The Nature of Phenology 2/8/20: Winter Photosynthesis

Producers: Hazel Stark & Joe Horn
Host: Hazel Stark

Light is used as the energy source for plants to put together carbon dioxide and water into simple and complex carbohydrates like sugars (food now), starches (food later), and cellulose (which serve as building materials). And the byproduct of all this labor is oxygen.

Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at thenatureofphenology.wordpress.com

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RadioActive 2/6/20: Youth Speak Out at Maine Climate Council Meeting

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Today we hear the voices of youth speaking out on January 29th, in Augusta at the State’s newly formed Maine Climate Council, and the Maine Youth for Climate Justice’s Youth Voices Day.

The youth representative on the state’s climate council, Ania Wight, gave the Climate Council a report back from the UN Climate talks in Madrid in December. Maine Youth for Climate Justice held a press conference to offer their perspectives and present their four demands on the work and goals of the Maine Climate Council. This includes demanding “that achieving zero-emissions by the year 2030 be the ultimate and official goal for the state and the Maine Climate Council”. Youth demands and petition

cSince October, South Portland, Portland, Bar Harbor and Brunswick have all declared a Climate Emergency. On January 21st, the Bar Harbor Town Council additionally passed a measure to create a Climate Emergency Task Force with mission of drawing down the town’s carbon emissions by 2030.

Guests:
Ania Wright- College of the Atlantic student, Youth Representative on the Maine Climate Council, founding member of Bar Harbor Climate Emergency Coalition, Earth in Brackets (COA), Maine Youth for Climate Justice

Emma Sawyer, University of Southern Maine student, Maine Youth for Climate Justice

Felipe Andres Fontecilla Gutierrez , College of the Atlantic student from Chile, Maine Youth for Climate Justice

Anna Siegel – 8th grade student at Friends School of Portland, ME Strikes, Maine Youth for Climate Justice

Sophie Dowling – Mount Desert Island High School, founding member of Bar Harbor Climate Emergency Coalition, Mount Desert Island High School ECO team, Maine Youth for Climate Justice

Today’s program was co-produced by WERU FM/RadioActive and Sunlight Media Collective.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 2/6/20: AI and Human Bias

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

We hear a lot about Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning these days and the wondrous efficiency that they are bringing to so many tasks that once only humans could perform. But they’re also bringing biases as well because the machines were created by humans. Many people, including those in courthouses as well as in factories, imagine that machines are objective but they aren’t always. The fact that once machines begin learning on their own, even those who created them don’t know how they are doing what they are doing. That can be a big problem for folks who are trying to get a loan, buy insurance, apply for a job, or even apply for bail. Here’s why.

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