For Shore is a podcast about coasts and oceans, hosted by Rhode Island Sea Grant. On For Shore, you’ll hear from people with real stakes in ocean health and renewable energy- scientists, fishermen, community leaders, resource managers, and more. Abbey Greene, a co-host of For Shore and an Ocean Planning Specialist at Sea Grant, saw the podcast as “a good platform to tell people’s stories and see where everyone was coming from in a very human-centric way.” You can find For Shore on the Northeast Sea Grant website, the National Sea Grant Energy Liaison website, as well as on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Greene developed the idea in a graduate course with Madison Jones, and later received funding from the DWELL Lab in 2022 to develop a prototype. Her work centers on offshore renewable energy, a highly debated topic in Rhode Island. “We live in a world where it’s hard to see things when they’re not black and white and right and wrong,” says Greene. “[In For Shore,] I wanted to highlight the gray areas where we can talk to each other as neighbors trying to figure out something complex.”
Sea Grant is a program dedicated to enhancing environmental stewardship and the long-term economic development of coastal and marine resources through research, outreach, environmental literacy, and workforce development. For Shore is an extension of this mission. By bridging the gap between the lives of fishermen, the findings of research, and community opinion, For Shore strives to make sure decisions being made in Rhode Island are being informed by both science and the people. This happens primarily by building trust through candid conversation and mediation.
In the episode Fishermen Chat: Merlin Jackson and Colin Warwick on Fishery Engagement in the U.K., Greene sits down with fishery liaisons from the UK to learn from European offshore wind developers, who are decades ahead of the U.S. During the design and development of offshore wind farms, these liaisons made it a priority to center the concerns and voices of local fishermen. Greene hopes their lessons will carry over to future U.S. projects, noting that the most valuable takeaway from the conversation was simple: “if you’re not at the table, your voice isn’t going to be heard.”
In Researcher Chat: Alison Bates on Using VR in Ocean Research, Greene speaks with Alison Bates about a Virtual Reality experience that lets residents of the Gulf of Maine see wind farms up close, demystifying the technology for the people closest to it. “It’s one thing to read text on paper,” says Bates. “It’s another thing to have not just a visualization, but an immersion where you are actually interacting with a wind farm.” By gathering public opinion through VR, scientists and engineers can design offshore wind farms with the livelihoods and preferences of local communities in mind.
“Covering any complex topic, like coastal research and what communities are experiencing on the ground, is the goal,” says Greene. Whether you’re a scientist, a fisherman, or simply a curious neighbor, For Shore offers a rare space to explore the complexity of our oceans and the people who depend on them. You can listen on Podcast App or Podcast Addict today– 7 full episodes are out now!