Why We Waste

A new study from the University of Illinois finds that a surprising
number of the things we buy at the grocery store never get used. Brian
Wansink is a Professor of Marketing at the U-of-I. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham talked to him about why people spend
money on products they never get around to opening:

Transcript

In the back of your cabinets you’ll likely find canned goods or other products you bought years

ago, but never opened. Brian Wansink found as much as twelve percent of the products they buy are

never used.


“In almost all these cases – er – in about three-quarters of the cases, the abandoned products, or

these castaway products that people have in their cupboards, end up being bought for

over-ambitious reasons. They’re essentially events that never happen or for recipes that we never

got around to making or things like that.”


Wansink says when they were asked how they planned to dispose of their abandoned products, more

than fifty percent of the homemakers surveyed said they would end up throwing the items away

rather than keeping them or donating them to a food pantry.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Second Wind for Mine

Small towns around the Great Lakes work hard to attract
businesses that will diversify their economies and thrive in a changing
world. This effort is especially important in northern Minnesota, where
iron mining has created a boom-and-bust economy with high
unemployment and low wage jobs. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Stephanie Hemphill reports on how one small town is re-inventing itself
with the ultimate recycling project:

Transcript

At the northern edge of the iron range, Tower, Minnesota is home to six hundred people.


(sound of cafe)


At the cafe, regulars stop by for coffee. Outside, in the four-block stretch of main street, no stoplights get in the way on the drive to work. People here workin the woods, cutting trees for the paper mill. Or they have summer jobs in nearby resorts, or they drive south, to the mines that are still working.


Just outside of town, the Soudan mine was teh first iron mine in Minnesota. The Soudan mine closed in 1962, and the town has been scraping by since then. Herb Lamppa helped dig the last shaft. Today, Lamppa is the Mayor of Tower.


“We had over three hundred people working there, in three shifts. Can you imagine what it was like when they had to go elsewhere to look for work? It was veyr devastating. And a lot of jobs we’ve got around here are low-income jobs.”


(sound of hoist)


This hoist was built at the turn of the century to drag high-grade iron ore from deep in the earth. Steel from here helped industrialize America and build the weapons that won two World Wars. The mine provided jobs – and a chance to become Americans – for two generations of immigrants.


Down a side corridor, the lights are brighter and the walls are lined with concrete. Here, the old mine is transforming itself, bringing new jobs to Tower and helping scientists learn about the nature of the universe. It’s a room the size of a football field, four stories high, packed with computers and other high-tech gear. The rock walls offer protection from the cosmic rays that bombard the surface of the earth. That makes it theoretically possible to detect proton decay – a very rare event in which a particle inside an atom releases most of its energy by breaking down into other particles.


Jim Beatty is a technician who’s keeping an eye on the equipment.


“There’s a theory that a proton will decay every ten to the thirty-second years or something to that effect, so we’ve got close to one thousand tons of protons stacked up here, and they’re watching it electronically to see if a proton does decay.”


So far in fifteen years they haven’t observed a proton decaying, but they’ve learned other interesting things about cosmic rays. A new experiment will team up two hundred researchers from around the world. They will beam streams of neutrinos from the Fermi National Accelerator near Chicago, through four hundred miles of rock to detectors in the mine. They’ll try to determine the mass of the neutrino, which can help them understand how the universe expands.


The projects are expected to pump nearly twenty million dollars into the local economy. Hardware stores, hotels, and restaurants have felt the impact. A new building is also being built. It will house the assembly plant for the neutrino detectors, and once they’re assembled, the building can be used to incubate other industries. Eighty people will be hired for the assembly work. Mayor Herb Lamppa says those jobs will help, but he’s looking even further into the future.


“I suspect it’s not just neutrinos they’re going to look at, there must be all kinds of other things the physicists will be looking at. I dont know what it’ll be, but there’s any number of subatomic particles that we don’t even know about.”


The researchers come for just a week or two, but Jim Beatty works here full time. He traded a seasonal construction job for a year-round employment with benefits, and he enjoys the contact with other cultures.


“We have members from Russia, China, Greece, the UK, Australia, New Zealand. My friends talk about seeing these strange guys speaking a strange language walking down the street. I tell them it’s not a strange language, it’s physics.”


That’s just the kind of talk that really excites Herb Lamppa. he’s hoping the researchers will contribute a new thread to the culture here.


“If we could get some of these people living here, their families here, it would be a real big advantage to the school system because they’d be children whose parents are interested in math and science. I think it would have a tremendous impact as far as the kids’ desire to learn.”


Lamppa and his friends used their brawn to put food on the table and build a nation. He’s hoping their grandchildren will be able to use their brains to make a living and help decode some of the mysteries of the universe.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Stephanie Hemphill in Tower, Minnesota.

Youth Rodeo on the Rise

No matter where you travel around the region, you’ll find kids
playing all kinds of organized sports – from baseball to bowling. But a
growing number of young people around the Great Lakes are embracing a
sport that’s traditionally been practiced in the Western U-S. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson reports:

Transcript

About a dozen boys and girls are gathered outside on a chilly, windy afternoon in Kent City,

Michigan dressed in jeans, cowboy boots and hats. They’ve gome to practice the sport of rodeo. The

athletes specialize in different events, including barrel racing, goat tying and steer wrestling.


Tonight, they’re at Sue and Andy Sharp’s house to practice. Most of the kids bring their own

horses, and the Sharps have a few steers for roping and wrestling.


SUE: “You would like to be able to practice once or twice a week at least, if possible. Not all

the kids can do that, though, because some don’t have a place near them, and they have to travel

quite a ways.”


The Sharps met when they were both competing on the Pro Rodeo Circuit. But now, they’re passing on

their skills to a new generation of riders.


“In 1974, when I first started, and before that, there were rodeos. But nowhere near as many are

there now. When they went through the phase of the urban cowboy, it really started to grow east of

the Mississippi and got more notoriety and people started to get involved, and that’s continued

on.”


Still, rodeo riders aren’t exactly commonplace in these parts, but their ranks are steadily

growing – fed by the increasing number of high school rodeo teams and 4-H programs. In fact,

several of the current youth rodeo champs come from the Great Lakes States. Wisconsin is home to

the world champion high school bareback rider. Indiana hosts the world champion in pole bending.

And Michigan is the home of the national champion bull rider.


With programs like the Little Britches Rodeo Association, kids as young as toddlers can get

involved in the sport. Tonight, Cody Schmitz has the distinction of being the youngest one at the

practice session.


CODY: “I’m a bull rider.”


NELSON: “You’re a bull rider. How old are you?”


CODY: “Ten.”


NELSON: “Ten. And you ride a bull.”


CODY: “But I don’t ride, like, big bulls. I ride, like, these steers and stuff.”


Cody says just like other athletes, he gets nervous before a ride.


CODY: “You get butterflies and stuff, but once you get on, then they just go away and you’re just

having fun and sitting there. But it’s not very good to hang up.


NELSON: “What does that mean, to hang up?”


CODY: “Hang up as in, your hand’s still stuck in the rope and then it’s pulling and stuff. Well,

it’s not very good.”


Cody weighs about ninety pounds and stands just under five feet. But the steers can weigh hundreds

of pounds, so it’s a kind of understatement to say that rodeo can be dangerous. Just ask Matt

Kostel. He used to compete, but now he just watches from the sidelines.


“Had a little accident with a bull. He caught me in the forehead right here with a horn and put me

in the hospital. And they put plates in my forehead and screws and had to do reconstructive

surgery on me.”


Even so, Kostel hopes to someday return to the sport. For many – like Cody Schmitz – the rewards

outweigh the risks. Riders can win cash and even college scholarships. Cody’s only been competing

for a couple of years, but he’s already set his sights on becoming a pro. At tonight’s practice,

he’s decked out in a protective vest and mouth guard – ready to ride a steer.


(sound of rosin rubbing on rope)


“All right! Come on, Cody!”


Cody’s fourteen-year-old brother, Eric, helps him get ready: rubbing rosin on the rope for a

better grip. Then Eric and some of the other boys gather ’round to give Cody some final bits of

advice.


ERIC: “No matter what he does, keep shuffling your feet. Feel comfortable – start kicking.”


GUY 2: “Get right up on your hands, don’t get off it.”


Then Cody gives the signal, and they’re off.


GUYS: “Look at ’em buck, Cody! Look at ’em buck!”


The steer almost immediately throws cody to the ground, and the whole thing’s over in a matter of

seconds. Cody’s hurting from a hard fall on his elbow. But after a pep talk from his brother Eric,

he’s soon up and ready to ride again.


ERIC: “How bad do you want it?”


CODY: “Bad.”


ERIC: “Then you better try. Because without trying, you ain’t got nothing, right?”


CODY: “Right.”


This ride goes better for Cody. He’s able to hold on a little longer before getting bucked off.


It’s a close-knit group here tonight – not just the brothers, but all of the riders. And most say

they’ll continue riding, either as pros or just for fun, because, as Eric Schmitz says, rodeo is

as much a lifestyle as it is a sport.


“I mean, everybody’s together, everybody’s friends, you help each other out. I don’t know how to

explain it – it’s just kind of a cowboy deal, I guess. And I couldn’t imagine myself doing a thing

different.”


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Wendy Nelson in Kent City, Michigan.