Air Date: Week of January 19, 1996

Living on Earth listeners speak out on what they would like to ask the 1996 presidential candidates.

Transcript

CURWOOD: And now, we'd like to ask you, our listeners, to share with us your environmental success stories. It can be about something that was done in your community or in your household or on the job. Call us at 1-800-218-9988, and be sure to give us a daytime number because we may want to put your success story on the air. We'll give that number again and our e-mail address in just a few moments, but first we want to share with you some responses to last week's query. We asked you if you had the chance, what one question about the environment would you pose to the candidates for President of the United States? Here's what some of you said.

GREENFIELD: My name is Lisa Greenfield. I live in Corvallis, Oregon. My environmental one question for the presidential candidates would be asking them what they would do to help -- to fight against overpopulation. Because I think that's what almost all of our problems in general come down to, is too many people and a finite number of resources.

CURWOOD: Another Oregon listener, Bill Warner of Elkton, had this one question on his mind.

WARNER: Given the trend toward privatization and emphasis upon free market, why can we not set prices for grazing lands by competitive bid? Thank you very much.

CURWOOD: Tom Sharp from Edmond, Oklahoma, wants the candidates to answer this question: Won't turning environmental responsibility over to the states spur a race to deregulate in order to attract jobs and industry? And a listener from Ohio wants to know from the candidates how they would bridge what he calls the conflict between rampant consumerism and the necessity to preserve natural resources. In a similar vein came this query from Jennifer Fox, who listens to us on New Hampshire Public Radio. She asked when we will hear about sustainability.

FOX: Candidates are always talking about growth and how we need to increase our growth markets, and none of them ever seem to address the issue of sustainability and how, in a market where we have finite natural resources, what economics fit into that picture.

CURWOOD: We can't guarantee the candidates will answer your question, but as we continue to cover the race for the White House, we'll try to keep these and other questions you might have in mind.