Talking Trump vs. science, facts and the planet with Dr. Andrew Rosenberg.  The former director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists and former director of NOAA on Project 2025, popping social media bubbles and why it is so friggin’ important that Americans vote… And not for Trump. “Whatever your issue is, should you be concerned? Yes! …This is not a time to sit it out.” On Project 2025: “It’s worse than you think it is. No matter how bad you think it is, it’s worse.”

Shownotes:

4:11 Andrew Rosenberg explains what the Union of Concerned Scientists is concerned about and how the focus shifted from weapons to using science to spin for politicians.

7:00 “Everyone will ask what are you concerned about… until Mr. Trump was elected and then nobody needed to ask that question anymore because it was pretty obvious what we were concerned about.”

8:00 Trump’s wasn’t the first administration to distort facts. “Everything that was talked about the facts became whatever Mr. Trump said they were at any given moment and that was not the same thing from one moment to the next. And in our current presidential campaign that’d gotten even worse.”

8:52 The futility of fact-checking when “everybody’s in their little bubbles in the social media age.”

11:06 Why the Trump administration kept losing their challenges in court and how Project 2025 will stop the courts from ignoring laws.

11:51 “We also leaned into the ideas that scientists can and should be much more active in the political process.” And the resistance to that…

16:45 How to challenge lies. What works, what doesn’t and why. “We’re not going to turn everybody into scientists.”

22:07 The impact of COVID and isolation on fact based reality.

23:10 “Anybody can say anything on social media.”

28:45 On Project 2025: “It’s worse than you think it is. No matter how bad you think it is, it’s worse.”

33:41 “President Trump was frustrated that people didn’t just do what he wanted.” ‘cause laws and consciences…

35:20 “It’s 900 pages long and covers every agency.” The end of NOAA… the end of science and research… and privatizing the weather service and…. yeah it’s worse…

37:00 Everybody becomes a political appointee…  You’re fired! “You would choose people based on their loyalty, not their expertise.”

39:15 Sharpiegate! How Trump moved a hurricane – so he could send money to a state he liked.

43:25 You can imagine what it will be like if he’s back in office. It will be worse… things will get a lot worse.”

44:00 “There’s no tethering to facts at all… it’s just whatever he happens to think about it at a given time.

48:04 BC water moving to California?

49:00 “I don’t believe he understands the sovereignty of other nations. Or cares.”

55:00 What you can do…

51:25 “Whatever your issue is, should you be concerned? Yes!”

51:52 “This is not a time to sit it out.”

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Andrew Rosenberg
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NOAA scientists Kim Parsons & Tom Jefferson on orca species, orca survival, orca scat, really old whales, the return of harbour porpoises, the fight for vaquitas and so much more in the second part of a special two-part episode on the two soon-to-be official species of orcas who call the Salish Sea home.

Shownotes:

2:29 The challenge of naming new animals… scientific names, the names we use and the politics of naming. Yes, we’re sticking with Residents & Bigg’s.

5:15 How many orca species are there? The challenges of collecting data.

7:01 The genetic challenges facing the southern resident orcas.

10:09 Not enough J-pod baby-daddies.

12:32 “I think we need some optimism here…” a happy story about harbour porpoises. “There may be hope for this species after all. We know what the problems are… if we can make enough compromises in our own behaviour to reduce those threats, I think there’s good reason for being optimistic that the future of southern resident killer whales can still look quite bright.”

14:50 Biological and chronological ages.

19:30 The latest on the vanishing vaquitas – the most endangered marine mammal in the world. Are there only 10 left? “As long as there’s one male and one female left in the population there’s a chance for them to survive.”

23:20 Talking poop about orcas. And orca poop. “I spent a lot of time working with killer whale poop… I’ve collected a lot of poop in my time.”

24:55 Is there another orca species in Alaska? Probably! How many species are there? “We may be looking at six or maybe eight species… maybe more.”

26:58 Improvements in understanding orca health and their environments.

Skaana podcasts connect you to news and experts and their discussions about environments, oceans, and orcas.
Kim Parsons from NOAA.
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NOAA scientists Kim Parsons & Tom Jefferson on killer whale science, killer whales versus orcas, orcas versus dolphins, how science becomes official, the challenges of translating science to civilians and so much more in the first of a special two-part episode on the two soon to be official species of orcas who call the Salish Sea home.

Shownotes:

3:45 Meet marine mammal biologist, Tom Jefferson.

4:21 Meet molecular geneticist, Kim Parsons.

5:10 Orcas or killer whales? And how to pronounce orcinus orca.

6:35 Orcas vs. whales/dolphins vs. Delphinidae and confusion over “common names.”

10:35 Talking taxonomy: splitting orca populations into two species.

12:55 Exploring orca genetics.

17:38 What’s in a name? Taxonomists reviewing splitting up species. And making the species designation official. Ish.

20:10 How to tell the difference between types of orcas.

24:31 Early observations of killer whales and how and why they got their names.

26:16 Naming the two orcas – the scientific names and the names we’ll all use…

Skaana podcasts connect you to news and experts and their discussions about environments, oceans, and orcas.
Tom Jefferson from NOAA.
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Ken Balcomb (Centre for Whale Research @CWROrcas) talks Tahlequah (J-35), Scarlet (J-50) and what we need to do to save the southern resident orcas before we meet the teams from NOAA and the DFO fighting to save Scarlet in this special update on the status of J-Pod. And the world premiere of a new song by poet & author Pauline La Bel. #FreeTheSnake

Skaana connects you to news and experts and their discussions about orcas, oceans and the environment.

Center for Whale Research….https://www.whaleresearch.com

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For more on this story

NOAA updates of J-35 & J-50 http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/protected_species/marine_mammals/killer_whale/updates-j50-j35.html

The Whale Sanctuary Project is on the scene of Operation Scarlet and updating regularly  https://whalesanctuaryproject.org/updates-on-the-j-pod-orcas/

Jeff Foster tests the breath sample test pole on the NOAA vessel which will be used in the health assesment of J50. (Photo: Katy Foster)

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