Seaweed People

This episode’s for you if you’re into eating seaweed, sustainable food systems, Nitrogen cycles, how seaweed can heal burns, or if you’ve ever daydreamed about being a humble seaweed farmer 🧑‍🌾🍝

Dr Pia Winberg is a marine ecologist who’s spent the past 25 years working in and researching sustainable marine development. In her words, she’s now in “the business of growing seaweed in a circular economy” and her main focus is developing systems to sustainably cultivate seaweeds in Australia. She runs two companies, Phycohealth and Venus Shell Systems, she has seaweed products on the shelves of supermarkets and she’s currently testing the wound-healing properties of seaweed cells. 

You can find Pia at Phycohealth or Venus Shell Systems and on social media @phycohealth. Subscribe for updates or support the podcast at quietnightin.substack.com. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Donate to support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. 

Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep: 

People in Europe ate seaweed for thousands of years

Your Evidence Based Guide to Seaweed a Superfood for the Gut

Iodine levels in seaweed and seaweed products in Australia

The Australian prawn farm raising the bar for sustainable aquaculture (not Sri Lanka, but same vibe)

What Is the Nitrogen Cycle and Why Is It Key to Life?

More on how Pia’s seaweed factory works

The circular economy at sea 

Pia’s personal story of seaweed & wound healing 

Seaweed and skin - skincare and wound healin

Harvesting seaweed to make skin from the sea

This episode was recorded and made on Gadigal/Wangal land. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’ll like this episode if you’re interested in artists working with seaweed or teaming up with scientists, what cuttlefish look like when they mate, kayaks that play music, or if you’ve ever wondered whether humans will one day be able to carry sharks in their wombs🦈🤰🏻

Lichen Kelp is an artist, performer and curator based in Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung country, in Naarm AKA Melbourne. Through her work she explores melting, subliming, fruiting, flowering, decomposing, bubbling and shapeshifting and she builds communities around marine algae and other ecologies. She also runs the Seaweed Appreciation Society International.

You can find Lichen on socials and read more about her projects on her website or at Seaweed Appreciation Society International (@seaweed_appreciation_society). Subscribe for updates or support the podcast at quietnightin.substack.com. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Donate to support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. 

Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep: 

Giant Australian cuttlefish breeding 

Dylan Martorell

Kayak Orchestra recording courtesy of Dylan & Jannah Quill 

Luna Mrozik Gawler - CARRYKIN - an interspecies surrogacy program

Fossils of earliest organisms that had sex are a billion years old

Why does the sea smell like the sea?

A list of ocean-based fears

Lipstick kiss of death

Seaweed: A Global History by Kaori O'Conner

The Portable Seaweed Library

Where is the Australian climate movement’s solidarity with Palestine?

This episode was recorded and made on Gadigal/Wangal land. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’re into biodiversity hotspots, temperate reef ecosystems, protecting your local beach, collective action, or if you’re working in the media or education sector then this episode is for you 📣🦑

Dr. Scott Bennett is a research scientist at the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania. He was born and raised on Tassie’s reefs, and he’s studied kelp forest ecosystems across Australia. He currently leads the scientific advisory panel of the Great Southern Reef Foundation and along with a very impressive team of cinematographers, scientists and local communities, he’s putting the Great Southern Reef on the map and building the science and stories needed for its protection. 

You can find Scott at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (UTAS) or the Great Southern Reef Foundation. Subscribe for updates or support the podcast at quietnightin.substack.com. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Donate to support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. 

Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep: 

GSRF Instagram

The ‘Great Southern Reef’: social, ecological and economic value of Australia’s neglected kelp forests (research paper)

Senate inquiry recommends $55-million investment into managing long-spined sea urchin

Sea Urchin Removal as a Tool for Macroalgal Restoration: A Review on Removing “the Spiny Enemies” (research paper)

GSR Educators Hub

Marine heatwaves are damaging reef ecosystems around Australia

This episode was recorded and made on Gadigal/Wangal and muwinina land. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one’s for you if you want to know the difference between seagrass and seaweed, how crayweed reproduces, what reforestation looks like, or if you’re dreaming of becoming a marine scientist and just need a good role model. 

Professor Adriana Verges has researched temperate ecosystems and coral reefs around the world. She leads a research program that looks into the impacts of climate change on seaweed forests and seagrass meadows and restoration approaches for their conservation. She also leads restoration projects Operation Crayweed and Operation Posidonia. 

You can find Adriana at the University of NSW and Sydney Institute of Marine Science. Subscribe for updates or support the podcast at quietnightin.substack.com. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Donate to support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. 

Links to research, projects and stories touched on in this ep: 

Operation Crayweed @thetrueoperationcrayweed

Operation Posidonia @operationposidonia

Western Australian seagrass meadow found to be the world’s largest plant 

AlgaeBase: a global algal database of taxonomic, nomenclatural and distributional information

Michael Guiry (phycologist)

Melinda Coleman - kelp scientist and geneticist 

Asparagopsis compounds reduce methane production in ruminants 

Tropicalisation of temperate reefs: Implications for ecosystem functions and management actions (Adriana’s research)

Restoring WA seaweed after marine heatwaves

Sydney sewage stories 

Recycled wastewater could ease pressures on Sydney’s drinking water 

Project Restore (SIMS)

This episode was recorded and made on Gadigal/Wangal land. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present as the ongoing custodians of Sea, Land and Sky Country.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one’s for you if you want to know what seaweed is and what it does in the ecosystem, whether sinking it in the deep ocean is a legit climate change solution and what a kelp trumpet sounds like. 

Dr Catriona Hurd is a seaweed physiologist with nearly 30 years experience across the planet studying how seaweeds grow and how they cope with things like ocean acidification and climate change. Her recent research in forensic carbon accounting assesses the role that seaweeds can play in carbon sequestration. 

You can find Dr Catriona Hurd at the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Science (UTAS). Thanks also to Ben Gerstein for lending me the sounds of his kelp trumpet, check out his music and sound work here. Subscribe for updates or support the podcast at quietnightin.substack.com. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Donate to support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. 

Some links to research and stories for your rabbit holes: 

Seaweed Ecology and Physiology (book)

Svalbard Global Seed Vault

24,000 year old Rotifers may enter the ecosystem once permafrost thaws 

46,000 year old worm found in Siberian permafrost

Regeneration of whole fertile plants from 30,000-y-old fruit tissue buried in Siberian permafrost

Underpinning the Development of Seaweed Biotechnology: Cryopreservation of Brown Algae (Saccharina latissima) Gametophytes

Forensic Carbon Accounting: Assessing the Role of Seaweeds in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Removal (YouTube)

Forensic carbon accounting: Assessing the role of seaweeds for carbon sequestration (research paper)

Supplementing the diets of cows with Asparagopsis

Biofuels from algae: challenges and potential

Follow the Algae Brick Road to Plant-Based Buildings

Climate Recovery Institute 

This episode was recorded and made on Palawa Pakana & Gadigal/Wangal land. I acknowledge and pay respects to First Nations people and their elders past and present.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is this!? This is a podcast about seaweed and people. It's for you if you're interested in what seaweed is, how it works in ecosystems, whether it's a legit carbon sequestration solution, growing it for food, biodiversity and reforestation, etc etc. There'll also be some good seaweed-adjacent stuff.

Subscribe for updates or support the podcast at quietnightin.substack.com. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Donate to support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.