Printing
How air conditioning got Ronald Reagan elected president
Ronald Reagan couldn’t have become president without Southern votes, and many of those votes simply wouldn’t have been there without the invention of air conditioning. Such innovations and their unforeseen consequences on history are the subject of a new book from Steven Johnson.
Tech Week in Review: May 20, 2011
Amazon has announced that e-books are outselling paper books on its website for the first time ever. But does that mean you can get rid of your bookshelves? That’s just one of the stories in Clark Boyd’s roundup of great global tech stories you might have missed this week.
Paper Oaths
In 1993, the Clinton Administration ambitiously declared it would make the federal government a major purchaser of environmentally-friendly products, including recycled paper. Considering that the federal government is the nation’s largest user of paper, the move was expected to boost the recycled products market. But as James Jones reports, although President Clinton signed an executive […]
California Lawyers Want Recycled Briefs
Steve talks with Debra Ream of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Club about a move to require attorneys in California to file their court papers on recycled paper, and to print some of their briefs on both sides of the page. The state’s legal profession currently uses about 100,000 tons of paper a year.
Cooking Controversy
The Swedish government recently released data showing a probable human carcinogen is formed when high starch foods are baked or fried. But, there’s a controversy surrounding the data. That’s because the study hasn’t undergone the standard process of scientific peer review. Host Steve Curwood speaks with Swedish environmental reporter David Damen about the research.