A Five Part Series from TTBOOK!

Public Radio International

Wisconsin Public Radio

IN LIVING COLOR

Program 08-04-13-A

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Imagine the world as we know it, only without us. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a writer imagines a world reinventing itself without human beings. He sees the New York subway system returning to its watery origins. The re-absorption of carbon into the earth, and endangered wildlife coming back from the brink. Also, one man finds the extraordinary in encounters with birds. And, garbage island - the bobbing plastic wasteland that's plaguing the Pacific.

SEGMENT 1:

Jim Fleming opens the hour by reading a poem by Richard Shelton called "Desert Water," from his book of the same name. Alan Weisman is a journalist and the author of "The World Without Us." He tells Steve Paulson what would happen to our planet if all the human beings simply disappeared with all our junk. Basically, nature would waste no time taking over. Also, Anne Strainchamps goes looking for hope about the world's environmental problems among the children of Randall Elementary School in Madison, Wisconsin.

SEGMENT 2:

Sam Keen is the author of "Sightings: Extraordinary Encounters with Ordinary Birds." He reads several passages from his book, and talks with Steve Paulson. Also, The Pacific Gyre is a region in the middle of the Pacific Ocean around which all the major currents swirl. As a result, debris that floats into the gyre gets stuck there. Thomas Morton wrote in a story for "Vice" Magazine that the gyre has become the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and contains a huge amount of plastic bags and bottles.

SEGMENT 3:

Eric Toso was walking home from a swimming pool when he was bitten on the foot by a rattlesnake. It nearly killed him, but he had a spiritual awakening and found a new appreciation for living in the moment and respecting the Wild. He tells Anne Strainchamps how he came to view the snakes as his brothers, and what he says when he talks to them. Also, Jim Fleming reads a poem by James Wright "I Try to Waken and Greet the World Once Again" from his collection "The Branch Will Not Break".

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 08-04-13-A.

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Books:

Alan Weisman, The World without Us (Thomas Dunne Books)
Sam Keen, Sightings: Extraordinary Encounters with Ordinary Birds (Chronicle Books)
Erec Toso, Zero at the Bone: Rewriting Life After a Snakebite (Arizona)
James Wright, The Branch Will Not Break (Wesleyan)
Richard Shelton, Of All the Dirty Words (Pittsburgh)	out of print

Websites:

• VBS.TV series-
  http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=1485308505

• Vice Magazine Article-
  http://www.viceland.com/int/v15n2/htdocs/oh_this_is_great.php
  (photo is also on article)
  

Music:

• --No Life/ Home to Oblivious an Elliott Smith Tribute by Chritopher O'Riley/ World Village
  --Spooky/Money Mark/ Mark's Keyboard Repair/ Pinto
  --Kobo/ Baka Beyond/ Rhythm Tree/March Hare Music
  --Kaleidoscope/ California Guitar Trio/ Pathways/ DGM
  --River Journey/ Brainscapes/ CyberOctave
  --Corrobboree/ Brainscapes/ CyberOctave
  --Suite I in G Major, BWV 1007/ J.S. Bach/ Matt Haimovitz: 6 Suites for Cello Solo

Distribution dates: week of 04/13/2008 - hour 1

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Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

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