Access Utah

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.