Terra Verde

Saving California’s Kelp Forests – May 15, 2020

bull kelp
Bull kelp by Josie Iselin

Marine scientists, recreational divers, and artists are coming together to save California’s kelp forests that have been ravaged in recent years due to multiple factors including ocean pollution, overfishing, and that climate-change induced marine heat wave we have come to know as “the blob.”

Terra Verde host and Earth Island Journal editor Maureen Nandini Mitra talks with two such persons who have made it their goal to use art, science, and communication to help restore these “sequoias of the sea” along California’s northern coast. Artist and author Josie Iselin, whose new book, The Curious World of Seaweedtakes a deep dive into the ocean universe of marine algae, creating a nexus where art and science converge. And Tristin McHugh, marine biologist and the north coast regional manager for Reef Check, an international marine conservation group.

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