This Green Earth

On This Green Earth, Nell and Chris turn their attention skyward to talk about migrating birds. 

Julia Wang, project manager and contributor with BirdCast, comes on the show to discuss a bird alert that has gone out to help keep our fine, feathered friends safe while they migrate. 

On This Green Earth, Diego Zegarra, Vice President of Equity & Impact for Park City Community Foundation, along with Sarah Hall, Park City Community Foundation Board Member and Chair of the Park City Climate Fund join the show.

Zegarra and Hall come on to talk about the proposals for the Park City Climate Fund, which aims to engage climate work champions and innovators in greater Park City to implement local climate solutions. 

Hunting season is upon us, and on This Green Earth, Chris and Nell speak with Captain Wyatt Bubak about hunting saftey, protocols and etiquette, as well as what hikers should take into consideration during this time. 

Hurricane Ida slammed into multiple states last week. It was a Category 4 storm with winds above 150 mph and rainfall rates that broke records. A warmer world may have made hurricane Ida a stronger storm.

On This Green Earth, Dr. Jason Evans, Executive Director of the Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience and Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Studies at Stetson University, comes on the show to speak with Nell and Chris about the powerful storm. He will discuss its origin, intensity, and path of destruction. 

On This Green Earth, we speak with Vicky Ward, Overflights Program Manager for the National Park Service.

Along with the increased number of feet hiking through park lands, the number of aircraft flying the local skies has also increased. And, with that comes sources of air and noise pollution that impact the parks.

Ward will discuss what Air Tours are, how they impact the national parks, and the role she is playing in developing and overseeing the Air Tour Management Plan. 

On This Green Earth, we welcome Dr. Brian Moench, an anesthesiologist and founder of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment.

Dr. Moench, talks about the proposed Inland Port near the Salt Lake City airport. Specifically, he addresses the impacts such a facility would have on air quality and the health of those that live in the salt lake basin. 

On This Green Earth, Dr. Tim Brown joins the show.

Dr. Brown is a research professor at the Desert Research Center in Nevada and the Director of the Western Regional Climate Center.

He will be speaking about the impacts the recent wildfires, including the Parleys Canyon Fire, can have on our ecosystem and what we can do to help prevent these devastating fires.

On This Green Earth, your hosts Nell Larson and Chris Cherniak are talking tree equity.

A recent, groundbreaking study conducted by the nonprofit organization, American Forests, reveals the inequity of tree cover in different urban areas.

The study reveals that trees are sparse in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Jad Daley, President & CEO of American Forests will come on the show to break down the Tree Equity scores and what is being done as a result.

On This Green Earth, Nell and Chris have an interesting conversation that drives the question, what if there was a simple shift in thinking that could help us approach climate change in a way that allowed us to embrace both progress and preservation?

They discuss this shift in thinking with University of Virginia professor Leidy Klotz. In his new book, SUBTRACT: The Untapped Science of Less, Klotz defines how we systematically overlook the concept of simplification when trying to improve elements of life, work, and the world.

We default to fixing through adding.

On This Green Earth, your hosts Nell Larson and Chris Cherniak talk with Eric Balken.

Balken is the Executive Director of Glen Canyon Institute. He will be covering the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline. A multibillion dollar, 140- mile pipeline project that would pump up to 86,000 acre-feet of water annually out of the Colorado River and into southwest Utah.

Why is the pipeline necessary? Who would pay for it? And, what impacts would such a pipeline have on those needing Colorado River water downstream. 

On This Green Earth, Nell and Chris discuss Climate Normals.

In Salt Lake City, they have recorded not only the hottest June on record, but the now also the hottest July.

This has not been observed before in the the nearly 150 years of daily weather recording. Is this part of the new mornmal for temperatures here in Utah and the mountain west? 

Climate Scientist Mike Palecki joins the show to talk about what Climate Normals are and how they are calculated.

On This Green Earth, Mike Scott, a Senior Campaign Representative with Sierra Club’s Montana Chapter, comes on to discuss the importance of the Biden Administration’s plan to fully restore environmental protections to the Tongass National Forest in Alaska.

The Tongass is home to some of the last remaining stands of temperate old-growth rainforest in the world. It’s also America’s largest forest storehouse of carbon. 

On This Green Earth, Nate Brooks, Summit County Environmental Health Director, comes on the show to talk about the County's proposed Grey Water System Program.

Brooks also gives us an update on this year’s unusually high tick season.

On This Green Earth, Kimberly Hersey, Mammal Conservation Coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife comes on the show to talk with Nell and Chris.

Hersey takes us into the world of the elusive and adorable river otter. She fills us in on otter sightings in Utah, and why tracking them can help inform us about the health of the aquatic environment throughout our state. 

On This Green Earth, Robert Dewey, vice president for government relations with Defenders of Wildlife joins Nell and Chris.

Dewey comprehensively breaks down the wins and losses for biodiversity in the interior appropriations spending bill for 2022.

Dewey says that species are being lost faster than ever before in human history, and that adequately funding protections for endangered species is the missing half of this bill.