Humans look to nature for sustenance and nourishment — food, water, energy, transportation, culture, tradition, adventure and so on. With the population of the United States now exceeding 340 million, humans are demanding more of the natural world than ever before. To understand the consequences, researchers set an ambitious goal: a wellness check on nature.

Nature is a sweeping category that includes everything from massive mountains to tiny urban gardens. Its health can’t be summarized in just a few words. In fact, it took researchers 868 pages, split into 13 chapters, to report the condition of lands, waters, wildlife, and biodiversity and describe links to human health and safety, culture, economy, and national security.

The new report, , is available for public comment and scientific review until May 30.

“The Nature Record tells an honest story,”�� said , director of The Nature Record and interim executive director of the UW’s EarthLab. “It does not shy away from the scale of change we are seeing in nature — but it also shows that our choices matter, and that there are real, tangible ways to restore and sustain the systems we depend on.”

The preliminary findings are a mixed bag. On one hand, the report details a long history of resource extraction and habitat loss that will be difficult to reverse. At the same time, it shows how restoration and Indigenous stewardship approaches can help turn things around.

For example, the report states that approximately 50% of U.S. land is used for agriculture. This means farmers and ranchers must be involved in efforts to protect ecosystems and preserve biodiversity, Levin said.

The U.S. has millions of miles of rivers, which are fragmented by tens of thousands of large dams and as many as 2 million small dams and culverts.

Damming rivers disrupts fish migration and degrades ecosystem health. Ecological concerns have spurred hundreds of dam removals in the past decade, after which rivers quickly rebounded. In some places, fish have returned to spawning grounds that were inaccessible for generations.

“The assessment documents many examples where ecosystems and communities are recovering together,” Levin said. “These success stories show that change is possible when science, policy and communities align.”

The project began in 2022 following an executive order calling for an assessment of nature. Levin, selected to lead the effort, assembled a national team of experts to work on what was then called the National Nature Assessment.

Then, in January 2025, just weeks before the team was due to deliver a first draft, the effort came to a screeching halt when the federal government canceled the effort.

Undeterred, the team, including more than 170 scientists and experts, decided to continue working independently. They published a draft of The Nature Record in March.

“We built this to be useful,” Levin said. “And the only way it becomes truly useful is if people engage with it — question it, add to it, and help shape what comes next.”

He encourages people of all backgrounds to engage with the report and share feedback on the clarity, relevance and thoroughness, including representation of diverse perspectives.

In addition to documenting how humans are changing nature, the record provides important insights into how nature influences quality of life. Access to nature varies widely across the U.S. — the benefits of nature are not equally shared, nor is the burden of going without. Social and historical factors often determine whether communities enjoy greenspaces and clean drinking water, among other essentials.

“This assessment reflects not just the state of nature, but the relationships people have with it,” said deputy director , principal research scientist at the UW’s EarthLab. “We want people to see themselves in this work — whether through their communities, their values, or the places they care about — and to help shape how it evolves.”

For more information, contact Levin at pslevin@uw.edu.

Recent recognition of the 91̽�� includes an EarthLab Innovation Grant, the Best Paper Award from American Political Science Association and honorable recognition mention from the American Society for Theatre Research.

91̽��professor Richard Watts and team awarded EarthLab Innovation Grant

, 91̽��associate professor of French, is part of an interdisciplinary team from the 91̽��that received an to support their collaborative project, “Life in Spite of It All: Water, Wetlands, and Reclamation in a Changing Climate.”����

The $80,000 grant, awarded through EarthLab’s 2024–25 funding cycle, supports a team that also includes additional members of the 91̽��faculty: , remote-sensing scientist in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, and��, professor of international studies and director of the Jackson School of International Studies. Independent wetlands scholar and visual artist rounds out the team. The project focuses on documenting climate change and cultural resilience in a threatened wetlands region of the Senegal River Valley in southwestern Mauritania.����

“This grant enabled our Seattle-based research and filmmaking team to conduct a second site visit to the region,” Watts said. “The footage the team gathered is now being edited for a documentary film that explores the environmental and human stakes of a disappearing landscape.”��

Political science faculty honored for research on religion, policy and economic discrimination

, 91̽��associate professor of political science, received the from the American Political Science Association’s (APSA) Religion & Politics Section.��

The award honors the best paper presented at the previous year’s APSA Annual Meeting that exemplifies the section’s mission: encouraging the study of the interrelations between religion and politics. Recipients are recognized for addressing timely and relevant topics in a theoretically innovative and methodologically rigorous way.��

Cansunar was recognized for her co-authored work, “Homogenizing the High Street: The Economic Cleansing of Minority Elites through Fiscal Discrimination,” which explores the complex interplay between faith and policy. She sees the award as a meaningful affirmation of her scholarship in a field that is continuously evolving.��

“Receiving this award recognizes my work on the interplay between faith and policy,” she said. “This recognition encourages further thoughtful analysis of the intersection between religion and politics, both within academia and beyond.”��

Theatre professor Stefka Mihaylova earns recognition for debut monograph

, 91̽��associate professor of theatre theory and criticism, received honorable mention for from the American Society for Theatre Research.��

The honors exceptional research and scholarship in theatre history and is one of the most prestigious recognitions in the field. The honorable mention highlights Mihaylova’s debut monograph, “Viewers in Distress: Race, Gender, Religion, and Avant-Garde Performance at the Turn of the 21st Century.”��

In the book, Mihaylova examines how avant-garde performance art engages with identity, faith and social distress, offering new insights into the political power of live performance.��

“This is an award for my first monograph Viewers in Distress: Race, Gender, Religion, and Avant-Garde Performance at the Turn of the 21st Century,” Mihaylova said.��

From its base at the southwest corner of the Seattle campus, the provides expertise, tools and resources on “all things climate” to partners and communities across the state.

was announced in the spring as the . Mauger is a research scientist with the 91̽��Climate Impacts Group, which now houses the state climatologist’s office. Mauger’s research focuses mainly on water and floods in the context of climate change.

, a 91̽��research scientist and the deputy state climatologist, studies such things as nighttime heat in Seattle and new ways to display weather data, as well as other trends involving heat and drought.

Together, they provide data and share news on whatever’s in the skies. From heat domes to hailstorms, from snowpack to summer drought, they provide perspective on the short-term and long-term weather woes and questions facing Washingtonians.

“Our goal is to help people understand the climate and how it affects their daily lives,” Mauger said.

Right now, many people in the region are curious about the upcoming winter season.

“This year we’re expecting to see a weak La Niña develop in the tropical Pacific Ocean,” Bumbaco said. For Washington that means “on average, we tend to have cooler-than-normal temperatures, a little bit more precipitation, and more snowpack by the end of our winter season during La Niña winters.”

Mauger and Bumbaco also conduct research on changes in rainfall patterns and flood risks, and on temperatures and wildfire risks for the coming season and over the longer term. Visit the Office of the Washington State Climatologist’s website to check out the seasonal , a list of or to subscribe to a on the current state of Washington’s climate.

For more information, contact Mauger at mauger@uw.edu or Bumbaco at kbumbaco@uw.edu.

To deal with those threats and prepare for the impacts still to come, 10 state agencies collaborated on the . Using the latest science as a foundation, the state’s new climate strategy, released Sept. 30, identifies actions that agencies will take to address the top climate change threats facing Washington: drought, changing ocean conditions, flooding, extreme heat, and wildfires and smoke.

The strategy’s creation was directed by the Washington Legislature, bringing together the state departments of agriculture, commerce, ecology, fish and wildlife, health, natural resources, transportation, the Washington State Conservation Commission, the Emergency Management Division and the Puget Sound Partnership. The 91̽��Climate Impacts Group grounded the work with the most up-to-date science and developed a framework to measure progress on climate resilience.

The Legislature has also directed the 10 agencies to update the plan every four years to incorporate the latest science, resources and concerns into the strategy.

“This plan gives our state a road map to respond to major climate impacts like wildfires, smoke, severe heat, drought and flooding,” said , interim director of the 91̽��Climate Impacts Group, which acts as a hub for climate information and adaptation strategy for Washington state agencies and communities. “By understanding what the state can do, what resources are available, and where they can have the greatest impact, we can limit the damage caused by these events, protecting lives, livelihoods and the environment that supports us all.”

In the plan, each of the responsible agencies will act as the lead for specific actions, based on their existing roles and expertise.

“Washington got lucky this summer. We had fewer major wildfires and more moderate drought,” said Laura Watson, director of the state Department of Ecology. “We know that was just a temporary reprieve. We’ve seen devastating proof in recent years of how vulnerable our state is. We are very susceptible to rising temperatures, summer wildfires, drought and winter floods. We have to prepare now so we’re ready for what’s to come.”

91̽��Climate Impacts Group contributors also included , Washington’s State Climatologist, and , a climate resilience specialist. , who’s now deputy director at the , of which the 91̽��is a member, contributed while based at the 91̽��Climate Impacts Group.

Adapted from a Department of Ecology . For more information, contact Stowe at stowec@uw.edu.

A launch event will take place 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at the UW. Space is limited but reporters are welcome to register . At the launch, 91̽��researchers who contributed to the 5th National Climate Assessment will also share the latest science and findings from the assessment’s Northwest chapter.��

Many Tribes in Washington and Oregon call coastal areas home, meaning they are especially affected by climate change. They also face changes in wildfire risk and in changes to fisheries that are economically and culturally important.

A led by the 91̽��’s Climate Impacts Group, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, and Washington Sea Grant compiles the experiences of Washington and Oregon coastal Tribes as they prepare for climate change. The report aims to build on successes and identify common barriers to progress.

“Every year the climate crisis continues to elevate and accelerate. The lack of a coordinated federal response is what causes Northwest coastal Tribes — and other coastal communities — to suffer from hazards which are imminently impacting life, property, Tribal rights and resources,” said project co-lead of the . “With direct quotes from Tribal citizens and staff with lived personal and professional experiences, [this report] describes the immediate urgency of the federal government to take coordinated climate action.”

Results will be shared with Northwest coastal Tribes and other governmental and nongovernmental entities.

“The report is based on listening sessions with Northwest coastal Tribes, and summarizes the barriers and unmet needs they face in their efforts to prepare for climate change,” said project co-lead Meade Krosby, who is director of the UW-based and senior scientist at the 91̽��. This report was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through the .

The project team held six Tribal listening sessions, each 2.5 hours long, in varying formats. Three listening sessions took place during Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians conferences already attended by many Northwest coastal Tribal members.��Two sessions were held virtually, and one was hosted by an individual Tribal Nation. Participants in each session met in small groups and shared information with each other and with a moderator.

All participants had the choice of making their comments public or not, and of contributing anonymously or under their name. Researchers later coded all the contributions and summarized the overall findings. Contributions represented 13 Tribal nations, roughly half of the federally recognized Tribes within the study’s coastal regions. The overall findings include:

• Despite being national leaders in climate adaptation, Northwest coastal Tribes face significant needs in realizing their adaptation goals
• Key barriers and unmet needs centered in five areas: funding, staffing, technical expertise, partnerships and communications
• Successful efforts noted strengths in many of these same areas, such as securing external funding, the dedication of Tribal staff, and building robust partnerships

Participants described specific situations and frustrations, including the piecemeal nature of federal funding; challenges recruiting and retaining key staff; potential partners’ lack of familiarity with Tribal processes and priorities; and establishing stable support for long-term initiatives.

Participants’ quotes included:

“If you just looked at the total amount of Tribal land, you’d say: ‘Well, there’s lots of places that the Tribe can move,’ but if you take away all the places that are sacred or culturally significant, or habitat for important species, or landslide hazard, or some other hazard, the options are diminished. We must also be careful not to move away from one hazard into another. How bad would it be if we move away from the shoreline, and we put ourselves in harm’s way for fire?”

– Robert Knapp, environmental planning manager and climate resilience lead, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe

“Some of the challenges that we face on the coast are due to the magnitude of some of the projects that we need to undertake. For example, we are in the midst of relocating our two main Quinault villages on the Washington coast. That’s a multimillion-dollar, multi-agency effort … It’s very difficult to integrate our plans and priorities for village relocation with those of the agencies and constrains on available funding.”

– Gary Morishima, natural resources technical advisor, Quinault Indian Nation

“To build capacity we need funding sources that are long-term, that we can say to Tribal leadership: ‘We know we’re going to have funding for five or six years, so we want to hire this person who’s an engineer, who’s a project manager, who can take on these projects, talk to other [external] engineers, and who can make these projects happen.’”

– Rochelle Blankenship, Tribal council member and executive director, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe

The report concludes: “While these findings do not fully represent the depth and breadth of [the challenges faced by Northwest coastal Tribes] and what is required to address them, we hope they will help build awareness among funders, policymakers, climate service providers and others to mobilize necessary action in support of the climate adaptation efforts of Northwest coastal Tribes.”

In related upcoming work, the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative’s Tribal Coastal Resilience effort at the 91̽��was as part of a to support coastal readiness in Washington state.

The grant will support hiring a full-time climate adaptation specialist to provide technical assistance to Northwest coastal Tribes, Krosby said. That person will also coordinate a small grants program that will distribute most of the funds to Tribes to support their adaptation efforts. The grants program was designed to respond to Tribal priorities without imposing barriers that often make funds difficult to apply for and administer. Awards will be made starting in 2025.

“We’re really excited that this is happening at the same time our report is coming out,” Krosby said. “So it’s not just describing the problem. It’s also: Here, let’s bring some resources to bear based on what we learned.”

Other co-authors on the report are Ryan Hasert at the 91̽��Climate Impacts Group; Kylie Avery at the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians; and Chandler Countryman and Melissa Poe at UW’s Washington Sea Grant. The project’s Tribal advisory group and report reviewers include representatives from the Makah, Tulalip, Coquille, Squaxin Island, Swinomish and Quinault Tribes and the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.

For more information, contact Marchand at amarchand@atnitribes.org, and Krosby at mkrosby@uw.edu or 206-579-8023.��

Two years after that event — the deadliest weather-related disaster in state history — a collaborative effort led by two 91̽�� teams, the Climate Impacts Group and the Center for Health and the Global Environment, or CHanGE, has drawn up recommendations for how people and groups across the state could prevent future heat-related illness and save lives.

“There’s a lot we can do, right now, to save lives in Washington,” said , interim director of the 91̽��Climate Impacts Group. “This report is a call to action — it outlines the things that we know work. Extreme heat is a complicated governance challenge that requires coordination across levels of government, including many state agencies without a health mandate, and across the private and public sectors.”

“The report highlights the wealth of knowledge we already have about effective strategies,” said Dr. Jeremy Hess, director of CHanGE, who treated patients during the June 2021 event and helped develop a related risk-mapping tool. “We need to commit additional resources and build on early investments to protect the most vulnerable.”

The , led by the 91̽��Climate Impacts Group and released June 20 in English and Spanish, points to solutions. There is no single fix, it argues — the best approach is a broad mix of strategies that address both short-term emergency response and long-term risk reduction. The report builds on a recent co-authored by Vogel that compared Washington’s heat dome experience against other regions that typically deal with heat. It found that many of the most common strategies, such as cooling centers, don’t work on their own. Some people might not recognize their risk, and others might lack transportation to cooling centers. Laws to protect outdoor workers, such as those recently passed in Washington, don’t work without enforcement.

The new report suggests a more comprehensive statewide strategy that could reduce illness and death during future heat events. Some of these general suggestions include:

• Providing air conditioners to low-income households, protecting tenants’ rights to install air conditioning window units, and revising building codes to require cooling in new construction
• Establishing volunteer networks to check on older or ill neighbors, those who live alone, and other high-risk residents
• Providing transportation to cooling centers
• Developing a portfolio of strategies, because redundancy is crucial
• Increasing enforcement of laws protecting outdoor workers, especially in the earliest and most dangerous days of extreme heat
• Locating toilets and shade structures close to outdoor workers, to encourage breaks
• In urban areas, increasing green roofs, tree cover and structures that provide shade

A full list of strategies is available in the , which was prepared with partners including Gonzaga University in Spokane, the Office of the Washington State Climatologist, the Washington State Department of Health and 91̽��EarthLab.

CHanGE led development of a related, more specific heat and health tool that can help focus the report’s recommendations by tailoring them to a community’s specific risks. The (CHaRT) is interactive, which allows local decision-makers to better understand how climate, environmental, social and economic factors contribute to heat risk in their communities. Users can view the short- and long-term risk of dangerously high heat in their community and explore the various demographic, socioeconomic, geographic and medical factors that contribute to that risk.

The tool also provides guidance on how to account for a community’s specific needs, both in the short and long term. This information includes summaries of each intervention’s effectiveness, as well as expected costs and implementation timelines.

A community with many young children, for example, might consider opening splash parks and sending extra lifeguards to popular swimming spots when temperatures rise. Meanwhile, an urban community with little shade may opt to plant more trees with an eye toward long-term heat mitigation. Splash pads can be implemented quickly and have a local impact, while increasing tree canopy will take decades and can affect entire neighborhoods.

“There are two timeframes we’re trying to support action on,” said Hess, who is a professor of emergency medicine, of environmental and occupational health sciences and of global health at the UW’s School of Public Health. “One is a pretty short time frame, where you get a heat warning, it’s going to be hot seven to 10 days from now. What can you and your agencies do to prepare to support the community? How do you support the parts of the community that are most at risk?

“Then there’s the longer-term, multi-year time frame. That’s a completely different set of challenges. This tool allows for that planning on multiple time scales.”

For more information, contact Hess at jjhess@uw.edu and Vogel at jmvogel@uw.edu.

Many people are aware of plastic pollution in the oceans. Photos of turtles or seabirds entangled in plastic garbage first went viral in the 1990s, and the is now the focus of highly publicized cleanup efforts.

Less recognized is how marine plastic waste affects human populations, and the unequal burden on different communities. A report, “,” outlines the current situation and attempts to address the problem.

“We all benefit from plastics, but some people are paying more of the external costs in terms of the environmental damage, well-being issues and just horrendous scenes that they must live with in places they call home,” said project leader , a 91̽�� professor of practice in marine and environmental affairs and director of The Nippon Foundation .

Increasingly, the greenhouse gases causing climate change are seen as an issue in which some countries produce most of the pollution while other countries or groups are more at risk from the long-term consequences. Plastic pollution, this report argues, is a similar issue for coastal communities.

The report, published in late November, includes 31 authors from nine countries. It incorporates case studies and analyses from around the world as well as larger, overarching recommendations for change.

The authors conclude that coastal communities most affected by marine plastic pollution should be better represented in drafting potential solutions. A free, virtual event in March will bring together stakeholders from around the world to draw up a road map for an equity-focused path to address marine plastics.

The Ocean Nexus Center was founded in 2019 as a 10-year initiative based in 91̽��EarthLab that includes more than 20 member universities and organizations around the world. Its mission is to bring together equity and justice in the oceans on a global scale.

The recently published report covers topics such as:

• A call to replace the term “plastic litter” with “plastic pollution.” The word “litter” frames the issue on a small scale that can be addressed with better waste collection, disposal or recycling, rather than broader industry-wide changes to production.
• A discussion of the rise in plastic waste during the COVID-19 pandemic, through masks, gloves, face shields and a resurgence of single-use and individually wrapped products.
• Chapters that provide place-based case studies, including interviews with local residents about their experiences with marine plastics. Locations include a fishing community in Ghana, coastal mangrove forests in Ecuador, and an island in southern Japan that includes both tourists and residents.
• Two analyses of waste cleanup programs — Washington state’s and the program in the Netherlands.
• A section with multiple authors focused on the island of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Maori perspectives have been disregarded in efforts to address marine plastic pollution, authors write, despite the greater impact and importance of marine environments for Maori people’s livelihood and culture.
• A review of international rules for plastic waste disposal — a patchwork of regulations including the Basel Convention, a nonbinding agreement that the U.S. has not signed.
• A critique of Coca-Cola Co.’s “ as an example of industry-backed solutions to marine plastic pollution that focus on individual consumers, rather than bigger, more permanent solutions that could reduce plastic waste.

“Coca-Cola is the world’s biggest producer of plastic waste, and it serves as a case study of how multinational corporations engage in waste reduction and corporate social responsibility,” said lead author , a 91̽��postdoctoral researcher in marine and environmental affairs who wrote the analysis of Coca-Cola’s initiative.

“As we highlight in the report, one of the key actions we see as imperative for addressing marine plastic pollution is refocusing the problem as one of plastics production, rather than as an issue of waste management,” Vandenberg said.

, a Seattle-based artist, created digital watercolor paintings that appear throughout the document. The report is funded by The Nippon Foundation and is intended to be an accessible, comprehensive summary of the issue that can be read by policymakers, educators and other audiences, Ota said.

The March event will bring together audiences to implement the report’s main recommendations. Visit The Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center to find forthcoming event details.

For more information, contact Ocean Nexus marketing and communications lead Ariel Wang at arielyw@uw.edu, Ota at yota1@uw.edu or Vandenberg at jvandenb@uw.edu (note: Vandenberg is currently a visiting scholar at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, on Central European Time).

A new project uses virtual reality to help communicate what climate models are predicting: Greenhouse gas emissions are increasing Earth’s temperature, melting glaciers that could create many feet of global sea level rise by the end of this century.

The project, available to community groups through The Seattle Public Library, uses Oculus Quest 2 goggles to help viewers imagine rising seas from a vantage point along the South Seattle waterway.

“Creative, interactive communication tools like virtual reality experiences offer a powerful way to spark conversations and action around climate change by helping show how a global-scale issue shows up in a very real way in our own communities,” said project leader , who began the effort at the 91̽��Climate Impacts Group and is now at the University of Minnesota.

The headsets and accompanying are available as of this spring for checkout by community groups, such as Boys and Girls Clubs, youth groups or 4-H Clubs, which agree to take responsibility for the equipment. The Seattle Public Library is looking at more ways to make the experiences available to the public.

The VR experience builds on a Seattle Public Library project that used historical photos, maps and artifacts to show the history of the Duwamish River — from times when the Duwamish Tribe used the waterway for transportation, through the industrial pollution of the 1900s, to today’s ongoing . It extends the timeline to a future in which the riverfront is clean but rising sea levels lead to more flooding of coastal and lowland areas.

Through the headset, the user sees the shores of the Duwamish River, first with large conifers and then with small buildings in the foreground and today’s South Park Bridge in the distance. A voiceover explains how emissions cause sea-level rise, and an aerial view shows how that might look on city streets. Users can pick blueberries, clean up garbage along the shoreline, and finally set sea-level rise along the shoreline from 1 to 5 feet.

“We developed this experience so that Seattle communities could virtually walk through a future Seattle and see how climate change is shaping our landscape, including drastically rising sea levels,” said , the digital media and learning program manager at SPL. “We hope that creating an immersive experience will make the concept more tangible and inspire communities to think about how to adapt and build resilience to climate change.”

The VR experience ends with recommendations for reducing fossil fuel emissions, such as choosing to ride a bike instead of driving a car that burns fossil fuels and engaging in local climate action efforts, with contacts listed in the booklet.

“Although I had experience with video game development, I had never made anything for VR. I associated VR mostly with entertainment uses before working on this project,” said lead developer , a 91̽��undergraduate in computer science. “I hope the experience makes people more aware of the history of the environments they exist in, and more mindful of their influence into the future.”

In addition to the VR experience, the team worked with Tableau to create an , available on the Climate Impacts Group website, that displays the projections for sea level rise depending on the location along the Washington coast, the climate scenario and the amount of geological rebound after the last ice age. Both products are based on sea-level rise projections published in 2018 for Washington state.

“These sea level rise projections and visualizations are hyperlocal — they are specific to the Washington coast, Elliott Bay and the Duwamish River valley,” said , the climate adaptation policy lead at Seattle Public Utilities.

“The VR experience provides an on-the-ground experience for sea level rise in South Park,” she said. “It’s more than gradations on a map, it’s about really getting a sense for what 5 feet of sea level rise would feel like.”

The VR experience was support by an from 91̽��EarthLab, Seattle Public Utilities, the National Science Foundation, the University of Minnesota and the Academy of Interactive Entertainment in Seattle. Additional programming was by Seattle developer , with support from artists and . The experience is narrated by KEXP sound engineer .

For more information, contact Roop at hroop@umn.edu, Strong at stront2@cs.washington.edu and Grodnik-Nagle at Ann.Grodnik-Nagle@seattle.gov. At SPL, contact communications manager Elisa Murray at elisa.murray@spl.org. Community groups can request a kit .

A published March 17 in Nature by the 91̽��-based suggests how different parts of the world might begin to achieve these goals.

“When ocean or coastal development is planned, decision-makers focus on available data to inform their decisions. The fact is, we have a lot more data about resources than about how development will actually impact the people who bear the risk and maintain the stewardship of the area,” said co-author , a 91̽��research assistant professor of marine and environmental affairs.

Ota directs the Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center, launched in 2020 by The Nippon Foundation and as a 10-year program to transform ocean governance so oceans benefit everyone equitably.

Building on publicly available global data, the new study scores criteria across five global regions: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania — which includes Australia, New Zealand and island states in the South Pacific. The authors then identified where investment and research are needed to develop ocean resources in a manner consistent with a Blue Economy. The “enabling conditions” that must be addressed include corruption, economic and group equity, gender equality, human rights, biodiversity, habitat, water quality, infrastructure, investment and national stability.

“When people talk about the future of the ocean economy, there’s a lot of attention on the resources themselves, like the fish, mangroves, offshore wind and so on,” said lead author , research associate at the University of British Columbia and deputy director of the center.

“That’s great to know, but the most important question we need to be asking is: How are we going to make sure that we develop those resources in ways that actually benefit local communities? Otherwise, we’re back to business-as-usual, where only a few benefit from ocean resources. This is what the Blue Economy is trying to change.”

Differences in Blue Economy ratings between regions were related less to local ocean resources, the authors found, and more to enabling conditions such as human rights, national stability and corruption. Local communities must decide what ocean sectors are the most appropriate, with input from a wide range of stakeholders and perspectives.

“This paper is our attempt to begin to gather the data for what we actually need to know and to begin the conversation about equity impacts with concrete terms and numbers,” Ota said. “These are necessary steps to stop the dominant, one-size-fits-all approach that ignores social implications and diverse values.”

The research was funded by the Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center. Other authors are William Cheung, Pedro Gonzalez-Espinosa, Vicky Lam and Muhammed Oyinlola at UBC; Marcia Moreno-Baez at the University of New England in Maine; Katherine Crosman, a research scientist at the UW; Gerald Singh at Memorial University of Newfoundland; Wilf Swartz at Dalhousie University; and Chongwei Zheng at Dalian Naval Academy.

For more information, contact Ota at yota1@uw.edu and Cisneros-Montemayor at a.cisneros@oceans.ubc.ca.

Adapted from a at the Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center.

91̽��Notebook, encouraged by the overlap between radio and podcasting, talked with the co-hosts of this prolific show with almost two dozen produced episodes so far. Also, below, EarthLab’s podcast “” releases a new season of timely topics.

“Coastal Café” is a joint production of Washington Sea Grant and the College of the Environment. Its 23 episodes and counting explore “cutting-edge marine science and related topics with researchers, policy experts and people who live and work on the Washington coast.” The show is broadcast every Wednesday at 5:10 p.m. on KPTZ, 91.9 FM out of Port Townsend.

The podcast/radio show is co-hosted by , Washington Sea Grant’s assistant director for communications; and , its boating program specialist. Both have past radio experience: Wagner with Seattle’s Classic KING FM and Barnett with a public radio station in Alaska.

The two say they modeled the program after a Maine Sea Grant radio show called “.” They approached Port Townsend radio station KPTZ with the idea for a show and the selection of marine-related topics appealed to the station, whose listeners include many in the maritime industry.

What is the audience for ‘Coastal Café’? ��

Aaron Barnett: The content is eclectic with a focus on Washington state but with national relevance. The audience we try to reach is composed of coastal stakeholders — vessel operators, marine trades, coastal homeowners, you name it.�� The show was also syndicated on Radio Free America for a year until they folded this summer.��

MaryAnn Wagner: Really, anyone who has an interest in what is happening in the Pacific Ocean or Salish Sea, and along those shorelines would be interested in our show topics, including anyone interested in learning about the latest news in marine science and policy, or even just fishing and boating.

What episode might be the best for a newcomer to listen to first?��

A.B.: That depends on what they are interested in. For example, if a newcomer is interested in the arts, we did a , whose band provides music for the show. We have many science-focused episodes, with most of those based at the UW. And we have a couple of shows focused on recreational boating and the commercial fishing industry.

M.W.: Aaron recently did an on-location show about aboard a U. S. Coast Guard Lifeboat, and we did a show on 91̽��tsunami research in the Pacific Northwest — and another on abandoned and derelict boats and what to do about them. Coming up is a show for recreational boaters and beachgoers on how to help reduce marine debris, such as plastics and other garbage.

You are recording new episodes — what are the challenges of keeping the podcast going during the coronavirus shutdown?

A.B.: The biggest challenge we have faced during shutdown is finding a way to record good sound quality outside of the production and recording studio, since no one is allowed to tape in the station. We have experimented with different phone and internet platforms and think we have something that works now. However, good sound quality still hinges on good connection with the interviewee’s phone signal, which these days is usually from a cell phone.

M.W.: And cell phones are not always reliable! I really miss being in the studio setting with the interviewee sitting across the table with all the equipment.�� But that has not stopped us. Aaron and our excellent producer Jared DuFresne of KPTZ have experimented with a number of variations for taping the show remotely, and as Aaron said, they have found a good technical combination. The show must go on, and so it has.

We have found over the past two years that the number of marine topics we could report upon is endless. For example, there is so much research happening at the 91̽��on marine and related environmental issues, that we could do multiple shows focused on 91̽��projects alone.

I should add that we are always open to ideas from our listeners. So, please send us your ideas.

• To learn more or submit ideas, contact Wagner at maryannb@uw.edu or Barnett at aaronb5@uw.edu.

* * *

EarthLab’s ‘Voices Unbound’ second season talks of social tensions from COVID-19

“” is a podcast created by EarthLab and 91̽��Tacoma, and hosted by associate professor in the school’s Nursing and Healthcare Leadership Program. The podcast has now published its second season.

“In this series opener we go way-deep into the social tensions of our time,” show notes say, “discussing how racism in law enforcement and governmental responses to the COVID-19 epidemic contribute important environmental threats to communities in our region and elsewhere.”

The podcast also will continue to report on its analysis of answers to questions posed since 2019 about public attitudes toward environmental challenges.

Principal investigators for the work are Evans-Agnew and , urban ecologist and assistant professor in 91̽��Tacoma’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences.

Read an earlier 91̽��Notebook story about this podcast. For more information, contact Evans-Agnew at robagnew@uw.edu.