Access Utah

In 2012, two skiers from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, noticed that snow was disappearing from the western U.S. and wondered how long it would be before it affected the mountains in their backyard. They called Porter Fox, a longtime Powder magazine editor and writer, and asked if he was interested in writing a book about climate change and snow.

Dallas Hyland, a photojournalist and resident of St. George, recently traveled to Colombia with a privately-funded organization, Operation Underground Railroad, to execute what they called Clear Hope; a mission they say proved to be the biggest child trafficking rescue operation in history.

It’s been THE topic of conversation at Utah State University for several days now as well as making the pages of the New York Times and the airwaves of NPR: After learning that USU was legally forbidden from restricting firearms at a Wednesday lecture over which she received a death threat, nationally-known feminist writer and video game critic, Anita Sarkeesian, canceled her appearance. (SLTrib) She says she won’t appear at a Utah school until guns are barred from the state’s campuses.

Friday on Access Utah host Sheri Quinn revisits her conversation with former oil executive and geologist Marc Deshowitz about the unique geology of southern Utah parks and the ancient history of oil in the area.

William Alexander is more than a Francophile. He wants to be French. There’s one small problem: he doesn’t speak the language. In “Flirting with French: How a Language Charmed Me, Seduced Me, and Nearly Broke My Heart” Alexander sets out to conquer the language he loves. But will it love him back?

Technological advances seem to be accelerating. Every day we hear of something new: self-driving cars, wearable computers, factory robots, digitized medicine… Continuing advances in computers and automation can reduce workloads, increase productivity, and even imbue life with a sense of wonder. But Nicholas Carr, in his new book, “The Glass Cage: Automation and Us,” says there are hidden costs in granting software dominion over our work and leisure. Even as these programs bring ease to our lives, he says, they are stealing something essential from us.

Russell Honore came to national attention when, as a U.S. Army Lt. General, he was assigned to lead the Department of Defense’s Joint Task-Force Katrina. The hurricane hit on Monday, August 29, 2005, and he was put in charge of overseeing the federal emergency response on Tuesday at 10:00 p.m. By the time he arrived on Wednesday morning thousands of people were stranded on roof tops and in attics and more than 16,000 people were at the Superdome along with a similar number at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, according to Honore.

In her new book “The Human Age: The World Shaped by Us” Diane Ackerman writes that “our relationship with nature has changed radically, irreversibly, but by no means all for the bad. Our new epoch is laced with invention. Our mistakes are legion, but our talent is immeasurable.”

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear same-sex marriage appeals from Utah and four other states, letting stand lower court rulings that allow gays and lesbians to marry. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has lifted the hold it had placed on same-sex marriages in Utah and four other states.

On Monday’s AU we’ll spend the hour with Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank. We’ll talk about events in Ferguson, Missouri, including issues of race and police militarization. We’ll also talk about recent shootings in Utah, police body cameras, and community policing, among other issues.

How do men and women shape history? Do human values have a role in the writing of history? At a time when the so-called New Mormon history appears to be running its course, it may be time to rethink our approaches. So says Ronald W. Walker, professional historian and BYU Professor of History, Emeritus.

The new Mormon Environmental Stewardship Alliance (MESA) says that “it is no longer sufficient to merely protest ‘supply side’ assaults on the environment such as coal-fired power plants, fracking, tar sands & oil shale, etc. … The other half of the problem is the demand for dirty energy. MESA, along with many of Utah’s faith communities and universities, is organizing the “Live More with Less” Conference to be held in the Utah Valley University Science Auditorium on October 3, from 1:30 to 6:30 pm. to “challenge society’s assumption that ‘prosperity’ relies upon an economy based on endless growth and consumption."

On Tuesday’s AU we’ll look at the problem of homelessness through the eyes of Florida middle school teacher (and Navy veteran) Tom Rebman. He recently spent a month living as though he were homeless to raise awareness for a food bank and to inspire the kids he worked with. He told the Deseret News that this experience was the hardest thing he’s ever done and that he couldn’t have predicted the extent of the realities of living on the street, including sleepless nights, hunger and constant fear.

On the last day of summer in 2006, a Utah college student named Reggie Shaw killed two rocket scientists while texting and driving in Cache Valley. In his new book, “A Deadly Wandering: A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption in the Age of Attention” Pulitzer prize winning New York Times reporter, Matt Richtel, follows Shaw through the tragedy, his denial of its cause, the police investigation, the state’s groundbreaking prosecution (at the time there was little precedent to guide the court), and ultimately Shaw’s improbable admission of guilt, and his redemption.

At age eleven, Kenan Trebincevic was a happy, karate-loving kid living with his family in the quiet Eastern European town of Brcko. Then, in the spring of 1992, war broke out and his friends, neighbors and teammates all turned on him. Pero - Kenan's beloved karate coach - showed up at his door with an AK-47 - screaming: "You have one hour to leave or be killed!" His only crime: he was Muslim.

Anthony Doerr is author of the New York Times bestseller “All the Light We Cannot See,” about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

More than 300,000 people marched through the streets of New York City on Sunday in what organizers called the largest climate-change demonstration in history (USA Today.)

We tend to talk about Air Quality in the winter when inversions are trapping us in especially bad air. But this is a serious ongoing problem. So, on Monday’s AU, we’ll ask: What does the latest research tell us about our air pollution problem? And what are our current plans to ameliorate the problem?

Former Cache Valley resident, Ann Norman, is Chairman of the Board for Shine On Sierra Leone, a non-profit organization which builds and rebuilds schools in Sierra Leone. She has been appointed to the Presidential Task Force there, and is involved in the education campaign for people in rural areas in Sierra Leone to combat Ebola.

First the Utah State University Ecology Center is hosting a seminar series this year. The first speaker is ecologist Jeremy Fox from the University of Calgary, Canada. Fox addresses fundamental questions in population, community, and evolutionary ecology. He will present his final talk tonight at 6 titled: Causes and Consequence of Spatially Synchronized Population Dynamics. That it is at 6pm at the Ecology Center on the USU campus.