World Ocean Radio 5/6/26: Climate and Defense

Host: Peter Neill
Producer:
Trisha Badger

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
As we’ll demonstrate this week, climate denial is a foolish mistake. We’ll show the ways that denial allows us to ignore prospects of sea level rise, extreme weather, floods and coastal inundations, access and supply chain disruptions, hampered training and preparedness to meet conditions, denials that lead us into wars and conflicts to which we may be strategically unprepared to adapt.

WORLD OCEAN RADIO
5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

Around Town 5/6/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

League of Women Voters of Maine’s June 9th Semi-Open Primary Voter Guide
The VOTER HOTLINE number is 207-558-3333

The Maine Dept of Environmental Protection has issued a Notice of Opportunity to File for intervenor status in an upcoming public hearing on the controversial Juniper Ridge Landfill expansion

Community Action has expanded their Walk-in-Wednesdays for heating assistance applications in Aroostook, Washington and Hancock counties as they encourage residents to apply for heating assistance as soon as possible. Walk-in appointments for the Home Energy Assistance (HEAP) program are available at their Ellsworth office on Avery Street from 9am to 4pm on Wednesdays through May. They recommend reviewing their list of helpful paperwork before coming in.

Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

Dawnland Signals 5/5/26

Hosts: Nolan Altvater and Nick Bear
Recording and Editing: Nick Bear
Original music: Nick Bear

Dawnland Signals highlights indigenous topics not immediately represented in mainstream media and is meant to share, inspire, and inform.

This month:
A conversation about the roles of running within indigenous communities as a way to connect to our homelands and build healthy communities. We are joined by Dustin Martin, a Dine runner and Chief Visionary Officer of WINGS of America, a Santa Fe based organization that works to build healthy Native communities by empowering youth through running, and Brian Altvater who is a Passamaquoddy elder with a deep experience in running and community organizing as the Wabanaki Wellness Coordinator for Wabanaki REACH.

Guests:
Dustin Martin and Buck Altavater.

FMI:
wingsofamerica.org

Links:
Wabanaki REACH: www.wabanakireach.org/
Dawnland Signals: www.wabanakireach.org/dawnland_signals

Outside the Box 5/5/26: “Yes to Better Health Options”

Producer/Host: Larry Dansinger

About the host:
Larry Dansinger (no pronouns) of Bangor came to Maine in 1974 and has been here ever since. Some of Larry’s activities since then: Done community organizing on numerous issues through INVERT and then Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC), committed civil disobedience several times, grown a garden yearly since 1977, joined various food cooperatives and two men’s groups, refused to pay federal income taxes for war, lived on a community land trust for 23 years, and met a wonderful partner whom Larry has loved for over 40 years. Larry has produced Outside the Box features on WERU since 2007 and continues to look for unique ways of seeing almost any problem or situation.

Around Town 5/5/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

DIY Energy Efficiency for a More Affordable and Comfortable Home, hosted by A Climate to Thrive, Wednesday, May 6th
DIY projects to save money on energy and make your home more comfortable? Learn more about do-it-yourself energy efficiency projects from energy auditor, Colin McCullough
Wednesday, May 6th at 6 PM in the basement stacks, Jesup Memorial Library, Bar Harbor FMI and to register

Also on Wednesday, May 6th: Friends of Sears Island will host a Zoom presentation by Ron Butler about the butterflies of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes, at at 6:30pm This presentation will cover the taxonomy, evolution, morphology, and ecological significance of butterflies. It will include images of some representative species of the region’s six butterfly families, explore butterfly conservation issues (particularly climate change), and briefly consider the ‘insect apocalypse’. The presentation will conclude with some recommended butterfly identification guides, apps, and websites.

Ron Butler is an animal ecologist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Maine at Farmington, where he taught courses in Zoology, Entomology, Ecology, and Conservation Biology. While Ron spent the first part of his career conducting research with seabirds in Maine, Newfoundland, and Antarctica, for the past several decades his work has focused on ecologically important groups of insects in Maine. Ron helped plan and coordinate several state-wide citizen science initiatives, including the Maine Damselfly and Dragonfly Survey, the Maine Butterfly Survey, the Maine Bumble Bee Atlas, and (presently) the Maine Flower Fly Survey. Ron co-authored Butterflies of Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces (2023) and Dragonflies and Damselflies of Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces (in press).

You can find more information and sign up to receive the zoom link at Friends of Sears Island’s website or go directly to the registration form

The Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport is offering Pre-Season Sneak Peak guided tours this week.. Explore new exhibit updates, learn about projects in the library and photo archives, watch newly added sardine videos, and examine historical documents. Guided by PMM staff and volunteers, this 1.5-hour walking tour is a unique chance to learn and ask questions. Sessions are limited to 20 people and will be starting at 10am and noon, this Thursday, May 7th For more information and to reserve a spot

Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

Around Town 5/4/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

A Word in Edgewise 5/4/26: Of Maia, Nestbuilding, Carl Phillips, & the Eta Aquariids . . .

Producer/Host: R.W. Estela

Hi, I’m RW Estela: Since 1991, I’ve been presenting A Word in Edgewise, WERU’s longest-running short feature, a veritable almanac of worldly and heavenly happenings, a confluence of 21st-century life in its myriad manifestations, international and domestic, cosmopolitan and rural, often revealing, as the French say, the more things change, the more they stay the same — though not always! Sometimes in addressing issues affecting our day-to-day lives, in this age of vagary and ambiguity, when chronological time is punctuated elliptically, things can quickly turn edgy and controversial, as we search for understanding amid our dialectic. Tune in Monday mornings at 7:30 a.m. for an exciting journey through space and time with a few notable birthdays thrown in for good measure during A Word in Edgewise . . .

About the host:
RW Estela was raised as a first-generation American in Colorado by a German mother and a Corsican-Basque father who would become a three-war veteran for the US Army, so RW was naturally a military brat and later engaged in various Vietnam-era civil-service adventures before paying his way through college by skiing for the University of Colorado, playing Boulder coffeehouses, and teaching. He has climbed all of Colorado’s Fourteeners; found work as an FAA-certificated commercial pilot, a California-licensed building contractor, a publishing editor, a practitioner of Aikido, and a college professor of English; among his many interdisciplinary pursuits are the design and building of Terrell Residence Library (recently renamed the Terrell House Permaculture Living & Learning Center at the University of Maine), writing Building It In Two Languages (a bilingual dictionary of construction terminology), aerial photo documentation of two dam removals (Great Works and Veazie) on the Penobscot River, and once a week since 1991 drafting an installment of A Word In Edgewise, his essay series addressing issues affecting our day-to-day lives — and WERU’s oldest continuous short feature. When pandemics do not interfere, he does the Triple Crown of Maine open-water ocean swims (Peaks to Portland, Islesboro Crossing, and Nubble Light Challenge) and the Whitewater Downriver Point Series of the Maine Canoe and Kayak Racing Organization. RW is the father of two and the grandfather of three and lives with his partner Kathleen of 37 years and their two Maine Coons in Orono.