July 17, 2025 • 35 mins
Talked with Dr. Stefan Harzen, Director, The Taras Oceanographic Foundation and Elizabeth Dashiell. The Taras Foundation was founded in 1998 and studies dolphins as a way of understanding how the oceans work. Taras has two primary programs: The Palm Beach Dolphin Project is a long-term conservation research initiative examining dolphin society and how their health and the resources they rely on, has direct and indirect impacts on our health and wellbeing. Students are using the data for their projects and they have a relationship with Palm Beach Atlantic University to jointly study the occurrence and impact of micro plastics on our local waters. The second program is their Ocean of Notes Concert series that's part of their World Oceans Day Celebration with Riviera Beach. Listeners can get more info about the Dolphin tours, www.palmbeachdolphintours.com and www.taras.org.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
iHeart Communities Presents Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective with dead Nep.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good morning, Welcome to Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective. I'm
your host, Dev Nep, thanks for spending your weekend with me.
All kinds of great things going on, and to help
me tell you about that one welcome. I'm the guests
Elizabeth Deshield, Good morning, Good morning, dev Hey, thanks for
popping back in. Always so many cool things going on.
Tell me a little bit. You've been very busy the
past couple weekends with some Shakespeare activity.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yes, tonight is your last chance to catch the free
outdoor production of Shakespeare by the Seas, the Winter Tail.
You just bring your beach chair, your blanket, your favorite beverage.
There are food trucks and a magical production of Shakespeare
under the Stars. But you know, we have a ton
of cultural activities you'd never know was even summer. The
(00:49):
Flagler Museum has kids summer programming going on right now,
and it's all about trains. Of course, Flagler's private car
is right there on the property and through August thirtieth
in the historic Flagler Keenan Pavilion. Tuesday through Saturday from
(01:09):
ten am to one pm. Young people will have their
creative minds engaged through play crafts, storytelling, hands on learning.
You just go to Flagler Museum dot us for more information.
What do you have going on?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Mounts Botanical Garden has got free admission for the kids
throughout the month of July all the way through the end.
You can go and they have of course all the
different gardens there as we've talked about in the past,
but they've hands on things. They've got like watercolor beginner watercolor.
There's like the Cacals soundbasketleon and they have through the
Dog Day in the garden, so you and your furry
(01:47):
friend can go, which I think is just super fun.
And then more for the kids, you can explore the
those are the gardens, and they've got the trek scavenger Hunt.
They can go running around through the dout Giant Green
Maze and there is something in the middle guys, good
inside check that out. I finally made it to the
middle ones. It's like, hey, I'm in the oh cool, Okay,
there's something in here and this is neat And of
(02:08):
course you can check out the butterfly gardens because I've
got the butterflies happening around right now and feeding the fish,
the turtles. That's always so much fun. I definitely check
that out. Go to Mounts dot org for all the
different programs for grown ups and kids.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Speaking of gardens, of course, in Delray Beach we have
the Morda Kami Museum and Japanese Gardens and their current exhibition,
absolutely Beautiful The Art of Peace to zai Okemana, now
on view through September twenty eighth, and what that is
are intricately articulated sculptures crafted and the likeness of animals
(02:44):
and mythical beasts, and it's just this fantastic exhibition insight
into Japanese culture. And of course you have their glorious
gardens you can explore while you're there. You can find
them more. Coom dot org for more details about everything
(03:04):
going on.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Oh, absolutely more. Look at Business end psaight, the end
of things. City of Fort Pierce has been doing a
bunch of free community workshops about different topics. So the
last one in the series is coming up on July
thirty first, and this one's going to be a credit
repair workshop. So you go and they'll give you some
help on tips on how to fix that. Call them
at seven seven two for six seven thirty one sixty
(03:27):
one and they're happy to give you details on what
all you need to bring and the time and everything,
and of course we've got a reminder. This is cool.
It comes around every year. The American Humane Society is
doing their fifteenth annual I believe it is, yep, their
fifteenth annual Hero Dog Awards. So you go and they
have five different categories, like, one's a shelter dog, one's
(03:48):
like you know, police officer dog, you know, a for
a police dog, and people vote for which dog they
think is the cutest and then that person wins. It's
it's just a fun way and of course you might
find a furry friend online that you might want to
adopt as well. So I think it's a lot of fun.
Go to American Humane dot org forward slash Hero Dog
Awards and you can vote today.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Check that out. Oh that is fantastic. Back to the
arts world. If you're not doing the outdoor thing, there
is so much theater and comedy everything going on just
throughout the county at the FAU University Theater through July
twenty seventh is freaky Friday the Musical. The Lakeworth Playhouse
(04:30):
is doing Hair the Musical through August third, and of
course Arts Garage. I always love how they have eclectic
live music and so much more. They have Dante Bargas
and Valbargas Salsa Dora e Boogaloo that is on July
twenty fifth. Boca Ballet presents Summer Breezes at Spanish River
(04:55):
High School August second and third, and we have a
for a fl PBC. If you see acronyms or letters
spelled out like that, you know it's a county thing. True.
Palm Beach County is hosting their annual Celebration of the
Arts Thursday, July thirty first, from seven to nine at
(05:16):
the cmaa therapeutic recreation complex that's in Lakeworth at John
Prince Park, and they're just going to have a lot
of visual art classes, performances by local community theater actors,
and a lot more. You can visit a the number
four a PBC dot com.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Oh very cool and speaking of events and concerts and
things like that, Bruckhouse Gallery and Kelsey Park, lots of
cool things coming up. They're closed on Monday the twenty first,
but then Tuesday they're doing their seven pm open mic
jammin with Jeff Livingston. Wednesday night they're doing six forty
five mobile masterpieces. It's going to be one of those
paint and sip things where you paint your little bird house.
(06:02):
It's a beachy birdhouse this time. These are just so
much fun people. You do not have to have any skill,
they're just fine. Come out, hang out with your friends
and see what everybody else has made. Then Thursdays another
open mic night, and this one's with Gary Frost. Friday's
live music with old friends. Saturday's going to be Love
Medicine playing, and then Sunday they're doing Sully Blues. So
(06:22):
definitely Bruhosk has always got stuff going on. And they
did put a note in there that because the open
MIC's becoming more popular, they're going to add Wednesday night
as an open mic night going in the future. Oh
so this Wednesday coming up is because the bird House
they're gonna be there. But then going on later on
they'll be more open mic nights for folks and you come.
You can be on the stage or just watch the
guy perform, whichever you're more comfortable with.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
They have lots of board games and everything else.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Oh yes, and all the different crafts, beers and things
we'll try out.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Speaking of open mic nights and comedians, don't forget. The
Cravis Center just announced that Jeremy Piven, he was on
Entourage and and Tons of Movies, is going to be
coming to the Craviscenter on December fifth and sixth, and
his tickets just went on sale at Cravis dot org.
A little bit off stage, but still at the Craviscenter.
(07:16):
You know, they have an art gallery. They have a
special gallery in the Cohen Pavilion open free to the public,
and right now they have this incredible exhibition of Pari
Dukovic's work. He's a well known celebrity photographer. But this
particular showcase is on point dance and fashion and it
(07:39):
is twenty five huge photographs representing a decade of high
fashion designs created for the New York City Ballet and
these photos are breathtaking. So that exhibition has been extended
through August twenty nights. So check it out Cravis dot.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Org and it's opened throughout the week.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Correct sing you have to go and check the exact
hours of day at Cravis dot org. You can get
all that information.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Sounds good to me. And of course before we go
to talk about the one we haven't done yet, you
and I have not done this. It is a Saint
Lucie County Free Sea Turtle nest excavation walks where you
go in the beach in the morning. It'sarcts like six
six thirty seven and you see the little turtles come
up out of the nests, and of course it's just
such a cool thing. I've seen the turtle laying the
egg at night, but I've never done the opposite version
(08:30):
of it. So we need to sign up. Go to
SLC hikes dot org and you can make your reservation
there and while you're there, you can also check out
the other hikes and kayaking and poddleboarding events they have
online as well.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
That sounds like a perfect segue. We're talking about the
ocean and the sea for your special guests today.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Which thank you, that's who we want to We want
to welcome our special guests, doctor Stephen Harzan, Good morning.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Good morning, you thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So you are from the Terrace Oceanographic Foundation, correct, yes,
So tell the listeners and I a little bit about
the foundation. It sounds so fascinating.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Yeah, So the name to start there, Tars was the
son of Poseidon Greek mythology, so that's where the name
comes from. And Tars got shipwrecked one day and it
was rescued by dolphin, and as a result, they created
a coin that shows Tars riding a dolphin. And Tars
was rescued to the beach in today Sicily, and he
(09:26):
founded a city called Tarantrum and it's still there today
and it's called Toronto. So that's just a little bit
of the history where the name comes from. The foundation
itself is focusing on dolphin and ocean conservation and the
long term survival of both people and the oceans, and
we're doing it in a little bit of an unusual way.
(09:46):
We're doing our conservation research of dolphins he and Bumbage
County for twenty years. But we also try to do
a cultural component, which is unusual maybe for environmental organizations
to venture off and do something with art or music.
But since I'm a musician myself, that sort of was
an easy call to make for me. And this is
(10:08):
all saying, where words fail, music speaks, and so we
try to not always get in front of the public
with a waggoning finger and telling them what to do
and stop doing the things that are really harmful to
the world and to themselves. But try to sort of
wrap it up in a little bit of an envelope
of music, so they come out for the musical experience
(10:30):
of live performances, and at the same time we weave
in a little bit of science. So I can give
you an example. One year we had three artists, one
from Australia, one from Scotland, and one from the United States.
And if you study dolphins in these three different locations Australia,
Scotland in the United States, you find that dolphins have
(10:52):
different cultures too, and so they have a different behavioral repertoire,
they do different things in different ways.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
We use the.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Dolphin analogy, if you will, to introduce the musical performance
by telling a little bit of the story of what
dolphins do in Australia, and then the musician from Australia
was doing his bit, and then we did the same
thing for the musicians who came from Scotland and the
United States. So it's a little bit of a way
to allow people to learn something and enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
At the same time, I think that's brilliant. So I
have a lot of friends that are teachers, and I've
always noticed that when they can engage the students, whether
it be like an educational game or something like that,
and they're learning without necessarily realizing their learning, it seems
to be easier for them to grasp the knowledge.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Well, it's even more important with adults because when you're young,
your horizon in a way, it's pretty broad. You haven't
really determined what you like and what you don't like.
Maybe to some degree, you know, I like strawberry ice
cream more than vanilla ice cream, but not really in
the broader sense of society, the community you're living in,
(12:06):
and so on. As you get older, you have much
more firm ideas of what the world should look like
and what the world should do for you. And so
I think in that age group, when these sort of
parameters are more baked in, it's even more important to
find alternative ways to access people in a more emotional way.
(12:26):
And music is much more emotional, right. I always use
an example. You know, if you're in the ocean without
a life preserver and you hear helicopter, then that's music.
Because he's going to save you, right, And so the
emotional connection with music in the helicopter sense or in
(12:46):
the particular way you enjoy music is something that you
cannot really replicate with the irrational thoughts we are used to.
In science. Two different different things. You know, there's intelligence,
there's emotional intelligence, and there are different ways of how
people absorb the things that go around in daily life.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, and I always think science is like obviously more
logical thinking. There's the numbers and everything, but the music
is based on the numbers and like you the beats
and the quarterbats. So I think there's actually there can
be like a natural symbiosis or synergy between the two
of them.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Exactly hit it right on. There is something similar in
the way we do science in the way we do
make music, how we write music, how we play music,
and things like that. Even though some artists they get
rid of all the tempos and they're just you know,
like swell around, wave around, whatnot. But it's one way
for us to communicate the importance of conservation to the public.
(13:47):
And then we also created another form of experience, and
that our dolphin tours. So we have a way for
people to come out and experience conservation work in action.
That most people ever know about conservation is what they
see on television, Discovery Channel or whatnot, and so they
really don't have a personal experience, nor do they feel
(14:09):
they have a personal stake, because most of the times
they're not living in the area that's on TV. And
so the dolphin tours are a way for us to
let them participate in what we do.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
So it's.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
It's not a tourism experience in the old traditional way
of sea, sand and sun, but one in the sense
of what is more popular today and tourism too, and
that is making experiences and creating memories, lasting memories. And
so for people to come out on a boat and
be with some scientists to explain to them what they
(14:44):
are seeing when they're seeing it is a different form
of personal experience that they can take home. But it
really changes things. I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I think it's a great way for people to experience it.
How do people sign up for the dolphin tours?
Speaker 4 (14:59):
Are they if yours Palmbach Dolphin Tours dot com. There's
a website for it. They can just go there Palm
Beach Dolphin Tours dot com and sign up or send
us an email if they're interested in particular dates, and
we have private tours. We have public tours. Typically they're
three hours long. So they leave right here from the
rivera beach, so we go out. And the fascinating thing
(15:20):
about it is that unlike on the West coast of Florida,
as soon as you live inlet, you're in the open Atlantic.
So it's a completely different environment, different experience to be
on the ocean versus to be in some canals or
channels or bass.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
You mentioned that there's a different culture with the dolphins
like that are in Australia and Scotland and here do
you have you noticed a difference with your research for
the dolphins here as opposed to on the West coast
on the golf So.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
The environment is different and therefore dolphins do different things
to find food. I mean most of the time they
have to look for food, find food, catch food, and
eat it. It's much more complicated than it is for
us to go to pers or some store and run
home or have it home delivered. You know, some food
that water your door, so they spend a lot of
(16:06):
time of it. And so if you're out in the
open ocean, it's more difficult to find food, locate food,
and then actually trap food in a way that they
can actually consume it. So that's different. But in general,
the population here is a little bit stratified, like humans,
you know. So we have some dolphins about one hundred
and ten that are considered resident, so they live here
(16:28):
all the time. And then we have some that are
like snowbirds, so they they are here for a few
months and then they disappear and then they come back.
And then we have a subgroup of the total of
almost seven hundred dolphins that we know individually that come
here like every two or three years, you know, as
(16:48):
like some tourists do really love Florida and every two
years there show up and spend another week in Palm
Beach or Miami or whatever.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
So when you're tracking them, are you tracking them based
on like maybe what their their dorsal fin looks like,
are they tagged? How do you track them?
Speaker 4 (17:02):
So we don't tag them. They have natural markings on
the dorsal fin, but also on the face, and we
on the face we call them bridal marks, so like
bridal from a horse, and so the natural markings are
it is a gift from nature. Nobody knows how it happens,
but it's just there, so we can actually identify them
a little bit more easily than we otherwise could, and
(17:25):
so that's what we're using. It's a technique that was
developed in the nineteen seventies has been used around the
world in various places on various species. Some larger whales,
you look at the tail fluke instead of dorsal fin,
because a lot of large whales don't have dorsal fins.
But for bottlenosed dolphins and spotted dolphins, we use dorsal fin.
For spotted dolphins, we also use the spots. So they're
(17:46):
essentially two species here. But bottlenos dolphins are sort of
the main species in this area, and if people were
going out and just go to the beach, they might
be able to see them right from the beach because
often within five hundred feet of.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Half a mile.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
What are some of the things that you're monitoring with
our local residents and visitors.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
So our main interest, you know, scientists always like a progression.
It's like symphony, you know, it starts with the seam
and then it sort of builds on it. And so
at the beginning, we just wanted to know over the
any dolphins at all. So once you know that they
are there, then you want to know who they are.
So then you figure out who they are. But then
you want to know who they spend time with, and
so you can use mathematical formulas to figure out who
(18:31):
spends time with whom and how often, And then you
want to find out what's actually doing and what do
their feed on, what is their food like? And Botonan's
dolphins are sort of they almost eat anything. There are
other dolphins species that are much more peculiar about the
kind of food they like, but Bottonous dofphins are pretty
(18:52):
adaptable and that's why you find them all around the
world except in the Arctic and Anarctic.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
So the dolphins are kind of like the goats of
the ocean where they eat anything.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Well, it's more like pigs really, you know, I mean.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
That's a better analogy.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
Yeah, And that's a good thing because they are different
periods throughout the year where we have different foods. Most
people probably listening have heard of the mullet one. There's
of us in major and so then dolphins have plenty
of food and they feed on mullet, you know, and
that's very good. And if that's not around, they can
(19:25):
feed on needlefish. But they can also feed on crustaceans,
and so they have options. It's like for us, you know,
if we were specialized and only eat blackberries, then there
would be very few people living in Florida because there
are very few blackberries. So you know, if we only
eat oranges, then Florida would be probably great places. And
(19:48):
if you only eat peaches, you live in Georgia. But
fortunately for us, we can we have a palette that
is much broader, so we can sustain ourselves eating all
sorts of different kinds of foods.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Have you noticed the difference in the visitors or in
the geographic location, or maybe even behaviors with the heating
of the ocean temperatures, So.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
That's a very interesting question. The bonus dolphins are dolphins
in general are top predators, which means that sit on
if you remember from school, the pyramid of food and
if you just take this imagery for the time being,
dolphins sit on the very top of it together the sharks.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
And.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
It takes a little bit of time before the effects
reach the top. But we do know that some of
the prey that their prayer on they are shifting earlier
than they will do. So when the microhabitat, so to speak,
is impacted first, and then it sort of slowly creeps
(20:57):
up and the food chain eventually gets to the fish
and the crustaceans that dolphins will eat, and then dolphins
will react to it, and then it's all about adaptability.
So this is sometimes this misconceived notion that evolution is
all about survival of the strongest. It's not the strongest,
it's the fittest, and the fittest we mean, it's the
one that is most capable of adapting to changing environments.
(21:22):
So it's your adaptability that makes you a better survivor.
And if you think about it as a person, if
you start out doing one thing in life and for
some reason that thing is no longer or that activity
is no longer required, if you're not able to adapt
to change, go back to school or change your skill
set by yourself, you'll be out of job. And so
(21:44):
in nature it's sort of the same thing. The organisms
that adapt the best or more responsive to the changing
environment will survive. So at the moment I think what
we're seeing the biggest change is on the call core
reef level. See these changes. We do see some changes
in the habitat in general, but it will take a
(22:04):
little bit to really fully transpire. The biggest threat, if
I can just add that you can see already now
that is microplastic. So that is much more a threat,
an immediate threat. And you have it, you have it,
I have it already in our system. More microplastic is
going to enter human food chain. And so if you
(22:26):
were eating a fish in a restaurant and you would
take it home, look at the microscope you'll find lots
of plastic in it.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Actually, so it's already there. So I know there's different
college students are doing different programs and attempts to reduce
the microplastics that the guy or the big plastic in
the ocean that was specific. Yeah, so they're trying to
come up with ideas to get that out of the
(22:51):
ocean as much as possible, but then also to find
techniques to purify the drinking water. Yeah, because I think
I know for like I've that if you boil your water,
even though it's filtered and whatever, you boil it, it
reduces the amount of microplastics in it. And then I
was like, this is how true is that? And now
you're saying that's not really true. So people are getting
misinformation about different things.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Oh, they get a lot of misinformation because they're listening
to the pseudoscientists on YouTube and pseudo doctors on YouTube,
and all the people who put on a white coat
and give themselves a doctor title and then show up
and give you some advice about nutrition or this and that.
On the other I mean, in that sense, we live
in very dangerous times because people don't have a good
education in in terms of critical thinking. That is something
(23:36):
that's totally underdeveloped in the United States and the other
countries that have special courses now to teach kids how
to distinguish fake videos from real videos. In America, you
see nothing of that yet. So microplastic you cannot eliminate
by boiling water or filtering it. I mean microplastic. The
name says it's very small pieces. And then there's plastic
(23:57):
that is smaller than micro right, and it's so small
that you can catch it maybe in a plankton net
the larger pieces. But if you've ever seen a plankton net,
you know how small the little holes are. So it's
really big threat and the problem is retrieving something. You
can look at different analogies, you know, the I mean
(24:19):
to heal. If a person gets sick with cancer or
something and the cancer is caused by a substance like
lung cancer from asbestos, for instance, it's impossible to get
the asbestos out of the person. So all you can
do then is try to figure out to keep the
person alive.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
You know.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
And in the ocean, it's the same thing. If you've
done seven million tons of plastic ever again to the ocean,
I mean, there's no way you can keep up with
the cleanup effort. It's just not possible. So it will
enter the food chain and then it will do what
it will do. We don't really understand yet what it
will do. And that's also similar to asbestos, because when
we used it as a fire retardant, you know, in
(24:57):
the sixties, fifties and sixties, nobody could anticipate or envision
that it could do harm to people over a period
of time. And so we should have learned something. But
as I say, the only thing we learned from history,
so that we don't learn from history.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yes, exactly, And I was gonna sy I'm going to
go out on a limb and say that microplastics in yourself,
in your food, and in you not a good thing.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
It is.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
And the real worrying thing about microplastic is that it
can pass through membranes. And what that means is that
if you ingest, it doesn't necessarily stand your ingestive tract
and is pushed out, but it can move over into
a blood vessel, it can move over into the plat center,
it can move into your brain issue, and so it's
(25:44):
not confined in one area, and that makes it very
unpredictable what it will do. And we don't really know
what it does. So you could be very worried about
it and raise the alarm and then others will say, yeah,
but you don't really know yet, and that's true, but
one has to worry.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
I'm always that air on the side of caution. So
and doing something about it now, don't wait forty years
and forty years later and people are presenting with different
illnesses brought on by the microplastics in their system.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Yeah, And I think it's this proactive principle to think
about you ahead of time. And admittedly it's a little
bit complicated and difficult, right, I mean, just think about clothing.
Every time you wash a lot in your laundry machine,
little pieces of the fabric ripped off, even though you
don't notice it, but they do end up in the
(26:34):
waste water of your laundry machine. They're not filtered out
by the water treatment facilities, so they end up in
the rivers or wherever the water ends up. So then
what do you do? Well, the only thing you can
really do is to make sure you only wear natural material.
It's like cotton fibers or bomboo. But every time you
put on something that is anylon in it or any
(26:56):
kind of non natural fabric, and most clothes have stuff
in it that is not natural. I mean I only
wear cotton stuff and bamboo. But it's very difficult to do.
And it's the same with shoes, you know. I mean
you get hardly can find shoes that don't have some
plastic on it or in it that drops off and
eventually gets through storm water back into nature. So it
(27:19):
is difficult to live a life that does not destroy
the very environment really depend on.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
True, So obviously listeners is very important. You guys cover
a lot of these things. When you do your educational
outreach programs, how do the listeners go? Where are the
other website to sign up or find out when you're
doing your programs?
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Yeah, so Taras Foundation has a website that's pretty easy.
Taras dot org, tars dot org people. I mean, we
do have students of various ages that come as volunteers
or interns. Some of them develop and write their own
master theaters using some of our data. There are people
who might be more interested in helping out with the
concert or with the article, but it goes with it,
(28:01):
or some others would rather be doing something else to
support the whole organization. But Tas to August sort of
an entry point for them. Palmaged Dolphin tours dot com
is another entry point for them. And we are, i
should say, we are a small organizations. We are a niche.
We are not interested in growth. Like you know, in
(28:25):
a way, the world today is very different than thirty
years ago when we created it. In the non for
profit sector, something's happening that's very similar to what happens
to the mom and pop shops. It all seem to disappear.
And so in the non for profit sector there also
seems to be a tendency it has to be big
to be impactful. I don't think that's true. So we
(28:46):
always try to stay small, and so we don't really
have staff, we don't have payroll. We don't need to
raise a million dollars just to pay the bills because
we don't have a building or office.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
It's the ocean.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
So I created an organization on purpose that was sustainable
to begin with, and we offset all our carbon footprint
by investing in cigars bets in the Caribbean. So there
always you can.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
You can do it.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
But we are a tiny little speck in the landscape
of not for profits in Palmbage County in particular, where
you have these mammoth organizations that pull off your things,
like Cravit and they're doing great stuff, and we did
a concept there, our very first concept was at the
Cravit Center. But it's you know, we are still we
(29:33):
love to be small. I'm from Europe, so it's yeah, yeah,
small and impactful, you know. And there comes a point
in time where even the good things have to end.
So there will be an end to our organization at
some point, and there will be a new generation of
young people who have their own ideas how to tackle
the problems, and so they should. They should not just
(29:58):
you know, take over O was created thirty years ago
and do the same thing. They should look at the
world as it is today and then create their own
vehicle or their own ideas and insert it into an
existing organization or create a new one. That's also part
of life, you know.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Oh, very true. Well, and I think some of the
students I've seen, like some of their concepts are just
so brilliant. I'm like, go do that. That's amazing. So
I think it's great that you have this program in
place to do the research, put the data out there,
and they can actually come and get their start with you. Guys,
would they reach out to you to set up something
if they want to come and work with you?
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Yeah, So anybody can use the website to send us
an email. So if it's about science and the research,
my wife, who is a dolphin researcher and her own right,
she deals with other students and it's much easier for
her to do than it would be for me. There
are some cultural differences depending on where you studied and
where you come from, how you deal with students and
(30:59):
so she does that very well. Students love for her,
and she has the right temperament. I'm told I'm two
demanding at times, and.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
That's fair.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
But I run sort of the field operation. So if
somebody comes on the boat, they have to put up
with me, and I have to follow my rules. You know,
they deal with Barbara and they can have a different,
different way of doing things.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
There.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
We try to be accommodating, but also try to make
sure we instill the right attitude, right, because it's all
about attitude. It's all about commitment. You cannot have ten
priorities at the same time. You know, you have to
decide what you want to do, and some things are
more difficult to do than others. And you know, there
are thousands of people when they are twelve, thirteen, fourteen
(31:48):
years old when we give lectures and I've given them
probably more than a thousand lecturers in my career, they
want to be marine scientists, all of them. You know,
boys want to study sharcs, girls loved ofphins and see
the girls and stuff. And then when they're seventeen eighteen,
they sort of discover the material things that they rather
have and so they drop off that pass and it's
(32:12):
very small group of people actually end up being marine biologists.
And then when you meet again in your forties and
all the successful financiers and bankers and business people, they
look at you and say, oh, I wish I had
studied biology, you know, And then the biologists are looking
at them and say, yeah, you know, give me your money,
and it would be just the same for me, you know.
But it's all about having the passion for the right
(32:34):
things in life. And we are fortunate that we can
combine music and science. And once a year around world,
Ocean Day is when we do the concerts, and sometimes
we do one in December. But as you know from
just reading and me listening to all the wonderful things
that are going on, there's also sort of an overload
right of opportunities of things you could go to, and
(32:58):
so there's a huge competition and we are always selling
out on paper, but on the day not everybody shows
up because there's a rainstorm or something else comes up
or what have you. And there's a lot of competition
with it. So no matter where you put the concert,
it doesn't really matter. You always have a big wall
to climb. But world Ocean Day is one of the
(33:20):
days that is really under celebrated. In South Florida. There
are very few communities make it official. We tried it
with a rare beach, but they seem to grow tired
of it already, and which is a great opportunity lost.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
So yeah, so I think it's great that you do
your one note concert on that day or around World
Ocean Day as much as you can.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
Yeah, great, the June eighths. And you know, if you
ask most people your friends and ask them when is
World Ocean Day, you will get no response because even
though people live in seaside towns, you know, and live
on the ocean and go to the ocean all the time,
they're just not aware that there is at least one
day every year that you should take a minute, whether
you raise a glass of wine or go surfing or whatever,
(34:02):
and think about, well, this is not just an amanity,
this is actually a resource for all of us.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Well, I want to thank you for coming in talking
to you about the Terrorists Foundation again. Before we go,
it's Terras dot org to get more information.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
Yes, Tara terror Stoe Again, thank you very much for
having me. It's a pleasure to be with you and
Elizabeth and be part of promoting cultural and scientific activities.
After all, science as part of culture.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Oh absolutely, thank you guys for coming in doing such
a cool thing in the community. It's very much needed
and definitely appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
If you need more information, reach out to me Palm
Beach Perspective at iHeartMedia dot com. Happy to fort on
the details and don't forget. You can always download the
shows a podcast on our iHeartRadio app. Hope everybody has
any wonderful weekend. I'm dev Nev and this has been
my perspective. Remember life is good, so be your healthiest
view and let's get out there and live it. Until
(34:52):
next week, enjoy I.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Heart Communities, the community engagement arm of the station, champions
critical issues and causes in the area of health and wellness,
social impact, education, literacy, and music and art. Join us
next week from Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective
iHeart Communities Presents Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective with dead Nep.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good morning, Welcome to Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective. I'm
your host, Dev Nep, thanks for spending your weekend with me.
All kinds of great things going on, and to help
me tell you about that one welcome. I'm the guests
Elizabeth Deshield, Good morning, Good morning, dev Hey, thanks for
popping back in. Always so many cool things going on.
Tell me a little bit. You've been very busy the
past couple weekends with some Shakespeare activity.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yes, tonight is your last chance to catch the free
outdoor production of Shakespeare by the Seas, the Winter Tail.
You just bring your beach chair, your blanket, your favorite beverage.
There are food trucks and a magical production of Shakespeare
under the Stars. But you know, we have a ton
of cultural activities you'd never know was even summer. The
(00:49):
Flagler Museum has kids summer programming going on right now,
and it's all about trains. Of course, Flagler's private car
is right there on the property and through August thirtieth
in the historic Flagler Keenan Pavilion. Tuesday through Saturday from
(01:09):
ten am to one pm. Young people will have their
creative minds engaged through play crafts, storytelling, hands on learning.
You just go to Flagler Museum dot us for more information.
What do you have going on?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Mounts Botanical Garden has got free admission for the kids
throughout the month of July all the way through the end.
You can go and they have of course all the
different gardens there as we've talked about in the past,
but they've hands on things. They've got like watercolor beginner watercolor.
There's like the Cacals soundbasketleon and they have through the
Dog Day in the garden, so you and your furry
(01:47):
friend can go, which I think is just super fun.
And then more for the kids, you can explore the
those are the gardens, and they've got the trek scavenger Hunt.
They can go running around through the dout Giant Green
Maze and there is something in the middle guys, good
inside check that out. I finally made it to the
middle ones. It's like, hey, I'm in the oh cool, Okay,
there's something in here and this is neat And of
(02:08):
course you can check out the butterfly gardens because I've
got the butterflies happening around right now and feeding the fish,
the turtles. That's always so much fun. I definitely check
that out. Go to Mounts dot org for all the
different programs for grown ups and kids.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Speaking of gardens, of course, in Delray Beach we have
the Morda Kami Museum and Japanese Gardens and their current exhibition,
absolutely Beautiful The Art of Peace to zai Okemana, now
on view through September twenty eighth, and what that is
are intricately articulated sculptures crafted and the likeness of animals
(02:44):
and mythical beasts, and it's just this fantastic exhibition insight
into Japanese culture. And of course you have their glorious
gardens you can explore while you're there. You can find
them more. Coom dot org for more details about everything
(03:04):
going on.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Oh, absolutely more. Look at Business end psaight, the end
of things. City of Fort Pierce has been doing a
bunch of free community workshops about different topics. So the
last one in the series is coming up on July
thirty first, and this one's going to be a credit
repair workshop. So you go and they'll give you some
help on tips on how to fix that. Call them
at seven seven two for six seven thirty one sixty
(03:27):
one and they're happy to give you details on what
all you need to bring and the time and everything,
and of course we've got a reminder. This is cool.
It comes around every year. The American Humane Society is
doing their fifteenth annual I believe it is, yep, their
fifteenth annual Hero Dog Awards. So you go and they
have five different categories, like, one's a shelter dog, one's
(03:48):
like you know, police officer dog, you know, a for
a police dog, and people vote for which dog they
think is the cutest and then that person wins. It's
it's just a fun way and of course you might
find a furry friend online that you might want to
adopt as well. So I think it's a lot of fun.
Go to American Humane dot org forward slash Hero Dog
Awards and you can vote today.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Check that out. Oh that is fantastic. Back to the
arts world. If you're not doing the outdoor thing, there
is so much theater and comedy everything going on just
throughout the county at the FAU University Theater through July
twenty seventh is freaky Friday the Musical. The Lakeworth Playhouse
(04:30):
is doing Hair the Musical through August third, and of
course Arts Garage. I always love how they have eclectic
live music and so much more. They have Dante Bargas
and Valbargas Salsa Dora e Boogaloo that is on July
twenty fifth. Boca Ballet presents Summer Breezes at Spanish River
(04:55):
High School August second and third, and we have a
for a fl PBC. If you see acronyms or letters
spelled out like that, you know it's a county thing. True.
Palm Beach County is hosting their annual Celebration of the
Arts Thursday, July thirty first, from seven to nine at
(05:16):
the cmaa therapeutic recreation complex that's in Lakeworth at John
Prince Park, and they're just going to have a lot
of visual art classes, performances by local community theater actors,
and a lot more. You can visit a the number
four a PBC dot com.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Oh very cool and speaking of events and concerts and
things like that, Bruckhouse Gallery and Kelsey Park, lots of
cool things coming up. They're closed on Monday the twenty first,
but then Tuesday they're doing their seven pm open mic
jammin with Jeff Livingston. Wednesday night they're doing six forty
five mobile masterpieces. It's going to be one of those
paint and sip things where you paint your little bird house.
(06:02):
It's a beachy birdhouse this time. These are just so
much fun people. You do not have to have any skill,
they're just fine. Come out, hang out with your friends
and see what everybody else has made. Then Thursdays another
open mic night, and this one's with Gary Frost. Friday's
live music with old friends. Saturday's going to be Love
Medicine playing, and then Sunday they're doing Sully Blues. So
(06:22):
definitely Bruhosk has always got stuff going on. And they
did put a note in there that because the open
MIC's becoming more popular, they're going to add Wednesday night
as an open mic night going in the future. Oh
so this Wednesday coming up is because the bird House
they're gonna be there. But then going on later on
they'll be more open mic nights for folks and you come.
You can be on the stage or just watch the
guy perform, whichever you're more comfortable with.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
They have lots of board games and everything else.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Oh yes, and all the different crafts, beers and things
we'll try out.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Speaking of open mic nights and comedians, don't forget. The
Cravis Center just announced that Jeremy Piven, he was on
Entourage and and Tons of Movies, is going to be
coming to the Craviscenter on December fifth and sixth, and
his tickets just went on sale at Cravis dot org.
A little bit off stage, but still at the Craviscenter.
(07:16):
You know, they have an art gallery. They have a
special gallery in the Cohen Pavilion open free to the public,
and right now they have this incredible exhibition of Pari
Dukovic's work. He's a well known celebrity photographer. But this
particular showcase is on point dance and fashion and it
(07:39):
is twenty five huge photographs representing a decade of high
fashion designs created for the New York City Ballet and
these photos are breathtaking. So that exhibition has been extended
through August twenty nights. So check it out Cravis dot.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Org and it's opened throughout the week.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Correct sing you have to go and check the exact
hours of day at Cravis dot org. You can get
all that information.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Sounds good to me. And of course before we go
to talk about the one we haven't done yet, you
and I have not done this. It is a Saint
Lucie County Free Sea Turtle nest excavation walks where you
go in the beach in the morning. It'sarcts like six
six thirty seven and you see the little turtles come
up out of the nests, and of course it's just
such a cool thing. I've seen the turtle laying the
egg at night, but I've never done the opposite version
(08:30):
of it. So we need to sign up. Go to
SLC hikes dot org and you can make your reservation
there and while you're there, you can also check out
the other hikes and kayaking and poddleboarding events they have
online as well.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
That sounds like a perfect segue. We're talking about the
ocean and the sea for your special guests today.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Which thank you, that's who we want to We want
to welcome our special guests, doctor Stephen Harzan, Good morning.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Good morning, you thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So you are from the Terrace Oceanographic Foundation, correct, yes,
So tell the listeners and I a little bit about
the foundation. It sounds so fascinating.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Yeah, So the name to start there, Tars was the
son of Poseidon Greek mythology, so that's where the name
comes from. And Tars got shipwrecked one day and it
was rescued by dolphin, and as a result, they created
a coin that shows Tars riding a dolphin. And Tars
was rescued to the beach in today Sicily, and he
(09:26):
founded a city called Tarantrum and it's still there today
and it's called Toronto. So that's just a little bit
of the history where the name comes from. The foundation
itself is focusing on dolphin and ocean conservation and the
long term survival of both people and the oceans, and
we're doing it in a little bit of an unusual way.
(09:46):
We're doing our conservation research of dolphins he and Bumbage
County for twenty years. But we also try to do
a cultural component, which is unusual maybe for environmental organizations
to venture off and do something with art or music.
But since I'm a musician myself, that sort of was
an easy call to make for me. And this is
(10:08):
all saying, where words fail, music speaks, and so we
try to not always get in front of the public
with a waggoning finger and telling them what to do
and stop doing the things that are really harmful to
the world and to themselves. But try to sort of
wrap it up in a little bit of an envelope
of music, so they come out for the musical experience
(10:30):
of live performances, and at the same time we weave
in a little bit of science. So I can give
you an example. One year we had three artists, one
from Australia, one from Scotland, and one from the United States.
And if you study dolphins in these three different locations Australia,
Scotland in the United States, you find that dolphins have
(10:52):
different cultures too, and so they have a different behavioral repertoire,
they do different things in different ways.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
We use the.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Dolphin analogy, if you will, to introduce the musical performance
by telling a little bit of the story of what
dolphins do in Australia, and then the musician from Australia
was doing his bit, and then we did the same
thing for the musicians who came from Scotland and the
United States. So it's a little bit of a way
to allow people to learn something and enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
At the same time, I think that's brilliant. So I
have a lot of friends that are teachers, and I've
always noticed that when they can engage the students, whether
it be like an educational game or something like that,
and they're learning without necessarily realizing their learning, it seems
to be easier for them to grasp the knowledge.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Well, it's even more important with adults because when you're young,
your horizon in a way, it's pretty broad. You haven't
really determined what you like and what you don't like.
Maybe to some degree, you know, I like strawberry ice
cream more than vanilla ice cream, but not really in
the broader sense of society, the community you're living in,
(12:06):
and so on. As you get older, you have much
more firm ideas of what the world should look like
and what the world should do for you. And so
I think in that age group, when these sort of
parameters are more baked in, it's even more important to
find alternative ways to access people in a more emotional way.
(12:26):
And music is much more emotional, right. I always use
an example. You know, if you're in the ocean without
a life preserver and you hear helicopter, then that's music.
Because he's going to save you, right, And so the
emotional connection with music in the helicopter sense or in
(12:46):
the particular way you enjoy music is something that you
cannot really replicate with the irrational thoughts we are used to.
In science. Two different different things. You know, there's intelligence,
there's emotional intelligence, and there are different ways of how
people absorb the things that go around in daily life.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, and I always think science is like obviously more
logical thinking. There's the numbers and everything, but the music
is based on the numbers and like you the beats
and the quarterbats. So I think there's actually there can
be like a natural symbiosis or synergy between the two
of them.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Exactly hit it right on. There is something similar in
the way we do science in the way we do
make music, how we write music, how we play music,
and things like that. Even though some artists they get
rid of all the tempos and they're just you know,
like swell around, wave around, whatnot. But it's one way
for us to communicate the importance of conservation to the public.
(13:47):
And then we also created another form of experience, and
that our dolphin tours. So we have a way for
people to come out and experience conservation work in action.
That most people ever know about conservation is what they
see on television, Discovery Channel or whatnot, and so they
really don't have a personal experience, nor do they feel
(14:09):
they have a personal stake, because most of the times
they're not living in the area that's on TV. And
so the dolphin tours are a way for us to
let them participate in what we do.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
So it's.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
It's not a tourism experience in the old traditional way
of sea, sand and sun, but one in the sense
of what is more popular today and tourism too, and
that is making experiences and creating memories, lasting memories. And
so for people to come out on a boat and
be with some scientists to explain to them what they
(14:44):
are seeing when they're seeing it is a different form
of personal experience that they can take home. But it
really changes things. I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I think it's a great way for people to experience it.
How do people sign up for the dolphin tours?
Speaker 4 (14:59):
Are they if yours Palmbach Dolphin Tours dot com. There's
a website for it. They can just go there Palm
Beach Dolphin Tours dot com and sign up or send
us an email if they're interested in particular dates, and
we have private tours. We have public tours. Typically they're
three hours long. So they leave right here from the
rivera beach, so we go out. And the fascinating thing
(15:20):
about it is that unlike on the West coast of Florida,
as soon as you live inlet, you're in the open Atlantic.
So it's a completely different environment, different experience to be
on the ocean versus to be in some canals or
channels or bass.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
You mentioned that there's a different culture with the dolphins
like that are in Australia and Scotland and here do
you have you noticed a difference with your research for
the dolphins here as opposed to on the West coast
on the golf So.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
The environment is different and therefore dolphins do different things
to find food. I mean most of the time they
have to look for food, find food, catch food, and
eat it. It's much more complicated than it is for
us to go to pers or some store and run
home or have it home delivered. You know, some food
that water your door, so they spend a lot of
(16:06):
time of it. And so if you're out in the
open ocean, it's more difficult to find food, locate food,
and then actually trap food in a way that they
can actually consume it. So that's different. But in general,
the population here is a little bit stratified, like humans,
you know. So we have some dolphins about one hundred
and ten that are considered resident, so they live here
(16:28):
all the time. And then we have some that are
like snowbirds, so they they are here for a few
months and then they disappear and then they come back.
And then we have a subgroup of the total of
almost seven hundred dolphins that we know individually that come
here like every two or three years, you know, as
(16:48):
like some tourists do really love Florida and every two
years there show up and spend another week in Palm
Beach or Miami or whatever.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
So when you're tracking them, are you tracking them based
on like maybe what their their dorsal fin looks like,
are they tagged? How do you track them?
Speaker 4 (17:02):
So we don't tag them. They have natural markings on
the dorsal fin, but also on the face, and we
on the face we call them bridal marks, so like
bridal from a horse, and so the natural markings are
it is a gift from nature. Nobody knows how it happens,
but it's just there, so we can actually identify them
a little bit more easily than we otherwise could, and
(17:25):
so that's what we're using. It's a technique that was
developed in the nineteen seventies has been used around the
world in various places on various species. Some larger whales,
you look at the tail fluke instead of dorsal fin,
because a lot of large whales don't have dorsal fins.
But for bottlenosed dolphins and spotted dolphins, we use dorsal fin.
For spotted dolphins, we also use the spots. So they're
(17:46):
essentially two species here. But bottlenos dolphins are sort of
the main species in this area, and if people were
going out and just go to the beach, they might
be able to see them right from the beach because
often within five hundred feet of.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Half a mile.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
What are some of the things that you're monitoring with
our local residents and visitors.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
So our main interest, you know, scientists always like a progression.
It's like symphony, you know, it starts with the seam
and then it sort of builds on it. And so
at the beginning, we just wanted to know over the
any dolphins at all. So once you know that they
are there, then you want to know who they are.
So then you figure out who they are. But then
you want to know who they spend time with, and
so you can use mathematical formulas to figure out who
(18:31):
spends time with whom and how often, And then you
want to find out what's actually doing and what do
their feed on, what is their food like? And Botonan's
dolphins are sort of they almost eat anything. There are
other dolphins species that are much more peculiar about the
kind of food they like, but Bottonous dofphins are pretty
(18:52):
adaptable and that's why you find them all around the
world except in the Arctic and Anarctic.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
So the dolphins are kind of like the goats of
the ocean where they eat anything.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Well, it's more like pigs really, you know, I mean.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
That's a better analogy.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
Yeah, And that's a good thing because they are different
periods throughout the year where we have different foods. Most
people probably listening have heard of the mullet one. There's
of us in major and so then dolphins have plenty
of food and they feed on mullet, you know, and
that's very good. And if that's not around, they can
(19:25):
feed on needlefish. But they can also feed on crustaceans,
and so they have options. It's like for us, you know,
if we were specialized and only eat blackberries, then there
would be very few people living in Florida because there
are very few blackberries. So you know, if we only
eat oranges, then Florida would be probably great places. And
(19:48):
if you only eat peaches, you live in Georgia. But
fortunately for us, we can we have a palette that
is much broader, so we can sustain ourselves eating all
sorts of different kinds of foods.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Have you noticed the difference in the visitors or in
the geographic location, or maybe even behaviors with the heating
of the ocean temperatures, So.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
That's a very interesting question. The bonus dolphins are dolphins
in general are top predators, which means that sit on
if you remember from school, the pyramid of food and
if you just take this imagery for the time being,
dolphins sit on the very top of it together the sharks.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
And.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
It takes a little bit of time before the effects
reach the top. But we do know that some of
the prey that their prayer on they are shifting earlier
than they will do. So when the microhabitat, so to speak,
is impacted first, and then it sort of slowly creeps
(20:57):
up and the food chain eventually gets to the fish
and the crustaceans that dolphins will eat, and then dolphins
will react to it, and then it's all about adaptability.
So this is sometimes this misconceived notion that evolution is
all about survival of the strongest. It's not the strongest,
it's the fittest, and the fittest we mean, it's the
one that is most capable of adapting to changing environments.
(21:22):
So it's your adaptability that makes you a better survivor.
And if you think about it as a person, if
you start out doing one thing in life and for
some reason that thing is no longer or that activity
is no longer required, if you're not able to adapt
to change, go back to school or change your skill
set by yourself, you'll be out of job. And so
(21:44):
in nature it's sort of the same thing. The organisms
that adapt the best or more responsive to the changing
environment will survive. So at the moment I think what
we're seeing the biggest change is on the call core
reef level. See these changes. We do see some changes
in the habitat in general, but it will take a
(22:04):
little bit to really fully transpire. The biggest threat, if
I can just add that you can see already now
that is microplastic. So that is much more a threat,
an immediate threat. And you have it, you have it,
I have it already in our system. More microplastic is
going to enter human food chain. And so if you
(22:26):
were eating a fish in a restaurant and you would
take it home, look at the microscope you'll find lots
of plastic in it.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Actually, so it's already there. So I know there's different
college students are doing different programs and attempts to reduce
the microplastics that the guy or the big plastic in
the ocean that was specific. Yeah, so they're trying to
come up with ideas to get that out of the
(22:51):
ocean as much as possible, but then also to find
techniques to purify the drinking water. Yeah, because I think
I know for like I've that if you boil your water,
even though it's filtered and whatever, you boil it, it
reduces the amount of microplastics in it. And then I
was like, this is how true is that? And now
you're saying that's not really true. So people are getting
misinformation about different things.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Oh, they get a lot of misinformation because they're listening
to the pseudoscientists on YouTube and pseudo doctors on YouTube,
and all the people who put on a white coat
and give themselves a doctor title and then show up
and give you some advice about nutrition or this and that.
On the other I mean, in that sense, we live
in very dangerous times because people don't have a good
education in in terms of critical thinking. That is something
(23:36):
that's totally underdeveloped in the United States and the other
countries that have special courses now to teach kids how
to distinguish fake videos from real videos. In America, you
see nothing of that yet. So microplastic you cannot eliminate
by boiling water or filtering it. I mean microplastic. The
name says it's very small pieces. And then there's plastic
(23:57):
that is smaller than micro right, and it's so small
that you can catch it maybe in a plankton net
the larger pieces. But if you've ever seen a plankton net,
you know how small the little holes are. So it's
really big threat and the problem is retrieving something. You
can look at different analogies, you know, the I mean
(24:19):
to heal. If a person gets sick with cancer or
something and the cancer is caused by a substance like
lung cancer from asbestos, for instance, it's impossible to get
the asbestos out of the person. So all you can
do then is try to figure out to keep the
person alive.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
You know.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
And in the ocean, it's the same thing. If you've
done seven million tons of plastic ever again to the ocean,
I mean, there's no way you can keep up with
the cleanup effort. It's just not possible. So it will
enter the food chain and then it will do what
it will do. We don't really understand yet what it
will do. And that's also similar to asbestos, because when
we used it as a fire retardant, you know, in
(24:57):
the sixties, fifties and sixties, nobody could anticipate or envision
that it could do harm to people over a period
of time. And so we should have learned something. But
as I say, the only thing we learned from history,
so that we don't learn from history.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yes, exactly, And I was gonna sy I'm going to
go out on a limb and say that microplastics in yourself,
in your food, and in you not a good thing.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
It is.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
And the real worrying thing about microplastic is that it
can pass through membranes. And what that means is that
if you ingest, it doesn't necessarily stand your ingestive tract
and is pushed out, but it can move over into
a blood vessel, it can move over into the plat center,
it can move into your brain issue, and so it's
(25:44):
not confined in one area, and that makes it very
unpredictable what it will do. And we don't really know
what it does. So you could be very worried about
it and raise the alarm and then others will say, yeah,
but you don't really know yet, and that's true, but
one has to worry.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
I'm always that air on the side of caution. So
and doing something about it now, don't wait forty years
and forty years later and people are presenting with different
illnesses brought on by the microplastics in their system.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Yeah, And I think it's this proactive principle to think
about you ahead of time. And admittedly it's a little
bit complicated and difficult, right, I mean, just think about clothing.
Every time you wash a lot in your laundry machine,
little pieces of the fabric ripped off, even though you
don't notice it, but they do end up in the
(26:34):
waste water of your laundry machine. They're not filtered out
by the water treatment facilities, so they end up in
the rivers or wherever the water ends up. So then
what do you do? Well, the only thing you can
really do is to make sure you only wear natural material.
It's like cotton fibers or bomboo. But every time you
put on something that is anylon in it or any
(26:56):
kind of non natural fabric, and most clothes have stuff
in it that is not natural. I mean I only
wear cotton stuff and bamboo. But it's very difficult to do.
And it's the same with shoes, you know. I mean
you get hardly can find shoes that don't have some
plastic on it or in it that drops off and
eventually gets through storm water back into nature. So it
(27:19):
is difficult to live a life that does not destroy
the very environment really depend on.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
True, So obviously listeners is very important. You guys cover
a lot of these things. When you do your educational
outreach programs, how do the listeners go? Where are the
other website to sign up or find out when you're
doing your programs?
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Yeah, so Taras Foundation has a website that's pretty easy.
Taras dot org, tars dot org people. I mean, we
do have students of various ages that come as volunteers
or interns. Some of them develop and write their own
master theaters using some of our data. There are people
who might be more interested in helping out with the
concert or with the article, but it goes with it,
(28:01):
or some others would rather be doing something else to
support the whole organization. But Tas to August sort of
an entry point for them. Palmaged Dolphin tours dot com
is another entry point for them. And we are, i
should say, we are a small organizations. We are a niche.
We are not interested in growth. Like you know, in
(28:25):
a way, the world today is very different than thirty
years ago when we created it. In the non for
profit sector, something's happening that's very similar to what happens
to the mom and pop shops. It all seem to disappear.
And so in the non for profit sector there also
seems to be a tendency it has to be big
to be impactful. I don't think that's true. So we
(28:46):
always try to stay small, and so we don't really
have staff, we don't have payroll. We don't need to
raise a million dollars just to pay the bills because
we don't have a building or office.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
It's the ocean.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
So I created an organization on purpose that was sustainable
to begin with, and we offset all our carbon footprint
by investing in cigars bets in the Caribbean. So there
always you can.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
You can do it.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
But we are a tiny little speck in the landscape
of not for profits in Palmbage County in particular, where
you have these mammoth organizations that pull off your things,
like Cravit and they're doing great stuff, and we did
a concept there, our very first concept was at the
Cravit Center. But it's you know, we are still we
(29:33):
love to be small. I'm from Europe, so it's yeah, yeah,
small and impactful, you know. And there comes a point
in time where even the good things have to end.
So there will be an end to our organization at
some point, and there will be a new generation of
young people who have their own ideas how to tackle
the problems, and so they should. They should not just
(29:58):
you know, take over O was created thirty years ago
and do the same thing. They should look at the
world as it is today and then create their own
vehicle or their own ideas and insert it into an
existing organization or create a new one. That's also part
of life, you know.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Oh, very true. Well, and I think some of the
students I've seen, like some of their concepts are just
so brilliant. I'm like, go do that. That's amazing. So
I think it's great that you have this program in
place to do the research, put the data out there,
and they can actually come and get their start with you. Guys,
would they reach out to you to set up something
if they want to come and work with you?
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Yeah, So anybody can use the website to send us
an email. So if it's about science and the research,
my wife, who is a dolphin researcher and her own right,
she deals with other students and it's much easier for
her to do than it would be for me. There
are some cultural differences depending on where you studied and
where you come from, how you deal with students and
(30:59):
so she does that very well. Students love for her,
and she has the right temperament. I'm told I'm two
demanding at times, and.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
That's fair.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
But I run sort of the field operation. So if
somebody comes on the boat, they have to put up
with me, and I have to follow my rules. You know,
they deal with Barbara and they can have a different,
different way of doing things.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
There.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
We try to be accommodating, but also try to make
sure we instill the right attitude, right, because it's all
about attitude. It's all about commitment. You cannot have ten
priorities at the same time. You know, you have to
decide what you want to do, and some things are
more difficult to do than others. And you know, there
are thousands of people when they are twelve, thirteen, fourteen
(31:48):
years old when we give lectures and I've given them
probably more than a thousand lecturers in my career, they
want to be marine scientists, all of them. You know,
boys want to study sharcs, girls loved ofphins and see
the girls and stuff. And then when they're seventeen eighteen,
they sort of discover the material things that they rather
have and so they drop off that pass and it's
(32:12):
very small group of people actually end up being marine biologists.
And then when you meet again in your forties and
all the successful financiers and bankers and business people, they
look at you and say, oh, I wish I had
studied biology, you know, And then the biologists are looking
at them and say, yeah, you know, give me your money,
and it would be just the same for me, you know.
But it's all about having the passion for the right
(32:34):
things in life. And we are fortunate that we can
combine music and science. And once a year around world,
Ocean Day is when we do the concerts, and sometimes
we do one in December. But as you know from
just reading and me listening to all the wonderful things
that are going on, there's also sort of an overload
right of opportunities of things you could go to, and
(32:58):
so there's a huge competition and we are always selling
out on paper, but on the day not everybody shows
up because there's a rainstorm or something else comes up
or what have you. And there's a lot of competition
with it. So no matter where you put the concert,
it doesn't really matter. You always have a big wall
to climb. But world Ocean Day is one of the
(33:20):
days that is really under celebrated. In South Florida. There
are very few communities make it official. We tried it
with a rare beach, but they seem to grow tired
of it already, and which is a great opportunity lost.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
So yeah, so I think it's great that you do
your one note concert on that day or around World
Ocean Day as much as you can.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
Yeah, great, the June eighths. And you know, if you
ask most people your friends and ask them when is
World Ocean Day, you will get no response because even
though people live in seaside towns, you know, and live
on the ocean and go to the ocean all the time,
they're just not aware that there is at least one
day every year that you should take a minute, whether
you raise a glass of wine or go surfing or whatever,
(34:02):
and think about, well, this is not just an amanity,
this is actually a resource for all of us.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Well, I want to thank you for coming in talking
to you about the Terrorists Foundation again. Before we go,
it's Terras dot org to get more information.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
Yes, Tara terror Stoe Again, thank you very much for
having me. It's a pleasure to be with you and
Elizabeth and be part of promoting cultural and scientific activities.
After all, science as part of culture.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Oh absolutely, thank you guys for coming in doing such
a cool thing in the community. It's very much needed
and definitely appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
If you need more information, reach out to me Palm
Beach Perspective at iHeartMedia dot com. Happy to fort on
the details and don't forget. You can always download the
shows a podcast on our iHeartRadio app. Hope everybody has
any wonderful weekend. I'm dev Nev and this has been
my perspective. Remember life is good, so be your healthiest
view and let's get out there and live it. Until
(34:52):
next week, enjoy I.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Heart Communities, the community engagement arm of the station, champions
critical issues and causes in the area of health and wellness,
social impact, education, literacy, and music and art. Join us
next week from Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective
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