Air Date: Week of June 22, 2007

We dip in the LOE mail bag to hear what listeners have to say.

Transcript

[THEME MUSIC]

[PHONE RINGING]

GELLERMAN: Hello?

FRANCITO: Good morning, I just heard your interview with Bob Kantor who makes the advertising hangers.

GELLERMAN: That’s Dan Francito, of South Wellfleet, Massachusetts, calling in response to our story about the Hanger Network company, it’s producing clothes hangers made out of recycled paper to replace ones made of steel. The new hangers may be more environmentally friendly, but they carry ads, and for Dan they’re just another source of eye pollution.

FRANCITO: I feel that he’s hiding behind concern for the environment in order to push more advertising. I liked your little comment at the end about other ways to conserve resources, just use the same hangers over and over when you go to the cleaners, etc.

GELLERMAN: And then Dan, hung up.

Our interview with Rice University professor Vicki Colvin about the coming nanotechnology revolution brought this from John Victery of Houston, Texas, who wrote in praise of Dr. Colvin:

“Everything she mentions about Nanotechnology brings promise, if not right away then certainly to those souls who will follow us.” But Michael Blackwell, who listens to us on WUVT in Blacksburg, Va., has a dimmer view of the technology. While Dr. Colvin assures us that “We can be confident that everything will work out,” he writes, “We were told the same thing about lead, PCBs, mercury, carbon dioxide, MTBE, nuclear waste, and Teflon.”

And Finally, our conversation with author Barbara Kingsolver about her new book, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life” had Huntley Gordon, of San Jose, California, reaching for his phone.

GORDON: I found her interview to be very, I guess revolutionary in the way she was thinking in regards to having locally grown products be part of your daily diet. I too feel that it is completely ludicrous that we could have produce imported from thousands of miles away, rather than being able to harness what we have here in the United States, and I truly embrace her project.

[THEME MUSIC]

GELLERMAN: Well, you can embrace more of the local food revolution a bit later in the show, in the mean time we’re all ears. Let us know how you feel about what you hear on Living on Earth. Drop us a line at 20 Holland Street, Somerville, Massachusetts, 02144. Or email us at comments@loe.org. Our listener line is 800-218-9-9-8-8. That's 800-218-99-88.

Just ahead colorful and nutritious new veggies are on the way, orange you glad you ate your cauliflower? You’re listening to Living on Earth.