On the Cover


BY Amy Brunvand

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January 12, 2018

Utah’s newest member of Congress has already jumped on the anti-public lands bandwagon. In December, John Curtis (R-UT-3, replacing Jason Chaffetz who stepped down in June 2017) sponsored “Shash Jaa National Monument and Indian Creek National Monument …

BY Staff

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January 12, 2018

In the 2017 State of the Air report, the American Lung Association ranked Salt Lake City’s air quality as the sixth worst in the nation, giving Utah as a whole an “F” for ozone and “D” for particulate pollution. For years, environmental groups, moms, d …

BY Geralyn Dreyfous

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January 16, 2018

Genesis 2.0 / Courtesy of Sundance Institute One hundred and ten feature-length films were selected for the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. These films (selected from 13,468) represent 29 countries and 47 first-time filmmakers. Most of them are world prem …

BY Staff

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December 1, 2017

Thank you to everyone who showed up, volunteered, donated to the silent auction, sponsored, and shared their artistic talents on November 30, 2017 at The State Room! It was truly a night to remember, and to attempt to recreate for years to come. The in …

BY Charlotte Bell

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January 1, 2018

How Discernment Got Lost in 21st-Century Yoga. In 1988, I attended my first silent Insight Meditation retreat. I noticed one thing right off—how incredibly out-of-control my mind is. But as my mind began to quiet a little, I started to notice something …

BY Stephen Trimble

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January 1, 2018

Beware, but respond. Your wife is pregnant, and you’re worried. Ozone levels spike higher and higher. But both of you have good jobs. You can’t just up and leave, moving to a place with healthy air. A friend—sufficiently affluent—spends the winter inve …

BY Faith Rudebusch

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January 1, 2018

Consider air quality when planning your commute. It’s clear that how we choose to commute affects our air quality. But does our mode of transit determine how many pollutants reach us? What’s a health-conscious commuter to do? Dr. Robert Chaney, profess …

BY Ashley Miller

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January 1, 2018

It’s time to pay attention to “no burn” days. Tis the season for relentless episodes of national-newsworthy air pollution in the Salt Lake Valley—air that reaches the unhealthy range and lingers for days without a storm to blow it away. Now is the time …

BY Suzanne Wagner

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January 1, 2018

There is only change. Osho Zen Tarot: Maturity, Conditioning, Slowing Down Medicine Cards: Butterfly Beaver Mayan Oracle: Chicchan, Complex Stability Ancient Egyptian Tarot: Prince of Swords, Queen of Wands, Ace of Swords Aleister Crowley Deck: Ace of …

BY Jane Lyon

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January 1, 2018

Standing on sacred ground. Toni Lock started practicing tai chi 20 years ago after a dear friend and “soul sister” said she should try it. She had been teaching aerobics at the time, she was in her twenties and her friend who had a knack for reading en …

BY Jane Lyon

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January 1, 2018

CATALYST has fun with the Awair air-tracking device. AWAIR looks like a minimalist digital clock radio with the phrase “know what’s in the air you breathe” written on the side. Here at CATALYST we were curious to learn what this little device was actua …

BY Dennis Hinkamp

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January 1, 2018

For a dancer. Trigger warning: this might make you cry. It made me cry writing it, but it was a joyful cathartic cry. On December 6, our 18-pound 14.5-year-old package of fury, attitude and bliss left us behind. Luba, our French bulldog, had an amazing …

BY Ralfee Finn

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January 1, 2018

Your astrological path for 2018. Transitional is the key word for 2018. It’s a year of integration, a threshold moment where past, present and future meet to create what happens next. David Whyte describes a threshold as the place where you don’t know …

BY John deJong

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January 1, 2018

An electric car can work with your solar panels for an overall lower carbon footprint. Perhaps the most important part of owning and managing a solar system of your own (SSOYO) is finding a way to store the electricity from your rooftop solar panels. A …

BY Amy Brunvand

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January 1, 2018

Arts called into the service of protest. The year 2017 got off to a gloomy start with the inauguration of Donald “Two Left Feet” Trump replacing the always graceful Barack Obama as President of the United States. At an inaugural Ball in January, Trump …

BY Amy Brunvand

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January 1, 2018

Here are some simple daily choices that can make a difference in your personal health and for the community. Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly ali …

BY Diane Olson

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January 1, 2018

A monthly compendium of random wisdom for the natural world and beyond. Jan 1  Sunrise: 7:51am. Sunset: 5:11pm. Max. temp: 35 degrees; min. 23 degrees. Snow fall for the month: 11 inches. Tonight is the Full Wolf Moon, also a Super Moon (at its closest …

BY Jessica Reimer

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January 1, 2018

Headway predicted for clean air and renewables; climate change to be addressed for the first time. HEAL Utah is a local nonprofit focused on issues at the interface of public and environmental health. HEAL uses smart policy research and the power of gr …

BY Amy Brunvand

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January 1, 2018

Environmental news from around the state and the West. Monument downsizing travesty On December 4, 2017 President Trump flew to Salt Lake City to announce that he would slash the size of two Utah National Monuments. Bears Ears National Monument was cut …

BY Daniel Mendoza

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January 1, 2018

“Proactive” is the word. It’s winter in Utah and that means skiing and snow, but also our dreaded inversions. My research focuses on air quality and associated health effects, and too many times I’ve been asked to “fix” the inversion. Bad news—I can’t. …

BY Amy Brunvand

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January 18, 2018

The Lake Powell Pipeline water boondoggle moved forward in December when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved an environmental review for the 140-mile-long water project. Environmentalists say the pipeline is unnecessary, too expensive and …

BY Amy Brunvand

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January 18, 2018

Methane is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global climate change. Oil and gas fields commonly vent methane into the air. A 2016 Methane Rule to stop the practice survived Trump’s deregulation mania, but the Bureau of Land Management has announced …

BY Amy Brunvand

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January 12, 2018

On December 4, 2017 President Trump flew to Salt Lake City to announce that he would slash the size of two Utah National Monuments. Bears Ears National Monument was cut by 85%, with one remaining portion re-named to exclude reference to all but Navajo …

BY Amy Brunvand

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January 12, 2018

In an effort to block lawsuits seeking to restore the boundaries of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Representative Chris Stewart (R-UT-2) has introduced a bill to create a fake national park. The misleadingly named “Grand Staircase Escalan …