In the aftermath of World War II, millions of people were starving. With this humanitarian imperative, governments set out to build fishing fleets.

It’s not enough to slow emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere; we must also remove some of what’s already there..

Our ocean—all 140 million square miles of it—has a plastic pollution problem. This is the case in places where one might expect it—from the waters lapping at megacities to the world’s most polluted river deltas—but also in areas that might surprise people, such as the deepest trenches in the sea and the world’s most remote coastlines.

In January 1790, a ship named The Bounty landed on a small speck of land jutting out of the Pacific Ocean. The uninhabited island, barely 2 miles long and 1 mile wide, would remain home to the crew and their subsequent generations until this very day. The fact that The Bounty dropped anchor in such a small and desolate place was no accident—its isolation was its attraction. The crew were mutineers and they never wanted to be found.

In this episode, we speak with Ashlan Cousteau and Philippe Cousteau Jr., who, inspired by the legacy of Philippe’s grandfather, undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau, have dedicated their careers to ocean conservation.

In this episode, we explore how communities that rely on a healthy ocean are working to create marine protected areas (MPAs) to preserve biodiversity—and their livelihoods.

Scientists have forecast an increase of as much as 2.1 feet in the Chesapeake Bay by 2050.

Amid growing public concern about rising seas, extreme weather, and disappearing biodiversity, we speak with Michael Oppenheimer, the Albert G. Milbank professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton University and a longtime participant in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. He explains the science behind the planet’s changing environment, its effects on the ocean, and possible solutions to avoid “the climate danger zone.”

We continue our “Ocean, People, Planet” season with a discussion of one of the largest threats facing the ocean: plastic pollution. Winnie Lau, who is the project director of Pew’s preventing ocean plastics project, and Richard Bailey, professor of environmental systems at Oxford University, discuss ways to reduce the amount of plastic entering the ocean and highlight a new analytical tool that nations can use to take action.

In this new series, “Ocean, People, Planet,” we focus on the connection between the health of the ocean and the health of the planet.