Air Date: Week of October 20, 1995

Living on Earth listeners comment on recent segments including their thoughts on global warming and animals in captivity.

Transcript

CURWOOD: And now, let's hear from you, our listeners.

(Music up and under)

CURWOOD: Many of you responded to our recent story about more scientific certainty that we are now seeing early signs of global warming. Dennis Henise, a meteorologist who listens to WLRN in Miami, wrote via the Internet that global warming is very, very likely manmade. "I have for years quite seriously advised people here in the Florida keys not to invest in real estate they plan to pass on to future generations. But nobody takes the advice seriously."

Many of you suggested things that we should do to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

CALLER: Hello, my name is Rebecca Bell, and I live in Charlottesville, Virginia. I think that the price of gasoline in the United States should probably be triple what it is today. I think it's going to be a long time before the political system and the people of the United States will be ready for that, but we don't have a long time. So I hope it happens sooner than later.

CURWOOD: But there were still a number of people, including this listener to WVXU in Cincinnati, who urge caution.

CALLER: I'm not fully convinced yet that global warming is a real problem. I want to see if it's cyclical or not, and I haven't seen enough to tell me that it really is a problem. Thank you.

CURWOOD: A recent story described how a fleet of supersonic airplanes could speed travel around the world, but could also speed the destruction of the ozone layer. "That report misses a major point," writes Robert Nielson. "The Concorde supersonic, which was used in the study, is outdated," he said. "A study predicated on a future fleet of Concordes with no acknowledgment of considerably advanced engine technology is not much news at all."

Our story about calls to release Lolita, the orca whale, who lives in a Florida aquarium, sparked a number of calls. Ralph Carson listens to Living on Earth on KNOW in St. Paul, Minnesota.

CARSON: I've always been opposed to the keeping of any of the cetacean species in captivity at all. I've always been very convinced since childhood that they were at least as smart as we are, and we absolutely have no right to have any jurisdiction over them whatsoever.

CURWOOD: A listener from Wichita, Kansas, sees it another way.

CALLER: I don't like the idea of wild animals being in captivity. But on the other hand, no one ever seems to offer a solution to how we educate our children and introduce them to the dolphins and the whales without having theme parks and zoos and so forth.

CURWOOD: Esther Peters listens to Living on Earth on both WEVO in Concord, New Hampshire, and WMEA in Portland, Maine. She, too, dislikes the idea of marine mammals living in captivity, but she says putting Lolita back in the ocean would be a mistake.

PETERS: Let the poor lady live her life out in peace where she is. She's used to it. Thank you.