Daily Quick Read - July 17, 2019

The Utah Way

Utah is a deep red state.  Utah voters have consistently voted Republican in national elections for decades.  They are deeply conservative, but also very pragmatic and just really polite.  That’s why they are on their way to be leader in the implementation of 100% clean energy in the state.  And, to prove that we can work together. 

What started as a years-long grassroots movement to abandon dirty energy evolved into the sort of private negotiation process that local politicians, to the amusement and occasional dismay of residents, have dubbed "the Utah way." Faced with a populace that is known for strong opinions about agreeableness, advocates knew that climate action would require an especially collaborative approach.

"We have to be wise about how we fight our battles," says Glenn Wright, a Summit County council member who helped craft HB 411. "Getting out in front and calling the utility names is not the path to success. We have to figure out how to work with the people who have traditionally been our environmental enemies."

No.  Greed Is Not Good.

A short interview with Jane Goodall, conservationist icon.  Goodall make a simple point – greed is the most significant problem the world faces.  It is the source of virtually all of the conflicts that impact our efforts to save the planet.

“The biggest problem is greed. People want more and more and more — more than they need. Companies want to grow bigger and bigger and bigger and gobble up the competition. And the gap between the haves and the have-nots is getting bigger all the time, causing resentment and anger, rightly so.”

Is It The Day After Tomorrow Yet? 

We’re probably not going to end in another ice age, but the idea that we need to move beyond mitigating the effects of climate change and instead prepare for the post-apocalyptic world is growing in the real- world as opposed to the fictional one.

…climate collapsers have united in communities preoccupied with climate eschatology. They’re different from apocalyptic groups or doomsday cults. Their concerns are based on scientific evidence (even if their predictions are speculative), and they’re working to avoid the end, not reveling in its approach. Either way, they’re certain the world is on a course for radical change, and if all else fails they’re ready to build something new from the rubble. Let’s begin… again?

It’s All Connected

                                                                      Christer Fredriksson/Lonely Planet/Getty

Elephants are environmental engineers.  They impact vegetation, distribute seeds and even their footprints create opportunities for new life.

Newly published research reveals that frogs are laying their eggs in the rain-filled footprints of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), which then provide a safe home for growing tadpoles. The footprints eventually fade away, but they last for a year or more on the forest floor and can serve as important habitats during dry seasons and even as “stepping stones” between frog populations.

Talk about having an environmental footprint.

Does Your Pet Love You? 

Or is he/she just hanging around for food?

It won’t surprise you to learn that dogs, more than any other pet, exhibit oodles of this form of love for us. And, unlike most other pets, these attachments have been the subject of many scientific studies. The science confirms what we knew all along, that most dogs actively choose proximity to humans and, within a few months of being born, a puppy’s attraction is clearly toward people rather than other dogs. Dogs exhibit varying degrees of separation anxiety when their humans temporarily leave them. Blood pressure rates in dogs lower when they are being stroked by us.