March 2018

Wanted: land to relocate the entire nation of Kiribati, which is slowly being submerged as the polar ice caps melt; CATALYST speaks with President Anote Tong. Imagine if you were burdened with this news: Your entire country will be completely uninhabit …

The art of learning to love the land. After ascending the rock-strewn switchbacks of the Moki Dugway to the sky-washed heights of Cedar Mesa, Utah, we assembled our basecamp not far from Muley Point—threading together metal poles and stretching tarps t …

White supremacist literature becomes nationally acclaimed human rights art exhibit; in Utah now through September 3. In 2003, a member of a white supremacist group in Montana defected, taking with him a massive collection of the group’s literature and …

In this era of white, homegrown terrorism, it’s time to step into the fray—that messy, alchemical place where hard conversations happen and new levels of action are executed. I am a mother and a teacher and I own guns. With them, I have hunted game for …

For the most part, Logan is horribly average which is mostly good. People who have stayed here too long, present company included, like to find things to complain about, but that’s just the age talking. Like most cities our size, we wax and wane betwee …

Navajo president Russel Begaye has asked Utah congressman John Curtis (R-UT-3) to withdraw a bill he introduced that would permanently reduce the size of Bears Ears National Monument without waiting for the results of lawsuits against downsizing. In a …

Great Salt Lake migratory birds have less protection after the Trump Administration issued a radical re-interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 that lets industry kill birds without penalty as long as they say they didn’t mean to. A Dep …

Utah prairie dogs have fended off an existential threat and will not be going to the Supreme Court after all. The furry, cute and highly social animals were at the center of a lawsuit pitting private property rights against endangered species protectio …

Just in time for the 2018 Utah Legislature General Session, Torrey House Press published a chapbook called Breathing Stories: Utah Voices for Clean Air (see CATALYST, January 2018 for excerpts). The book features stories, essays and poems that personal …

Colorado College has released their 8th annual “Conservation in the West” Poll for 2018. The poll asks voters in eight western states including Utah for opinions about conservation, energy, environment and public lands. The 2018 poll shows that we Utah …

If you think it feels warmer than it used to be, you’re right. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that 2017 was the third hottest year since 1880 when record-keeping began. A slightly different analysis by NASA ranks 201 …

In February, a coalition of local environmental groups hosted public meetings regarding a threat to build a garbage dump at the north end of Great Salt Lake. A company called Promontory Point Resources, LLC has applied for a Class V waste permit which …

How does one turn 500 plastic bags into a comfortable sleeping mat? U of U studfetns had the answer at the Clean Air Solutions Fair. They collect plastic bags and then cut and tie them into plastic yarn, or plarn. The plarn is then crocheted into 3-ft. …

Utah’s DABC has partnered with Momentum Recycling to bring Utah its first ever glass-recycling center at a DABC store. Check out the Wine Store near the 300 West Costco and you’ll see one parking spot is now taken up with four blue glass-recycling bins …

Growing, processing, packaging and transporting food requires a lot of energy and results in more pollution than we might imagine. In America, we waste 40% of the food that is grown. That’s a lot of wasted energy and toil. Dana Williamson wants to lowe …

A monthly compendium of random wisdom for the natural world and beyond. Mar 1  Full Moon at 5:51pm Worm Moon: the Worm Moon, because the ground begins to thaw and earthworms reappear, soon followed by the return of robins. Sunrise: 7:01am; sunset: 6:18 …

You did not come here to maintain the status quo. Osho Zen Tarot: Going with the Flow, Beyond Illusion, Sorrow Medicine Cards: Wolf, Opossum Mayan Oracle: Dissonance, Manifestation Ancient Egyptian Tarot: Ace of Swords, Ten of Disks, Princess of Wands …

What’s new around town. SLC Qi Community Acupuncture moves SLC Qi Community Acupuncture has moved from its original 900 South location closer to downtown, occupying space in the Utah Natural Medicine Center on 400 East. Acupuncture works best when it i …

Amaranth is high in protein: Eat them for muscles like Mr. Clean! When a dear friend gave Sue Click a few Love-Lies-Bleeding plants seven years ago, Sue was thrilled that she finally had this beautiful burgundy-flowered plant in her garden. “My friend …

Editor’s note: While browsing through old issues of CATALYST, we came upon this “About Town” piece from March of 2006. Staff millennials, foreign to the days of smokey bars, restaurants and airplanes (and movie theatres, recollected if you’re really ol …

Every good organic gardener I know is some kind of worm shit witch doctor. They weren’t born that way, but years of going steady with food-producing plants will do that to a person. We’ve all run through a forest or field at some point as children, pic …

After the ripchord fails. The final moment of one’s life is one of those great mysteries that no living person fully grasps. Stop me if you know this one: You’re at a party eating finger foods and sipping a drink from a plastic Solo cup when someone as …

In recent years, our lives seem to have gotten harsher. Our culture has factionalized. No one wants to listen to anyone with whom they disagree. Dialogue has become not just disrespectful, but sometimes even violent. Social media is partly responsible …

A notable source of local air pollution you’ve never even heard of before. Last spring a unique and significant source of air pollution caught my attention. At that time, I was a member of the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Plan Advisory Committee …

No sympathy for the devil. “What’s confusing you is the nature of my game.” — Sympathy for the Devil, Rolling Stones. In January Donald Trump tried to live up to his campaign promise to revive the coal industry by imposing a 30% tariff on imported sola …

Environmental news from around the state and the West. In the decades to come, one can hope that many of the Trump Administration’s mistakes—on tax policy, say, or trade—will be rectified. But the destruction of the country’s last unspoiled places is a …