010/04/04

LC041004

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

We're cutting down our tallest trees and replacing them with
shrubs. Why aren't we doing more to protect our urban forests?

Eric Oldar>> This is, in essence, not a tree. It's a shrub
that's pruned to make it look like a tree. So we take a little
squatty shrub and we make a tree out of it.

Val>> And then, it may not be for everyone, but once you see
it, you'll never look at the human body the same. We go inside
"Body Worlds".

All that and more straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times.

Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of
the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality
of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of
medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val>> Across the country, trees are disappearing, falling prey
to development, and Southern California is no exception. Every
year we lose thousands of trees to make way for shopping centers
and houses. Now you say developers have to replace the trees
they cut down, right? Well, as Hena Cuevas discovered in
Riverside, they may plant new ones, but not all trees are
created equal.

Eric Oldar>> We're marching suddenly toward this futuristic
sterile environment where there's no greenery left.

Hena Cuevas>> A city with no trees. That's what Eric Oldar
from the California Department of Forestry in Riverside is
afraid of.

Eric Oldar>> We're not, in essence as human beings, in a
position where they put us into a concrete maze and expect us to
survive and live there. We want a sense of nature and openness
around us and that's where greenery comes into play.

Hena Cuevas>> Oldar has made it his mission to keep green from
turning to gray. According to the American Forest Organization,
over the past ten years, urban areas nationwide have lost more
than twenty percent of their tree cover and Los Angeles is no
exception to this national trend.

Eric Oldar>> We are quickly, as in our playgrounds and our
parks, concreting and paving over everything and we're losing
all of that greenness.

Hena Cuevas>> Greenness that a lot of times we don't notice is
missing, especially in a desert area like Los Angeles. However,
says Oldar, our large trees are being replaced with smaller
weaker ones, the proliferation of what he calls the pygmy
forest.

Eric Oldar>> We're planting trees or a forest for the future
that are pygmy forests. Where we have overhead conflict like in
the electrical wires, they would choose a small tree like this
so it doesn't grow into the wires. But when you look up here,
there is nothing above us. There is open sky and we should be
planting a large majestic tree not only to shade the sidewalk
and the street, but we end up planting these little trees.

Hena Cuevas>> So this is part of the instant gratification that
you were talking about?

Eric Oldar>> This is instant gratification. If you take a look
at the small diameter of this trunk, this is a small tree that's
been forced-grown in the nurseries to make it look like a tree
and then we put it in the ground. In fact, they have to stake
it like this because the tree doesn't have enough strength to be
able to hold itself up.

Hena Cuevas>> The crepe myrtles surrounding this new housing
development are actually shrubs and even when fully grown, says
Oldar, will have little or no benefit. Birds don't nest in
them, they provide little shade and no wood can be extracted
from them. So then it's more about quality of the trees than
quantity of the trees?

Eric Oldar>> It is, because the quantity of trees would reflect
more of a concern for creating the pygmy forest. If I plant
enough trees, won't I get the same benefit? No. If I rip out
one old large tree, I will plant, what, five or six fifteen-
gallon trees and will they ever grow into something that's large
and magnificent as the large one we've lost? No.

Hena Cuevas>> The larger the tree, he says, the better the
investment.

Eric Oldar>> A tree doesn't depreciate. It actually
appreciates.

Hena Cuevas>> This long-term thinking is what Larry Smith,
Director of Northeast Trees, is focusing on. Northeast Trees is
a nonprofit organization that works with the city of Los
Angeles. They're trying not only to increase the number of
trees, but to improve the quality of those being planted.

Larry Smith>> We need more trees for people to be out and about
in these kinds of spaces comfortably because it still tends to
be last thing that's considered when you're talking about
creating a built environment.

Hena Cuevas>> So are trees kind of like an after-thought?

Larry Smith>> They have been, yeah. They have been, and
they've gotten the leftover space.

Hena Cuevas>> It's this leftover space that's the problem.
With land being so scarce and precious in Los Angeles, finding
ample room for these trees is difficult. Also, many people are
afraid of the roots.

Larry Smith>> Even if you wanted a large tree to share the
space, eventually it would start buckling the sidewalk and the
hardscape around it. There are liability issues that are
presented by that, especially people walking along the
sidewalks.

Hena Cuevas>> So Smith and his group look for areas around the
city with enough space like the banks of the Los Angeles River.

Aaron Thomas>> "Well, further up, there's a whole stretch of
land between the two bridges there that is ready for planting.
I mean, there's plenty of space there."

Hena Cuevas>> And this median in Eagle Rock.

Aaron Thomas>> In this situation, we have a really good and
rare opportunity of having a large median. It's approximately
twenty feet wide, so it will accommodate a larger species of
tree.

Hena Cuevas>> Aaron Thomas is the lead arborist at Northeast
Trees.

Aaron Thomas>> It's a shame to not use a large species in this
space where we have the opportunity to put a large tree.
Anything smaller than that is a waste.

Hena Cuevas>> It's a long-term investment since these newly-
planted trees won't reach their maximum height for another one
hundred years. That's almost as long as these trees have graced
the streets in Riverside.

Eric Oldar>> There's no way those crepe myrtles will ever
provide a canopy like this. To stand in the street and to
appreciate the coolness of the shade and, you know, what it's
bringing here makes a big difference not only to us standing
here talking, but to these homes over here. So we have a public
tree, unlike the crepe myrtle that we saw earlier on the public
right-of-way, that is providing environmental benefits to the
homeowner himself right there.

Hena Cuevas>> The tree provides added shade that lowers cooling
costs and increases property values. These benefits may not be
felt immediately, but in the long run, they will improve the
overall quality of life.

Larry Smith>> The citizenry needs to understand the benefits.
They need to request the benefits and say, look, we want these
trees to be big. We don't want these trees to be small. We
know the only way they're going to get big is that they give us
more space and we're willing to help with that.

Hena Cuevas>> Do you still think there's hope for Los Angeles?

Larry Smith>> Yes, I do, or I wouldn't be doing this
(laughter). No, there's hope, there's hope. It took a lot of
years to get to this point. It's going to take a lot of years
to get back to a better place for the urban forest.

Eric Oldar>> And the simple act of planting a tree, and every
tree that we choose to plant for future generations, is one of a
decision that we make today that gives us a course of action
that sets the stage thirty or forty years down the road, so we
need to make intelligent decisions. I really believe that we're
beginning to make those connections today.

Val>> If you'd like some help picking out the perfect tree for
a particular spot, you can get expert advice and it's free from
the California Department of Forestry or Northeast Trees.

Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and
Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, transcripts
and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most
interesting features. Just go to kcet.org and click on "Life
and Times".


Val>> So is there life after death? Well, certainly not in
physical form, right? Well, think again. More than two dozen
human bodies have taken on a whole new life of sorts through an
amazing process called plastination. I got a personal tour of
"Body Worlds" from the President of the California Science
Center, Jeffrey Rudolph. A word of warning. This exhibit may
not appeal if you've got a queasy stomach.

The human bodies are preserved by a groundbreaking process
invented by a German doctor who preserved specimens for medical
study. His name is Gunther von Hagen and the technique is
called plastination. You call it a plastinate. What is that?

Jeffrey Rudolph>> Actually, it's a name invented by Dr. von
Hagan who invented this technique, this plastination. What
these specimens are are real humans who during their lifetime
donated their bodies for medical and layperson's education. Our
bodies are mostly water and what this process does is to,
through a series of chemical steps, replaces the water in our
body with plastic. What you've got here is a specimen which is
a true human specimen, but it's mostly plastic and will last
forever.

Val>> Forever?

Jeffrey Rudolph>> Longer than the mummies.

Val>> Incredible.

[Film Clip]

Val>> Although we can see every nerve and vein, the exhibit
reveals nothing personal about the donors. Now we don't know
how old this person was, do we?

Jeffrey Rudolph>> No, we really don't. With each of the
plastinates, anonymity is maintained while they're all donating
their bodies. Many of the donors actually indicated that they
were willing to be identified, but Dr. von Hagen decided
nevertheless he should maintain their anonymity in case a member
of the family came in might be sensitive to it or --

Val>> -- not only that, but it's really about humankind. It's
not about --

Jeffrey Rudolph>> -- it's not about an individual or their
history. It's about learning about people and their bodies, so
we don't know the exact age.

[Film Clip]

Val>> Now this is an athlete and you can literally see the
difference in the muscle tone.

Jeffrey Rudolph>> Yes, this was the most muscular body donor.
It's been put in an athletic position as a basketball player and
you can really see the tremendous strength in these muscles.

Val>> That's fantastic. Do you have any ethical issues? Has
this exhibit been controversial?

Jeffrey Rudolph>> The exhibit had some controversy in Europe.
In Asia, no. Before we brought it here, we thought it was
really important to consider all the ethical issues and we put
together a group of advisers, both medical bio-ethicists and
religious leaders. The primary issue they focused on was
insuring that the body donors properly donated their bodies.
They reviewed the process and they were a fully and informed
consent. The bigger challenge hasn't been controversy or
complaints.

The bigger challenge has been that people have a general
reaction when they see photographs or hear about the exhibit
that makes them think it may be gross and they're a little
afraid of it. Yet as people go through the exhibit, most people
fairly quickly turn from thinking about that it might be gross
to fascination with the details and the lessons they can learn
about their own bodies.

[Film Clip]

Val>> Von Hagen's technique works on every part of the body
except the eyes. It turns nerves into cobwebs, blood vessels
into lace and skin into a cloak. And if you've ever wondered
what cigarettes can do, compare the lungs of a nonsmoker to a
smoker. This is the first time the cyclist has been on display,
is that right?

Jeffrey Rudolph>> Yes. The cyclist is -- actually, the body
has been expanded so this person is one and a half times the
size he originally was.

Val>> Like it looks like he'd be about eight or nine feet.

Jeffrey Rudolph>> Yeah, it looks like a giant.

Val>> Although it was a big person.

Jeffrey Rudolph>> He was a big person. The reason this is
expanded is to try to let you look at some of the layering and
complexity of the body and how it's put together. Our bodies
are so packed with all these complex systems that you can't see
them all. When you're looking through the muscles and the
skeletal system, you don't see all the internal organs and the
like, so here he pulled it apart a little so you can get a sense
of the relative positioning and how the body all fits together.

Val>> Now what are those? They look like billiard balls, cue
balls.

Jeffrey Rudolph>> This is actually the hip joint. The hip is a
ball and socket joint and actually, similarly, the shoulder is
the same thing if you look up here.

Val>> I had no idea it was so perfectly round.

Jeffrey Rudolph>> It's the round piece that allows the full
range of movement. It's also a little bit like the shoulder is
actually unstable and you can dislocate that when the ball comes
out of the socket.

This is actually a particular interesting specimen when you
realize that all these systems are integrated together. You've
got your skeletal system that we looked at earlier. Now you've
got your arterial circulation and your circulatory system and
everything. It's all this complex and amazing --

Val>> -- and if you've ever wondered why, when we've all gotten
a bloody nose (laughter) now you can see why sometimes it just
gushes.

Jeffrey Rudolph>> You can see that or, for those men out there,
you can see why you bleed so much when you cut yourself shaving.

Val>> But Hagen didn't confine himself to Homo sapiens. The
largest specimen in the exhibit looked like something Edgar
Allen Poe would dream up.

Jeffrey Rudolph>> This horse is an interesting specimen and
it's actually the most complete and difficult specimen that Dr.
von Hagen has done yet, but it also allows us to look at
comparative physiology. You can compare the horse and the
human. A couple of interesting points would be to compare the
size of the brain, the rider's brain in the right hand and the
smaller horse's brain in his left hand.

Val>> But not all that much smaller really.

Jeffrey Rudolph>> No, but compared to the size of the animal,
significantly smaller.

Val>> Oh, right.

Jeffrey Rudolph>> And then you also -- on the other hand, if
you look at the musculature of this horse, this is an incredibly
powerful, muscular animal and the size of the muscles compared
to the human muscles are enormous, like an animal made to work
more than to think.

Val>> Now does he plan on plastinating other animals?

Jeffrey Rudolph>> Yes, he does. He's actually plastinating the
gorilla that unfortunately died in an accident in a zoo in
Germany. It's a phenomenal specimen and it allows us to look,
again, at comparative physiology. But in this case, we'll look
at a very close relative and to realize, when you're under the
skin and the hair, how much a gorilla and human look alike and
yet at the same time to realize the incredible mass of the
gorilla's muscles. It's just an amazing animal.

Val>> Well, Jeffrey, thank you for bringing this exhibit to Los
Angeles and all of California, for that matter.

Jeffrey Rudolph>> Thank you so much for sharing it with your
listeners and viewers. We're very proud to be hosting this
exhibit here.

Val>> And, by the way, if you'd like to become a plastinate,
you can fill out a donor card right there at the museum. But if
you prefer to take your living body and turn it into a work of
art, you can do that too. I'm talking about tattoos and, ever
since the ancient Egyptians, artists have been putting their
mark on skin. We stopped by one tattoo parlor in Hollywood to
find out what motivates modern man to turn skin into canvas.

John Rhodes>> It is the ultimate, extravagant, extroverted act.
You're taking a piece of your soul and putting it out on the
surface of your body where everybody can see, so why be subtle
about it?

"Freewind">> Most of us tattooed people think that, if you
don't have a tattoo, you're deviant. How could you possibly not
have one? I mean, it tells about you. It tells about your
life.

>> It's one of the things that I like about tattooing is the
permanence of it, that it doesn't go away.

Bob Baxter>> When you apply a tattoo or you go about the
process of applying a tattoo, there are two methods. Either
it's what they call free-hand, in which case the design is drawn
on the skin with a marker or a pen. Other times, the designs
are drawn on paper. We make the drawing on paper first and make
a stencil and then apply the stencil to the skin. This allows
us to change the position of the stencil and the potential
placement of the tattoo prior to actually tattooing it. Then
you start with an outline. Usually with black ink, a crisp
outline is delineated on the very edge of the pattern and this
will either be filled in with black or color of choice.

"Freewind">> Tattooing is definitely an art that is legitimate
as any art mainly because there's a lot of technique involved.
This is not an easy process. It is not something that you just
do. You have to learn the skills.

Bob Baxter>> There are so many different convolutions to the
body, the body not being flat at really any point. You've got
dips and valleys, curves, muscles, bones, joints, all kinds of
things to be working around, and all of these things are going
to provide technical challenges for the tattoo artist. The skin
is going to change dramatically from inch to inch.

John Rhodes>> Tattooing, up to about thirty years ago, was an
extremely limited endeavor. You really had, you know,
limitation of equipment and limitation of color range and, a lot
of places, limitations of legality that held us back.

>> Tattoos that I personally get have a lot of meaning. Some
are spiritual, some are markers in my life, some are reminders.
There are all different meanings, but they're all very personal
expressions of who I am on the inside, but I wear them on the
outside.

John Rhodes>> I was taught that skin is sacred, that you only
get one sheet, you know, and there's not any more. You can't go
out and buy more. That makes up a lot of it right there. The
person is sacrificing, first and foremost, a section of
themselves, their appearance, for the rest of their life.
You're taking a part of your inner self and externalizing it and
that's an awful big thing to put on the bargaining block.

To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us
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Life and Times
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Val>> Imagine getting a $25,000 check in the mail four times a
year for five years. Well, that's what one barber turned
bookseller has to look forward to. His name is Reuben Martinez
and, no, he didn't win the lottery. He won a MacArthur Grant, a
half million dollars over five years, no strings attached. So
why was he chosen? Because Martinez has turned selling books
into a crusade for literacy. His store has become a cornerstone
in a community that sorely needs the benefits of books. KCET's
"A Place of Our Own" went to Orange County to meet Reuben
Martinez.

Reuben Martinez>> Reading is the fountain to wisdom. Reading
is a ladder to a better future.

Debi Gutierrez>> Reuben Martinez was born in a small Arizona
town in 1940. His parents worked in the copper mines. A happy
child, Reuben liked playing, but not as much as reading.

Reuben Martinez>> Every morning at 6:45, the newspaper boy
would deliver the newspaper and, when it hit my neighbor's side
of the house, I would wake up, go out the back door, lean
against my neighbor's house and read the newspaper every morning
thoroughly. Then I'd fold that newspaper and put it back as
neatly as I could.

Debi Gutierrez>> When he finally got caught, Reuben's neighbor
told him to keep reading. After graduation from high school,
Reuben headed to California. He became a barber in Santa Ana,
but couldn't shake his love of reading, so he kept a few books
in the barber shop for customers to read. There was such a high
demand for them that, amazingly, the barber shop became a
bookstore.

Reuben Martinez>> Eleven years later, this store has over
15,000 titles now, close to 17,000. It's a dream come true.

Debi Gutierrez>> It is a dream come true for Reuben and for his
customers. That's because eighty-five percent of the books in
Martinez Books and Art Gallery are in Spanish.

>> My mom came here looking for a book that she heard on the
radio and she wanted it in Spanish.

Debi Gutierrez>> Over the eleven years since Reuben started
selling books, his business grew so much that he moved to a new
location, but he kept the barber shop in the far corner of the
bookstore and he still cuts hair, although not as much as he
used to.

Reuben Martinez>> On my real busy days, I used to do thirty
hair cuts a day. Today I do maybe two or three a week. These
are my customers that never knew where else to go.

Reuben Martinez>> "Your hair's so thick. I'm going to have to
start using an ax here to cut your hair off (laughter)."

Debi Gutierrez>> The business is doing well now, but it wasn't
always easy.

Reuben Martinez>> There were many times that I used to cry, not
knowing what I was going to do. I got behind a little bit on
the bills and I just had to cut down on some things.

Debi Gutierrez>> Reuben didn't give up and he had a lot of
help. Deliveryman, Alfonso Silva, remembers.

Alfonso Silva>> Every day, more and more books. I'm telling
you. We started with a couple boxes a day, maybe four or five.
Now, you know, fifteen or twenty. The volume is huge.

Reuben Martinez>> So that means that we're growing.

Debi Gutierrez>> Businessman, Felipe Rodriguez, says the
Libreria is needed in Santa Ana.

Felipe Rodriguez>> It's a real, real important place to be in
the area. I had the habit of reading a lot, so having a
bookstore, you know, with this kind of inventory is very
helpful. I believe people are very glad that they can find that
place.

Marjorie Morta>> It's just like a candy store. It has just
everything you'd want and the titles in Spanish and English.
Our school has had a partnership with Reuben Martinez Bookstore
for many years and we send our students over here with gift
certificates to encourage them to read.

Debi Gutierrez>> There's no shortage of children's books at the
bookstore because just a couple of doors away is Libros Para
Ninos.

Reuben Martinez>> We did open a children's bookstore four years
ago only maybe a two minute walk from here and the books that we
have there are preschool to fifth grade. All those books are in
as many cultures as we can get. I think that's so good when the
whole family reads together. That is the best pastime at home.

Debi Gutierrez>> It's not unusual to find Reuben reading to the
children or preaching the benefits of reading to their parents.

Reuben Martinez>> I tell moms that are pregnant to start
reading to their babies. Both the father and the mother reading
to the baby. And as soon as they're born that first day, read
them a poem. Sing to them. Hug them and tell them that we've
been waiting for you because we already automatically instantly
are in love with you. Words are beautiful.

Reuben Martinez>> "My poppa's hair is like a broom. All up in
the air."

Reuben Martinez>> We have choices. Parents have choices. Do
you want your children to be in front of the line or in the back
of the line? Because if you read to them and they continue to
learn and they want to be someone that writes their goals,
they're going to be in the front of the line.

Debi Gutierrez>> Reuben Martinez is passionate about reading.
He continues to urge people, young and old, to read because he
knows what it did for him.

Reuben Martinez>> I started reading at a very, very young age
and I still do. I read a lot every day. I look forward to
that. I love literature.

Reuben Martinez>> "See? Twenty minutes a day is one million
words a year. Isn't that something, huh? Getting ready for the
future because the future is waiting for us."

Val>> Reuben Martinez isn't sure how he's going to use the
money, but several mayors have already invited him to open up a
branch of his bookstore in their town. Our thanks to "A Place
of Our Own" for that story. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at
Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.

Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of
the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality
of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of
medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.