This episode is for you if you’re wondering what the heck is going on across the sea for our friends in the US, if you’re into citizen science and communities coming together to protect kelp, and if you like a good ocean film 🌊🍿

Blue Frontier is a US-based organisation that’s been building solution-oriented citizen engagement for 20 years, to protect oceans, coasts and the human and wild communities that depend on them. We’re joined by Blue Frontier’s David Helvarg and Natasha Benjamin to talk about people-powered conservation, the seaweed rebellion and their new film Sequoias of the Sea, which documents a community of fishermen, tribes and scientists working to restore a kelp habitat devastated by a warming climate.

Find out more about Blue Frontier here and follow the film Sequoias of the Sea here. 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:

Sequoias of the Sea film (US)

Blue Frontier - website

Rising Tide - Blue Frontier’s podcast

Jared Huffman (“Kelp Congressman”)

White Rock film by the Great Southern Reef Foundation (Australia)

The Australian Urchin Taskforce

The Golden Shore: California’s Love Affair with the Sea

Kelp Forest Challenge

The Seaweed Rebellion

This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal Country. 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’re an artist, or a scientist or conservationist wanting to communicate in creative ways, and if you love the deep sea, the Great Barrier Reef and Kate Bush 🪸💎

Kirsty Kross is an eco-feminist Australian artist currently based in Oslo, Norway, whose work is about finding ways of connecting diverse groups with issues around the climate crisis, often by embodying a vibrant coral trout. We talk about deep sea mining, mesopotamian deities, which countries are two-tit countries and a seaside collaborative opera performance 📣🪼

You can find Kirsty at her website or on Instagram @kirstykrosss. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people. Donate to support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople.

Deep sea mining links & stories touched on in this ep:

Greenpeace AU petition to ban deep sea mining ahead of international ISA meeting in July 2025

Pacific Blue petition to ban deep sea mining

Blue Peril short film

New battleground in critical minerals race is on Australia’s doorstep

What We Know About Deep-Sea Mining — and What We Don’t

Analysis of the implications of deep seabed mining for the global biodiversity framework and the sustainable development agenda (WWF report)

Immortal jellyfish!

National Treasure at Woollahra Gallery, Redleaf

The Cult of Atargatis and Transgender Priestesses

Jack Halberstam on Queer Failure, Silly Archives and the Wild

This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal Country. 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’re into nudibranchs, sea grapes, solar power, butterflies, citizen science and tongues with teeth(!?) 🌱🐛

Nicole Mertens is a marine ecologist with a passion for sacoglossans, a science communicator and the Nature Stewards Coordinator with the Victorian National Parks Association. Nicole is passionate about using citizen science as a platform for evidence-based conservation, and helping people connect with their local environment.

You can find Nicole and the VNPA team here and on socials @vicnationalparks.

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:

Seaslug census Facebook group (Australia)

iNaturalist - sacoglossans of Victoria (good pics)

Nudibranchs - videos + freaky facts

Shaun the Sheep internet famous nudi

Keep your head: the self-decapitating sea slugs that regrow their bodies – hearts and all

Solar-powered sea slugs

VNPA ReefWatch citizen science programs

This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal and Larrakia Country. 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’re interested in how a class action case works, if you wanna hear about seaweed farmers taking on big oil companies or if you’re also a soil person 🌱🪱

Freya Mulvey is a senior lawyer and environmental enthusiast who is passionate about implementing better soil and landscape regulation into policy and legal frameworks. She is a 2023 Churchill Fellow and a 2017 recipient of the Australian Lawyers Alliance Civil Justice Award for her work on the Montara Oil Spill. She is also a published author of the book Ground Breaking: Soil Security and Climate Change. We're also making a podcast together!

You can find Freya on LinkedIn, subscribe to SOIL on Spotify here, find us on socials @soilpodcast or read more at thesoilpodcast.com. Donate to our Pozible campaign by March 16th or via our website afterwards. You can find and contact me @seaweed.people.

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

Indonesian seaweed farmers win class action over one of Australia's largest oil spills

Interview with Greg Phelps

Phil Mulvey, Environmental Earth Sciences International

Ground Breaking: Soil Security & Climate Change (the book Freya co-authored with Phil Mulvey)

SOIL - Pozible campaign

Soil on Spotify

Seaweed People is completely independent. You can support the making of this show at buymeacoffee.com/seaweedpeople.

This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal and Larrakia Country. 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 love this ep, I just know it 🐋🦅 It’s for you if you like baby seahorses and migrating whales, if you live in a coastal city, if you've heard about wildlife coming back into harbours during lockdowns, or if you want to know what a strong collaboration between Indigenous knowledge-holders and western science looks like.

Robert Cooley is a Senior Ranger and leader of the Gamay Rangers, an Indigenous ranger team that cares for country on Gamay, or Botany Bay in Sydney, and on conservation land owned by the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council. Since 2019, the Gamay Rangers team have been regenerating coastal habitats, protecting marine mammals, providing food for vulnerable people during Covid lockdowns and connecting local communities to Sea Country in Australia’s biggest city.

You can find Robert and the Gamay Ranger team on socials @gamayrangers. 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:

La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council

Operation Crayweed - restoring Sydney’s underwater forests

Operation Posidonia - healing old wounds

The Sydney Seahorse Project (SIMS/Gamay Rangers)

SIMS Aboriginal Youth Ranger Program

Wild Sydney Harbour - citizen science project

Country Needs People - what are Indigenous Rangers?

Indigenous Rangers (NIAA/gov)

This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal and Bidjigal lands. 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’re into craft beer, you like dreaming up side hustles with your mates, you’re a chef wanting to experiment with kelpy umami or if you’re an aspiring seaweed farmer 👩🏽‍🍳🍻

Cam Hines and Brent “Bert” Cross are two of the three founders of Southern Seagreens. From backgrounds in craft beer and naval diving, they joined forces with Rob (the third, a scientist) to learn how to farm native kelp at their sea farm down in Flinders, Victoria. They also hunt wakame, one of the world’s most invasive (yet delicious) species, and turning it all into tasty treats.

You can find Cam & Bert via the Southern Greens website or socials. 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:

AU government Invasive pests: Wakame control plan

Removing wakame (Parks Victoria)

Mountain Goat Beer

Aegir Divers (Bert’s company)

GreenWave - global network of regenerative ocean farmers

Reviving Tassie’s giant kelp with Mick Baron (SP companion episode about Macrocystis)

Seaweed babies & kelp farms with Jo Lane (another companion ep about Ecklonia radiata)

An Overview of the Alternative Use of Seaweeds to Produce Safe and Sustainable Bio-Packaging (Lomartire et al., 2022 - research)

This episode was recorded and produced on Gadigal/Wangal land and Boon Wurrung/Bunurong 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.