February 2017

You breathe, on average, 26,000 times a day. Besides powering you through the day, breathing can be a calming meditation or a dangerous practice, depending on the Air Quality Index*. For this month, especially for those grimy days, we have compiled an …

An all-Muslim Girl Scout troop examines the urban ecological framework of our city following the model of the renowned observer (and Girl Scout) Jane Jacobs. Scrolling through the photos on a black smartphone handed to me by a smiling middle schooler w …

In a biased justice system, who gets locked up and who gets killed? There are those who speak of the “garbage fire” that is the United States criminal justice system. To many of these people, the death penalty is considered the lid on that trash can. A …

Everything you need to know to get started in DIY carbon sequestration. It’s impossible to be a self-aware human being in this day and age and not acknowledge the effect we as humans are having upon the atmosphere. In particular, the accumulation of ca …

Europe has its castles; the United States has its majestic mountains, seas and more. During his eight years in office, President Obama used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to establish 29 national monuments and expand the boundaries of five other existing …

Bonanza Flats is for sale, and it could go to developers or to open space. The 1,400 acre property is located on Guardsman’s Pass between Deer Valley, Park City and Brighton. Park City has agreed to tax themselves $25 million to purchase the property, …

Now is the time to sign up for e-mail action alerts from your favorite environmental groups. The 2017 General Session of the Utah Legislature started January 23 and runs through March 9, 2017. Environmental activists are gearing up to monitor legislati …

On their very first day in session, the Republican-controlled 115th U.S. Congress launched a fresh attack on Utah’s public lands. The House passed a rule that defines public lands transfer as “budget neutral,” essentially creating a legislative fiction …

You may travel by mass transport, bike or on foot. You may have solar panels on your home and the highest-rated water heater. Your life may even be 100% carbon neutral. Too bad: You’ll still have to endure toxic levels of particulate pollution during t …

The Romans had detox in mind when they added February to their calendar in about 700 BCE. The Latin februum means “purification.” February is named after the Roman purification ritual that took place each year on February 15. The skin is the body’s lar …

Herbs Millcreek Herbs clinical herbalist Merry Lycett Harrison says osha root (ligusticum porterii; also called Porter’s lovage or bear medicine) is her “go-to” herb for lung cleansing. As Navajo legend goes, bears eat this herb as they come out of hib …

Negative ion generators Negative ion generators work basically by creating an electric charge on plates that attract pollutants out of the air. There is good research backing up the science of negative ion generators. Britain’s National Health Service …

NASA studies in  the 1980s proved what your great-granny always knew: Houseplants are a good thing. All plants absorb carbon dioxide (what you exhale) and release oxygen (what you want to inhale).  Some plants also absorb benzene, formaldehyde and tric …

Utah Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT-1)— “For leading a fanatical campaign to give away America’s iconic public lands, our forests, deserts and wildlife refuges to state and private ownership for mining, logging, fossil fuel development and other destruct …

Radon “Radon is a radioactive colorless, odorless, gas that can cause lung cancer,” says Dr. Akerley of Huntsman Cancer Institute. Radon typically enters a household via cracks in the foundation, rising from the soil or groundwater.  The Utah Departmen …

The most important thing to remember about our inversions is that the air is dangerous to breathe. And not just a little dangerous, as if the damage you do to your lungs will heal itself in a week or two like a cold or the flu. It won’t! The damage you …

Photo: Stephanie Felts On January 21, clean air advocates rallied at the Utah State Capitol urging State legislators to adopt a list of 19 policies to help clean up dirty air along the Wasatch Front. Three of the most important ideas are: 1) boost fund …

While Salt Lake City has been working to protect the city’s watershed with a proposed Wasatch Wilderness and Watershed Protection Act (yet unpassed), the State of Utah Quality Growth Commission has been working on behalf of private land owners to elimi …

On December 28, 2016, President Obama established a new Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah. Hip, hip hooray! But don’t put away your “Protect Bears Ears” T-shirts just yet; anti-environmentalist Utah politicians are threatening to use li …

Intuitive patterns for the month. Osho Zen Tarot: Moment to Moment, The Outsider, Ripeness Medicine Cards: Dog, Buffalo, Opossum Mayan Oracle: Complex Stability, Kan, Mystical Power Ancient Egyptian Tarot: Six of Disks, Eight of Disks, Two of Disks Ale …

At home or in a theatre, access to great film continues. Whether you hid from the festival that takes over SLC and Park City for 10 days, or you’re heartbroken from not seeing that last film you’d waited in line for, rest easy: Now that the hubbub of t …

D’ana Baptiste, Centered City Yoga’s founder and owner for 13 years, is passing the torch of CCY to one of her students, Rachel Cieslewicz, and Cieslewicz’s husband Eric Martin. Cieslewicz trained under D’ana, in 2009, while also attending the Universi …

Corporateers, conmen and crazies. It was SRO on Main St. inside Mandate Press, Sunday night, January 15, as 16 Utah poets and writers arose and read or performed their five minutes of inspiration as part of the national post-election Writers Resist mov …

Pictured: Sarah Betts | Photo: Mary McIntyre You might be thinking, “Just what that area needs, another yoga studio.” But Seek Studio offers a nontraditional approach to both yoga and sports conditioning that might be a refreshing change. Instead of pa …

From one poet to another: Alex Caldiero performs works of the new Nobel laureate. The day the world gasped at the sight of the 2017 American inauguration, poly-artist Alex Caldiero paid tribute to one of the greatest American troubadours in recent memo …

The most compelling character in Western Europe’s revolutionary Twelfth Century was a woman: Hildegard. She was an abbess, a visionary, a composer and a friend of popes and kings, who defied authority and insisted on the validity of her revelations and …

Environmental news from around the state and the West. Rising from the center of the southeastern Utah landscape and visible from every direction are twin buttes so distinctive that in each of the native languages of the region their name is the same: …

There has been a lot of media about the media in the media lately. It is sort of like thinking about your brain: It’s an endless loop of logical labyrinth poop. If you can’t believe the media, what exactly can you believe? More important: How do you kn …