Air Date: Week of February 1, 2002

This week we dip into the Living on Earth mailbag to hear what listeners have to say.

Transcript

CURWOOD: It's Living on Earth. I'm Steve Curwood. Coming up, the naked truth about nature photography. But first-

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CURWOOD: --time for comments from you.

CURWOOD: Many of you enjoyed our interview with Stuyvesant High School junior Leah Rabinowitz. Leah read from her essay on how indoor plants can help freshen the air in her school near Ground Zero in New York. "What a fine young writer and a thoughtful young woman," wrote KERA Dallas listener, Charlotte Richardson. Ms. Richardson also called our list of 10 eco-friendly houseplants on our website "helpful and timely." "I have a new living room sofa," she writes, "and the chemical out-gassing from the synthetic fabric is tremendous. The plants came to the rescue."

But several listeners from the Pacific Northwest wrote to question our inclusion of English Ivy on the list. "English Ivy," writes KOPP Portland listener Ed John, "has manifested itself as one of the worst cases of an invasive plant ever to take seed here in Oregon. Oftentimes when ivy fails to grow indoors," he reports, "the homeowner takes the plant out, deposits it in the trash, puts it in the compost-- whatever-- and then the seemingly lifeless root or dead plant comes alive again, once it comes in contact with our mild outdoors environment."

And finally, a comment on our story about the New York City activist who slaps phony tickets on sport utility vehicles. "This spot just served to reinforce the view that most radical environmentalists are egotistical, arrogant meddlers" writes John Brewer, a listener to WUNC in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. "Just imagine if someone who actually prefers driving an SUV were to go around leaving notes on Honda Accords saying "You're endangering your family in a small car." If I saw the activist messing with my SUV, I'd call the police and have her arrested for tampering with private property."

Your comments are always welcome. Call our Listener Line any time at 800-218-998. Or write to Eight Story Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 0-2-1-3-8. Our e-mail address is: letters@loe.org. And visit our webpage at www.loe.org. CD's, tapes, and transcripts are $15.

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