Everybody who loves the sea has a story to share. In the podcast "If Oceans Could Speak", scientists and experts from different fields, scholars and sailors, artists and activists share their stories about the oceans around us, their value and vulnerability.

This podcast is a collaborative effort as part of the EU4Ocean Coalition for Ocean Literacy. Supported by the European Commission, this bottom-up, inclusive initiative aims at uniting the voices of Europeans to make the ocean a concern of everyone. The podcast is hosted by Dr. Jen Freer of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge and Prof. Dr. Stefan Kirchner of the Arctic Centre in Rovaniemi.

"Something that you feel very much when you are in the Arctic is that we as humans, we are part of nature. We are not separate from it." – Lera Auerbach (Season 1, Episode 4)

Season 1 of "If Oceans Could Speak" is all about the Arctic Ocean and over the last months we have had the pleasure of talking to a number of people who shared their perspectives on the ocean, sometimes professional, sometimes deeply personal - but always with a deep love for the sea, its environment and the people living along the shores of the great waters that are the heart of our planet.

"All the actions that we take in other parts of the world, they have tremendous effects on the Arctic." – Dr. Gosia Smieszek (Season 1, Episode 2)

Together with our guests, we explore a region that has long been home to millions of people and that today is the focus of global attention because human-made climate change warms up the Arctic three times as fast as the global average. In conversations that are both timely and timeless, we listen and learn – and we are happy to share this experience with our listeners because in one way or another, we are all connected to the sea.

"We all live by the sea, no matter how far from the sea you live, because every activity we have, no matter where you are, you either affect the ocean or you depend on the ocean." – Dr. Tymon Zielinski (Season 1, Episode 5)

Besides podcast hosts Dr. Jen Freer and Prof. Dr. Stefan Kirchner, the team behind the podcast includes Penny Clarke from the British Antarctic Survey, Arne Riedel, Chiara Mazzetti and Karl Lehman from the Ecologic Institute in Berlin, Anna Saito from ACTeon Environment, Margherita Zorgno from EurOcean.

"If Oceans Could Speak" is available on Buzzsprout and Spotify, and in your favorite podcast app.

Ecologic Institute is a founding member of the EU4Ocean Platform. Withing the Consortium of the EU4Ocean project, Ecologic Institute leads the communication module, aimed at ensuring visibility of and collaboration among the three Communities – the overall Platform, Youth4Ocean and BlueSchools – and its members.