HATE THE MACHINE

The deadly culture of cars and air-conditioning.

Radio Ecoshock Show September 10th, 2010

GO STRAIGHT TO SHOW TRANSCRIPT with all the links.

The program begins with a reading from "Autogeddon" by Heathcote Williams.

That was a quote from the long poem "Autogeddon" written by British writer HeathCote Williams and originally published in 1987, the fall edition of The_Whole Earth Review. It was released as a lavishly illustrated book in 1991, and even made into a radio drama by BBC2. The presenter was Jeremy Irons, who, it turns out - loved cars.

The background music was Gary Numan's 1979 song cars.

This is Radio Ecoshock I'm Alex Smith.

Welcome to my hate affair with machines.

Yes I have lived without them. Millions of people still do, but like the bush-men, or Neanderthals, they are pushed toward the distant fringes of our world. At least, until the center collapses.

Our entire lives have been car-jacked, no doubt about it. We'll talk with Anne Lutz Fernandez, co-author of the book "Carjacked - The Culture of the Automobile & Its Effect On Our Lives". My take: the car is a machine to such the money and life out of you. Really.

In our second half hour, more machines to wreck the planet: air conditioners. Our guest is Stan Cox, author of "Losing Our Cool, Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air Conditioned World (and Finding New Ways to Get Through Summer)." After the world roasted in 2010, with lots more to come in the coming greenhouse world, you might want to find out how to survive, when the big machine breaks down.

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