Think Out Loud

 The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Oregon Department of Agriculture recently announced the closure of shellfish harvesting throughout the entire Oregon coast. In Washington, officials have also closed shellfish harvesting throughout the state’s Pacific Coast. Agencies are checking for a marine biotoxin which can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning. The naturally occurring biotoxin affects the nervous system. People with paralytic shellfish poisoning can experience tingling of the lips and tongue, nausea and difficulty breathing. The illness has been linked to the sickening of at least 20 people in Oregon last month.  The Oregon Health Authority is also asking people who recently harvested or ate any shellfish from the Oregon Coast to complete a survey. Officials are investigating illnesses linked to contaminated shellfish. We learn more about biotoxins and how climate change might be affecting algae that produce them from Vera Trainer, the marine program manager of the University of Washington’s Olympic Natural Resources Center. 

When you think of wetlands, youprobably think of marshy areas around lakes and rivers. But there are alsowetlands in the damp forests of the Pacific Northwest. And those wetlands canbe very important for storing carbon and helping to slow climate change.Researchers in Washington are mapping the forested wetlands of the West.Natalia Mesa, Editorial Fellow for High Country News, joins us to talk aboutthe effort, and the importance of wetlands, which she recently wrote about.

Iron is one of the cheapest and most abundant metals on the planet, unlike nickel and cobalt, which are used in lithium-ion batteries to power electric vehicles, and ubiquitous devices, from mobile phones to laptops. Oregon State University chemistry researcher Xiulei “David” Ji is an author of a new study that shows iron can be used to replace metals that are scarce, expensive and can be environmentally damaging to extract. He hopes this technology will be the spark for a green battery technological evolution that could aid the switch from fossil fuels to electricity. We talk with Ji about the importance of green batteries, and the development of a new generation of lithium-ion batteries using iron. what’s next in developing a widely commercially available lithium-ion battery using iron.

Since 2006, more than 52,000 police guns were used in crimes across the U.S. In many cases, these weapons ended up in the hands of the general public in completely legal ways. Law enforcement agencies, including the Oregon State Police and the Portland Police Bureau, have sold or traded-in their firearms to gun stores or manufacturers in order to obtain newer models. Chris Hacker is an investigative data reporter with CBS News who reported on this trend in collaboration with The Trace and Reveal. He joins us to share more on their reporting.

Two years ago, a Portland Jewish family’s home was destroyed in an arson. As they got rid of all their burned belongings, the one thing they couldn’t bear to do was toss out with the rest of the burned remains a 100 year-old Steinway grand piano that had belonged to “Grandma Bess.” Much of it was intact, though not restorable. They reached out to musicians and artists and ultimately found their way to Jennifer Wright. She’s a classical pianist by training, a composer and a sound artist who works with found instruments and other objects.   The family, who wants to keep their identity private, worked with Wright over the next two  years on turning the grand piano into a mixed media exhibit, including a newly formed glass piano and textile art made with the burned strings. In a statement that is included in the exhibit, the family wrote: “Seeing the piano transformed from a burned and destroyed object into the foundations of new instruments, furniture, art, beauty, and community awareness is a balm for the wounds of waste and loss. … Finding connectedness is an antidote to hate.” We visit the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education to talk with Jennifer Wright and OJMCHE director Rebekha Sobel.  

A bike garden in Vancouver will have its grand opening next month.   Also known as traffic gardens, these types of spaces help children and adults practice bike and road safety in a controlled environment. Will Grimm is the lead design and project manager for the Heights Bike Garden.   Fionnuala Quinn is the director of Discover Traffic Gardens and consulted on the project. They join us with details.

The Vancouver Master Chorale is in its 75th year of performing a range of choral music with a crew of volunteer singers. The choir has gone through several names and directors since 1949, and has toured across Canada, Europe and Hawaii. Today, the choir has grown to more than 100 members and performs everything from Beethoven to Billy Joel. Jana Hart is the music director for the Vancouver Master Chorale. Brenda Hall has been a member since 1974, and Daniel Trushov joined just last year. We talk to them about the history of the choir and what it’s meant to community members over the last seven decades.

Portland is known as a coffee city – but some cafes are not only serving drinks, but a cause as well as nonprofits. Taylor Bolan is the manager of The Porch Coffee Space. Christina Horigan is the co-founder of Jubilee Hall. They both join us to share more about the work they’re doing and how they see this movement in the city.

Whether it’s a walk in the park, hike in the forest or tending to a backyard garden, there’s ample subjective and scientific evidence that being in nature can have beneficial effects for us, from relieving stress to improving our mood. But less is known about what role the scents of nature, from the unmistakable odor of a pine tree to chemicals emitted by plants that are below our conscious awareness, influence human health and behavior.  In a recently published paper, a team of scientists in the U.S., Europe and Asia make the case for more research to be done on the link between the rich olfactory environments of nature and human health. And as air pollution and habitat loss threaten biodiversity, they also threaten olfactory diversity in the natural world. Greg Bratman is the lead author of the paper, an assistant professor of environmental and forest sciences and the director of the Environment and Well-being Lab at the University of Washington. He joins us to share more about this effort, and how the olfactory pathway may open up new possibilities to better understand the benefits of experiencing – and smelling – nature.   

Five years ago, the national advocacy group A Better Childhood teamed up with local nonprofit Disability Rights Oregon to file a class action lawsuit against Oregon’s Department of Human Services. The state’s child welfare system had been sued individually many times over the years over horrific outcomes in individual cases. But this class action was the first of its kind, representing all current and future children and youth in foster care in Oregon. It didn't seek monetary damages — only tangible changes to the system that would result in better care for kids placed in foster care, less abuse and more stable homes. Last week, just days before the case was set to go to trial, the two sides reached a settlement. We hear from lead attorney Marcia Lowry about the details of the settlement and what advocates hope they will mean for children and youth in care.