Access Utah

Utah author John Starley Allen joins us for the hour today. His latest book (from Cedar Fort Press) is "A Splash of Kindness: The Ripple Effect of Compassion, Courage & Character." Allen says that the little things you do make a big difference and small acts of goodness have a ripple effect and eventually change the world. He'll tell true stories of positive change, including stories of Romanian orphans; the great athlete Jesse Owens; and Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of television.

Arizona State University Professors Ben Minteer and Stephen Pyne say that from John Muir to David Brower, from the creation of Yellowstone National Park to the Endangered Species Act, environmentalism in America has always had close to its core a preservationist ideal. Generations have been inspired by its ethos—to encircle nature with our protection, to keep it apart, pristine, walled against the march of human development. But Minteer and Pyne say we have to face the facts. Accelerating climate change, rapid urbanization, agricultural and industrial devastation, metastasizing fire regimes, and other quickening anthropogenic forces all attest to the same truth: the earth is now spinning through the age of humans.

For the first time scientists have dissected, from skin to blood and bones, a life-like Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur. The massive creature was one of the fiercest carnivores in the history of the planet. On Friday's AU, Sheri Quinn talks with the paleontologist leading the T. rex Autopsy, which is featured on the National Geographic Channel Sunday night.Then, Science Questions explores new studies on autism presented at the International Meeting on Autism Research held in Salt Lake City in May.

Ferguson, Cleveland, Baltimore...Utah. Officer-involved shootings and incidents continue to happen and to concern us, and Utah has not been immune to these issues. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the first three homicides of 2015 were officer-involved shootings, and the Deseret News reports that so far this year police in Utah have shot and killed four people and wounded at least one. The Utah Legislature is conducting meetings (expected to continue through the summer) on police training, focusing on use of force and interactions with the mentally ill. Today on AU, we’re joined by state Senator Jim Dabakis, Marina Lowe, ACLU Utah Legislative & Policy Counsel, and Salt Lake City Deputy Chief of Police, Krista Dunn.

In the wake of the recent expiration of key provisions of the Patriot Act, our guest for the hour on Wednesday's AU is Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr., former Chief Counsel for the U.S. Senate's Church Committee on Intelligence, and author of the new book: "Democracy in the Dark: The Seduction of Government Secrecy" (The New Press) which explores key questions such as: how much secrecy does good governance require?

According to the Deseret News National Edition: "In the spring of 2009, California-based writer Sharael Kolberg did the math and estimated that she spent four months of her year using some form of entertainment technology - whether watching TV or surfing the Internet. So Kolberg, 44, proposed a bold plan to her husband, a marketing executive, and their 5-year-old daughter: rid their home of all technology, from TV and phones to the Internet and digital cameras, for one full year. The result is Kolberg's newly released book, 'A Year Unplugged: A Family's Life Without Technology,' 'We went back to the '80s, basically. I got out my record player and typewriter, we used the phone book and paper maps,' Kolberg said. 'It enhanced our relationships with our friends and family. Technology takes that away from us.'"

While the wealthy stay wet in lush high-rise cities, the poor are forced to pay $6.00-plus for a gallon of water, and struggle to find ways north through militarized state lines. That's the frighteningly-plausible future depicted in Paolo Bacigalupi's new novel "The Water Knife."

On Thursday's AU we revisit our conversation with Jennifer Jacquet, author of "Is Shame Necessary? New Uses for an Old Tool."Robert Sapolsky (author of Monkeyluv) says: "In the age of Anthony Weiner and Miley Cyrus, shame seems an antiquated concept-a quaint tool of conformity-obsessed collectivist societies, replete with scarlet letters and loss of face ..." Jacquet says that in recent years, we as consumers have sought to assuage our guilt about flawed social and environmental practices and policies by, for example, buying organic foods or fair-trade products. Unless nearly everyone participates, however, the impact of individual consumer consciousness is ineffective.

Former Cache Valley resident Denice Turner has released a new book. “Worthy” is a memoir of loss and the search for acceptance. Raised in a Mormon household, she strives to find her place in the Church, and longs to be worthy of her mother’s love. When her mother dies in a suspicious house fire, Turner is forced to face the stories she has inherited. Contemplating the price of worthiness, she grapples with the mystery of her mother’s death, seeking to understand her mother’s battle with chronic pain.

Dave DeWitt is one of the world’s foremost authorities on chile peppers and spicy foods. He is a food historian and an associate professor in the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at New Mexico State University, and co-producer of the National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Show. He is author of more than fifty books, mostly on chile peppers and fiery foods, but also including novels, food histories, and a travel guide.