June 2018

“What I learned in 18 months of stinging myself with bees.” People have been stinging themselves with bees for purposes of health since time immemorial. Therapeutic bee stings were used in the times of Galen and Hippocrates. The use of honey, pollen an …

Life in the hive—and what happens when the population gets out of hand. After a bee colony has come through a winter really well (not an easy task) and started collecting nectar and pollen, it will  grow enough brood till it is time to find a new hive. …

Two recent studies correlate winter air pollution to short-term health risks along the Wasatch Front. We’ve long known the hazards of a lifetime spent breathing polluted air, but the short-term health effects of pollution spikes are murkier. Two recent …

The University of Utah’s Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund. About 150,000 honey bees living in a dozen hives call the University of Utah home. You’ll find them in the rooftop garden just off the third floor of the Marriott Library and also on a fourth …

A monthly compendium of random wisdom for the natural world and beyond. June 1 Sunrise: 5:58am. Sunset: 8:52pm. Mike, the Headless Chicken Day. Mike, a Wyandotte chicken from Fruita, Colorado, survived a botched butchering job and went on to became a w …

The world needs you. Osho Zen Tarot: Fighting, Slowing Down, Past Lives Medicine Cards: Skunk, Butterfly, Coyote Mayan Oracle: Dreamer and Dreamed, Organic Balance, Etznab Ancient Egyptian Tarot: Empress, Six of Disks, Emperor Aleister Crowley Deck: Th …

Two remarkable scientists and their dueling visions to shape tomorrow’s world. Like so many of us, Charles Mann is trying not to succumb to despair over the environmental state of the world. He has just held his new baby daughter for the first time, bu …

The teacher-student relationship—again. It seems to happen with alarming regularity that a spiritual teacher is exposed (no pun intended) for having misused his position to take advantage of students’ trust. Most recently, the yoga social media and blo …

Last month we learned about summer air pollution and what we can do to reduce emissions that lead to ozone formation. Here’s how the EPA is helping Utah meet goals for cleaner air. Ozone pollution has increased in several Utah counties in recent years. …

What’s happening at Bee Fest: A Celebration of Pollination! Raise your glass to pollinators, for they bring you your coffee, tea, tequila and cream (dairy cows eat  pollinated alfalfa). Then there’s fruit: Thank pollinators for the apples, pears, mango …

In 1990, a group of SLC elementary school students in search of a problem-solving project saved an abandoned gully from being paved over and transformed it into a nature preserve. Their successors began a project that resulted in the Draw at Sugar Hous …

In a recent court case in Manhattan, seven “followers” of Donald Trump’s Twitter account sued the President on First Amendment grounds to prevent him from blocking them from his feed. In arguing the president’s case, Trump’s lawyers brought an interest …

Environmental news around the state and the West. San Rafael Swell in danger Utah’s  congressional delegation has introduced yet another terrible public lands bill, this time trying to grab control over Utah’s San Rafael Swell. In May, Senator Orrin Ha …

Will ears become vestigial organs or just sort of coat racks for our wired and unwired devices? It’s hard to say. Everyone already looks at their phones and lovingly caresses them, but their ears are also increasingly tethered to them. Do you really ne …

Utah’s  congressional delegation has introduced yet another terrible public lands bill, this time trying to grab control over Utah’s San Rafael Swell. In May, Senator Orrin Hatch (R) and Representative John Curtis (R-UT-3) introduced “The Emery County …

San Juan County is using the courts to harass a woman who is a founding member of Friends of Cedar Mesa and former executive director of Great Old Broads for Wilderness (GOB). Rose Chilcoat and her husband Mark Franklin are accused of trespassing and t …

Low snowpack could mean an intense wildfire season this summer. Information about active fires, fire restrictions, prevention and preparedness is available on the interagency Utah Wildfire Info website. Utah Fire Info: utahfireinfobox.com

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts that this year, water from the Colorado River flowing into Lake Powell will be about 46% of average. Management of Colorado River water is governed by the 1922 Colorado River Compact w …