Environment

Writer Joe Kane talks about his new book Savages (Knopf 1995) It’s his first hand account on the confrontations between Amazonian warriors and multi-national oil companies, environmentalists and missionaries. Kane writes about the Huaorani tribe’s fight for its culture and environment. Kane’s earlier book Running the Amazon was a 1989 New York Times best-seller. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane).

Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Co., Brian Anderson. In 1993, Shell pulled out of Ogoniland, the oil rich part of Nigeria, after it's pipelines were sabotaged. But they still operate in other parts of Nigeria. Human Rights Watch is calling on them, and other oil companies to close down their operations in Nigeria. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Associate Counsel for Human Rights Watch, Richard Dicker. He'll discuss the situation in Nigeria. Last week poet, playwright and minority rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was sentenced to death and killed, along with eight other men. Saro-Wiwa lead the "Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People," a movement to help the impoverished Ogoni. They had been fighting for rights to petroleum reserves and compensation for environmental damage by Shell Oil Company, a lead oil operator in the country. The deaths have been condemned by many world leaders.

Physician Mike Stroud and his companion Ranulph Fiennes were the first people to cross Antarctica on foot. Their 95-day expedition culminated in 1993. Stroud has just written a book, "Shadows on the Wasteland," about the 1350-mile journey. Stroud is a nutritionist and survival consultant to the British Ministry of Defense, and has participated in other Polar expeditions

Journalist Christopher Joyce has just written a book, "Earthly Goods," about searching for medicinal plants in rain forests. He'll talk about the history of seeking treatments in nature and the recent attempt of pharmaceutical companies, medical researchers, and anthropologists, to preserve the rain forests while they search for cures to disease.

Ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin. He has a new book about what he learned about botany and medicine from the Medicine Men of the tropical rain forests. His new book is "Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice," published by Viking. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Dr. Paul Mayewski, chief scientist with the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2. The project archives tubes of ice extracted from Greenland which chronicle 250,000 years of the earth's atmosphere, and changes in the climate. From the ice, scientists can pinpoint the start of the industrial revolution, or the end of the ice age. Scientists hope, by looking at the ice, they can better understand rapid changes in the earth's climate. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Authors Seth Cagin and Philip Dray. Their new book is "Between Earth and Sky: How CFCs Changed Our World and Endangered the Ozone Layer." It's about how CFCs (or chlorofluorocarbons) went from being the "miracle compound" to the the biggest threat to the ozone layer. CFCs came into being in 1928 and made possible the mass use of refrigerators and air conditioners. By the 1950s they were used in aerosol sprays and in the manufacture of Sytrofoam. But by 1974, scientists began to see their deleterious environmental effects.

Journalist Raymond Bonner criticizes the World Wildlife Fund for what he believes is an unnuanced approach to the protection of endangered species in Africa. He believes that the needs of the people living in impoverished areas need to be taken into consideratio. Later, Terry talks to Ginette Hemley of the WWF for her organization's perspective.

Fresh Air Producer Amy Salilt talks with Peter Garrett, lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil, a band known for its environmental and political activisim. They have a new album called Earth and Sun and Moon.