I’ve had conversations with scientists that go like this: I say: “A significant percentage of Americans/Utahns don’t believe in human-caused climate change.” They say: “But they should, the science is overwhelming.” “But they don’t, and if effective political action is going to happen, they’ll need to be convinced.” “Well they should.” “But they don’t.” “But they should.” And etc. While it’s not scientists’ primary job to convince non-believers, I sense frustration on the part of those who see climate change as a significant problem. On Wednesday’s AU we talk with two marketing expert about how to effectively sell climate change, or reframe the discussion. How should we talk about climate change and sustainability?

Tuesday's interview with James Anderson is an encore presentation.

Today's broadcast of AU is an Encore presentation which originally aired earlier this year.

“This summer Congress finds itself once again driving full-speed toward the ‘highway cliff,’ the moment when our transportation law expires and Washington suddenly can't meet its promises to help states build highways, fix their bridges, and keep the nation's cars and trucks moving.”

In 2005, historian James Whiteside bought a Harley Davidson Heritage Softail, christened it “Old Blue,” and set off on a series of motorcycle adventures. Over six years he traveled more than 15,000 miles. In his new book “Old Blue’s Road” Whiteside recounts his travels to the Pacific Northwest, Yellowstone, Dodge City, Santa Fe, Wounded Knee, and many other places and considers the ongoing struggle between Indian and mainstream American culture, the meaning of community, the sustainability of the West's hydraulic society, the creation of the national parks system, the Mormon experience in Utah, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and more. Whiteside reflects on the processes of change that made the American West what it is today and the complex ways in which the West's past and present come together.

Should Spanking Children Be Forbidden in the U.S.? Renowned criminologist Christian Pfeiffer from University of Hannover, Germany recently presented the European experience as a of the USU Provost’s Series on Instructional Excellence, and he joined us for AU. We’ll revisit that conversation today.

On Tuesday’s AU we’ll look at the problem of homelessness with author Elaine Taylor, who writes in her new book "Karma Deception and a Pair of Red Ferraris" of how she came to find her self dedicated to helping the homeless. Previously Taylor wrote on her blog, “the best of my life is behind me. I’m entering the period of throat wattles and colonoscopies every five years … and uselessness. Irrelevance.”

From their earliest days on the American frontier through their growth into a worldwide church, the spatially expansive Mormons made maps to help them create idealized communities, migrate to and colonize large parts of the American West, visualize the stories in their sacred texts, and spread their message internationally through a well-organized missionary system. This book identifies many Mormon mapmakers who played an important but heretofore unsung role in charting the course of Latter-day Saint history. For Mormons, maps had and continue to have both practical and spiritual significance. In addition to using maps to help build their new Zion and to explore the Intermountain West, Latter-day Saint mapmakers used them to depict locations and events described in the Book of Mormon.

“Many scientists say it’s impossible to study thought and emotion in non-humans. Animals, they say, don’t communicate their inner turmoil through spoken word, which is why any attempt to understand their psyche is typically sneered at as ‘anthropomorphism’ (transferring your own experiences and emotions onto the animals you study) and deemed ‘unscientific,’” writes Becca Cudmore on www.audobon.org.Marine Biologist Carl Safina says that scientists who watch wild animals realize the absurdity of not addressing an animal’s inner life. In his new book “Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel” he takes us inside the lives and minds of animals, witnessing their profound capacity for perception, thought and emotion.

On Tuesday's Access Utah we're airing interviews conducted in Vernal, while the Utah Public Radio team visited the Utah StoryCorps Booth. Vernal, and much of the Uintah Basin, are a community very much tied to oil and gas development, so we talk about the issues the area faces as their economy depends on oil industry. We speak with Vernal City Council member JoAnn Cowan, Vernal City Manager Ken Bassett about the future of Vernal and the Uintah Basin. Then later in the program we hear from Danielle Anderson, from StoryCorps.