Air Date: Week of November 5, 1999

One listener responds to our commentary on the population boom; another says we need to do a better job covering the biotech revolution. And a nun from Alabama shares her own story about reconciling religion and the environment.

Transcript

CURWOOD: A salmon's journey is just ahead, but first a quick look in the mailbag. Our recent analysis of Monsanto's decision not to pursue its "terminator seed" technology drew criticism from Tim Hughes, a biochemist who listens to us on KUOW in Seattle. He says we need to do a better job distinguishing between agribusiness genetic engineering and biotechnology as a whole. "I am very concerned about the potential misuse of genetic technology," he wrote, "but I think you do NPR's listeners a disservice by implying that biotech is such a narrowly-focused sector. It's not all sheep cloning and genetically-modified foods."

Brenda Walker, who hears us on KQED in San Francisco, found our commentary on the six billionth baby superficial. "How can you discuss human overpopulation," she wrote, "without mentioning the major extinction that our reproductive profligacy is causing? Isn't Living on Earth supposed to be an environmental information show? We are destroying life on the Earth, and the best you can do is person on the street interviews."

Finally, sister Genevieve Saxey wrote to thank us for our feature on the Michigan Interfaith Global Warming Campaign. "Your program concerning the role of environmental questions in religion was most appropriate for me at this time. In my small town in Alabama, midway between Birmingham and Huntsville, we can recycle aluminum and paper but not plastic or glass. As director of the physical plant of our monastery, I and the other sisters here are very concerned about the moral implications of environmental problems."

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