Chesapeake Uncharted

The story of America’s largest estuary, its vibrant ecosystem and the people who rely on its health. Season 3 explores spotlights "Wavemakers," people 40 years old and younger who are making an environmental difference in the Chesapeake Bay region.

Connor Tupponce: How a Treaty from 1677 Can Help Save the Bay 05/31/2024

Connor Tupponce: How a Treaty from 1677 Can Help Save the Bay Connor Tupponce, a member of the Upper Mattaponi and Chickahominy tribes, discusses his work promoting tribal consultation in environmental and land-use matters in Virginia. Indigenous voices are crucial in managing public lands, he says. That's especially true at Werowocomoco, the recently rediscovered site along the York River that was once the seat of the Powhatan Confederacy. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/31543772

Ron Lopez: Hunting Down Potentially Toxic Algae in a Major Virginia River 05/17/2024

Ron Lopez: Hunting Down Potentially Toxic Algae in a Major Virginia River Ron Lopez is a researcher in wetlands ecology at Virginia Commonwealth University who is part of a team breaking ground on our understanding of potentially toxic algae blooms in the Shenandoah River. His efforts toward developing remote-sensing methods to map those slilmy blooms are the basis of his ongoing doctoral thesis. So, yes, we will be talking about drones. Lopez also discusses his atypical path into academia. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/31330872

Symone Barkley: Why Our Children Need Environmental Education 05/03/2024

Symone Barkley: Why Our Children Need Environmental Education Symone Barkley, a Baltimore native, is a recipient of the North American Association for Environmental Education’s "30 Under 30 Award," which recognizes young leaders in the field worldwide. And she’s a fellow traveler in the podcast world, hosting a podcast series for her employer, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That would be “ Here, she discusses the state of environmental education in America and what can be done to get kids more interested in nature studies. Barkley also talks about the kits she has developed providing kids with hands-on, STEM-based activities. More info about the kits is available . /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/31093133

Grace Ziegmont: She Caught the EPA by the Ear, and Officials Listened 04/19/2024

Grace Ziegmont: She Caught the EPA by the Ear, and Officials Listened The Pennsylvania 4-H chapter has named Grace Ziegmont as one of its state project ambassadors. These are members who provide guidance to 4-H staff statewide on programming and projects. The 16-year-old York County resident also serves as the president of the Governor’s Youth Council for Hunting, Fishing and Conservation. And we haven’t even gotten to her role in making historic change happen within a federal agency. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/30891248

Jay Fleming: Capturing the Chesapeake Bay's Disappearing History 04/05/2024

Jay Fleming: Capturing the Chesapeake Bay's Disappearing History Jay Fleming has devoted his life to documenting a dying way of life on the Chesapeake Bay. He has compiled his photographs of watermen into two popular books. His photographs, more than anyone else's, tell the tale of of the estuary's seafood industry. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/30689443

Maya Alexander: Building Stronger Connections Between the Black Community and Nature 03/22/2024

Maya Alexander: Building Stronger Connections Between the Black Community and Nature Helping others fall in love with nature is one of Maya Alexander's main passions. She is African American and has experienced first hand the challenges of engaging with the outdoors, a pasttime that has traditionally been associated with the white middle class. Yet, Alexander, a community engagement manager for Virginia's Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley, finds a way to keep moving forward in the face of adversity. We talked about her strategies for encouraging more diversity in outdoor pursuits. And she offered glimpses into how environmental organizations can take up causes for marginalized communities … without alienating them. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/30489023

Noah Bressman: Fighting Invasive Fish Species with Our Forks 03/08/2024

Noah Bressman: Fighting Invasive Fish Species with Our Forks Noah Bressman, a Salisbury University researcher, has quickly made a name for himself as a marine biology researcher and a science communicator. He’s active on social media. He organizes fishing tournaments that incorporate environmental education. He envisions a world with fewer invasive fish in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries -- a world made possible by people making subtle shifts to their diets. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/30283583

Carmera Thomas-Wilhite: Putting Environmentalism on a Path Toward Justice 02/23/2024

Carmera Thomas-Wilhite: Putting Environmentalism on a Path Toward Justice In early 2023, Carmera Thomas-Wilhite joined the Chesapeake Bay region’s most influential environmental group, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, as its first vice president for diversity, equity, inclusion and justice. How’d she get there? What’s her mission? Find out in our conversation. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/30074598

Anna Killius: At the Center of Environmental Policy 01/26/2024

Anna Killius: At the Center of Environmental Policy Anna Killius is a political wrangler. Her formal title: executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Commission. She occupies a space with few peers in American politics: a regional influencer of environmental policy with her sights set on a single watershed. Here, she discusses how she builds consensus -- and steers clear of infighting -- to drive better results for the cleanup of America's largest estuary. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/29637183

Randy Rowel: Overcoming a troubled youth to be a green mentor 01/12/2024

Randy Rowel: Overcoming a troubled youth to be a green mentor If anyone has the word "mentor" written all over them, it's Randy Rowel. He coordinates the Chesapeake Research Consortium's C-StREAM (Chesapeake Student Recruitment, Early Advisement, and Mentoring) program, helping to guide people of color into green careers. He talks with us about how the environmental sector can bring more diversity into its ranks and, in turn, be more effective in underserved communities. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/29448803

Luke McFadden: The Influencer in Brown Coveralls 12/29/2023

Luke McFadden: The Influencer in Brown Coveralls Within three years, Luke McFadden has built a mini-empire on social media, accumulating 1.6 million followers on TikTok and hundreds of thousands more on other sites. He simply shows what life is like as a crabber on the Chesapeake Bay. No one has been more surprised with his success than the unassuming 27-year-old from Pasadena, Maryland. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/29262933

Imani Black: Blazing a Trail in Aquaculture 12/15/2023

Imani Black: Blazing a Trail in Aquaculture Imani Black founded Minorities in Aquaculture in 2020. In doing so, she set out to help people of color, especially women of color, enter the growing field of aquaculture. Aquaculture is the technical name for fish farming or, in this case, oyster farming. This is a story about seismic shifts in an industry, a Chesapeake Bay way of life. But it’s also a story about the power of one person trying to make a difference. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/29087383

Season 3 Trailer: Wave Makers 12/01/2023

Season 3 Trailer: Wave Makers The federally led campaign to save the Chesapeake Bay is officially 40 years old. This season, we turn to movers and shakers in the Bay sphere who weren't born when the effort got started. With the cleanup facing a critical inflection point, these younger voices -- we call them "wave makers" -- offer a tantalizing glimpse into what the future may hold. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/28855438

Clues From a Drowning Island 06/09/2023

Clues From a Drowning Island As climate change fuels more Agnes-like storms, what will we do to protect vulnerable communities? Tangier Island in Virginia's portion of the Chesapeake Bay offers clues. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/27088716

The Political Storm 04/07/2023

The Political Storm Tropical Storm Agnes reshaped the way the United States responds to natural disasters on a national scale. Here’s how. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/26476638

Saving the Bay from Agnes 12/09/2022

Saving the Bay from Agnes Environmental destruction wrought by 1972's Tropical Storm Agnes fanned the flames of the "Save the Bay" movement into a political wildfire in the Chesapeake Bay region. The storm's legacy is reflected in many current controversies, including the fate of the Conowingo Dam. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/25273929

Death from Above 11/25/2022

Death from Above Record-setting rainfall during 1972's Tropical Storm Agnes washed decades-worth of pollution into the Chesapeake Bay's fragile waters, damaging the environment for decades. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/25121787

We Love You, Wall 11/11/2022

We Love You, Wall Tropical Storm Agnes tested the limits of flood barriers. In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, a wall wasn’t enough. This episode explores what the constant battle to hold back the Susquehanna River tells us about our current fight against climate change. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/24976650

Inundated and Overwhelmed 10/28/2022

Inundated and Overwhelmed How a radio station in central Pennsylvania defied official weather experts and delivered an accurate flooding forecast during Tropical Storm Agnes. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/24827871

Season 2 Trailer: Tropical Storm Agnes at 50 06/21/2022

Season 2 Trailer: Tropical Storm Agnes at 50 Fifty years ago, “America’s Estuary” was beginning to show signs of ecological collapse. But outside of a handful of environmentalists and academics, few people took much note. When a seemingly harmless tropical storm charged up from the Gulf of Mexico, few people took much note of that either. But within a few wild and tragic days in June of 1972, Tropical Storm Agnes changed the way people thought about the Chesapeake Bay and the power of storms in the Mid-Atlantic. This is the story of how Agnes ushered in a dark new era for the Bay -- an era we're still living in. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/23496824

So You Think You Can Save the World 02/11/2022

So You Think You Can Save the World What matters most in the fight against climate change: individual action or collective action? Learn this and the best way to prepare a filet of blue catfish. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/22098242

Growing Problems 12/17/2021

Growing Problems Agriculture is both a cause of and solution to climate change. Which will win out? /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/21515414

So You Think You Can Save the Chesapeake 11/19/2021

So You Think You Can Save the Chesapeake A massive effort to clean up the Chesapeake Bay faces more problems with a hotter, stormier world because of climate change. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/21217271

Unmaking History 11/05/2021

Unmaking History Rising waters are swallowing historic sites along shorelines, portending a future in which we've lost key pieces of our past. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/21059306

Animal Upheaval 10/21/2021

Animal Upheaval What oysters in the sea and birds in the marsh tell us about our changing Chesapeake. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/20896223

Nights in Tangier 10/08/2021

Nights in Tangier President Trump told the mayor of Tangier Island that the community has nothing to fear from climate change. Experts aren't so sure. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/20750351

Let's Talk (More) Infrastructure 09/24/2021

Let's Talk (More) Infrastructure Fighting sea level rise doesn't have to mean a huge construction project. Here, we examine policies and green solutions that could save coastal communities in the Chesapeake Bay region. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/20583791

Let's Talk Infrastructure 09/10/2021

Let's Talk Infrastructure Cities, from the small to the huge, prepare for a wetter future. We visit Alexandria, VA; Eagle Harbor, MD; and Norfolk to answer the question: Can we afford it? /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/20411753

Ghosts in the Forest 08/26/2021

Ghosts in the Forest Wetlands are migrating to higher ground en masse. Barrier islands are losing the race to stay above water. And vast expanses of trees are transforming into "ghost forests." Hear how the natural world is responding to climate change in the Chesapeake Bay region. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/20274014

Richmond on Fire 08/13/2021

Richmond on Fire Climate change is making it hotter. But communities of color are likely to feel the heat more. In Richmond, VA, solutions are being tested that could point the way for other American cities. /episode/index/show/chesapeakeuncharted/id/20112473

Chesapeake Uncharted

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