During the first part of today’s show we were exploring the ways people can reduce the amount of water and fertilizer they use on their yards in order to reduce their environmental footprint, and not contribute to the harmful algal blooms we’re seeing in local waters.

With so much focus on water issues right now because of the nearly year old red tide bloom that continues to devastate marine wildlife, and the several months old toxic blue-green algae bloom that’s being fed by nutrient-rich releases from Lake Okeechobee, we thought it would be a good time to explore the world of xeriscaping .

Three Song Stories is a WGCU Podcast launched in February, 2018 by co-creators Mike Kiniry and Richard Chin Quee . New episodes are released every Friday morning on iTunes, NPR One, the WGCU smartphone app, wherever you get your podcasts, and on the WGCU website . Our guest Fort Myers-based musician Kate Skales. Kate was born and raised in a Lititz, PA, about an hour and a half outside of Philadelphia. She has a bachelor's degree in theatre arts from Kutztown, which is in a tiny farming town

The Florida Gulf Coast University Jazz Combo returns to our studios for a live on-air performance! Members of this quartet are considered some of the top musicians at FGCU’s Bower School of Music & the Arts . We’re joined by FGCU’s Emmy nominated Director of Jazz Studies, Brandon Robertson , along with his students Isaiah Suriel on alto saxophone, Jose Cordero on flute and piano, Miguel Azcuy on percussion, Steven Giro on trumpet and Jonathan Taylor on bass.

Howard Simon, the executive director of Florida’s American Civil Liberties Union , announced his plans to retire in April of 2018. He retired after the November elections, after 21 years of service to ACLU Florida that began in 1997. Simon’s service at ACLU Florida earns him the title as the longest-serving executive director in ACLU history. He joins the show to discuss his experience with civil rights advocacy, where he juggled complex issues like school book censorship, voting rights, gay

The federal government recently released a report claiming climate change is, in fact, real. The report confirms that climate change is an issue that is spiraling, and will likely lead to significant implications that could potentially affect the economy or human safety. Some climate change-caused scenarios are earthquakes, wildfires, floods, increased hurricane intensity, disrupted agriculture yields, or increasingly severe algal blooms and red tide outbreaks.

Three Song Stories is a WGCU Podcast launched in February, 2018 by co-creators Mike Kiniry and Richard Chin Quee . New episodes are released every Friday morning on iTunes, NPR One, the WGCU smartphone app, wherever you get your podcasts, and on the WGCU website . Our guest is Florida Gulf Coast University President, Dr. Mike Martin . A Minnesota native, Dr. Martin served as chancellor, or president, or vice president, or as a faculty member at a number of universities, including Colorado State,

The Southwest Florida-based band Swamp Rats join us in studio for a live on-air performance! Their self-described sound is “Florida folk with an edge,” though it can be difficult to pin them down to a specific genre. Swamp Rats ’ music encompasses an eclectic blend of folk, blues, Americana and bluegrass that is also infused with punk and metal. When the band isn’t busy traveling and performing, they’re also working on a full-length studio album set for release in 2019. We’ll hear from band

We sit down with the mother/daughter team behind the new podcast “ Cool Dead Women .” The first episode premiered earlier this year on Ms. Magazine’s blog and now they’re putting out regular episodes available through iTunes and Spotify. The podcast is researched, produced and hosted by author, professor, editor and historian Erika Waters , Ph.D., along with her daughter Blair Waters .

While the military has used drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, for quite some time, the world of drones has really opened up to normal people in recent years. For videographers, what used to take a helicopter rental can now be accomplished with a less-than-thousand dollar, camera equipped drone. And for enthusiasts, drones have advanced from flimsy toys to highly engineered tools to be used for fun and even competition. But, as the world of drones has advanced, so has the need to regulate