July 8, 1973 - Part ten of the MER documentary series, A Sense of Place. Program is titled “Water: Words and Music.” Program profiles a meeting on June 15, 1973 regarding asbestos fibers found in Lake Superior.
August 10, 1973 - MER’s Greg Barron reports on Reserve Mining trial, where issues of asbestos from dumping tailings into Lake Superior are being argued. Dr. Donald Baumgartner, an engineer for the Environmental Protection Agency, testified for the state using a taconite settling study that shows particles can carry great distances in Lake Superior. Reserve Mining claims taconite is carried to a 600 foot "Great Trench."
September 2, 1973 - Third week of testimony in Reserve Mining trial. Judge Miles Lord presiding. Testifying for the state, Dr. Robert Dill says that taconite dumping in Lake Superior is affecting area drinking water. Expert witness Dr. Gary Glass concurs.
September 4, 1973 - MPR’s Stewart Stonick reports on court testimony from Dr. William Nicholson of the Environment Sciences Lab of Mt. Sinai Hospital. Nicholson is the 14th expert witness to testify against Reserve Mining's taconite dumping practices.
October 1, 1973 - MPR’s Connie Goldman reports on design science exhibit of Buckminster Fuller's eco-friendly architectural story. Report includes interviews with Fuller, and with people viewing the exhibit.
October 8, 1973 - Architect and theorist Richard Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller speaks on the discovery of the eternal pattern operative in the universe.
October 11, 1973 - Murray Bookchin, a noted socialist libertarian and ecologist discusses our relatively recent desire as humans to dominate nature.
October 11, 1973 - Noted ecologist, Dr. Murray Bookchin, continues his speech discussing materialist goals and how said goals are destroying the environment.
October 17, 1973 - Social theorist Bookchin explains his views on environmentalism versus and ecology. Environmentalists attempt to control nature to benefit man, while ecologists view nature as a living organism of which humans are a part. He disagrees with Marshall McLuhan on the nature of communication, saying the world is not a global village. While the means of communications may put people in contact with each other that doesn?t mean they are communicating, and he comments on the function of television. Finally Bookchin compares the nuclear family and its isolation to communal settings, a preferable model.
October 17, 1973 - Anderson details steps to deal with the energy crisis and fuel shortage in Minnesota and the nation. He says conservation measures and sacrifices are needed, as well as national leadership for state cooperation. He talks about labor unions vs. environmentalists, citing Reserve Mining as an example of resolved conflict. Finally he discusses women?s role in politics, discrimination, and says a larger pool of women with law training is needed.