A critique of the stories presented on the Living on Earth radio program

A critique of the stories presented on the Living on Earth radio program

Living on Earth is a nationally-syndicated program produced by Public Radio International at the WUMB radio station.  It plays each week, usually on Sunday mornings, on National Public Radio stations around the country.

Listen to a few of the brief story segments on the Living on Earth website: http://loe.org/    They can be on any topic or from any of the LOE programs.  Pick three stories and critique them, using at least two course sources.  You can structure this in several different ways:

Your essay can be sequential, addressing each story in turn.  After a brief introduction, you might take about two paragraphs per story:  briefly introduce or summarize, analyze what works well about the story, and then critique some aspect that could be done better.

Your essay can be thematic: pick stories with a given thematic connection and explore how that theme connects them.  (For instance, you might pick three stories on energy usage, or three on trash, or three that focus on areas in the Midwest.)

Your critiques could involve anything from historical background to sound quality.  Is the presentation fair and balanced?  Is it interesting?  Should it ask different questions?  Whatever your critiques, make sure to use your expertise in environmental history

As in the other two essays, use at least two courses sources in this one, too.  Use the course sources either to suggest particular topics (“Historian Bill Cronon argues X and Y about New England forests, but in this episode the reporters claim Z.”) or to suggest broader questions or frameworks (Historian Linda Nash suggests that people perceive environments differently in different periods, but this episode starts off with the assertion that ‘People have always regarded natural event A in a particular way.’  The reporters could do more to reflect on how time period B shaped perception of natural event A.” )