This week on Earth Beat: "Eating Animals" with author Jonathan Safran Foer. Find out all the strange places a pig's parts end up. Also, environmentally-friendly gyms and gadgets to make doing the laundry greener.

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EATING PIGS AND OTHER ANIMALS

Eating Animals
Eating Animals. That’s the title of a new book by best-selling author Jonathan Safran Foer. He’s known for his novels – so a non-fiction book which catalogues the process of industrial meat production did not come naturally. This book is very much about family and food. In fact, his inspiration to write the book arrived with the birth of his first child.
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Where a pig’s parts go
Pigs have been a long time source of fascination for Dutch designer Christien Meindertsma. She was curious to find out what happens to a pig’s remains after the slaughter house, so she followed the journey of pig number 05049 and was astounded by the number of unexpected places it ended up. 
Listen to the interview Watch her give slide show about the book

Pigs play pen
In the Netherlands there are some 16 million pigs. For most, life is cramped, short and not very sweet. But there are efforts being made to improve their quality of life and offer them something better. Dutch pig farmer Maarten Rooijakkers has opened a new kind of sty in the Southern province of Brabant, and its full of toys. Thijs Westerbeek reports.
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COLD WEATHER, WARM CLIMATE?
Europe, Asia and parts of America have been shivering in the snow for the past month. This cold snap has left many confused about the supposedly warming world. So why is the evidence of warming in these parts of the world so well hidden? Marnie put this question to Lucas Reijnders – a professor of environmental science at the university of Amsterdam.
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ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY EXERCISE

The Green Microgym
If you’ve already given up on your New Year’s resolution to hit the gym, take heart. Your inactivity wins you the environmental high ground, as most gyms are enormous wastes of water and electricity. The people at The Green Microgym in Portland, Oregon are doing everything they can to green up their workouts, even harnessing human power. Ryan White reports.
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The outdoor green gym
Portland’s Microgym may be green, but wouldn’t it be better if all your calories were converted into some tangible benefit beyond slimming your waistline? This is the thinking behind another Green Gym programme in Britain, which puts the work back in workout by getting people moving in forests and parks across the country. Not only do these gyms improve one’s health, they also beautify the environment. And, as reporter Allis Moss found out, they’re more fun.
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GREEN, CLEAN LAUNDRY

Enviro-minute: Laundry
And once you’ve done your workout, you’ll need to wash your sweaty gym kit. This week’s enviro-minute considers the environmental impact of using the washing machine.
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Green gadgets: cleaner washing
From soap nuts to dryer balls and magnets to the magic washing ball, Marnie, Anik and Fiona review cleaner ways of doing the wash. Here's a good link to eco washing products.  
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NEXT WEEK ON EARTH BEAT: Coming up on Earth Beat: we try our hand at bartering using a special currency designed for truly free trade.

top photo by Garrulus on Flickr.com