Air Date: Week of February 9, 2001

Transcript

CURWOOD: And you're listening to Living on Earth.

You can hear our program any time on our Web site. The address is www.loe.org. That's www.loe.org. And while you're online, send your comments to us at letters@loe.org. Once again, letters@loe.org. Our postal address is 8 Story Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. And you can reach our listener line at 800-218-9988. That's 800-218-9988. CDs, tapes, and transcripts are $15.

(Music up and under: His Name Is Alive, "Across Every Fjord")

CURWOOD: It's Living on Earth. I'm Steve Curwood. And coming up: some energy-saving inventions from kids. But first...

(Music up and under)

CURWOOD: Time for comments from you, our listeners.

(Music up and under)

CURWOOD: We begin with a correction. William Jensen heard our almanac about Project Moby Dick, the weather balloons that were sent over Soviet territory during the Cold War to capture climate data. Or so the U.S. government claimed. Mr. Jensen listens to KUER in Salt Lake City, and says he was smack dab in the middle of a chapter in a book that deals with that project. "It was good for quite a laugh, both at the coincidence and at how completely you got your facts wrong. Moby Dick was absolutely, indisputably, a spy project. That it had anything to do with weather research was the CIA's cover story. Maybe your fact checkers should buy the donuts for your next staff meeting." Thanks, Mr. Jensen , and we'll save one of the donuts for you.

Many of you got in touch about last week's interview with former British Petroleum executive Steve Taylor about drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR. Daniel Kiefer , a listener to Michigan Public Radio, writes, "Dear LOE: It is laudable that someone of Mr. Taylor's stature in the oil industry so openly acknowledges the legitimate role for wilderness values in the formation of national energy policy. If that role cannot be claimed for ANWR, then where in heaven's name will it be claimed?"

And KSTX San Antonio, Texas, listener Peter Loxsom says he's seen tar on the beaches in his state, and he doesn't think opening up ANWR oil is the right way to go. "It's not enough," he writes, "to really help our energy situation. And it's not really the direction we as a nation need to be going in. When I was a child I saw my father, a physicist, do a lot of work in the solar energy field. With the coming of Reagan I saw that all disappear. Now, my father does research into atmospheric pollution. To me, that says volumes."

Susan Easter heard our audio postcard about backyard skating rinks. She listens to WKSU out of Kent, Ohio, and she writes, "My father was in the Navy and was stationed in New England during the earliest years of my childhood. I am transported to the times in Vermont that my dad would lovingly shovel out a shallow and flat rink, running the hose nightly to put a couple of inches of water in till, layer after layer, we had a heck of a solid rink of ice. Thanks for the memories. Now I've got to go write my parents."

Your comments on our program are always welcome. Call our listener line any time at 800-218-9988. That's 800-218-9988. Or write to 8 Story Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. Our e-mail address is letters@loe.org. Once again, letters@loe.org. And visit our Web page at www.loe.org. That's www.loe.org. CDs, tapes, and transcripts are $15.

(Music up and under)