We've had a few staff changes here at HEAL Utah and we are so excited to introduce you to our new Development Director, Turner Bitton, and Grassroots Organizer, Carmen Val Dez! Listen to this week's episode (the last of the 2019 HEAL Utah Podcast season) to hear about their background, how they'll live their best HEAL life with us, and what challenges they are excited to take on in their new roles. You can meet Turner and Carmen in person at our 20th Anniversary Fall Party on October 10th! Get tickets today at www.healutah.org/fallparty2019 (and don't forget to ask about their cows or dogs when you meet them at the party). This episode is brought to you by KUHL Clothing. Subscribe to the HEAL Utah podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Podbean, or our RSS feed.

Did you know that Utah has part-time legislators, that there are only 45 days a year where they can pass laws, and that citizen's can come to the State Capitol Building and lobby them during that time? HEAL Utah Policy Associate Jessica Reimer not only spends all 45 days of the legislative session at the Capitol, but she also develops bills and helps push them forward to become law. We sat down with Jessica to chat about how Utah's legislative process works, how HEAL successfully works on environmental legislation (its all about values), and how you can get involved! Listen now and then sign up to get HEAL's updates during the legislative session at https://www.healutah.org/get-legislative-updates/. This episode is brought to you by KUHL Clothing. Subscribe to the HEAL Utah podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Podbean, or our RSS feed.

If you're into big mountain freestyle skiing, you probably know about Dash Longe. But did you know that he is also a dad, filmmaker, and environmental advocate? Lately, Dash has been on a mission to refocus himself, his skiing, and his advocacy locally. The day his new film was announced (Stone's Throw, which is premiering on October 3rd and will benefit HEAL Utah!) and the day before the Global Climate Strike, we sat down with Dash to talk about athletes acting as advocates, how change will come with people power, and what world he wants for his daughters. Listen today and then join us and Dash on October 3rd at the Commonwealth Room for Stone's Throw premier (bit.ly/stonesthrowslc)! Watch the trailer for Stone's Throw below: DPS Cinematic // Stone's Throw Trailer from DPS SKIS on Vimeo. This episode is brought to you by KUHL Clothing. Subscribe to the HEAL Utah podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Podbean, or our RSS feed.

This week we sat down with another Torrey House Press author, Zak Podmore, to discuss his new book Confluence: Navigating the Personal & Political Rivers of the New West and his life on the river. Zak has a long history with the uranium industry, a history that is ongoing for him even today in San Juan County. This industry, along with other radioactive waste issues, is something that HEAL is especially familiar with. We dive into the issue of uranium milling and Utah's long relationship with radioactive waste. His book Confluence is on sale this October. This episode is brought to you by KUHL Clothing. Subscribe to the HEAL Utah podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Podbean, or our RSS feed.

Tim Sullivan and Michael Yount call themselves Salt Lake City cheerleaders, but they do more than just cheer on this growing city - they are an integral part of its development and are changing the way we think about using our streets, landscape, and public spaces. Tim and Michael are the owners of Little City Inc., a Utah Benefit Corporation that creates temporary, urban spaces utilized for walking, transit, and bicycling while providing affordable space for entrepreneurs and makers. We sat down this them in this week's episode to learn how Little City Inc. came to be, what a Utah Benefit Corporation is, and why we need to be using big city solutions as Salt Lake continues to develop. Listen and then be sure to check them out at www.littlecityinc.com! This episode is brought to you by KUHL Clothing. Subscribe to the HEAL Utah podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Podbean, or our RSS feed.

This week we caught up with Ayja Bounous to talk about our favorite thing - skiing - and our least favorite thing - climate change. Author of Torrey House Press' new book Shaped by Snow: Defending the Future of Winter (available in November 2019), Ayja has a deep, familial connection with winter and environmentalism. Together, we dive into how climate change is impacting our relationship with winter and with each other, and what the ski industry is and isn't doing to protect the season that they depend on. Listen to this week's HEAL Utah Podcast episode too to find hope for our winter even when it feels hopeless. More on Shaped by Snow: Defending the Future of Winter by Ayja Bounous, published by Torrey House Press: Skier and debut author Ayja Bounous explores threats to winters and watershed in the face of climate change and the far-reaching impacts of a diminishing snowpack on the American West—from ecological and economic perspectives and in regard to emotional and psychological health—as she realizes how deeply her personal relationships are tied to the snow-covered mountains of Utah's Wasatch range. This episode is sponsored by KUHL Clothing! Subscribe to the HEAL Utah podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, Podbean, or our RSS feed.

How can you run a sustainable business when it inherently produces emissions? Owner of Publik Coffee Roasters and Publik Kitchen, Missy Greis, hasn't found all the answers but she has come to a few conclusions. On this episode, we talk with Missy about building a sustainable business - from installing solar panels to balance out emissions caused by roasting coffee and using local products to accepting occasional monetary losses for the sake of the environment. Plus, Missy opens up about the many obstacles to being sustainable and what small businesses should know before getting started. So whether you're trying to start your own business or you just love Publik coffee, listen to this week's episode and don't forget to bring your own mug to Publik next time you go! This episode is sponsored by KUHL Clothing! Subscribe to the HEAL Utah podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Podbean, or our RSS feed.

If you've come to any of HEAL Utah's main events in the last three years, they were most likely orchestrated by our Development Director, Hannah Whitney. In honor of her last few months here at HEAL (she's leaving this fall to ski volcanoes in Chile!), we sat down with her to get her "how I came to Utah" story and to learn how she got involved with environmental nonprofits after a short stint of pro-skiing. Plus, we dive into what a Development Director actually does at a small organization like HEAL. We'll miss you Hannah! This episode is sponsored by KUHL Clothing! Subscribe to the HEAL Utah podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Podbean, or our RSS feed.

Jason Groenewold came to Utah in the 90s with skis, a tent from Walmart, and $500 in his pocket. Decades later, he had built up a thriving environmental nonprofit and won countless victories against the giants of nuclear, chemical, and toxic waste. In this week's episode, our host Michael talks with Jason about the origins of HEAL Utah (including how it grew from local citizens to an office based out of his bedroom to an alliance continually influencing statewide policy) and how a small group of grassroots activists can - and do - make a difference. Learn more about the origin story of HEAL Utah from one of its founders, Chip Ward, in Canaries on the Rim. This episode is sponsored by KUHL Clothing Subscribe to the HEAL Utah podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Podbean, or our RSS feed.

Dr. Sandra Steingraber was there when Tim DeChristopher looked the judge who would sentence him in the eyes and said "This is what hope looks like...This is what patriotism looks like...This is what love looks like, and it will only grow." Those words were the impetus to her long career in activism, writing, and taking her research as a biologist from the halls of science to the halls of power to create meaningful change. Dr. Steingraber was also our 2019 spring breakfast speaker! She sat down with HEAL Utah's Executive Director, Dr. Scott Williams, the day before our breakfast to talk about everything in her life, from her cancer diagnosis that led to her fight on fracking to that day at Tim DeChristopher's trial that changed the course of her life, and everything in between. This episode is sponsored by KUHL Clothing. Listen and subscribe on iTunes here. RSS feed

For the last 15 years, KRCL’s RadioActive has been a radio show for grassroots activism. This week, we turned the microphone around on the show’s host, Lara Jones, and co-host, Billy Palmer, to interview them on creating a safe place for community conversation and change. Lara and Billy are fully comfortable in uncomfortable situations and they want us, RadioActive listeners, to do the same. They bring local activists (including environmental activists like HEAL Utah) onto the show and give them a platform to pose hard questions, foster solutions, invite people to get involved, or simply have a conversation about hard topics.  Listen for an inside look at one of Utah’s most influential radio shows and for their advice on how you can get involved with an issue you’re passionate about (hint: be willing to stink).

Thomas Quayle lives in a place that most people avoid or criticize: science communications. As the Education Program Specialist at the Clark Planetarium and a Solar System Ambassador for NASA/JPL, Thomas uses exploration to educate kids on topics like climate change. In this week’s episode, we chat about an astronaut’s view of the environment and the power of using experiments and the sense of discovery to teach children about climate change. Thomas also explains common climate change lingo (like the 2 degrees Celsius threshold) and gets deep with our host Michael Shea, who couldn’t resist Thomas’ NASA/JPL Ambassador title, about discovering life elsewhere in our universe.  You can also listen to this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or Podbean. Don’t forget to subscribe on one or all four platforms! Bonus media!Part of this podcast was recorded live on the Clark Planetarium’s Facebook page. Watch it here.

We call it the Trojan Horse of the nuclear industry and a disaster for Utah, but everyone else calls it depleted uranium (DU). Join us this week as HEAL Utah’s Policy Associate Jessica Reimer tells the story of DU, which starts out as low-level waste but becomes increasingly radioactive over time. From Utah’s long history with toxic waste to why we are fighting DU today, it’s a story that’s core to our mission and one that we told almost a decade ago when EnergySolutions first tried to bring DU to Utah. Since DU becomes more radioactive over time, it’s also a story about our values, principles, and willingness to take action to protect the future of our children, grandchildren, and beyond. Plus, Jessica lets you know how you can make your voice part of the story. *Please note that Jessica Reimer misquoted the isotopes of depleted uranium and has corrected it as follows: U-235 has 92 protons, 92 electrons, and 143 neutrons; U-238 has 92 protons, 92 electrons, and 146 neutrons.

With what lens do legislators look at a bill? Is it through a privileged one or an inclusive one that recognizes disproportionate effects that a bill could have on our communities? Representative Angela Romero (D-26) continually challenges her colleagues on the hill to enter that, sometimes uncomfortable, unknown in which privilege is recognized but utilized to help others. In the generally non-diverse environmental movement, these same challenges should be met. This week, Rep. Romero talks about environmental justice and equity, the fact that no injustice stands alone, whether that be environmental injustice, racial injustice, or gender injustice, and the importance of having conversations with people outside of your community where you listen and talk with, not down to, each other.

He’s a doctor, a grandfather, a cyclist, and the Bruce Springsteen of HEAL Utah: meet our Executive Director, Dr. Scott Williams. He came to the studio this week to give us a sneak-peak at his pre-HEAL life in the medical world and to explain how the transition from medicine to an environmental non-profit makes perfect sense. In both fields, he is focused on our children’s future, vulnerable populations, and prevention and protection. In a campaign pop-quiz from our host Michael Shea, Scott sheds light on what HEAL is up to this summer and what’s coming up for us this fall. If you haven’t met our Executive Director yet, here’s your chance. You can also listen to this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or Podbean. Don’t forget to subscribe on one or all four platforms!

While some high school seniors were focused on prom, graduation, and spring break, Piper Christian spent a lot of her senior year at the State Capitol advocating for the climate change resolution. She spoke with us during a well-deserved vacation and unwrapped the evolution of the student-led climate change resolution, the power of the “inconvenient youth,” and the great mystery of whether or not our host, Michael Shea, is still part of the “younger generation.” We worked closely with Piper and her fellow students on the climate change resolution and are thrilled that she is an incoming freshman at the University of Utah, where we cannot wait to see where her relentless spirit takes her.

While he was in town to speak at the Clark Planetarium, we managed to grab Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, a professor at Yale University’s Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, for a chat about his (and our own Michael Shea’s) favorite topic: the economics of climate change. We dove in quickly, immediately getting to why we should care about climate change, the difference between traditional economics and environmental economics, sacrifices for the collective good, how climate change interacts or doesn’t interact with global markets. Plus, we reflected on what Dr. Mendelsohn would do about climate change if he was president of the world.

Every advocacy group believes, for good reason, that their campaign should be front page news. There’s no front page big enough to cover everyone’s work, unfortunately, so instead, we spoke with Emma Penrod, a former environmental reporter at the Salt Lake Tribune and a current freelance journalist, to get the inside scoop on how stories make the front page. In our conversation about environmental journalism, Emma also walked us through an ongoing conflict in niche journalism: keeping a story simple and digestible without losing the complexity that many issues have. It’s a balancing act, as is so much more in environmental journalism.

After finishing off her final legislative session as a representative, Representative Rebecca Edwards sat down with the HEAL Utah Podcast. In this episode, we chatted about the struggle not make James Bond jokes over House Concurrent Resolution 007 (the climate change resolution) and about the resolution itself, including what it took to get it through the legislature. Rep. Edwards also shared some simple advice, that many overlook, for getting things done: know the rules. By knowing the rules of the legislature, the world becomes your oyster. For example, knowing the rules can shed light on when a bill is dead and when a bill is not quite dead yet, which can allow it to come back to life and maybe even get passed!

Matt chats with Richard, who has written extensively (13 books!) on energy and economic issues, about climate change, energy trends and more. Richard, a senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute, talks first about peak oil, a once popular theory about diminishing fossil fuel reserves which he believes will again soon rear its head, despite recent market trends. He also explains his pessimism about climate change solutions, including his belief that technological fixes won’t work absent broader social changes. For more information, check out the regular Museletters Richard puts out, his page at the Post Carbon Institute,  his Twitter feed, or his latest is a talk/performance at New England Conservatory of Music.