HEAL Utah Podcast

Matt chats with Tyler, the city’s Sustainability Program Manager, about SLC’s’s efforts to push effective climate change policies. First, they talk about the greenhouse gas inventory the city did, which found that the biggest part of the carbon footprint of the average city resident comes from buying power from Rocky Mountain Power. Tyler also describes the historic agreement the city recently reached with the utility to acquire more renewable energy, among other climate change initiatives. For more information, visit SLCgreen’s climate change page and follow them on Facebook.

Matt and Dave, SUWA’s Utah organizer, chat about the organization’s efforts to protect Utah’s redrock wilderness, especially Bears Ears. He discussed the group’s collaboration with local Native groups, particularly the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition. Dave also described the key role that SUWA’s grassroots supporter play in their legal battles. For more information, visit SUWA’s website and find them on Facebook and Twitter.

Matt chats with Ashley about her work with Breathe Utah, a local clean air nonprofit that focuses on education and policy. Ashley describes Project Skyline, a project she’s been working on for several years to boost energy efficiency in buildings, to help reduce the emissions which foul our air. They then chat about the current legislative session and Ashley’s work (with HEAL) to defeat or at least improve HB65, a bill that forbids state officials from regulating the burning of wood in food preparation. Lastly, Ashley described their successful recent fundraiser, Running Up For Air. To find more about Ashley and her work, visit Breathe’s website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds!

Matt sits down with Brody, a professional skier, storyteller and activist, to discuss his career traveling across the globe skiing and embarking upon outdoor adventures, while also advocating for environmental issues. A graduate of Westminster College, Brody has built a career chronicling far-flung trips on his website and on Instagram, from riding the slopes of Norway to biking through Southern Utah in jeans. Brody also talked about his engagement with activism, from attending the Paris Climate Conferencein 2015 to writing op-eds on issues like the need to clean up pollution from Utah’s power plants, to his role with the Riders Alliance with Protect Our Winters (POW), an organization that gives a platform to athletes in the outdoor sports community. Check out Brady’s latest adventure “Pedal to Peaks Norway” where he and a group biked and skied the 350-mile Lofoten archipelago in Arctic Norway.

Matt flies solo this week and describes the 19-point plan which HEAL and other groups released to offer specific policy solutions which Utah should embrace to “ensure a healthy, prosperous future.” Matt goes into a bit of detail about each of the three main sources of emissions — vehicles, buildings and industry — and offers suggestions for how to reduce each. For more information, check out the blueprint, the press release which HEAL put out upon releasing the blueprint and coverage it received in the Deseret News.

Clean Air BlueprintDownload

Matt chats with Gehrke, the Trib’s newly minted columnist, his new gig after years spent as a reporter covering the Utah Legislature, as well as writing about politics in D.C. They discuss what Gehrke has learned about how the Legislature works after years of close observation, from the role that Gov. Herbert plays, to which legislators are most powerful, to how lobbyists wield influence, to why positive environmental and clean air legislation sometimes struggles to pass. To read Robert’s excellent columns, go to his staff page at the Tribune. You can also follow him on Twitter.

Matt chats with Philip about his new book chronicling the sharp growth in America’s solar industry. He compares the current reality of solar to wind, which he wrote about in his previous book “Harvest the Wind.” They talk about the fights over tax credits that have supported solar’s growth and the current controversy over Rocky Mountain Power’s proposed trio of fees that would cripple Utah’s solar industry. They talk about the advantages and disadvantages of rooftop solar vs. utility scale solar and conclude by discussing the various ways that renewables “intermittency” problem can be overcome. For more information, check out Phil’s website and his Twitter feed.

Matt chats with the McGill University professor, who has written a very interesting and provocative new book about America’s electricity infrastructure. The book is about much more than just renewable energy and the issues it poses to our electric grid, but that’s what she and Matt primarily talk about. They discuss the challenge of intermittency — what do you do when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine? — and the need for re-thinking the grid entirely. Bakke also describes the various approaches to storing energy, from batteries to less conventional approaches, in arguing that we’re farther than many people think from a clean energy utopia. For more information, read more about the book on Amazon and read an article she wrote recently in the New Yorker, or listen to her interview on NPR’s FRESH AIR.

Matt chats with HEAL’s Policy Associate, Michael Shea, about a hugely critical campaign: Our efforts to defend the affordability of Rooftop Solar in Utah. They talk about the history of the issue, going back two years to when Rocky Mountain Power tried— and failed— to charge rooftop solar customers a $5 fee. Michael then describes the three separate, and much larger, fees which the utility is now seeking. (See an op-ed Michael wrote about how Rocky Mountain Power fails to properly account for the benefits of solar.) They chat about the relative merits of big solar farms vs. rooftop solar and the devastating effects the fees would have on Utah’s fast growing solar industry. Lastly, they talk about the process that the Public Service Commission will go through to decide what to do about the utility’s application.  For more information, check out the PSC’s docket on this issue, sign up for HEAL emails, and if you own your rooftop solar system, please let us know! We’d love to help rooftop solar owners have a particularly strong voice in this process.

Matt chats about Real Food Rising, a youth farming program of Utah Community Action, with their program coordinator, Krystal, and community engagement coordinator, Erin. They describe Real Food Rising, an innovative program for teens, which mixes farm work at a 1.5-acre plot on Salt Lake’s West Side, educational and leadership workshops, and volunteer opportunities with hunger relief organizations. They also talk about the challenges they face as a small farm operating in an an urban environment, such as getting organic certification. Lastly, they talk about how the teens they serve take to farm work and food preparation — and the changes they’ve seen in the lives of these young people, many from underprivileged backgrounds. For more information, visit their website, Facebook page , and Twitter feed . You can also join their text network by texting the word REAL, for general updates, or MARKET, for alerts about where they sell the food they produce, to 51555.