Voices from the Shore: Chronicles of Environmental Evolution

August 27, 2023

How stories inform climate change perspectives

In this episode of the American Shoreline Podcast, Peter Ravella and Tyler Buckingham dive deep into the unique intersection of oral history and environmental change. Special guest Tara Hinton, a rising junior at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, shares her pioneering work, mining archives for oral histories at the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center. These histories, some of which date back decades, offer invaluable insights into the environmental shifts observed by communities over time, especially in the wake of events like Hurricane Floyd. To deepen the discussion, the hosts also welcome back a friend of the podcast, Dr. Rob Young, Director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University. Together, they explore how these narratives can shape our understanding of climate change, inform policy, and reveal the resilient spirit of coastal communities.

Show Transcription
This transcription was generated by a computer. Please excuse any errors.
Peter Ravella & Tyler Buckingham

Peter and Tyler joined forces in 2015 and from the first meeting began discussing a project that would become Coastal News Today and the American Shoreline Podcast Network. At the time, Peter and Tyler were coastal consultants for Pete’s firm, PAR Consulting, LLC. In that role, they worked with coastal communities in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, engaged in grant writing, coastal project development, shoreline erosion and land use planning, permitting, and financial planning for communities undertaking big beach restoration projects. Between and among their consulting tasks, they kept talking and kept building the idea of CNT & ASPN. In almost every arena they worked, public engagement played a central role. They spent thousands of hours talking with coastal stakeholders, like business owners, hotel operators, condo managers, watermen, property owners, enviros, surfers, and fishermen. They dived deep into the value, meaning, and responsibility for the American shoreline, segment-by-segment. Common threads emerged, themes were revealed, differences uncovered. There was a big conversation going on along the American shoreline! But, no place to have it. That's where CNT and ASPN were born.