Broglio
Zoe Todd, “Fossil Fuels and Fossil Kin: An Environmental Kin Study of Weaponised Fossil Kin and Alberta’s So-Called ‘Energy Resources Heritage,’” Antipode (2023)
After Oil Collective
Isabelle Stengers



Praise for Deepwater Alchemy:

“An essential contribution to the watery depths of the blue humanities.”
—Jennifer Gabrys

“Deepwater Alchemy tells a story vital to our present.”
—Stefan Helmreich



Praise for Petroturfing:

“A profound and necessary book.”
—Janet Walker

“Offers great insight into an underdeveloped aspect of the cultural study of energy.”
—Stephanie LeMenager

Extractive mediation, from the deep sea to oil culture

Making Acid Rain Great Again? That story and more on H2O Radio’s weekly news report.

Headlines:

A company was secretly discussing a plan with the Trump administration to start seabed mining in the Pacific and circumvent a UN treaty.

There’s a push in the U.S. to go nuclear.

Trump’s EPA could allow acid rain to reign again.

Shocker. This tree benefits by getting struck by lightning.

This Week in Water for March 30, 2025

Could Climate Change Make Rice Unhealthy?

Headlines:

Trump’s tariff wars are likely to speed up seabed mining, which could endanger marine habitats.

The Trump administration has halted a massive offshore wind project that would have powered 500,000 homes.

Climate change could make rice toxic.

Sh*t happens—and it’s being used to break down plastic.

This Week in Water for April 20, 2025

Trees Know an Eclipse Is Coming Before it Starts. That story and more on H2O Radio’s weekly news report

Headlines:

The National Climate Assessment is required by law every four years. Trump just dismissed 400 of its scientists.

Trump wants to expedite seabed mining of cobalt and nickel even though EV manufacturers are shifting away from using the minerals.

Sanitary pads are 90 percent plastic. Now, researchers have developed ones made from cornstarch.

A new study found that older trees school younger ones about what to expect in a solar eclipse.

This Week in Water for May 4, 2025

David Bowie once asked, is there life on Mars? Today we ask, is there life 3,000 metres or more below sea level – and what should international law do to protect it and regulate its exploitation?

In this episode we are joined by Professor Joanna Mossop of the Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington to discuss the 2023 Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction – known as the BBNJ Agreement or High Seas Treaty for short. 

Recommendations:

D Bodansky, "Four Treaties in One: The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement", https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-international-law/article/four-treaties-in-one-the-biodiversity-beyond-national-jurisdiction-agreement/9AAFCE1E5F60EF1ABF83AC8DB3829605

Fran Humphries (ed), "Decoding Marine Genetic Resource Governance Under the BBNJ Agreement", https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-72100-7

Joanna Mossop and David Freestone, "The Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction: Commentary and Analysis" https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-agreement-on-marine-biodiversity-of-areas-beyond-national-jurisdiction-9780198918578?cc=au&lang=en&

Elizabeth Moon, Paksenarrion Series, https://www.goodreads.com/series/49608-paksenarrion




48. Life on the deep sea bed? Marine genetic resources and the Agreement on the Conservation of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

A podcast of informal conversation about topical issues in international law, life in academia and whatever else is on our mind. Hosted by Douglas Guilfoyle and featuring Juliette McIntyre, Tamsin Paige, Imogen Saunders, Nitna Tzouvala. 

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

H2O Radio is journalism about water. We follow water wherever it leads us and report on what we find. We interview experts— from engineers and scientists to legislators and politicians in order to get the facts. But we also talk to ordinary folks to ask how water issues affect their lives. Why? Because we're all in this together. This is a conversation about water and our collective water future.

New tracks tagged #seabed mining