Louisiana is a world leader in coastal restoration. Many would even say number one. The media is full of stories about the coastal land loss crisis in Louisiana, the dire predictions of climate change and sea level rise, and polarizing accounts of controversial projects, but what is also true is that Louisiana is making tremendous strides piecing this ragged shoreline back together little by little. 

Over the next four episodes of Sea Change, we're going to feature Wetlands Radio. The series is a deep dive into Louisiana's coast - both how it came to be imperiled and also, the incredible things a mighty group of people are doing to fight land loss.

In part one, how did we get here? From deep geology, to efforts to control the Mississippi River, to the boom days of oil and gas, we discover the backstory that led to the start of coastal restoration.

EPISODE CREDITS

This episode was hosted by Executive Producer Carlyle Calhoun and Wetlands Radio producer Eve Abrams. 

Wetlands Radio is produced by Eve Abrams and funded by BTNEP, the Barataria Terrebonne National Estuary Program through the Environmental Protection Agency's National Estuary Program. To hear Wetlands Radio episodes in their entirety, visit btnep.org. 

Sea Change is a WWNO and WRKF production. We are part of the NPR Podcast Network and distributed by PRX. Sea Change is made possible with major support from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Sea Change is also supported by the Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans. WWNO’s Coastal Desk is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Meraux Foundation, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. 

The amazing science behind understanding mysterious but critical ocean currents. And specifically, understanding the current in our backyard, the Gulf’s Loop Current.

We talk with scientists leading a huge multi-country research collaboration that is going to great lengths and depths to understand the especially unknown Loop Current. We talk about how currents connect us, how they are basically a thermostat for the globe, and why, more than ever before, we need to understand them. 

EPISODE CREDITS

This episode was hosted by executive producer Carlyle Calhoun. Our theme music is by Jon Batiste, and our sound designer is Emily Jankowski. 

Scientists featured in this episode are paleo oceanographer Audrey Morley from the University of Galway, oceanographer Amy Bower from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, oceanographer Steve DiMarco from Texas A&M, and oceanographer Scott Glenn from Rutgers University. 

Sea Change is a WWNO and WRKF production. We are part of the NPR Podcast Network and distributed by PRX. Sea Change is made possible with major support from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Sea Change is also supported by the Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans. WWNO’s Coastal Desk is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Meraux  Foundation, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. 

This is part 2 of a 2-part series exploring the future of farming seafood in the Gulf. We know this: demand for seafood is soaring. We won't be able to sustainably meet that demand from wild-caught fisheries. And there’s a growing global movement to farm more and more of our seafood. 

The Gulf is one of the LAST places in the world where there is still a major wild oyster harvest. Lately, though, that harvest…is in trouble. In this episode, we ask: What can the downfall and resurrection of the oyster tell us about a future of farming the ocean?

EPISODE CREDITS
This series is produced in partnership with the Food and Environment Reporting Network. This episode was hosted by Carlyle Calhoun and Boyce Upholt. Boyce also reported this episode. Editing by Jack Rodolico. Carlyle Calhoun is the executive producer. The episode was fact-checked by Garrett Hazelwood. Our theme music is by Jon Batiste, and our sound designer is Emily Jankowski. 

Sea Change is a WWNO and WRKF production. We are part of the NPR Podcast Network and distributed by PRX. Sea Change is made possible with major support from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Sea Change is also supported by the Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans. WWNO’s Coastal Desk is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Meraux  Foundation, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation.

This is part 1 of a 2-part series exploring the future of farming seafood in the Gulf. Americans eat a lot of farmed seafood — but the vast majority of it comes from overseas. We just don’t farm fish on a big scale in U.S. waters. Now that might start to change. There are proposals to build massive fish farms in U.S. federal waters. And guess which coast is likely to be the first home for these new farms? You guessed it,  the Gulf.

So is this a miracle cure or a looming ecological disaster?

EPISODE CREDITS

This series is produced in partnership with the Food and Environment Reporting Network. This episode was hosted by Carlyle Calhoun and Boyce Upholt. Boyce also reported this episode. Editing by Jack Rodolico. Carlyle Calhoun is the executive producer. The episode was fact-checked by Garrett Hazelwood. Our theme music is by Jon Batiste, and our sound designer is Emily Jankowski. 

Voices featured at the top of the episode in order of appearance: Melvin Jackman in Newfoundland, Fay Orfanidou in Greece, Nick Underdown in Scotland, and Leticia Caro and Claudio Carocca in Chile.

Sea Change is a WWNO and WRKF production. We are part of the NPR Podcast Network and distributed by PRX. Sea Change is made possible with major support from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Sea Change is also supported by the Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans. WWNO’s Coastal Desk is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Meraux  Foundation, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. 

The story we are bringing you today is about sea turtles. In fact, it’s about the smallest and most endangered of sea turtles, called the Kemp’s Ridley. It’s a surprising and optimistic tale about a turtle’s return to Louisiana. 

We reported this episode back in 2023, but we wanted to revisit it because who doesn’t need more sea turtles in their life right now? And also because there has been some big news for sea turtles recently.

This episode was hosted and produced by Carlyle Calhoun. Sea Change's theme music is by Jon Batiste, and our sound designer is Emily Jankowski. Carlyle Calhoun is the executive producer.

Sea Change is a WWNO and WRKF production. We are part of the NPR Podcast Network and distributed by PRX. And to help others find our podcast, hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Sea Change is made possible with major support from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Sea Change is also supported by the Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans. WWNO’s Coastal Desk is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Meraux Foundation, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. 

What does it take to stay rooted on the Gulf Coast, even as the land and weather change around us? We meet individuals, from a poet to a minister to a computer programmer, each finding their own creative ways to adapt and fight for the future of their communities. From amphibious homes to inland retreats to processing our changing environment through poetry, we hear how people's ingenuity is helping chart a new path forward.

To hear more from Rachel Nederveld's oral history series, No Matter the Water, click here or find it wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode was hosted and produced by Carlyle Calhoun. Sea Change's theme music is by Jon Batiste, and our sound designer is Emily Jankowski. Carlyle Calhoun is the executive producer.

Sea Change is a WWNO and WRKF production. We are part of the NPR Podcast Network and distributed by PRX. And to help others find our podcast, hit subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Sea Change is made possible with major support from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Sea Change is also supported by the Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans. WWNO’s Coastal Desk is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Meraux Foundation, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. 

There was a time back in the 1980s when overfishing had decimated popular fish like red snapper and grouper in the Gulf. But then, there was a dramatic turning point, when both fish and fishermen in the Gulf were kind of saved. Today, we hear the remarkable success story of how unlikely partners joined forces to save an industry and an ecosystem.

In this episode, Environmental Defense Fund's Executive Director, Amanda Leland, water resilience author, James Workman, and fisherman, Buddy Guidon, talk about how catch shares created a quiet revolution. 

To learn more, check out Amanda and James' book, Sea Change: Unlikely Allies and a Success Story of Oceanic Proportions.

This episode was hosted by Carlyle Calhoun and Michael McEwen. Michael conducted the interview. Our sound designer is Emily Jankowski, and our theme music is by Jon Batiste. Carlyle Calhoun is the executive producer. Sea Change is a WWNO and WRKF production. We are part of the NPR Podcast Network and distributed by PRX. 

Sea Change is made possible with major support from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Sea Change is also supported by the Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans. WWNO’s Coastal Desk is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Meraux Foundation, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. 

Today, we’re bringing you a wild story. It’s about a covert ocean adventure from back in the Cold War days that inadvertently set off a brand new industry. And it’s an industry that’s been in the news a lot lately: deep-sea mining. 

Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order to try to fast-track deep-sea mining, while many countries are calling for more research before any mining can proceed or an outright ban. The deep ocean is the least known place on Earth, and scientists say we are only beginning to understand the power of the deep.

And to tell the incredible backstory of how the industry that could forever change our ocean got its start, we are bringing you an episode from one of our favorite public radio podcasts: Outside/In from New Hampshire Public Radio. 

This episode was reported and produced by Daniel Ackerman.

Sea Change is a WWNO and WRKF production. Carlyle Calhoun is Sea Change's executive producer. Emily Jankowski is our sound designer, and our theme music is by Jon Batiste. We are part of the NPR Podcast Network and distributed by PRX. 

Sea Change is made possible with major support from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Sea Change is also supported by the Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans. WWNO’s Coastal Desk is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Meraux Foundation, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. 

Today, we bring you three stories exploring what it really takes to be ready for the next big storm. But at their core, these stories are about something deeper: the determination to keep living here on the Gulf Coast, and about the choices we’re making that will decide whether that’s possible.

Thanks for listening to Sea Change. This episode was hosted by Carlyle Calhoun, Eva Tesfaye, and Michael McEwen. Eva and Michael reported the stories. Carlyle Calhoun is Sea Change's executive producer. Emily Jankowski is our sound designer, and our theme music is by Jon Batiste.

Sea Change is a WWNO and WRKF production. We are part of the NPR Podcast Network and distributed by PRX. Sea Change is made possible with major support from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Sea Change is also supported by the Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans. WWNO’s Coastal Desk is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Meraux Foundation, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. 

For the first time since Hurricane Katrina made landfall 20 years ago, you can take a train ride across the Gulf Coast, from Mobile to New Orleans. And all these years later, the cities along that route are still living with the storm's aftermath. In this episode, we hop aboard the train and make four Gulf Coast stops along the way to share that story. About what happened during Katrina. How some places built back better, and how others are still trying to figure out how to rebuild.

This episode was reported and hosted by Stephan Bisaha of the Gulf States Newsroom. Sea Change's executive producer, Carlyle Calhoun, co-hosted the episode.

Sea Change is a WWNO and WRKF production. We are part of the NPR Podcast Network and distributed by PRX. For another great podcast serving up more great stories from the region, check out Gulf States Gumbo wherever you get your podcasts.

Sea Change is made possible with major support from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Sea Change is also supported by the Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans. WWNO’s Coastal Desk is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Meraux Foundation, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation.