On this week's first hour-long edition of Earth Beat, we explore the sounds of cities and tell you about the Positive Soundscape Project; we hear a personal story of climate change from Mali; and we delve into the ecology of dying.

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THE SOUNDS OF CITIES

An orchestra of urban sound
Cities are filled with sound. Some pleasant, some less so. We start today’s programme by considering how the sounds of our urban environment affect us and what people are doing to try to influence “city noise.”

That’s something Hans Peter Kuhn is trying to do. He’s a German sound artist as well as a composer. For the last four years he’s been collecting sounds for a curious orchestral work. It’s not something you can hear in a concert hall. Instead you’ll have to flock to a tunnel in the English city of Leeds to hear it, along with the other 30,000 other pedestrians who use the Neville street underpass every day. 

I asked Hans Peter to describe his unusual audio venue.
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Music on the London Underground
Usually, sound is used in quite a conventional way in say, elevators, to achieve a supposedly pleasant effect. But what if the space is much larger, and there are millions of people stomping through the space. This is the challenge faced by the people who run the London underground. They decided to roll out a diet of compulsory classical tracks in 5 tube stations.

It’s become such a hit that now over 80 stations are playing a repertoire ranging from Handel’s Water Music to Mahler’s 1st Symphony. The man responsible for choosing the music is Simon Bray from the music agency, Broadchart. He explains why they introduced music in the tube.
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The Positive Soundscape Project
Music, it seems, can provide a positive influence on our city soundscape, but beyond noise levels, there seems to be very little consideration into how cities should sound. But that is changing and a more nuanced understanding of soundscapes is being developed. The Positive Soundscape Project is at the forefront of this research. Artists and technicians from five English universities are collaborating to find out what sounds we like and how our cities could sound in the future. Dr Bill Davis, the project leader is from Salford University in Manchester, North England.
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PERSONAL STORIES OF CLIMATE CHANGE - MALI

In the lead up to Copenhagen’s climate change conference in December, Earth Beat is airing occasional profiles of people around the world whose lives have been affected by climate change. In this first story, we take you to Mali, where cotton farmers are having a tough time. This years rains haven’t arrived on time, which has hit the harvest hard. Martin Vogl went to visit a plantation meant to be their model operation this year and he found a very different sititation.
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THE ECOLOGY OF DYING
Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust – many of us find it a comforting thought that when we die, our bodies return to the soil and feed the circle of life. Sadly, the reality is a little less romantic, and that’s causing problems, as this week's Envirominute explains.
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What's wrong with burials?
So on this edition of Earthbeat we are looking at the footprint of the final journey. Different cultures take very different approaches to disposing of their dead but according to Joe Sehee of the Green Burial Council, modern-day burial techniques are often unnecessarily polluting to the environment. Joe spoke to me from Santa Fe, New Mexico and started by explaining how a green burial can do it better.
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Energy from cremation - but not the bodies
As you heard from Joe Sehee before the break, there’s real room for improvement in the funeral industry. And maybe this involves taking a more practical attitude to disposing of bodies.

One crematorium in Taiwan has even figured out a way to generate electricity from the heat coming out of the ovens. But in this conservative Buddhist island, the idea is agitating some age-old superstitions. I spoke to Correspondent Keith Perron in Taipei and he explained exactly what they were up to.
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Freeze the body, shake it, bury it.
So far we’ve heard about efforts to make burials and cremations more environmentally sound. But starting next year, the world may have another option. It’s called Promession, and it breaks the body down into small pink crumbs of organic matter. The brains behind Promession is Swedish biologist Susanne Wiigh-Masak.
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Pros and cons
Each funeral choice has its own pros and cons. Back to Joe Sehee from the Green Burial council who says they make a point of saying that there are no clear right and wrong ways to have a green death.
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Have you thought about how you'd like your body treated? Become an Earth Beat fan on Facebook and tell us your sentiments.

Coming up on next week's Earthbeat, to hang or not to hang, we hear views on whether hanging your undies out to dry should be inhibited or encouraged; Walnuts and wine are enjoying a boost in unexpected places; And could bio fuels provide the sustainable salvation the aviation industry are banking on? We hear why algae may be the answer.