Your Hosts
Michael Herz
Podcaster & Baykeeper Emeritus
Mike has spent five decades protecting oceans, rivers, and bays, following his first career in academic neuroscience. He co-founded the San Francisco chapter of the Oceanic Society in 1971 and started its water quality laboratory and volunteer training program. An early citizen monitoring effort pioneered on San Francisco Bay, it used boats and planes for surveillance. As VP of the national Oceanic Society he helped establish three other chapters on the Pacific coast and led successful fights to stop the the disposal of obsolete nuclear submarines in California waters, the leasing of seabeds for mining polymetallic sulfides, and the ocean incineration of Agent Orange.
Kate divides her career roughly in half, having spent two decades in finance and the next two, following the 2000 elections, as a political activist. She had a brief run as a podcaster during the 2018 election season (Concerning Collins).
Kate served as a venture capital analyst in NYC and then moved on to lead roles in community development finance in Maine, where she helped create one of the country’s first community development venture capital funds. She followed this with a stint as a grantwriter. One of her applications, to the U.S. Treasury's Office of Community Services, received the highest score in the nation.
As an activist, Kate volunteered on state and federal campaigns for more than 100 candidates and issues. She chaired a 900-member chapter of the Indivisible movement and co-founded a local chapter of the Maine Episcopal Justice Network. Other organizations she volunteered with include the Poor People's Campaign, Maine People's Alliance, Mainers for Accountable Leadership, Bird Dog Nation, the TV show Maine Challenge, and Firedrill Fridays. A student of nonviolent resistance, she's been arrested more than once in service of poverty and climate-based actions.
Kate Josephs
Podcaster & Producer
In Memoriam
Georgie, Boat Dog
Georgie was a lab-mix rescue, probably with some German short-haired pointer mixed in, and came late to the job of Boat Dog. Like the rest of this podcast crew, she was pretty long in the tooth. Getting on and off the boat was tricky at 14, but she was happy to be included and fascinated by marina life, especially the skunks living near the restaurant and the goats chewing up the hills. She always said that mandatory walkies were good for the soul, and she was right.
