This week on Earth Beat: we look at the cost of getting your message across. We see some different forms of graffiti and weigh the environmental impact of the printed word. And what happens to books that no one loves?
Listen to the programme in full:
GRAFFITI, THE GOOD AND THE BAD
Mud stencils
Some choose to shout out their message loud and proud, using graffiti. One person’s inner city art is another’s persons vandalism, which is why councils spend a lot of money trying to scrub away this work. Jesse Graves is a graffiti artist who does things a little differently. He’s avoiding the traditional toxic spray cans and uses … mud.
Listen to the interview
Dutch graffiti
Hugo Kaagman is the Dutch godfather of stencil graffiti. He’s been arrested a dozen times and faced many fines, so where does he stand on the art vs. defacing the public environment debate? Marnie goes to meet him in his unusual studio, sandwiched between platforms 1 and 2 at a busy Amsterdam train station.
Listen to Marnie's visit with Hugo Kaagman
Painting walls in Mumbai
We came across a graffiti project in India that’s about more than just spray cans and eluding authority. It’s a sort of “graffiti for good”. Our Mumbai correspondent Chhavi Sachdev joins Marnie to talk about it.
Listen to the segment
TREES TO BOOKS TO PULP: THE COST OF PUBLISHING
Envirominute: Publishing Books
Listen to the envirominute read by Anik See
Sustainable publishing
Earth Beat producer Anik See is an author, and she joins Marnie to explain some of the publishing industry's intricacies and curious policies. And while the problems seem deeply rooted in the whole system of book production and bookselling, publisher HarperCollins UK has taken aggressive steps to cut back their footprint. Marnie speaks to Susanna Frayn, their communications manager.
Listen to the interview
Pulp for Asphalt
Anik explains what happens to books that no one loves anymore.
Listen to the segment
The Future of Public Reading
With the future state of reading on our minds, Earth Beat producer Anik See went to see what the future holds for public reading in Holland. She visited the National Library of the Netherlands, where over 6 million items are kept on over 110 km of shelves, all for public use. But what will the library of the future look like? Will print become a thing of the past, and screens the new way of handling books?
Listen to the report by Anik See
E-readers
With the future of digital reading undeniable, we decided to speak to someone who knows gadgets. Joe Hutsko joins Marnie to talk about e-readers vs. books, the advantages, disadvantages, and which of the two is greener.
Listen to the interview
FOLLOW-UP ON OFFSETTING
In last week’s programme, we looked at an offsetting project here in the Netherlands. We see how well your carbon dollars are being turned into trees.
Listen to the report by Thijs Westerbeek
NEXT WEEK ON EARTH BEAT:
We speak to author Jonathan Safran Foer about his new book, Eating Animals, which has been converting readers stateside in droves. And we hear about a sustainable pig farm - but is there such a thing as happy meat?
top photo: "Eat Wild", mud stencil by Jesse Graves.
Email this Radio Show
Printer-friendly version
I think the debate about EReaders is one that needs to occur - although your discussion overlooked entirely the fact that all e-reading devices, unlike old-fashioned book in print, require electricity to be charged. This will certainly impact their difference in footprint. I myself have Kindle, but tend to favor borrowing library books instead or using my ereader due to this very reason.
Post new comment
Please be reminded all comments must be in English, short and to the point - guideline 250 words. Abusive and inappropriate comments will be removed.