National Observer Podcast Shows – Apple Podcasts

Channel • 8 Shows

FEB 20

Secret Ingredient

It begins with an unlikely detective. Diane Cotter wasn’t a researcher, a scientist, a journalist or a sleuth. But she became all of that after her firefighting husband got cancer. Then, dozens of his firefighting colleagues also got cancer. Diane suspected it was more than just occupational risk that caused these cancers. She set out to answer questions of how and why and found herself pulled into a rabbit hole where the world appeared upside down. She discovered that the protective suits firefighters wear are contaminated with chemicals – called PFAS – that can kill. She found a scientist to test the gear for the chemicals and the results are shocking. But it wasn’t enough to convince the union and the agency that approves the equipment. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feb 20

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39 min
JAN 16

The Road

Harry Wabasse's home in Webequie First Nation is about 70 kilometres from Ontario’s Ring of Fire mining region. A nearby mine and a road to the region could change his life forever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jan 16

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29 min
MAR 19

Toxic Justice

In this episode, everyone has given up on the regulators, who move slowly if at all. Lawsuits are filed by Diane Cotter’s husband Paul and his colleagues. The union, the International Association of Fire Fighters, sues the National Fire Protection Association, which sets the safety standards for firefighting equipment. And lawyer Rob Bilott files a class action suit, which includes every person in the U.S., and requires the chemical companies to pay for blood tests of all 325 million Americans. Will the chemical companies let him get away with it? And we learn about Diane Cotter’s hardest days. After years of abuse on social media, email attacks and shunning, she felt she couldn’t go on. But something pulled her back from the edge. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 19

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48 min
MAR 5

The Best Regulations Money Can Buy

Lawyer Rob Bilott completes the promise he made to his grandmother and has to decide if he will go back to corporate law or continue to fight the multinational company, Dupont. He tries to get the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take over the fight but gets nowhere. And a high-level U.S. government scientist explains how regulation really works. Still, Bilott manages to get Dupont to pay for a study of 70,000 people who drank water poisoned by the company’s waste. Meanwhile, Diane Cotter and Graham Peaslee cobble together the money for a study on PFAS chemicals in firefighters’ turnout gear. A robust study is needed to get the results published. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 5

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50 min
2022-08-09

The Gold Rush

If you take a boat along the coast of northern British Columbia, you’ll see towering deciduous trees and snow-capped peaks, small islands, big islands and scattered throughout it all … fish farms. Dozens of them. Alexandra Morton remembers their arrival — remembers the Gold Rush when anyone who wanted a fish farm license got one. And she remembers how the government tricked coastal people into pointing out the best wild salmon habitat. We are crowdfunding to cover the cost of this podcast. If you'd like to contribute, as little as five dollars per month can help support this work: https://www.nationalobserver.com/donate/podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022-08-09

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36 min
MAR 12

The Devil They Knew

We learn about the contamination of military bases in the U.S. and Canada from PFAS chemicals in firefighting foam. And how the foam residue has poisoned drinking water sources in both countries. We hear about one community in Quebec that was faced with a big problem finding a new source of drinking water. And a group of firefighters who decided to create a safe alternative to the foam. But because it is a gel instead of a foam, they ran into roadblocks getting it certified for firefighters to use. The issue was a big one for a congressional committee looking into PFAS. It called the military, the Environmental Protection Agency and the companies making the PFAS chemicals to testify and explain their actions. The members of Congress were looking for clear answers and weren’t happy when they didn’t get them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 12

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49 min
2022-08-30

Hiding the Scientist

As her day to testify at the Cohen Commission arrived, Alex Morton was full of adrenaline. She could tell people what she had been seeing with the salmon for the past two decades. And she would reveal what she had found in the 500,000 pages of government documents submitted to the inquiry. Documents that had only been released to inquiry witnesses, and would go back under lock and key the moment the inquiry was over. It should have been a perfect Hollywood moment — like key scenes from Erin Brockovich, Dark Waters or even The Verdict. And when Alex made key documents public, they revealed how the health of wild salmon had been ignored by Fisheries and Oceans for decades. We are crowdfunding to cover the cost of this podcast. If you'd like to contribute, as little as five dollars per month can help support this work: https://www.nationalobserver.com/donate/podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022-08-30

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44 min
2022-08-23

The Game-changer

The salmon had been returning to the Fraser River for hundreds of years. In 2009, they didn’t. Or barely did. Nine million sockeye salmon were missing. Stephen Harper, prime minister at the time, was not a man known for promoting science, but the catastrophic loss forced him to call an inquiry. For the first time, there would be money, time and people testifying under oath about events leading to the disappearance of the wild salmon. We are crowdfunding to cover the cost of this podcast. If you'd like to contribute, as little as five dollars per month can help support this work: https://www.nationalobserver.com/donate/podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022-08-23

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32 min
2022-09-06

Skull and Crossbones

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society offers to send a research ship to B.C. to help Alex Morton with her studies. At first, she rejects the offer as too provocative. Sea Shepherd is a contentious environmental organization. But Alex needs to get close to the salmon farms, so she changes her mind. Alex planned to visit all the fish farms off the east coast of Vancouver Island and collect water samples to test for diseases coming out of the farms. And then she got the idea to ask some First Nations people to join her. That was a game-changer. We are crowdfunding to cover the cost of this podcast. If you'd like to contribute, as little as five dollars per month can help support this work: https://www.nationalobserver.com/donate/podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022-09-06

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40 min
2022-08-15

Camp Sea Lice

When Alex left the orcas behind to study sea lice, she knew she couldn’t be everywhere, so she started to gather an army of sea lice helpers — citizen scientists from all over northern Vancouver Island willing to collect smolts and count sea lice for her research. Jody Erickson and Farlyn Campbell started as teenagers and were devastated to see baby fish with dozens of sea lice eating through their bodies. We are crowdfunding to cover the cost of this podcast. If you'd like to contribute, as little as five dollars per month can help support this work: https://www.nationalobserver.com/donate/podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022-08-15

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28 min

Listen to experts and journalists dissect the hottest issues in the climate and political sphere in this diverse and growing podcast collection. We bring you conversations with those who are at the centre of setting the climate agendas. Our investigations, analysis and special reports will keep you informed and engaged. This is Canada’s National Observer, an online publisher of award-winning in-depth analysis and opinion, solutions journalism, multimedia features and daily news.