Program 380: The Great Barrier Reef; Kiribati and Vanuatu

One of the greatest natural wonders on earth is in trouble.  On this week's Travel with Rick Steves, we'll learn about the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia, and why it's facing serious threats to its survival.

Plus, author J Maarten Troost introduces us to the remote Pacific Island nations of Kiribati (pronounced KIR-ah-bahs), and Vanuatu (pronounced Vah-noo-AH-too).

We'll learn how people have lived for centuries on a series of coral atolls, and on rugged islands that include an active volcano you can hike to. 

Find out what a South Seas paradise is really like, on the next Travel with Rick Steves. 

If your station wants to conduct additional fundraising during a weekly edition of Travel with Rick Steves, in addition to the fundraising modules we provide, you can contact producer Tim Tattan for suggested cutaway cues during any week's edition of the show. You can phone him at 425-608-4234. This will allow you additional fundraising time, with clean ins and outs, while retaining most of the weekly program's content.

• University of Sydney professor Iain McCalman, author of "The Reef" (Scientific American-FSG)
• Freelance journalist Jake Warga
• J. Maarten Troost, author of  "Head Hunters on My Doorstep:  A True Treasure Island Ghost Story"  (Gotham Books)

• This video presentation accompanies Iain McCalman's book "The Reef."  
• Iain McCalman is a co-director of the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney. 
• Writer Ted Banfield found a home on the reef to be a literal life-safer for him in the early 20th century. 
• Jake Warga has included photos and video clips of his trip to Papua New Guinea in this Vimeo link.  
• Jake Warga's website includes a gallery from his photo tours.
• Publisher's bio and book links for J. Maarten Troost.
• The visitor website for the Vanuatu Tourism Office.
• The story of the John Frum Cargo Cult on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu.
• The kava on Vanuatu is reported to be particularly potent. 

• "My husband and I visited in September 2009.  He used his new underwater camera to capture some of the most beautiful fish and coral, and I made a picture collage of them that I can look at everyday from my kitchen table.  I never tire of it, and would love to go back someday."   (Beverly in Stone Mountain, Georgia)

• Deep and Wide, "Easy Rider," Café del Mar, vol. 7 (collection) / Musicrama-Koch
• Roger Williams, "Ebb Tide," Sailing (Cincinnati Pops collection)  / Telarc
• The New England Music Collection, “Wind In The Rigging,” The Wind In the Rigging / North Star Records
• Yothu Yindi, "Dots on the Shells," Freedom / Hollywood Records
• * Katia and Marielle Labèque, pianos, Evelyn Glennie, percussion, “Aquarium,” from Camille Saint-Saens, “Le Carnaval des Animaux” on the album Carnival! -- a benefit for the Rainforest Foundation International / RCA Victor
• Icarus Music, "Barrier Reef," Aquanaria / (self-released)
• Michel Donato and James Gelfand, "Timeless," Beyond Rubicon (collection) / Disques Rubicon
• Ernie & Neal, "The Great Barrier Reef," Rock the House / (self-released)
• Telek, "Abebe," South Pacific Islands (collection) / Putumayo
• Desmond Williams, "Comeback Dub," ESL Soundtracks:  Modular Systems (sampler collection) / ESL
• * Moonalice, "Coconut Wireless"  Dave's Way, vol. 7 / A Minor Label
• Electribe 101, “Talking with Myself,” Café del Mar, vol. 5 (collection) / Geffen 
• Unspecified singers, "Toddy Cutting Songs," Spirit of Micronesia (sound collected by David Fanshawe) / Saydisc
• Magical Power Mako, “Sea of Joy,” Lo Pop Diamonds / Altavistic
• Manureva Folkloric Group, "Arutu Te Pahu," Drumbeats of the Pacific: Songs & Dances of the Islands (collection) / Hula Records International
• (artists unspecified), “Isa Lei Nau,”Voyager Series:  Memories of Fiji / Columbia River Entertainment
• Oxaï Roura, "Kondombilé in Vanuatu," Melanesia X / Imago

*Music used during the internal breaks between segments

• At 9:09, Professor McCalman reports that his fellow Australians don't tend to value protecting the Great Barrier Reef at the same level that Americans consider their national parks as national treasures.  Starting at 25:27 in segment B, he explains how it and all reefs are "deeply threatened" by pollution and climatic factors, particularly how warming waters and increased acidity are bleaching and dissolving the reef. 
• Rick raises the point at 28:51 how some Americans appear to deny climate change because they don't want to have to pay more to mitigate its effects. 
• In his intro to the Papua New Guinea feature at 31:41, Rick says the country has found recent economic growth from mining, but many residents live in extreme poverty;  he notes there are more than 800 indigenous communities in PNG. 
• At 43:31, J Maarten Troost laughs at the idea of there ever being a "jet setter" resort in Kiribati.  He tells Rick the atolls of Kiribati will not be around "in the next millennium," due to climate change.  He says he noticed on a recent visit that the ground water is already becoming too brackish to drink, and vegetation near the shore is dying.
• Troost says Vanuatu is "much more accessible" than Kitibati, at 46:29 and at 51:28, with air service from Australia, New Caledonia, and New Zealand.  He recommends staying at nice resorts and inns in Port Vila, and taking one of two flights a day to visit the active volcano on Tanna, where there are guest houses on all parts of the island. 
• Troost notes at 47:37 that you can see men in Fiji drinking kava all day, while in Vanuatu, they make it an evening ritual.  At 48:27, he mentions "shady characters" are common in Vanuatu, which has a reputation for "shadow banking" and on-line casinos.  
• At 49:34, Troost says the entire country of Kiribati attracts fewer than 1,000 visitors a year, and you can get there from Fiji.  He adds there are World War Two remains all over the islands.  At 50:28, he talks about one remaining wooden ferry as an ideal way to observe the ocean.