This week on Earth Beat... the boy who harnessed the wind, "The Cove" - the Oscar-winning movie about dolphin slaughter - and a visit to a Dutch dolphinarium, and product labelling - from meaningless marketing to titles you can trust .
The boy who harnessed the wind
William Kamkwamba grew up in the village of Masitala in rural Malawi. When he was only 14 years old he took a bunch of garbage and a library book and built a windmill. That windmill could produce energy, light to study by and get pump water, all very important in a region plagued by drought. Earth Beat’s Fiona Campbell spoke to William when he was visiting the Netherlands.
SWIMMING WITH THE DOLPHINS
The Cove
This past week the Oscars were awarded, and imagine our delight when a movie with an environmental edge took home one of those little golden statues for best documentary feature. The Cove follows a team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers as they uncover a secret dolphin cull in a hidden cove in Taiji, Japan.
Dolphins on display
Inspired by The Cove’s success, we decided to find out what kind of waves it’s making in the world of dolphin entertainment. Here in the Netherlands there’s a large dolphin aquarium in the town of Harderwijk. Earth Beat’s Jan Huisman went to check it out.
Acidic oceans
Perhaps it’s for the best if the Dolphins stay in captivity, away from the oceans. One unfortunate consequence of all the carbon dioxide we are putting in the atmosphere is that it’s going into the oceans – and making them more acidic. Marnie speaks to Jason Hall Spencer, from the Marine Institute in Plymouth in the UK.
Ocean acidification takes place when rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are absorbed by the ocean, lowering the pH of the seawater. It is uncertain what effect this will have on marine ecosystems. To study this, Jason Hall Spencer has found a place where volcanic vents bubble CO2 through the water, in effect mimicking how the marine life around the world will change as the seas becomes more acidic.
PRODUCT LABELLING
Envirominute
Our envirominute gives a 60-second overview of the labels that make a difference and the ones that are meaningless marketing.
Labelling laws
Marnie speaks to label expert Dr. Urvashi Rangan of Consumer Reports, an independent organization dedicated to informing and protecting American consumers, and Alissa Hamilton, author of Squeezed, What you don’t know about orange juice.
Get help separating the meaningful from the meaningless on the Consumer Reports Greener Choices website.
NEXT WEEK ON EARTH BEAT
It’s world water week, and we have a veritable flood of interesting stories about the stuff, like producing energy from dirty water.
It’s smelly, it’s cold, it’s disgusting, frankly. How can there be power in that?
Getting beyond the stink to sniff out clever innovations, that’s in the next edition of Earth Beat from Radio Netherlands Worldwide.
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