This is a slick, entertaining and informative production about one of our nation's and the world's greatest challenges. I personally learned a lot about the history, the issues and the options regarding our dependence on fossil fuels. Although the piece lays out the not-so-easy-to-hear facts, it provides cause for hope in the numerous options available.

This program is well-researched, written and produced in an engaging, sometimes entertaining style, that helps to clarify the issues and keep the content from becoming too dry and technical.

Barbara Bogaev, known to many as a fill-in host on "Fresh Air" and as one of the original hosts of American Public Media's "Weekend America," does an excellent job of delivering the script in a comfortable and personable style. The production is nicely mixed and edited using a variety of techniques to keep up the pace and maintain listener interest, including: original interview clips, archival film clip audio and appropriate music.

As a one-hour program, this show is "Program Director friendly," offering a newscast cutaway and two :60 station breaks following a standard NPR-style clock. Easy to work into a news/talk format as a weekend special or a holiday replacement.

SPECIAL NOTE FOR PROGRAM DIRECTORS: This is a production of Purdue University's Engineering Department and it includes Purdue experts. This Purdue involvement is clearly stated throughout the show, solving my own personal concerns about "disclosure" issues. In addition, the producers did a good job of including other experts from MIT, Harvard and from the oil and energy industries. The "Purdue connection" is obvious to me as a listener and I hope also to most of our public radio listeners. PDs will have to judge for yourselves whether this is a problem.