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Catalyst Magazine

November 2007

Features & Occasionals

Diesel-Driven Bee Slums and Impotent TurkeysWe’re working our bees to death, driving them cross-country to pollinate far away from their home, in the name of efficiency. Then the honeybees disappear and we’re left scratching our heads. Maybe “efficiency” isn’t the answer. Chip Ward introduces the notion of “resilience thinking,” the cutting edge of environmental science: the ability of a system to recover from a disturbance, and new lens for looking at the natural world we are embedded in as well as the manmade world we have imposed upon it. Ward suggests “resiliency” may someday replace “efficiency” as the organizing principle of our economy.
by Chip Ward
Resilience. You may not have heard much about it, but brace yourself. You're going to hear that word a lot in the future. It is what we have too little of as our world slips into unpredictable climate chaos. "Resilience thinking," the cutting edge of environmental science, may someday replace "efficiency" as the organizing principle of our economy.

Our current economic system is designed to maximize outputs and minimize costs. (That's what we call efficiency.) Efficiency eliminates redundancy, which is abundant in nature, in favor of finding the one "best" way of doing something - usually "best" means most profitable over the short run - and then doing it that way and that way only. And we aim for control, too, because it is more efficient to command than just let things happen the way they will. Most of our knowledge about how natural systems work is focused on how to get what we want out of them as quickly and cheaply as possible - things like timber, minerals, water, grain, fish, and so on. We're skilled at breaking systems apart and manipulating the pieces for short-term gain.

Think of resiliency, on the other hand, as the ability of a system to recover from a disturbance. Recovery requires options to that one "best" way of doing things in case that way is blocked or disturbed. A resilient system is adaptable and diverse. It has some redundancy built in. A resilient perspective acknowledges that change is constant and prediction difficult in a complex, dynamic world. It understands that when you manipulate the individual pieces of a system, you change that system in unintended ways. Resilience thinking is a new lens for looking at the natural world we are embedded in and the manmade world we have imposed upon it.

In the world today, efficiency rules. The history of our industrial civilization has essentially been the story of gaining control over nature. Water-spilling rivers were dammed and leveed; timber-wasting forest fires were suppressed; cattle-eating predators were eliminated; and pesticides, herbicides, and antibiotics were liberally applied to deal with those pesky insects, weeds and microbes that seemed so intent on wasting what we wanted to use efficiently. Today we are even engineering the genetic codes of plants and animals to make them more efficient.

Surprise happens

Too often we understand the natural systems we manipulate incompletely. We treat living systems as if they were simple, static, linear, and predictable when, in reality they are complex, dynamic, and unpredictable. When building our manmade world on top of those natural systems, we regularly fail to account for inevitable natural disturbances and changes. So when the "unexpected inevitable" occurs, we are shocked. Worse, we often find that we have "all our eggs in one basket," and that the redundancy we eliminated in the name of efficiency limits our options for recovery. This applies to manmade systems, too.

Our efficient energy and food systems are perfect examples of how monolithic and brittle our infrastructure can become. Political turmoil in the Middle East, storms ravaging offshore oil wells, refinery fires, terrorism, and any number of other easily imaginable, even inevitable disruptions send gas prices soaring and suddenly our oil-dependent economy is pitched into a crisis. Because there is no readily available alternative to how we fuel our way of life - no resilience - our dependence on fossil fuels leaves us especially vulnerable to crisis. Our food system is likewise vulnerable, since it is so dependent on oil-based fertilizers and pesticides and relies on cheap and consistent supplies of gas for farm machinery and shipping.

Redundancy - alternative energy sources, for example - would have left us options to fall back on in a time of such crisis. We did not develop those options, however, because they weren't considered "competitive." That is, if one energy source is cheaper to produce than others - ignoring, of course, all the associated and unacknowledged environmental and health costs - then that is the predominant energy source we will use to the exclusion of all others. Decades ago, oil and coal were cheap and so we constructed an entire energy infrastructure around those resources alone. (Nuclear squeaked through the door only because it was so heavily subsidized by government.) Solar and wind couldn't compete according to the rigid market criteria we applied, so those sources hardly exist today. We are still told that we will get them only when they become more competitive.

Our focus on efficiency in building manmade systems has been short-sighted because it fails to anticipate change over the long run. Resiliency is eliminated at each turn by owners, managers, and planners steeped in the cult of efficiency and trained to cut out profit-reducing redundancy whenever it appears. In organizations, this usually works well - at least for a while. But our attempt to maximize the use of natural systems has, in this regard, been an unmitigated disaster.

Most of the technological means we use to overcome nature's inefficiencies seem clever and beneficial until the long-term drawbacks dawn on us. In the Northwest, for instance, dams seemed like a great way to produce electricity and make rivers navigable until, that is, the salmon began to die and an entire Northwest ecosystem that depended on salmon began to unravel. Until they broke under the power of Hurricane Katrina, the levees in New Orleans seemed to be a neat alternative for keeping storm surges in check to those messy coastal wetlands and inconvenient barrier islands we wiped out.

Bees drop dead

The recent collapse of honeybee colonies across the United States provides a compelling example of how we removed resilience from a fundamental ecological service - pollination - to make it more efficient; we now suffer the unexpected blowback. In this case, there is little resilience in the manmade system of food production that relies on healthy populations of commercial bee colonies to pollinate crops and too little resilience left in the natural world for bees to recover quickly from whatever is wiping them out.

Pollination is a fundamental process that happens many ways - birds do it, bees do it, even butterflies and moths do it. But humans who grow food rely almost exclusively on bees - and not the hundreds of species of wild bees either, but one bee, the European honeybee. Sometimes resilience in nature is the availability of diverse options to fall back on in times of disturbance, but even when there is one choice, like bees for pollinating crops, there are still resilient features, redundancies that we eliminate at our peril. For hundreds of years, numerous dispersed and varied bee populations meant that a scarcity of bees here could be compensated for by an abundance of bees there. Not anymore. We have grabbed this key ecological process to maximize its use and have wrung out what resiliency there was.

Although the widespread disappearance of bees from our landscapes sounds like the stuff of melodramatic science fiction, like those movies about Ebola virus or asteroid strikes, the situation is both dire and all too real. Bee-tracking experts estimate that, across 26 states, between a half-million and a million of 2.4 million bee colonies have collapsed this year. Because many fruit, vegetable and seed crops, worth about $12 billion annually, rely on the most affected bee, the European honeybee, for pollination, bee loss will translate into increased food costs for consumers and a potential loss of food variety as well.

Nobody knows for sure why bee colonies are collapsing. German researchers recently speculated that the rapid growth in cell-phone use might be a cause, that some kind of tipping point had been crossed where bees could no longer navigate and communicate in an electro-magnetic environment saturated with cell-phone signals. This speculation is based upon experiments in which forager bees abandoned hives next to which cell phones had been placed. But bee populations are collapsing across the nation, including in areas with less cell phone ubiquity.

Where have all

the flowers gone?

The suddenness of the collapse is puzzling, but one possibility would be the emergence of some new killer parasite or bee mite - a development that could result in such a precipitous decline. After all, bee pollination is big business. Bees are transported and mixed today in ways never before possible, giving the tiny parasitic critters that bees carry in their guts all sorts of opportunities to find new hosts. But whatever the specific cause of bee colony collapse, the context of this pollinator catastrophe is an old story.

Once upon a time we had lots of small, local farms. Farmers relied on dispersed bee populations to pollinate their crops, enhanced and encouraged by the work of local beekeepers. When monoculture was but a glint in the agricultural eye, when cows, chickens, pigs, and more than one crop was still part of the farming dynamic, a farmer might also keep a hive or two. Before we replaced meadows and prairies with sprawling subdivisions, there was enough habitat for local bee populations to thrive and meet agricultural demands. Not anymore.

Today, when farms are massive and almost invariably dedicated to single crops, there just aren't enough local bees to do the work required. In addition, the crops we grow need to be pollinated at different times. So, for example, vast crops of almonds in California need to be pollinated in February when there aren't enough local bees around, so the growers import bees to do the job.

Diesel-driven bee slums

In fact, we ship billions of bees from here to there and back again in tractor-trailer trucks to pollinate our food crops. Like so many other aspects of modern agriculture, bee pollination has become a business that matches the scale of our food-production system. So, out with the inefficient, inflexible, insufficient local bees and in with diesel-driven colonies of commercial bees that arrive in sufficient numbers where and when we want them. The top beekeeping corporation in America can put 70,000 hives on the road at one time.

What happens to bees in such circumstances is probably similar to what happens to all creatures living in crowded and overpopulated environments - illness can spread quickly. A dairy farmer in Vermont told me that, when you have a hundred cows in the milking barn, you can use antibiotics sparingly. But put a thousand cows together and you're applying antibiotics all the time. Whatever happens in one cow's bloodstream tends to go through the whole herd quickly - and the more cows that are crowded together, the more viruses, parasites and infections are in play.

The same thing happens to chickens and pigs in factory farms, which is why they get antibiotics routinely. Why would bees be an exception to the vulnerability to illness that comes with agriculture conducted on such a massive scale? You can't, however, apply antibiotics to bees the way you can to cows because bees are more likely to trade mites than infections, so new miticides are being developed.

Logically enough, bee vulnerability is increased if the immune responses of the bees are low. A friend of mine drove tractor-trailer trucks filled with bees as a summer job in college. He drove by night when the bees were in their hives and quiet. The goal was to get to his destination before dawn and unload the bees onto the targeted crop before they became busy, uncooperative and agitated. When the trip was rough, when there were breakdowns or bad weather en route, he said, thousands of bees died. If stress kills bees, it is not unreasonable to assume it lowers immune response.

Bees have to be fed between trips. High fructose corn syrup is hauled to them in tanker trucks, which probably isn't any better for their health than it is for ours. Bees, of course, encounter and incorporate pesticides and herbicides in the fields they pollinate, as well as all the other background pollutants we have put into the environment. Toxic chemicals also lower immune thresholds. Who knows what those genetically modified plants they encounter do to them? Add it all up and you get overcrowded, malnourished, stressed-out, poisoned, possibly cell-phone radiated, disturbed bees. Any - or all - of this could contribute to the present colony collapse, or it could be due to some as yet unknown factor or development. When it comes to resiliency, however, it doesn't matter. What does matter is the missing redundancy in the system.

Flower power

This sort of colony collapse has happened before. The occasional collapse of bee populations has been recorded over the past couple of centuries, though not in the present widespread form. Obviously, bee populations eventually recovered. Is it reasonable then to expect that they will recover again? Yes, but not right away. Habitat destruction - all those sprawling burbs where bee-flowers once bloomed - mean less room for bees to recover and fewer colonies of dispersed local bees to replenish diminished populations. Lots of viable habitat is also an important aspect of resilience. In other words, natural pollinators are no longer resilient - they cannot quickly recover from a disturbance like an epidemic. If we expect to continue to rely on fossil-fueled bees, packed like Third World slum-dwellers onto trucks, then we can expect future die-offs as well, whatever the cause of this one.

If we understood and appreciated the need for resilience, we would not just rebuild commercial bee colonies as we certainly plan to do, but would also find ways to encourage local beekeepers to grow healthy colonies of dispersed bees. That way we wouldn't have all our bees in one basket. (The scientific term for such a precaution is modularity.). We would conserve or restore bee habitat. We would move away from agricultural models that require pollination on a scale that local bees cannot hope to satisfy and on schedules that are out of sync with what bees can do naturally and locally.

We could focus more on what makes bees healthy than on what makes them convenient and profitable. We might even realize that industrializing bees is not as efficient as we imagined. In the long run, such arrangements only make growers vulnerable to bee-colony collapse. And we would not be so quick to replace an ecological service (a process nature provides for free) that is resilient with an artificial version of the same with next to no resilience.

A world of impotent turkeys

When biodiversity is sacrificed to improve efficiency, we lose options and become vulnerable. American farmers, for example, once grew a wide variety of indigenous breeds of turkeys. Today, 99% of all the turkeys raised commercially belong to a single engineered breed. It has a very meaty breast and so is exceptionally efficient in terms of getting the most white-meat bang for the buck, but it must be intensively managed with high protein feed, medication and climate-controlled housing. That's expensive to do, so just three corporate breeders supply just about the entire world's turkey market.

Sadly, those super-chested turkeys are incapable of reproducing on their own. Without artificial insemination, they would disappear in a single generation. Their genetic base is exceedingly narrow as well, making them highly vulnerable to disturbances. A catastrophic die-off of turkeys is likely sometime in the future. What would make this component of the food system more resilient? You fill in the blanks here - be sure you use the words "local," "dispersed," and "diverse."

We have likewise lost diversity and resiliency in the plants we eat. The diversity of the genetic base of the world's wheat and rice supplies is so diminished by commercial manipulation that these crucial crops are vulnerable to a catastrophic blight if scientists in agro-business labs don't remain one slight step ahead of evolving plant diseases. If, at any point, they falter in that race, widespread starvation and the political and social chaos that accompanies famine will only underscore, in the grimmest way possible, the dangers of imposing artificial notions of efficiency on a dynamic natural process. Untrammeled efficiency turns out to be as risky as it is arrogant.

Crossing thresholds

Ultimately, the loss of resilience can result in profound and unanticipated changes that happen when thresholds are crossed and ecosystems shift suddenly into new patterns of behavior with no way back. I live in an arid western desert that was once a vast grassland. Pioneers reported that the grass was as tall as the shoulders of their horses. Hundreds of thousands of cows were driven in to graze on the abundant food. Settlers expected that, like the pastures they knew in the east or the Midwestern prairies, the grass would be an annual affair, that it would always return. Not so.

Once it was over-grazed, the grass died out and pinion and juniper trees moved in. Massive erosion followed and today the barbed-wire fences of those original ranches dangle 20 feet above the arroyos that were washed out under them. That, too, is an old story.

How many thresholds were crossed as the ancient forests of the Middle East were turned into parched wasteland by the manmade disturbances of clear-cutting and overgrazing? How many thresholds are we approaching today that we do not see coming? Already, major ocean fisheries have been so depleted that they will likely never recover but will shift instead into new, unrecognizable ecological regimes.

Restoring resilience to manmade systems will require an eye for options, an appreciation for redundancy, and a tolerance for chaos. Messy organizations may also be creative. But, hard as it may be, we will always find it easier to anticipate disturbance and build choices into our manmade systems than to understand how to conserve resilience in the natural systems that support us. To do that, we must grasp the deep underlying relationships between such "slow variables" as weather, soil composition, and plant succession that we often miss. We will have to learn to see how connectivity and feedback loops operate in nature and how futile it is, in the long run, to impose narrow notions of efficiency on natural systems that are profoundly dynamic and inherently unpredictable.

How resilient are we? Crisis is also an opportunity for change. As the bees die, we are getting an unmistakable warning. Without pollination, life as we know it is not possible. Think "tiny canaries in the coal mine." Then think "resilience."

Chip Ward is a former public library administrator and grassroots activist turned writer/advocate. His book, "Canaries on the Rim: Living Downwind in the West," is an account of his campaigns to make polluters accountable and "Hope's Horizon: Three Visions for Healing the American Land" explores the cutting edge of America's conservation movement. He writes from Torrey, Utah.

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The Phone BookDex is kinda cute, and sometimes useful, but do we really need him sitting around the house?
by Celeste Chaney
They can be very useful, making great booster chairs for toddlers, kindling for campfires or even leaf pressers, but when it comes to their actual purpose, phone books may be no match for the Internet.

As the spread of on-line directories continues, companies like Dex and Yellow Book continue to print their fat volumes and distribute them to thousands of Salt Lake homes and businesses each year. The result, dozens of phone books, stack up under desks and in corners almost untouched. Some people tuck the books away, just in case they ever need to press a leaf, others recycle them, but many more throw them out.

Dex reported that last year Salt Lake City area residents recycled 552 tons of Dex phone books, saving 9,400 trees, enough landfill space to handle a year's worth of trash from 248 households, enough electricity to power 226 homes for a year, and enough water to fill five Olympic sized swimming pools. The numbers seem impressive, but there are many variables to consider.

Peter Larmey, manager of external communications for R.H. Donnelley Corp., the company that owns Dex, said it is often difficult to draw a direct correlation between the number of books distributed and the number recycled, especially in a specific area like Salt Lake. "It depends upon many factors. For example, a person in Ogden could choose to recycle their book in Salt Lake City," Larmey said.

Dex, which publishes 1.3 million local directories, may be the most widely distributed directory in the industry, but there are dozens of others. Yellow Book, the second largest, had an estimated distribution this year of 427,500 books in the Salt Lake area.

To generate more advertising opportunities, companies have also expanded their markets by producing books geared toward specific populations. Dex released a Spanish-language edition three years ago, and a Salt Lake businessman, Sean Wright, launched a new directory, The Gay Pages, this year. Last May, The Salt Lake Tribune reported that in the Salt Lake area four companies publish nine directories with a total circulation of 2.6 million copies; in other words "enough to supply every man, woman and child living between Salt Lake City and Ogden with two books." These numbers are on the conservative side and do not account for directories like The Gay Pages, which put out 50,000 copies this year.

Your average phone book weighs about seven pounds; this means roughly 13,825 tons of phone books are distributed each year in Salt Lake alone, or in simpler terms, a "whole lotta" wasted paper. Suddenly those 552 tons that Dex reported to have recycled last year do not seem like very much.

The issue of paper waste is one that has plagued the phone book industry for decades. On December 4, 1916 The New York Times printed an article on a "paper economy campaign" geared to cut paper waste. It stated that the largest paper user in the city was the New York Telephone Company.

The Internet's accessibility and convenience has created a new frontier for the phone book (as well as a greener alternative), and companies are investing in sites to ease the competition. In fact, in some states AT&T is seeking permission to discontinue general distribution of their white pages phone directory in hopes of turning more people to their site, although printed versions would be available upon request. Some companies in Canada are already there.

Sharon Gallup, media consultant for Yellow Book USA, said the popularity of online directories is increasing steadily. "This August we had eight million first-time visitors visit YellowBook.com," she said. Gallup felt that the choice between the book and the Internet is generational. "I always turn to the book when I need a number, but younger people are going to the site." Even so, Gallup said, "the book is never going to go away."

If that is true the least we can do is recycle.

Celeste Chaney was a sophomore in high school when it dawned on her that she had to spend her lifetime writing (or trying to). A communication student at the University of Utah, she hopes to write and learn as much as she can. In 2006 she was recognized as a Freedom Forum Free Spirit Scholar for her efforts as a student journalist, and has been addicted to journalism and travel ever since. She is a CATALYST intern.

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Cheese Please!Meet the makers of artisan cheeses from along the Wasatch Front.
by Scott Evans
Cheese had it out for me. Years of idealism ended in a single bite of aged cows' milk. After seven years of abstinence, Stoneground's classic bruschetta with paper-thin shavings of Parmesan cheese pushed me over the edge. Of course, the four-cheese pizza that also found its way to the table left me with longings not fit for a vegan. Bliss tainted with a hint of shame overcame me as I stuffed that two-inch piece of bread in my mouth. Five years have passed since that moment, yet the cheese is still melting in my mouth. Yes I was vegan, and yes, the cheese was worth it.

Pungent, hard or soft, foreign or domestic-and now local-cheese! In the past five years, several local cheeses edged their way onto select market shelves and restaurant menus. Beehive Cheese Company, Rockhill Creamery, Red Rock Cheese and Shepherd's Dairy are all making artisan cheese along the Wasatch Front. Inspired by these local cheeses, three recipes and some trivial rumination may help with the adjustment to early winter chills.

My first experience with local cheese began with a young goat cheese made at Shepherd's Dairy in Tooele. Each fall I salivate at the thought of a fall salad made famous by Wolfgang Puck at Spago.

Shepherd's Dairy

Owner and cheesemaker Vaughn Oborb of Shepherd's Dairy is obsessed with quality. He sources his goat's milk primarily from Utah County, and in one instance, even purchased goats for a supplier to ensure the milk was up to his standards.

He is also committed to sustainable business practices. All the water used in washing the cheese and cleaning the shop comes from an artesian well on the property. He gives the whey left over from the cheesemaking process to neighboring farmers to help reclaim and naturally fertilize their soil.

After nearly 25 five years of making both artisan and commercial cheese, Vaughn was hired as the master cheesemaker for Shepherd's Dairy in 2000. By 2004, he had purchased the company and ultimately committed to artisan cheesemaking. He runs his company with his heart, similar to a chef-owned restaurant. No website or marketing campaigns here; Vaughn lets his cheese tell the story.

Neapolitan Shepherd's Goat Cheese
(serves two to three people)
2 medium-sized beets (1 red, 1 yellow or golden)
1 small package of Shepherd's Goat Cheese
olive oil
aged or reduced* balsamic vinegar
toasted or candied walnuts
Ranui Wild Greens (arugula or spinach also work)
sea salt (grey salt or other rock salt preferred)
black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 350°. Peel beets, slice into quarter-inch-thick disks and spread thinly on baking sheet. Lightly drizzle with about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and season with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Roast beets for 25-30 minutes or until tender. Remove from the oven to cool.

Place a handful of washed greens on each serving plate. Build a tower of alternating layers of red and yellow beets for each serving, using a butter knife to smear each layer with goat cheese "mortar." Place the tower on the plate, sprinkle with toasted or candied walnuts, and drizzle with aged or reduced balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.

For ease of eating, cut the tower into quarters, pizza-style. Top the tower with sunflower sprouts or a pinch of shredded greens.

To make a balsamic reduction: Heat 1 cup of balsamic vinegar in a saucepan over medium heat until about 1/4 c. or syrupy liquid remains, concentrating and deepening the flavor.

Beehive Cheese

About a year ago I had the good fortune to meet Pat Ford from Beehive Cheese, when he made weekly deliveries to Zola. He brought wheels of young cheddar cheese along with small samples of their cheese experiments. One week it was their young Parmesan called Aggi, in honor of the college that lent the recipe. The following week, it was their espresso and lavender cheese Barely Buzzed, which won first place at the American Cheese Society Conference this year.

Another fun and popular cheese was their habanero-spiked Promontory Cheddar. We made a fantastic mac and cheese from the fiery cheese; the recipe below is adapted from our original Zola/Salt Lake Brewing Company recipe.

Local Cheddar Mac and Cheese
(serves two to three)
8 oz. (1/2 bag) orecchiette pasta
2 T. butter
2 T. all-purpose flour
2 c. milk
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 c. shredded Beehive Promontory Cheddar (habenero cheddar if available)
breadcrumbs
sea salt
fresh ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375°. In a large pot, cook the pasta in rapidly boiling salted water until it is tender (about 7-8 minutes). Drain the pasta.

While the pasta cooks, heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat until bubbles form around the edge of the pan. In another pan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the sliced garlic and heat slowly until it begins to change color, then remove it from the butter.

Return the butter to the heat, and whisk the flour into it until the mixture is smooth (it takes about 2 minutes). Whisking constantly, ladle warm milk into the mixture half a cup at a time until it is fully incorporated. Continue whisking until the mixture comes to a boil (about 8 minutes). Add the cheese and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat. Add the cooked pasta, salt, and pepper and stir until well-mixed.

Place the pasta and cheese sauce in an oven-proof dish and top it with breadcrumbs. Bake 10 to 20 minutes until breadcrumbs are crisp and the cheese sauce is bubbly.

With all my self-proclaimed culinary inclinations, I have succeeded only in passing on my love of cheese to my three-year-old daughter. Her favorites are aged crumbly cheddar such as a Comte, and the real deal Parmeggianno Reggiano. Our weekly trips to Liberty Heights Fresh often end with her doing a couple of drive-bys in the cheese aisle and stashing exotic cheeses into our basket. Just like my daughter, I lean towards aged cheeses for à la carte eating.

Rockhill Creamery

Rockhill Creamery in Richmond, has a very nice Snow Canyon Edam cheese with six months of age on it. I would certainly love to taste it in a couple more years as well, but it is already showing signs of depth and grassiness imparted from the five Brown Swiss Cows that nibble up the grasses around their farm. With "the girls" lovingly raised on their farm, Cheesemakers Jenn Hines and Pete Schropp can ensure that their fresh milk and cheese is produced sustainably. Similar to most European cheesemakers, they choose to use raw or unpastuerized milk in their cheese making. They believe a deeper flavor is present in cheese made from raw milk.

Red Rock Specialty Cheese Company

A true family operation, Red Rock Specialty Cheese Company is run by Kay "Doc" Nilson and his sons Jon and Brad. With countless years of cheese making experience among them, the Nilsons reunited in Delta, Utah, to make goat's milk feta and whole milk ricotta. Red Rock feta is great in Mediterranean salads or on a cheese plate as well.

What's for dessert?

At the end of any meal, a restaurant patron is faced with many decisions. Call it a night and ask for the check? Dessert? Cappuccino? An often overlooked savory dessert, and my choice, is a cheese plate. At home or in a restaurant, a cheese tray can really end the meal well. Several slices of cheese into a conversation with cheesemonger Jonathan Simpson at Liberty Heights Fresh, we decided to feature a cheese plate from all four artisans featured in this article as a dessert course.

A cheese plate can be arranged many ways. The traditional approach is to place the mildest cheese at 12 o' clock on the plate and go clockwise around the plate to the stronger cheeses and flavors. This allows tasting the subtlety of the milder cheeses first and working the palate up to the bolder flavors at the end of the tasting.

Local Cheese Plate

1. Red Rock Specialty Cheese Company Goat Milk Feta
Semi-soft, crumbly, with prominent salty, briny flavors, this cheese is made from goat's milk rather than cow's milk. It imparts an earthier flavor profile than its counterparts.

2. Shepherd's Dairy Goat Cheese
This semi-soft cheese has a smooth, fresh, slightly nutty flavor with a hint of earthiness.

3. Rockhill Creamery Wasatch Gruyere
A semi-hard cheese made with raw cow's milk. It's aged 60 days and has a fruity, nutty, slightly grassy flavor.

4. Beehive Cheese Company "Barely Buzzed" Espresso- Lavender Cheddar
This semi-hard, full-bodied cow's milk cheddar has nutty and earthy, floral, butterscotch and caramel flavors coming through the coffee rub.

Add a bunch of grapes on the plate for the full experience. Eating a grape or two between cheeses clears the palate and allows the unique attributes of each cheese to come forth.

Although each of these cheese makers came to their craft in different ways, all have integrity of product and a passion for doing things right. Cheese is one of many products that simply taste better when made in small batches. When machines take over the production process, the quality and subtlety declines. All these incredibly hardworking cheese artisans utilize sustainable practices in their cheese making. No growth hormones, additives or artificial colors are found in any of their cheeses.

The seven years I spent in culinary abstinence forced me to look at food critically. I learned to determine where my food came from and what it was made of. Without those critical years, I may have never developed an appreciation for artisan food. It always comes down to two things: source and flavor. Food with full flavor that comes from a sustainable source is like manna from above.

Scott Evans is a manager and liquor buyer at Squatters.

www.beehivecheese.com
www.rockhillcheese.com
www.redrockcheese.com

The featured artisan cheeses are at these Salt Lake city stores:

Liberty Heights Fresh
1242 S. 1100 E.; 467-2434

Tony Caputo's
314 W. 300 S., 519-5754

The Store
2050 E. 6200 S., 272-1212

Wild Oats Marketplaces
645 E. 400 S., 355-7401
1192 E. Wilmington Ave.,
359-7913

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Rewriting the Reality CodeThe quantum power of living from the answer
by Gregg Braden
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Regulars & Shorts

Editor's Notebook: A Brief History by Locationby Greta deJong The first edition of CATALYST was prepared in a spare bedroom of my house in Farmington in 1982. From there it moved to a little cottage next door, then to an Avenues apartment, then the fifth floor of the Continental Bank Building (now Hotel Monaco), courtesy of George Gregersen and his newspaper "The Enterprise;" and then, in 1986, to my house near the university. CATALYST took on another publication; and the business took over the entire first floor.

Soon we needed even more space. So we packed up our light table, waxer, cutting boards and latest Apple computer and moved to new digs downtown on Broadway. That was 13 years ago.

We ripped out the lawn, planted gardens, consulted a feng shui expert (at a time when no one in Salt Lake even knew what feng shui was), plugged in the coffee maker, cranked up the music and got down to work.

In some ways it feels like just a few years ago. On the other hand, I think of the people who have come and gone since then-staffers who became lawyers (two); moved to NYC, San Francisco or Chicago (four); published a book (one; plus many columnists have, too); had babies (six); got divorced (two). These things all take time. I think of our two office cats, who came as kittens and now don't have a lot of teeth left. Of the Dalmatians-three, then four, now two-that galloped around or slept under people's desks.

I think of how many Free Wheeler pizzas have been consumed on the premises. Of the office babies. Of long morning check-ins with co-workers over coffee, and shared meals. Of the beautiful bouquets from our own garden; of late nights. Of the neighbors-Nyal and Donna from Beehive Collectors Gallery; the kids who would play in our parking lot; the homeless people we knew by name.

It was a family, a household. And the work of making a magazine happened here.

At first, writers delivered stories as hard copy to be retyped into the computer; eventually stories came on floppydisks. Now, of course, they're emailed.

Production: We waxed and trimmed copy and ads, burnishing them to "flats," or boards, which were spread out on ledges over one wall. The rug has burn marks from where I tried to iron the wax out of the carpet. Photos were sized with a proportion wheel and sent off to be made into PMTs .

For the first few years, we shared space with TreeUtah and felt like one big family. They expanded, and had to move. We'd grown, and absorbed their space, with Michelle Royer of Healing Hands taking over a portion of ours.

We got more Macs. The Macs got smarter, and smaller. The internet got faster. The monthly drive to the printer in Tooele, after two decades, was no longer necessary. Our needs grew and we moved on to greener printing pastures, and the finished layouts flew in the night (as was usually the case) from our computer to the new printer's computer.

And then came the laptops. And wi-fi. And lo and behold, people were doing their jobs from home. Or the Coffee Garden. Or the Roasting Company or Nostalgia or the library. We're still in touch-we email like fiends. It's just different.

This is getting to be a long story. The point of which is: We are about to make an ecological move. By the end of this month we will have transited to new digs a mile east, back to the space we occupied most previously. A fascinating array of wonderful businesses have expressed interest in the Broadway space, and we're hopeful that the right tenant will show up soon. It's a great space and we'll miss it. But we've lost weight, and you know how that goes. Our new office fits our new figure.

As we were wrapping up production on this, probably the last issue to be created in this space, I figured out that we've made 181 issues of CATALYST in our 13 years here. One hundred and eighty-one beautiful CATALYST covers in that time. More than half our entire history of 25 years is housed in this building. Compared to a weekly or daily publication, 181 issues is nothing. But CATALYST is what I do, and it's a lot to me. Even at our peak, we've done it with a very small in-house staff of clever people, usually each with a full hat rack. I expect there will be another 181 issues. I think they might be even more fun than the first 181, if that's possible. But yes, anything's possible. Stick around and see.

Greta deJong is founder, editor & publisher of CATALYST. greta@catalystmagazine.net.

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Don't Get Me Started: November 2007The John Valentine Memorial Parkinglotway & Cuba: Another Meaningless Photo Op.
by John deJong
Senate President John Valentine and the Utah County delegation, which makes up most of the leadership in the house and senate of the Utah State Legislature, continue to put politics over the transportation needs of that smog bowl county. Now, given their way, they would impose its 20th century sensibilities on Salt Lake County as well.

In the late '90s and early aughts, legislators from Utah County routinely pursued politically motivated and often unconstitutional legislation to the near total exclusion of transportation projects. While Salt Lake County built light rail and rebuilt I-15, Utah County choked on exhaust fumes in the four clogged lanes of I-15.

A decision by the Salt Lake County Council of Governments (COG) to spend most of a new quarter cent sales tax to fund mass transit projects-the Mid Jordan and West Valley light rail spurs and a commuter rail line in the south end of the valley-has provoked their anger.

The transit tempest was stirred up last month when legislative auditors announced that the formula used by the Salt Lake County COG to determine transit project priorities had been miscalculated.

The audit also suggested that the Salt Lake COG had a "pro-rail bias," conspicuously omitting any mention of the legislature's pro-road bias.

The reason for the Salt Lake COG's pro-rail bias is no secret. Salt Lake County has run out of breathable air and is running out of space for roads. The prospect of the pollution from a couple of billion more vehicle miles traveled each year is unacceptable.

The source of the legislature's pro-road bias is less well-known. The road lobby is activeand effective at the legislature, plus it makes generous campaign contributions to the Republican leadership.

To top it off, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) is for all practical purposes the Utah Department of Roads (UDOR). The institutional biases of UDOR run deep. The "Road" Commission is packed with retired legislators. The campaign contribution records of its chairman, former State Representative J. Stuart Adams, are rife with contributions from organizations that it doesn't take much imagination to see would be in favor of roadbuilding: The Utah Association of Realtors, the Northern Wasatch Home Builders Association, Utah Auto Dealers Association, and even Reagan Outdoor Advertising. It's easy to see how they would all be big fans and beneficiaries of the suburban sprawl that requires roads and single occupant vehicles.

Valentine, UDOR and their ilk believe we still live in the age of the automobile-an age before the effects of global warming, peak oil and the insideous effects of pollution from non-point sources (automobiles) were known, an age when building roads to last 30 or 40 years was still the best use of public funds. Thirty or 40 years from now, the best use of most roads, will be as on-street parking.

One of the main criteria the COG considered in allocating transportation funds was relief of congestion. Spending money on roads can no longer be seen as an answer to congestion. There will never be enough money to build enough roads to get two million people in single occupant vehicles from point A to point B. The Salt Lake COG realizes that the future lies in urban planning that features mass transit oriented development. The sooner the Salt Lake Valley is criss-crossed with light rail, the better. Congestion relief, cost-effectiveness, safety, community factors and even environmental factors - which come in dead last in the legislature's formula - are all maximized with mass transit.

Let Utah County stew in its own juices if they want to, but let Salt Lake County ride into the 21st century.

Cuba: Another Meaningless Photo Op

In another example of how removed the Bush administration is from reality, George W. Bush declared last month in a speech to a room full of Cuban exiles that the United States would not accept the undemocratic transfer of power in Cuba from Fidel Castro to his brother Raul. The speech had no practical effect other than to further endear the lame duck president (or rather, whatever Republican presidential candidate Dick Cheney, Karl Rove et al. have hitched their wagons to) to the Cuban exile community.

Some might say the Bush administration was asleep at the wheel, as Fidel's health deteriorated and Raul took over the reins of power. Others might say that the Bush administration doesn't give a a rat's ass about Cuba-there are, after all, no known oil reserves anywhere close to the island-except to use the exiles as a loyal backdrop any time George needs one for a photo op.

The Bush administration seems to expect a miraculous democratic transfer of power after years of dictatorship. Sort of like the democratic institutions that fell into place when Iraq was liberated from the grip of Al Queda and Saddam Hussein, but without the billions and billions of dollars of transition funds given by Bush's corrupt administration to an equally (if not more) corrupt administration in Iraq. Not as many billions as Congress, in its infinitesimal wisdom, appropriated.Showering the undemocratic regime with tens of billions of dollars does not give you a successful transition to democracy, presto-change-o. Instead, you've got your, or rather your country's, hand full of handouts caught in a wringer, with no clue whether to crank forward or backward.

(Clue: Smart money is on cranking backward, though even that is going to be painful and not exactly a "face-saving exercise.")

Is it any secret now that the extent of the Bush administration's understanding of democracy is limited to how to pronounce the word and how to subvert it? The undemocratic regimes backed by the Bush administration, by means legal and illegal, are legion: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt and the United States of America-nearly equaling the number of undemocratic, oil-rich regimes it is trying to replace with Halliburton and the Hunt brothers.

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Ask the Swami: Turban AskewQuestionable advice with a ring of truth, from Swami Beyondananda, regarding affairs personal and political.

Dear Swami:
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” but frankly we don’t seem any closer to the blessings of peace than we were 2,000 years ago. Will we ever overcome this deadly habit? Or are we doomed to the damnation those fundamentalists talk about?
—Amanda Lynn Plucker
Clearfield, Tennessee

Dear Amanda:

Yes, the relationship between warfare and damnation is unassailable. For what is warfare but one damn nation fighting another damn nation, the world and the planet be damned! With soldiering being the second oldest profession, the battlefield is one of the most persistent fields going. So maybe the best approach is not to try to do away with war itself, but to change the rules of engagement. As a devout FUNdamentalist — accent on fun — I have proposed three new rules of warfare:

1. Fight all wars with

cream pies.

Imagine a new campaign against Iraqi insurgents—Operation Dessert Storm. And then imagine sending in our pie-seeking K-9 squad to lick the pies off the faces of our opponents. That way, our soldiers can return home safely, proudly proclaiming, “We sure licked ’em good!” Meanwhile, “getting licked” won’t have its usual sting.

2. Use only life-enhancing chemical weapons.

Instead of the toxic, death-dealing weaponry we use today, how about life-dealing weapons that leave people happier and healthier? It’s a scientific fact: The Insurgin’ General’s Report tells us happier and healthier people make lousy insurgents. So if we must use chemical warfare, how about weapons-grade nitrous oxide? I don’t know about you, but I would get great pleasure watching our enemies explode with laughter.

3. Switch to virtually harmless virtual warfare.

With the breakthroughs in simulated warfare, don’t you think we’d be doing the whole world a favor by confining all warfare to virtual reality? That way we can have as much war as we want at a tiny fraction of the cost. Imagine what a change it would be with Pixar being the government’s largest defense contractor instead of Lockheed.

Adopt these rules, and warriors would be able to fight their wars in peace without leaving the rest of the world in pieces.

Dear Swami:
As longtime lightworkers, we have devoted our lives to selflessly helping others, yet we ourselves feel very unsupported. We’ve read every one of those prosperity books, and don’t have a nickel to show for it. In fact, if we had a nickel for every time we helped someone and didn’t accept a nickel for it—we’d have lots of nickels. Is there a prosperity secret we’re missing here?
—Emma & Nate Light
Santa Cruz, California

Dear Emma and Nate,

If it makes you feel any better, a lot of folks are in your situation. I don’t know if you’ve seen the latest Greenspan Report, but the average American family these days doesn’t have enough green to span the average month. As for prosperity secrets, they can be summed up in four words: “Write a prosperity book.” That’s how those people got rich, so why not you?

Actually, I’m hearing a lot from folks like you two these days, people who’ve helped themselves to heaping helpings of self-help—yet still are left helplessly hoping and hopelessly helpless. You appear to be suffering from a condition called “Selfless Helplessness,” where you are helpless to help yourself because you are too busy selflessly helping others. Now of course, helping people at your own expense is fine—until your expense account runs out.

Time to stop selfishly hoarding all the selflessness for yourself, and let others selflessly help you. Put yourself in your own shoes for a change, and help yourself to a helping of what you’ve been helping others with. Just think. If you can help just one individual—yourself—that’s one less helpless individual needing help from others.

©Copyright 2006 by Steve Bhaerman. All rights reserved. www.wakeuplaughing.com.

Grist: November 2007Environmental news and commentary Leaded Gasoline Is a Crime-No, Literally
Phasing out leaded gasoline may have reduced crime rates, says research

Thank the Clean Air Act for significantly reducing violent crime rates in the U.S., says researcher Jessica Wolpaw Reyes. The legislation was behind the phaseout of leaded gasoline in the 1970s and '80s, which significantly reduced blood levels of the heavy metal in Americans. The arc of lead-exposure rates seems to match the arc of violent crime in the U.S., says Reyes, but with a 20-year lag-enough time for children to reach their most violence-prone years. Brain damage from lead poisoning has been shown to make children less intelligent and, in some cases, more aggressive and impulsive.
Source: The New York Times

Legislate Bloomers
Congress to move ahead on climate legislation, Dems to send delegation to U.N. climate talks

Congressional leaders in the U.S. House and Senate have said they plan to push ahead in their attempts to pass cap-and-trade-type climate legislation, despite the Bush administration's renewed call to reduce emissions through voluntary technology partnerships instead. Last month, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) released a white paper about a possible cap-and-trade system, suggesting the U.S. should reduce emissions by between 60% and 80% by 2050. "The United States needs an economy-wide, mandatory greenhouse [gas] reduction program," the paper said. In the Senate, the Environment and Public Works Committee plans to push climate legislation through the full committee in December, just in time to impress the folks at the United Nations climate meetings in Bali, Indonesia. And speaking of Bali, leading Democrats plan to send their own delegation to the meeting to present their alternatives to the Bush climate plan.
Source: The Washington Post

Incandescent Descent
China joins campaign to phase out incandescent bulbs

China makes 70% of the world's light bulbs, and has just agreed to participate in a campaign to globally phase out inefficient bulbs over the next decade. But you didn't hear it from us: China's participation in the incandescent-hatin' campaign, which is being spearheaded by green funder Global Environment Facility, will be formally announced at the United Nations climate meeting in Bali, Indonesia, in December.
Source: Reuters

All's Fair and We Love More
Fair-trade market boosted by consumer demand

An ever-greener and ever-more-caffeinated world is boosting the fair-trade market-not just for coffee, but for products such as cocoa, cotton, tea, pineapples, and flowers. The certification, which holds growers to strict standards per child labor, pesticide use, recycling, and more, is not a phenomenon specific to hippie shops: all Dunkin' Donuts in the U.S. and all McDonald's in England sell fair-trade coffee. Starbucks is also a big buyer, while Sam's Club just converted its private label of ground coffee to fair trade. It's still a niche market: in 2006, only 3.3% of coffee sold in the U.S. was fair trade, and only 27% of Americans said they were even aware of the certification. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't celebrate the trend with a glass of fair-trade wine.
Source: The New York Times

Pits and Starts
Organisms living in toxic waste pit may help fight cancer

Montana's Berkeley Pit, containing 40 billion gallons of poisonous copper-mine runoff including arsenic, aluminum, cadmium, and zinc, has two claims to fame. One, it once killed a flock of hundreds of geese the moment they touched down on its surface. Two, the 40-billion-gallon pit houses 142 organisms-some of which have shown success in killing breast and ovarian cancer cells. Remind us of this the next time we get all Debbie Downer on toxic waste.
Source: The New York Times

What a Revelation
Publisher will produce first eco-friendly Bible

Coming soon to a hotel room near you: the first green Bible, expected to hit the scene later this month from publisher Thomas Nelson. The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Daily Bible-which perhaps includes the 11th commandment "Thou shalt be principled"?-will be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and contain recycled fiber. Says Tyson Miller of the Green Press Initiative, which is working with Thomas Nelson to green the Holy Book: "The Bible is the most widely circulated book on the planet and Thomas Nelson's leadership and use of environmentally responsible paper is a living legacy to the Bible's message of stewardship." Amen.
Source: The Book Standard

Winding Up
British government approves world's largest offshore wind farm

Plans for the world's largest offshore wind farm have been approved by the British government. The project, led by Shell and European energy company Eon, would place up to 341 turbines over 90 square miles off the coast of Kent. While it's not a done deal, presumably the biggest regulatory hurdles have been overcome; if all goes well, the farm could supply one-quarter of London's power by 2010.
Source: The Guardian

Garbage Can Do
Largest U.S. garbage hauler greens operations

Strange but true: Our trash is going green. The nation's largest garbage hauler and landfill operator, Waste Management Inc., has announced plans to make its operations more eco-friendly. The company hopes to double its landfill methane-to-electricity production by 2020, boost the fuel efficiency of its fleet by 15% by 2020, process more recyclables, and set aside more land for wildlife habitat. Now we almost feel bad that our lifelong goal is to put them out of a job.
Source: Associated Press

Orbit Torrent
Satellite solar power plants could be coming soon to an orbit near you

Ooh, shiny: A federal study has concluded that orbiting solar power plants could soon become economically competitive, thanks to rising oil prices. Over a one-year period, sunlit satellites could generate nearly the equivalent of all the energy available in the world's oil reserves, says the report from the National Security Space Office. In other news, we have a National Security Space Office. Who knew?
Source: Los Angeles Times

Bottled Rage
Anti-bottled-water campaign kicks off in cities across U.S.

A Think Outside the Bottle campaign kicked off last month, urging municipal governments to cut off bottled-water contracts and to press for greater disclosure of the Source: of bottled H2O. The campaign is spearheaded by Corporate Accountability International and joined by cities including Boston, Minneapolis, Sacramento, and Portland, Ore., many of which held taste tests today to see if consumers can tell the difference between bottled and tap water. Chicago's mayor urged a 10-cent tax on bottled water, while Salt Lake City Mayor (and official Grist crush) Rocky Anderson told it like it is: "When I see people ... waste their money buying bottled water at the vending [machine] when it's standing right next to a water faucet, you really have to wonder at the utter stupidity and the responsibility sometimes of American consumers." Not to be outdone, the International Bottled Water Association issued a press release stating that the campaign is "based on factual errors and subjective viewpoints."
Source: Associated Press

Coming in From the Coal
Kansas denies permit for coal-fired power plant due to concern over CO2 emissions

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment last month became the first government agency in the United States to reject a permit for construction of a coal-fired power plant based on its carbon dioxide emissions, saying such emissions could harm human health and the environment. The final decision rested with secretary of the KDHE, Roderick Bremby, who said, "I believe it would be irresponsible to ignore emerging information about the contribution of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to climate change and the potential harm to our environment and health if we do nothing." Sunflower Electric Power wanted to build two 700-megawatt generating units that together would have emitted some 11 million tons of carbon dioxide a year. Opponents hope instead for a mix of wind power and natural-gas power plants. And while the Kansas slapdown is an important first, at least 16 other coal plants across the U.S. have been denied for other reasons, including investor uncertainty about future U.S. climate legislation as well as higher construction and labor costs.
Source: The Washington Post

We love our iPhone but...
Activists threaten to sue Apple over chemicals in iPhone

Greenpeace claimed recently that Apple's much-hyped iPhone contains dangerous levels of phthalates, chlorine, and bromine, and now another environmental group, the Center for Environmental Health in Oakland, Calif., has sent the company a formal warning claiming that Apple violated California's Proposition 65, which requires companies to warn consumers of the risk of toxic exposure. "There are chemicals in some of the parts that come with the iPhone that are well known in California to cause birth defects," said CEH's Michael Green. "We want those chemicals out." Apple has 60 days to clean up the phones or warn consumers about them; if the company doesn't act, CEH has threatened legal action.
Source: Agence France-Presse

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Enviro Update: November 2007Environmental news from around the state and the west.
by Amy Brunvand
Utah Sierra Club endorses Ralph Becker for mayor (Vote November 6!)

The Utah Sierra Club Political Committee calls Ralph Becker "the ideal candidate to carry forward an environmental agenda in Salt Lake City for the next four years." The committee cites Becker's leadership on issues such as canyon development, bike and pedestrian safety, recycling, climate change and recycling, and points to his stellar pro-environment voting record in the Utah legislature. As a legislator representing District 24 (the Avenues, Capitol Hill and downtown), Becker scored 100% on the committee's "legislative scorecard" of environmental votes for the last four years.
http://utah.sierraclub.org/legislative.asp

BLM Resource Management Plan Updates

The future of Utah's public lands will be shaped by a number of Resource Management Plans currently in progress. If you care how public lands are managed, you need to write comments right now. The window of opportunity for the public to influence the planning process will close soon. When you write to the Bureau of Land Management, keep in mind that the most effective comments will refer to specific areas that you know and love. The BLM also suggests including a reference to the page number and/or section number of the draft RMP.

Moab Area: Comments due 11/30/07

The Moab plan outlines four possible priorities for land management: A (no action); B (protection/preservation of natural resources); C ("balanced") and D (commodity production/motorized recreation). Conservation groups such as the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance say that the supposedly balanced alternative C tips much too far in favor of motorized recreation and commodity production. A true balanced option would protect Moab district areas that still remain wild.
Send comments by November 30 to: Bureau of Land Management; Moab Field Office; RMP Comments; 82 East Dogwood; Moab, UT 84532. or by e-mail to : UT_Moab_Comments@blm.gov

Price Area: Comments due 12/13/07

The BLM Price Field Office has released a supplement to the original 2004 Draft that offers an additional Alternative E, to emphasize "protecting/maintaining the wilderness characteristics of all non-Wilderness Study Area lands found to have wilderness characteristics." You might ask, how can a non-wilderness have wilderness characteristics? Exactly so. Translated from bureaucratic language, it simply means roadless areas over 5000 acres that the BLM neglected to include in their original wilderness inventory.
Price Area RMP: www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/price/planning/Resource_Management_Plan. Comments due by Dec. 13 to: Bureau of Land Management; Price Field Office RMP; Attention Floyd Johnson; 125 S. 600 W. Price Utah, 84501. UT_Pr_Comments@BLM.gov
Vernal Area: Comments due 1/3/08

The BLM Vernal Field office has also released a supplemental "Alternative E" for the Vernal area Resource Management Plan, to prioritize protection of lands with wilderness characteristics (not to be confused with the Price supplement). An October 16 editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune praised the Vernal Alternative E saying, "With... seemingly minor reductions in motorized travel and drilling, the plan would keep hundreds of thousands of acres of critical wildlife habitat intact. It's a trade-off the BLM should make."
Vernal Area RMP: www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/vernal/ planning.html.Send comments by January 3 to: BLM Vernal Field Office; Attention: Kell Buckner; 170 South 500 East; Vernal, UT 84078. UT_Vernal_Comments@blm.gov.

Kudos to "Ripper of the Year"

Congratulations to Carol Jeffers and Josh Gold who were named "Ripper of the Year" by the Utah Rivers Council for ripping the grass out of their parking strip and replacing it with an attractive xeriscape (low water) garden. The proud winners say their water bills are less than half of what their neighbors pay, so the landscaping has already paid for itself.
Learn how to rip your own parking strip and enter next year's contest at the Utah Rivers Council website: http://www.utahrivers.org/

Governor presents Utah energy efficiency plan

An energy efficiency strategy released by the Governor's Office has the goal of increasing energy efficiency in the state of Utah 20% by 2015. The strategy outlines 23 major policies that could help reduce energy consumption. The strategies range from incentives to weatherize existing homes, to pay-as-you-drive auto insurance, to implementing energy efficiency in government offices, universities and public schools, to increasing energy efficiency expertise through programs at public colleges. A news release from the Governor's office quotes Dianne Nielson, Governor Huntsman's energy advisor, saying, "The Utah Energy Efficiency Strategy shows that energy efficiency is a major energy resource, even in an energy-producing state with relatively low energy prices."
Utah Energy Efficiency Strategy: Policy Options (October 2007) http://energy.utah.gov/energy/utah_energy_efficiency_strategy.html
Mountain View Corridor Comments due December 24

Get out your "Transit First" bumper stickers! The Mountain View Corridor is the next big proposal for non-sustainable highway expansion in the Salt Lake Valley. The Utah Department of Transportation says the project, which will raze hundreds of houses and businesses for a parallel freeway west of I-15, is necessary in order to relieve traffic congestion since "[t]ravel on Utah's highways is growing nearly twice as fast as the population." That's in direct conflict with Governor Huntsman's Utah Energy Efficiency Strategy Option 18: "Reduce the rate of growth in vehicle-miles traveled-keep the percent growth in vehicle-miles traveled to no more than the percent growth in population." You can't have it both ways-a phenomenon called "induced traffic" means that building more highway capacity causes people to drive more. Building a "Mountain View" TRAX line first would enable people to avoid traffic jams by simply choosing not to drive.
Mountain View Corridor Draft EIS: www.udot.utah.gov/mountainview/index.php Comments due by Dec. 24, 2007 to: Mountain View Corridor, C/O Parsons Brinckerhoff, 488 E. Winchester St., Suite 400, Murray, Utah 84107 email mountainview@utah.gov

National Climate Day of Action, November 3

Salt Lake City will participate in the National Climate Day of Action on November 3 with an environmental rally. The event features a free pancake breakfast, speakers, information booths, and music by the School of Rock (a rock music school for kids age 7-18).
Step it Up 2 global warming rally. November 3. 9:00am-1:00pm Washington Square. 400 S. State S. SLC. (Library TRAX).

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Dance: The Secret IngredientHow competition spices up dance programs.
by Amy Brunvand
The success of dance shows on reality TV seems to have inspired some of Utah's professional dance companies to stage choreography competitions, and from an audience perspective that's a very good idea. Last season Repertory Dance Theatre gave us the wonderfully entertaining (and surreptitiously educational) "Iron Choreographer" competition, which was successful enough they are doing it again this year. Now Ballet West is staging a choreography competition, too.

In September, season ticket subscribers to Ballet West got an invitation to a somewhat mysterious special performance called "Curtain Up." The standing-room-only show was a public preview of six works-in-progress choreographed by Ballet West dancers, using members of Ballet West II (average age: 19.6) as guinea pigs to perform the movements. The prize for three of the six choreographers will be to present the final polished version, danced by Ballet West company artists for the paying public, at the "Innovations" program in May 2008.

During the Q&A session, a woman in the front row who was clearly getting into the spirit of the event asked "Does the audience get to vote?" Artistic Director Adam Sklute shot down the suggestion in her question, saying the process is meant to be nurturing.

Still, in the end only three works will be chosen, and I'm not sure how Sklute will decide. Personally, I think the pas de deux by principal dancer Christopher Ruud is a shoo-in due to the visually appealing power moves and the blatantly romantic theme, but I may just be partial because I love watching Ruud on stage. Even when dancing a generic Prince Charming, he manages to put substance behind the charm. Ruud said he used music by Bach because that is his own favorite dance music, and that he was inspired by love for his wife Christiana Bennett who also happens to be a Ballet West principal, and memories of his father, Tom Ruud, a former Ballet West dancer who died tragically young at age 50.

Ballet West soloist Peggy Dolkas created a New Wave piece titled "Yes, but how did you get there?" She used modern dance moves, no toe shoes, and a tape mix made by her boyfriend (a.k.a. DJ Robatroid) using a children's recording that she found at Deseret Industries.

The other pieces suggested that at heart, ballet dancers are romantic sentimentalists (but then again, probably so are people who buy ballet tickets). I liked the way Emily Adams represented her idea of "not being afraid to take a plunge" by making her dance look like a water ballet. Even without artistic stage lighting, you could envision watery buoyancy. Michael Bearden called his piece "Life Elevated" (thank you, Utah Office of Tourism), and it was about an alluring stranger arriving in town. However, he set the piece to Astor Piazzolla, which raised the question, if the townsfolk already knew how to tango, how naive could they really be? Megan Furse brought her dancers on an emotional journey from trepidation to trust, and Jason Linsley killed off half of one pair leaving behind a grief-stricken ballerina.

Part of the pleasure of watching unfinished works by obviously talented dancers is that ideas and inspirations are still raw. You can see the potential as well as the flaws, and anything derivative pretty clearly exposes its origins. When the event is set up as a competition, it's impossible to avoid forming an opinion, and making a judgment draws you into a deeper apprecia-tion for the process of creativity and an awareness of the qualities that make a dance good or not-so-good. Setting up a competition is an ideal way to split open a dance and let the audience in on the secret of how it works.

When Repertory Dance Theatre does their Charette fund-raiser they aren't aiming to produce a lasting work of art, just to provide an evening of fun. The event is both a little sillier and a little more cutthroat than the competition at Ballet West. RDT invites seasoned choreographers with presumably tough egos to be contestants and uses a panel of (local) celebrity judges and audience applause-o-meter response to declare a winner. Like the surprise ingredient on TV's Iron Chef, the Iron Choreographer draws a theme out of a hat, and then gets one hour to create an interpretive dance and teach it to six dancers. The audience nibbles snacks and strolls from room to room to see how it's all going, and when the results are performed on stage they get to cheer boisterously for their favorite. Last year, U of U Modern Dance professor Stephen Koester triumphed with the theme "Joy of Life" which he interpreted cynically. The defending champion, Natosha Washington, may have been handicapped by drawing the unworkable theme "Pilates." On the other hand, several months later she starred in SBDance's "Yoga: The Musical" as a glamorous yoga diva with plans for world domination. I wonder if her absurd Pilates dance might have had something to do with it.

Amy Brunvand is a dance enthusiast and a librarian at the University of Utah. Repertory Dance Theatre-"Charette: The Search for Utah's Iron Choreographer," March 8, 2008. Ballet West-"Innovations," May 29, 30, 31, 2008. Both at Jeanne Wagner Theatre.

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Animals Animals: A Lament for Roosevelt Ave OwlsMicrohabitat lost to urban pressures.
by Sunny Branson
Across my street not long ago there was an old maple tree and in it the most perfect knothole- a cavity just the right size for the screech owl family living within. An adult figure filled the hole opening during the day; the bird so perfectly camouflaged that passersby didn't spot it. Friends to whom it was pointed out struggled to find the bark-colored feathers hidden among the length of the tree trunk.

We were saddened to return from a weekend trip this month to find the tree gone, along with the screech owls' habitat. Instead there is a three-foot wide squat stump serving as a constant reminder of the owls that once were.

Five years ago, we discovered the first owl. He sat stately on a plum tree branch in the fresh dew of morning before retiring to his elevated nest. That owl found a mate in our Sugar House neighborhood, and soon young owlets were hatched.

One night that summer, my husband and I were awakened around 2 a.m. to discover a half dozen frolicking owls in our backyard. Many a night the adult owls used our yard as a playground and school for their fledglings. Fences at either end of the yard served as barriers for flight practice. Next were dive bomb lessons from the lofty branches of our box elder tree. Practice feeding sessions followed with the owlets scratching for something savory in the garden soil. We peered through the windows in the dark and cold in utter fascination of our nocturnal neighbors. Four years in a row an owl returned-possibly the same owl, or perhaps one from the next generation-three years a family resulted.

All owls are protected by federal and state laws and with them their habitats. But it seems more effort goes to protect power lines than the wild birds. Continuing urban growth and property aesthetics puts the owl in peril. One may argue that the birds went missing this year, but I'm quite certain they would have come back. There are few ideal nesting sites in the city, so each one is particularly precious.

These birds were the inspiration for the feature story titled "Owls in Salt Lake City" from the June 2005 issue of CATALYST. Before I understood what was going on in our back yard, I assumed it was a mating ritual-multiple males showing off for a female. The bird experts of Tracy Aviary set me straight, explaining the fledglings training ritual.

After writing that article, I was contacted by a professional photographer (published in National Geographic no less!), who wanted to photograph the birds in our yard. I was very excited to share our experience with other nature and animal lovers. However, we couldn't make it work. The problem was twofold. First I was worried about frightening the birds or impinging on their established playground, which would only encourage them to find another. The photographer assured us he would not disturb the birds and was adamant about not being careless with their home and territory.

The other problem was that the birds were active in the wee hours of the morning and the only good viewing site was from our second floor bedroom window. Somehow, having a stranger planted in our bedroom waiting night after night for the perfect shot just didn't seem feasible. We couldn't think of a way around this predicament, so we had to turn him down.

We enjoyed the owls ourselves for many years. Being curious about what they ate, I would cautiously search under the maple tree for owl pellets. Owls eat their prey whole and the indigestible bits are compressed and coughed up in pellets, which have the texture of torn felt. By dissecting the pellet you can get a good idea of the menu choice for a particular owl. Our Roosevelt Avenue owls preferred small birds, their pellets consisting mostly of feathers and bones.

I can put my pellet dissection tools away, and the binoculars can have a rest, for across my street we no longer have that old maple tree with the perfect knothole. When the screech owls come back, I hope they are able to find a new nesting spot. And I hope their new neighbors stop long enough to look skyward and discover something magical happening above the ground!

Sunny Branson is co-owner of Single Malt Media, volunteers for Wasatch Animal Rescue and sponsors two pot-bellied pigs at Ching Farm

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Coach Jeannette: Flu Shot or Not?The best decision for you depends entirely on what you believe.
by Jeannette Maw
If you work for a major employer, have watched the news or read the newspaper in the last couple months, you've probably been encouraged to get your flu shot by now.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), flu season starts in October and ends as late as May, so the best timing for the influenza vaccine is October and November. Between 5% and 20% of the population will be affected by the virus, and the CDC says the vaccine is proven to be 70% effective in preventing the flu.

So why am I not in line for my shot?

It's a different reason than why I hesitated to accept this topic assignment, which would have been "don't think about what you don't want to experience." It's a different reason than my acupuncturist would give, which is "there's a better way to maintain health."

The reason I'm not signing up to have chemically killed influenza virus injected directly into my bloodstream is because my belief system on this topic is #1 - don't mess with nature, and #2 - don't mess with success.

When I take any action that's not in alignment with what I believe, I'm inviting trouble.

If I believe it takes hard work to succeed and yet I don't work hard, I'm resisting success. If I believe there are no good men left and I start dating, I'm not likely to hook up with a good guy. And if I believe my body knows best yet I turn it over to the whims of modern medicine, I'm rolling the dice.

Conflicting Beliefs

Which is why I experienced a dilemma years ago working at the bank, when my manager announced flu shots were mandatory for all.

Normally, I believed you do as the boss says. (Undoubtedly ingrained from childhood, where I was well-trained to "do as told" as a daughter and student.) But I had also come to believe pharmaceutical companies push drugs that don't benefit us as much as they like us to think. And I surely didn't believe my body needed dead viruses floating in it to stay healthy.

I also figured it wasn't my employer's business whether I got a flu shot or not. It was my personal health choice, or at least I thought it should be.

By then it was two beliefs against one, so I refused the shot.

While my manager was perturbed I didn't follow instruction, I had the smug satisfaction of perfect health season after season.

Even so, I don't invest time convincing others to avoid flu shots. Because many people access confidence and peace of mind by being vaccinated. And from a law of attraction perspective, that's what matters: finding your way to a good vibration. Peace of mind, confidence, positive expectation ... however we get there is up to us. For some, that means getting a flu shot. For others, that means skipping it.

Honor your belief

After mentioning to my boyfriend I'm writing about flu shots, he launches into a tribute about what a wonderful technological advance for modern medicine, how it's saved many lives and how much he appreciates his employer offering them for free.

While I'm amazed that we've discovered yet another topic on which we don't see eye to eye, he continues with a story about how he almost died from the flu a couple years ago. Ever since then he's received an annual vaccination and hasn't been sick since.

Not surprisingly, he also strongly encourages his staff to get their flu shots.

Momentarily I forget I'm not invested in what someone else believes. With my lunch growing cold, I find myself explaining to my errant lover that it isn't so much the shot that makes a difference, but rather his belief that it will. He interrupts and asks about that sickness I had last year.

What sickness?

"Wasn't it the flu?" he asks.

Yeah, it was not the flu. I don't even remember being sick. "Was that your other girlfriend?" I ask, "because I haven't been sick in years."

He reminds me I had an irritating cough that lasted several weeks. "Remember, you were always muting your line because you couldn't stop coughing?" Okay, now I remember. It was a cough, though; definitely not the flu.

He's a smart guy, so he leaves that one alone.

I want to get back to my burrito, so I wrap the conversation up succinctly. I ask if he knows anyone who got the flu after getting the shot. He conveniently doesn't, but I do. I tell him there isn't necessarily a right or wrong position on flu shots. It helps some, doesn't help others. It's not as cut and dried as he likes to think.

I add it's not so much what we believe as it is that we act in accordance with our beliefs that matters.

For example: He gets a shot and feels protected - good for him. (And I'm nice enough to not plant beliefs about the dangers of vaccinations, thank you very much.) Someone else gets a shot who has mixed beliefs (which would have been me if my manager had his way), is taking a gamble. Another who feels good about not receiving the vaccination is on a good path to avoid it.

The trouble starts when we don't act in accordance with our beliefs.

This is why when some law of attraction newcomers learn it isn't the diet or the exercise that matters (rather our thoughts about the diet and exercise that make the difference), they excitedly give up the diet and exercise they loathe. But changing the action before changing the long-held core belief can lead to trouble.

Or when someone reads we can attract money simply by changing our vibration - it's true, but part of our vibration is our belief. So if we give up the second job and start a spending spree trusting VISA to handle it, we create a challenge if we haven't adjusted our deeply held belief about how money operates in our life.

You can feel the difference between wanting to believe something and really believing it, right?

Yes, so can the Universe (or whatever you name the powers that be).

Where the power is

A longtime friend of mine makes fun of anyone who takes medication. He holds disdain for those who rely on a "magic pill" instead of using the absolute power of their mind to heal.

Which I understand. And yet, sometimes we best access our power through an outside avenue we've been trained to more easily believe in or rely on. If you can eliminate the headache by taking the aspirin, amen! There's no reason to make it hard on ourselves, after all.

It's true that our power lies within, but some of us access it better by using an outside source to tap into it - like drugs, doctors and flu shots. Who cares? What matters is that we use our power - to thrive, to create, to live as we choose.

And accessing that power depends on knowing and respecting your beliefs. If you find a personal belief that you'd rather not hold, you can use your power to change it.

As I write this, the daily Abraham quote (from the Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ AbeQuotes) pops up in email:

"We wonder how you ever decide what is right or wrong for you, what is appropriate or inappropriate, when there are so many different opinions and voices trying to get your attention and trying to get you to follow ...And the more you step out into this very diverse and expansive physical experience, the more you bump up against the great variety of ideas that other people have about the way you should live... What we want you to do is to discover that you have within you a Guidance System that lets you know, in any moment, what you're doing with your vibration. You can literally feel, once you have listened for it a little bit, whether you are a vibrational match to your Core Energy or whether you are not."

This season, for the good of everyone, find your own "feel good" about flu shots or whatever other topic is on your mind and go!

Jeannette Maw is an attraction coach and founder of Good Vibe Coaching in Salt Lake City. Free LOA resources are available at loaplayground.blogspot.com.

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Featured Catalyst Events: November 2007by Melissa Martin...Read More >>

Profile of a Goddess: PachamamaGoddess of Earth—our loving, giving mother.
by Carol Koleman
Religion: Incan

AKA: Mama Pacha

Translation: Mother Earth or more precisely (from Aymara), Mama = Mother, Pacha = Time or Universe

AKA in other mythologies: Acthonian (Greek), Ajysyt (Turkic Yakut), Arinna (Hittite), Asase Ya (Ashanti), Beira (Scottish), Celu (Etruscan), Coatlicue (Aztec), Cybele (Phrygian), Erecura (Celtic), Etugen (Mongolian), Gaia (Greek), Ida (Hindu), Joro (Norse), Khaltesh-Anki (Ob Ugrian), Ki (Sumerian), Libera (Roman), Lurbira (Basque), Mat Zemlya (Slavic), Ninhursag (Sumerian), Ops (Roman), Prithvi (Hindu), Rhea (Minoan), Papa (Maori), Ten Ten-Bilu (Chiloe), Terr (Roman), Tlazolteotl (Aztec), Toci (Aztec), Uras (Sumerian), Zeme (Slavic), Zemyna (Lithuanian)

Symbolism: Pachamama takes the form of a dragon that lives beneath the mountains. Though benevolent, when Pachamama is angered she causes earthquakes. She is goddess of fertility, planting and harvesting. She presides over the heavens, the earth, pregnant women, and really, over everything.

Pachamama is perhaps the most prevalent 'Mother Earth' that we know, but I am compelled to also look at earth goddesses in other cultures since they are where our deity worship began.

Long before male deities bestowed judgment and punishment for our human faults, there was our benevolent Earth Goddess. She is found as the first and foremost deity across the globe. She can be found 4,000-5,000 years ago in the Temples of Malta that were devoted to Mother Earth. They exist as the oldest standing structures in our world, predating the pyramids of Egypt and Stonehenge by centuries. With their rounded structures, vagina-like passageways and egg-shaped chambers, it is not difficult to see that these temples symbolized fertile woman. Ancient civilizations worshipped her for the abundant gifts she bestowed upon us; food, water, shelter, warmth and so much more. Our ancestors were deeply connected to the earth and considered themselves part of her. One of the first known fetishes (religious icons) and apparently the first deity to be worshipped by our ancestors was created around 35,000 years ago. Known as Venus of Willendorf, she was depicted with large breasts and full womb, a bountiful mother who could nurture all. Ancient cultures didn't attempt to explain the mysteries of our natural world or the inner workings of the self, they simply accepted their existence as part of the earth and everything she had to give and receive.

Earth Goddess Experience: As a modern culture, we are also deeply connected to Pachamama, but we may have forgotten her embrace. From my childhood, I remember this connection so clearly; summer days spent running barefoot through the woods, stopping to create my own fetishes out of mud (are there frog deities?), climbing to the very top of trees and swaying perilously in the wind. I searched for secret underground chambers that I was certain existed if I were only to find the right place. I communed with her in my adolescent way, and I accepted this earth without question as part of myself. Even with my immature mind, I could acknowledge how she gave and received. I had moments of the sublime; as when I lay on the earth pressing every possible part of my body to the ground and feeling it pulsating with life. I constantly injured myself and was often frightened while trying to comprehend the earth. She held mysteries that I might never resolve, and that was what made her so exciting and beautiful.

As I matured, the earth always remained focal in my life, but I lost some of that connection, becoming preoccupied with the details surrounding my immediate world. Through the years, I have had experiences that bring me back as the youth who hugged the earth. Some natural phenomenon occurs while say, I walk in the mountains, bombarded by mysterious winds. In moments like this, I find myself feeling that whole connection to the universe, and I am reminded that we are made of the same stuff as stars.

Intention: These suggestions may help remind you of your connection to our earth mother. In this season of reaping what our mother provides to us, a celebration in her honor is called for. Gather those who share your gratitude and together create a harvest dinner. Eat the food that has been so lovingly grown for us, take in each bite with intention. Ask, "where has it come from, how does it taste, whose nurturing will created it?" Drink the wine and ask, "Where does this grape grow, what is its process?" Be present in every moment.

So, have you tried hugging the earth? Go do it, you'll see what I mean. You'll find that you may feel its vibrations, and quite possibly the spirits of all those residing in her. And while you're there on the ground, change to a seated position for a meditation focusing on your first chakra. Visualize your root spiraling far down into the earth, growing out more roots and holding on. Acknowledge that you are inextricably connected with the earth and that she is here to nurture you. As you move on from this meditation and into your hectic life, you'll find peace. Fears are removed and you are safe.

My last challenge is fortunately a popular trend, making your options plentiful and easily accessible- conservation. This challenge is may be vast but simple; just consider our mother and in what way you may be able to give back to her. This is the highest honor you could pay to our Mama Pacha and a way to give back for all that she gives.

Music: "Tema De Maimara" by Los Incas is a nice example. (You may listen to a sample on Amazon.) I suggest taking a hike while listening to Incan flute music which seems very fitting for meditating on Pachamama.

Links for our Mother:

www.awakeningthedreamer.org;

www.treehugger.com/

References: "Dictionary to Ancient Deities" (Turner and Colter); Angelfire.com; "Goddesses, A World of Myth and Magic" (Muten); "Oracle of the Goddess."

Questions for the Goddess? Email: koleman@earthlink.net.

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Ask Your Mama: November 2007Feed yourself at the ritual smargasboard.
by Donna Henes
Dear Mama Donna,

The rituals that I was raised with leave me cold. I am fascinated by the religious customs of other cultures. Specifically, I am drawn to certain aspects of Oriental and Native American traditions that I would like to incorporate into my life, but I am worried about being derivative and exploitative.

Starving in Salt Lake

Dear Starving,

Humankind has developed an extraordinary range of spiritual belief and practice over time. We can expand our ritual horizons by exploring the ways that different people have developed to mark the universal cycles of the seasons and the seasons of their lives. This study helps us to identify and appreciate the value in our own personal and inherited traditions, while at the same time learning to honor what is true and good in every heritage and chosen path.

Little did my father realize that when he dropped us off at Temple Sunday School every week that I would see my younger brother to his classroom, then split the building and go to church. Every Sunday I would choose a different denomination to attend. It wasn't that I was particularly interested in changing my religion. It was simply my way of traveling. I was a senior in high school and I wanted to see what was out there.

I still explore. I collect holidays as you would recipes or CDs. I celebrate everything! Last winter, for example, I attended festivals for Divali, Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Three Kings Day as well as the Solstice. The way I see it, every holiday offers a unique selection of food, music, dance, stories, and interesting customs. There is always some element that I can personally identify with, some poignant piece I can carry away and employ to enrich my own existence. There is always a lesson worth learning.

We all have much to learn from each other, and much to teach, as well. When we feel that our own culture is completely lacking in meaningful ritual, we might be tempted to adopt or emulate another tradition. But no matter how interesting, enlightening and inspiring we find another culture, we can't just put on the ritual way of others as if it were a costume. Imitation, in this case, is the ultimate form not of flattery but of disrespect. It is never appropriate to expropriate.

Yet, we live on a small planet and our world is becoming ever more intimately and inextricably interconnected by transportation, telecommunication, media, financial and computer networks. As peoples and cultures meet and mix they tend to blend. This cross-fertilization results in an authentic evolution of ritual tradition which produces completely new, yet uniquely appropriate custom. Today, we are all spiritual mixed-breeds to some extent, tapping our toes to the same world beat.

In the process of living our lives, we all develop our own personal traditions which may augment or replace entirely the religious traditions of our heritage. We each

create idiosyncratic ceremonial expressions which reflect our ancestry, our personal history, our particular temperament, our experience, our preference, our aesthetic and moral values; our own quirky take on life. We repeat what we like, drop what we don't. By incorporating what is truly meaningful to us, we take a tradition and make it our own.

Thanksgiving is a perfect example. It is the great All-American adaptable ritual. The menu is always identical but for that one out-of-place item which expresses a certain regional, ethnic, or cultural taste. I learned this delicious fact first hand during the many Thanksgiving dinners I have been privileged to share with families across the United States. The Manganello family feast featured turkey with all the trimmings-and lasagna. The Quans served turkey, all the trimmings, and white rice. The Castros added yellow rice and beans. The Robinson clan had turkey and all the trimmings, and macaroni and cheese and collard greens and potato salad.

Start by exploring your own community. You'll probably find that Salt Lake City offers a rich cornucopia of ritual wealth. One of my favorite pastimes here in the Big Apple is to ride the subway watching the folks read their newspapers and realizing that every paper along the line is in a different language! I once gave a talk about seasonal rituals around the world at a junior high school in Queens where 62 nationalities were represented in the student body.

Diversity is the great strength of the human race. Don't stand on ceremony, savor it! Sample the rich smorgasbord of foods, music, dance, literature, and philosophy which surround you. Talk to the elders who remember the old traditions. Talk to neighbors, shopkeepers, strangers. Attend folk festivals, performances, educational programs, and multicultural events. Visit a variety of ethnic stores, restaurants, museums and places of worship.

Take a class. Learn another language, and look for local opportunities to practice your new communication skills. I know exactly one word in Arabic remembered from a long ago trip to Morocco - shokrun which means "thank you." Every time I eat a falafel or shop in an Islamic-owned corner store, I say "shokrun." That single word has led to many stimulating conversations.

Whenever I eat at my local Dominican coffee shop, I always order in Spanish. For the longest time, everyone from the waitress to the countermen would answer in English; they, too, wanted to hone their new language skills. But eventually, they began to respond in Spanish and help me as I struggled to expand my feeble vocabulary. It has been a great help to me and a wonderful way to share some cultural information and insights.

Live your daily life as though you are on a grand tour around the world. And, exactly as if you were traveling abroad, if you are sincerely interested and polite, friendly and respectful, you will be welcomed and treated as an honored guest wherever you go.

Bon appetit,

Mama Donna

*Are you cyclically confused? In a ceremonial quandary? Completely clueless? Wonder no more. Send your questions about seasons, cycles, and celebrations to Mama Donna at cityshaman@aol.com.

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Babying the Buddha: I'm Thankful for AnimalsNever too young to practice gratitude.
by Kindra Fehr
Gratitude. How do we experience it, express it, and how do we teach our children to live in it? In our home, we started a little bedtime ritual that has become known as, "I'm thankful for animals." It started out as a way to think about and name some of the things in our day for which we're grateful. For the first week or so, my then two-year-old daughter would begin with "I'm thankful for giraffes..." and continue to name every other animal that came to mind, hence, the title of our practice. Next thing I knew, if we finished our nightly storybook and turned out the light she would say, "Oh no! We forgot to say 'I'm thankful for animals!'"

She changes the rules each night. Sometimes, we're only allowed to say one thing that we're thankful for and others it's more. Some nights she announces, "I'm too tired" or "I'm too sad to say I'm thankful for animals." I can understand this. I know in myself that there are times when I just want to feel my sadness or frustration and wallow in it for a moment rather than count my blessings. Yet, for the benefit of both of us, I try to explain that no matter how tired or sad we are, it's still nice to be thankful and it can actually make us feel better.

It's during this ritual that I often have my most proud and amusing moments with my daughter. I have a list of the many things that she's been thankful for; I add to it regularly. The list includes chartreuse, squares, windows, bottles, friends and family (individually and collectively), birthday parties, Disneyworld, and petting zoos. One of the most touching was a few weeks ago when she had come with me to visit a very sick friend. We talked about the fact that his body was not working very well and that some day it would stop working altogether. I helped him brush his teeth with a little sponge on a stick soaked in water which also hydrated his mouth. My daughter helped by handing me new sponges. That evening, many hours later, my little three-year-old said, "I'm thankful that you could clean your friend's mouth and make his body feel better." I was touched that she recognized that our simple gesture was significant to him. I was also impressed that at her young age she found joy in being able to help someone else and was grateful to do it.

Over the last few weeks, I've been in awe of the depth and complexity of her gratitude. Our family has gone through a whirlwind of changes from a big move to overseas travels and at the end of each day she has found little gems in it all for which she expresses thankfulness. At the end of our practice each night, I find myself being very grateful to have her little presence in my life, so innocent and yet so full of wisdom. And, I'm thankful for animals.

Kindra Fehr is an artist and mom to three-year-old Aria Hancock. She co-instructs the Salt Lake Art Center's KidsmART program.

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Aquarium Age: November 2007Threshold to the future: It's another intense month.
by Ralfee Finn
November is a multidimensional Gatekeeper-a powerful threshold for the beginning of the end of several cycles. Its days and nights delineate potent transitions, and they simultaneously set intensity levels for integrating past, present, and future realities, individual and collective. Pay attention: You'll need consciousness and skill to move safely through this portal. You'll probably need Ghostbusters. For as the coming weeks unfold, phantoms from seasons past are likely to make visitations, real or imagined. I don't mean to scare you, but there is sure to be something strange happening in everyone's neighborhood.

But spirits from the past aren't the only manifestation of November's power. Unpredictable and erratic rhythms also pulse through the month, disturbing routines, disrupting the status quo, and sending shivers down the spines of the normally cynical and complacent. This month, saying, "expect the unexpected" would not be a cliché-it would be the truth.

Two major themes set the tone for the month. First, Pluto begins to wind down its journey through Sagittarius. This transit began in 1995 and ends when Pluto enters Capricorn on January 26, 2008. And while Pluto will make a brief retrograde back into Sagittarius during the summer of 2008, this month, next month and the first three weeks of January are the concentrated distillation of the entire thirteen-year cycle. Pluto symbolizes death and rebirth, which means as part of its refining process, it's likely to wake the dead. Anticipate close encounters with themes and issues, adversaries and lovers from the past. Also be prepared for confrontation and confusion as you try to puzzle through what you thought you left behind and what is still very much alive.

Sagittarius is the sign where we search for meaning and explore belief systems-all belief systems, not just one. But the realization of just how many systems there are can be overwhelming to the human psyche, especially when the psyche is hungry for meaning. And in that overwhelm we encounter the shadow of Sagittarius-spiritual, religious, philosophical, or political fundamentalism, insistent with dogmatic certainty that there is only one way to understand the purpose of life. While this shadow, born of confusion, fear, and ignorance, has always been present, Pluto's transit through Sagittarius brought it to the forefront of consciousness and has revealed its dangerous and costly consequences.

Now, as Pluto prepares to leave Sagittarius, it offers additional opportunities to realize how that shadow operates in both our personal and collective realities. Remember, we all have Sagittarius somewhere in our birth chart, which means for the last thirteen years, we've each had Pluto probing our personal fundamentalism. Also keep in mind, there is nothing wrong with rock-solid faith or heart-centered belief. But the desire to do harm to those who don't share the same belief is a pernicious distortion that causes unspeakable suffering. While you may not be able to stop suicide or abortion clinic bombers, you can do your best to notice where you have polarized with people in your life, and then, make an effort to find the common ground of mutual respect and tolerance.

This theme of ignorance and fundamentalism versus diversity and tolerance comes to a head from November 14 December 14, when Jupiter, also in Sagittarius, conjuncts Pluto, punctuating the end of Pluto's transit with an expanded and magnified view of the entire issue, especially dispelling the notion that one leader representing one school of thought can determine a path that all must follow. While Jupiter does tend toward exaggeration, that may just be what's needed to stir enough people to say "no" to violence committed in the name of god.

But November's threshold isn't only philosophical. It's also physical. And its second major theme is driven by a Mars/Uranus trine, a positive, active configuration that needs to move. Mars symbolizes physical energy. Uranus represents the principle of change. And because this trine is the signature of the revolutionary, it also feeds a need for freedom, personal and collective. Expect bodies, minds, and hearts to break free from whatever enslaves, real or imagined. What's more, because Uranus symbolizes surprises, startling twists of fate

punctuate the entire month.

From the 1st-13th, the Sun joins this Mars/Uranus trine, amplifying its already vital potency. Be prepared for everyone, including yourself, to embody a "live free or die" attitude that is unwilling to tolerate stagnation. Also be aware that while this trine is powerful, it can be highly impulsive, and that spontaneous eruptions of independence are likely to have equally powerful consequences.

What's more, this Grand Trine excites nervous systems. Pulses race, hearts quiver, and sleep patterns go berserk from the constant level of high-wire intensity. Strategies for self-soothing are paramount-mediation, yoga, jogging, or walking are a must. But be careful not to push too hard. Mars/Uranus contacts are often related to accidents. Make patience a constant companion and you'll have an easier time channeling this intensity.

Unfortunately, patience will be scarce because in the midst of this "Oh my god, I can't believe I have enough energy to do anything I want to" pattern, Mars goes retrograde. From November 15 to January 30, Mars, currently in Cancer, will be retrograde, but you'll probably start to notice the slow-down by November 7. Mars is a fast-forward, into-the-future planet, and it doesn't like moving backwards at all. Mars also isn't all that happy in Cancer. All of which coalesces into our cranky frustration about not being able to move at the speed of light.

But placed in context, this retrograde restraint could serve a variety of interests, especially in light of the militaristic might often associated with Mars/Uranus contacts. Mars may not like the constraint, but certainly its retrograde could-and this is a wish-inhibit military escalation in all those regions of the world in need of peace.

Just after Mars turns around, Mercury will trine both Mars and Uranus from the 16th-24th. This is a highly inventive coalition, capable of providing insight and ideas, as it stirs intuition and imagination to explore new territory. Again, just be aware, Mars isn't going to move as quickly as Mercury, which means patience in the planning will garner positive results later.

But that's not all. Uranus goes direct on November 24, and when Uranus changes direction, we tend to feel its move almost immediately. And this could very well be where we encounter the explosive, volatile nature of this Mars/Uranus trine. A Uranian course correction can easily override the Mars retrograde reserve, push the limits of power, and move even the discreet into direct confrontation. Hostilities could flare up in the blink of the mind's eye, and conflict could erupt in heartbeat. Couple this unpredictable volatility with the increased magnification of power issues represented by the Jupiter/Pluto conjunction, and you have the perfect breeding ground for fascism, particularly where plutocrats are focused on controlling information in the hope of manipulating public opinion. Strong words, I know, but fascist leaders are part of the Sagittarian shadow of ignorance. And November is the Gatekeeper to a wide variety of possibilities.

Navigating the intensity of November with skill requires learning to live comfortably with life's uncertainties-never an easy challenge, but in times of transition a necessary one. So as you encounter the past or confront the shifting reality of the present, do your best to stay centered in the willingness to grow. And then, when possible, help others to do the same.

If you know your Ascendant and/or your Moon sign,
read that too.

Aries March 21-April 19
Mars, your ruling Planet, direct or retrograde, focuses on what you need to feel safe and secure from the inside out. Whether your concerns are material or spiritual, use this time to reassess and realign your center.
Taurus April 20-May 20
Conversation and dialogue are the catalyst to either provoking or soothing all your interactions with friends, family, co-workers, or significant others. So if you want to make peace, speak words of love.
Gemini May 21-June 21
Despite the retrograde, Mars delivers several beneficial career opportunities. So whether your concerns are financial or focused on reputation, stay open to the possibilities and you'll make tangible progress.
Cancer June 22-July 22
Mars, in your sign, invites you to reinvent and revitalize your persona. Be open to shifting the more superficial features-your hair, clothes, or weight, but also be willing to make important internal changes, especially alterations related to improving your self-esteem.
Leo July 23-Aug 22
You're working with a powerful internal mandala designed to assist you in achieving a greater sense of harmony and balance. While part of this process is uncomfortable, if you commit to authenticity, the results will be powerful.
Virgo Aug 23-Sept 22
You'll need a discriminating ear to sort through information revealed through endless conversations with friends, family, and significant others, personal or professional. There's no need to act-all you have to do is listen.
Libra Sept 23-Oct 22
Dynamic career developments could present opportunities to improve your finances. But to seize the moment, you must be willing to work hard, despite interference or interruptions. Stay focused and you'll succeed.
Scorpio Oct 23-Nov 21
You're in a highly creative phase, capable of providing the inspiration as well as the muscle to turn several dreams into reality. There's no need to hurry-this potent cycle will operate long enough for you to take advantage of the opportunities.
Sagittarius Nov 22-Dec 21
You're not stalled-you're just refining your plans-so don't despair if unforeseen obstacles inhibit direct motion. Some of these interruptions could deliver valuable information. Think of it as Divine Intervention.
Capricorn Dec 22-Jan 19
You're social calendar continues to be active, and while the stress of so many "obligations" could be burdensome, it can just as easily be a whole lot of fun. There will be plenty of time to hibernate, later, so for now, just say "yes."
Aquarius Jan 20-Feb 18
The emphasis is on success, and while financial gain is probable, you'll also experience increased respect and recognition for your efforts. So despite the external brouhaha, stay focused on your goals.
Pisces Feb 19-March 20
Yes, your life is unsettled, but that doesn't mean that the disruptions are necessarily negative-you just have to grow into the new situation. Think about how certain changes, while difficult, can also have long-lasting, beneficial results.

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Comings & Goings: November 2007What's new around town.
by Tamara Rowe and Celeste Chaney
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Genius Catalyst: Unusual GratitudeDirect your mind toward things that trigger feelings of gratitude, and you'll begin to notice more of those things, and get more of those good feelings.
by Michael Neill
"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice."
-Meister Eckhart

I just got back from two wonderful weeks away with my family and was greeted on my return with an e-mail from a magazine requesting that I send them a list of 10 unusual things I am grateful for in my life.

In other words, what are you grateful for that you suspect wouldn't be likely to turn up on other people's lists?

Here are some examples received (with gratitude!) from a few of my friends:

...the fact that if Harper Lee was to write only one novel, it was "To Kill a Mockingbird"
...Monet's "Banks of the Seine"
...pizza with mushrooms and black olives
...no-lick stamps
...scientific names for unpleasant things that make them sound okay
...the passing of the disco music era
... the giddiness of creating
... the unbridled excitement my coming home unleashes with my dogs
...spray adhesive
...the fact that you never will be able to reach the end of the rainbow. But you can always try.

What makes this exercise so enjoyable is that it makes full use of one of the most basic principles of the mind:

What you focus on, you get more of.

By directing your mind towards things which trigger feelings of gratitude in you, you not only begin to notice more things, you get to feel more good feelings. And what makes the exercise so useful is that those feelings of gratitude so often begin to trigger an inflow of more good things into your life.

Experiment:

1. Make a list of 10 unusual things you are grateful for in your life. If you like, jot down a few of the reasons those things make you grateful.

2. Post them online at the end of this article, or on my website, www.geniuscatalyst.com (you must register to participate).

Have fun, learn heaps, and thanks for playing!

Michael Neill is a life coach and author. Hear him Thursdays at 11am on HayHouse Radio or visit his website, www.geniuscatalyst.com. (c) 2007.

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Metaphors: November 2007by Suzanne Wagner Arthurian Tarot: Ten of Cups, Two of Cups
Mayan Oracle: Dissonance, New Myth
Aleister Crowley: Lovers, Prince of Cups, The Empress
Medicine Cards: Fox, Armadillo
Osho Zen Tarot: Stress, Miser
Healing Earth Tarot: Five of Wands, Seven of Wands
Ancient Egyptian Tarot: Eight of Swords, Wheel of Fortune
Words of Truth: Freedom, Choice, Meditation, Elimination, Rejuvenation

You would think after all the stresses and changes over the last few months that we could catch a break for just a second. But we are in the acceleration time of Cauac in the Mayan calendar, and whether we like it or not we are continuing to speed up. Navigating life requires more and more of our attention, concentration, and awareness in these amazing and transformative times. In November, we continue to feel this amazing planetary shift.

This month's cards balance the duality between the Cups and the Wands. Wands represent fire - the energetic bursts that force us to shift energy and perceptions. Cups represent the deep needs and desires as well as the emotional tools we need to move through chaotic and challenging times. The balance shows us how to get through this month's intensity without falling apart.

November makes this duality more and more obvious in the world political game. It is difficult not to get caught up in the suffering and drama we see played out in the world stage day after day. You have choices to make, and what you choose will determine how you feel and how you handle this incoming energy.

The first thing to remember is that freedom is a choice. Not everyone wants it. Not everyone has the experience to handle the level of responsibility, awareness and accountability that freedom requires. As Americans we think everyone should experience freedom the way we do. It is a wonderful thing to be blessed with the freedoms we have.

But in other places those choices do not always come easily; there are tremendous problems that must be overcome before freedom can be achieved.

Major conflicts are a given this month. How you decide to stay present and centered within those conflicts is the issue. Where do you stand up for what is true and right? How do you do that effectively without overriding the desires, needs, and personal wishes of others? Just because something is right for us does not mean it is right for others.

Stresses will be high, leading to a desire to contract and protect yourself and what is yours. You may find yourself at many impasses - directions that once seemed perfect will require major adjustments. Our egos will need to let go and find other ways.

This month you will need good, healthy, strong boundaries and the ability to observe with detachment from an open mind and an open heart. Everything is happening for a reason, though at times it may seem that the universe is out to get you personally. Do not let the externals over which you have no control break down the deep emotional connections you have with those you love.

If you navigate the tumultuous waters of November well, you will discover that love and the deepening of emotional attachments can increase through the conflicts. You will have support if you are willing to open your heart and share your deepest feelings with those close to you. You may feel you can finally trust your partner, and that gives a feeling of renewed pleasure and comfort. Others can recognize your kindness, love and honor, and you can make some great headway toward a long-term goal on which you have been working.

Suzanne Wagner is the author of numerous books and CDs on the tarot. She lives in Salt Lake City.

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Urban AlmanacDay by day in the home, garden and sky. DECEMBER 1 Today the Sun rises at 7:32 a.m., and sets at 5:01 p.m. December’s average maximum temperature is 37°; the minimum is 21°; and it snows an average of 13.7 inches.

DECEMBER 2 The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts a slightly colder than usual December, with less than normal precipitation.

DECEMBER 3 It’s generally coldest just after dawn, when the rising Sun warms the ground and stirs up the cold air, causing it to rise.

DECEMBER 4 FULL LONG NIGHTS MOON. Horehound is good for alleviating coughs, and can help lessen asthma symptoms.

DECEMBER 5 Flocks of Canada geese are congregating around open water.

DECEMBER 7 On the Chinese calendar, which breaks the months into chieh (solar periods used to describe the season), this is the chieh of the Heavy Snow.

DECEMBER 8 Individual plants can control the numbers and types of fungi and bacteria attracted to rhizosphere (the zone around their roots) by exuding varying nutrients.

DECEMBER 9 Mercury, Mars and Jupiter enjoy a celestial ménage à trois tonight, while elsewhere in the sky, Saturn rubs shoulders with the waning Moon.

DECEMBER 10 Keep soil warm with a layer of shredded leaves or straw. If there’s a break in the weather, try putting in a late crop of winter rye to feed and protect the soil.

DECEMBER 11 Frogs slumbering beneath the mud in ponds and creeks, and fishes’ metabolisms are slowing.

DECEMBER 12 Tonight and tomorrow is the Geminid meteor shower, one of the year’s best. Look to the northwest throughout the night.

DECEMBER 13 If at all possible, get out outside for an hour each day and soak up some natural light. If not, full spectrum light bulbs inside can help lessen the winter blues, aka seasonal affective disorder.

DECEMBER 14 Halcyon Days, a period of calm weather, often occurs this week. Legend has it that this respite is caused by the halcyon, or kingfisher, a large fish-eating bird that builds a floating nest. The female halcyon, who is brooding this time of year, is said to charm the wind and waves, enabling her young to safely fledge.

DECEMBER 15 Ants, like people, have clearly defined personality differences. Individual ants in the same caste and same nest can be intelligent, adaptable, hard-working, lazy, fast, slow, aggressive, fearful or passive. Also, ant colonies behave very differently from one another: Some live on dead insects, some on sprouted seeds, others on food stolen from other species or colonies.

DECEMBER 16 Jupiter, crossing into Scorpius, now appears as a morning star, while Venus emerges in the evening twilight, close to the horizon.

DECEMBER 17 On the Chinese calendar, now is the chieh of the Winter Solstice. Astrologically speaking, this is a good day to breed.

DECEMBER 18 Protect delicate trees by spraying the trunks with an anti-desiccant, or wrap them in burlap.

DECEMBER 19 Why not buy a living Christmas tree? Though they require extra attention and are more costly than cut trees, you’ll be left with a lot cheerier scene the day after Christmas. If you like the idea of a living tree, but haven’t a place to plant one, donate it. The city forester picks up donated trees and stores them until suitable planting weather. It’s a good thing to do, and you’ll get a tax deduction, too.

DECEMBER 20 NEW MOON. Great horned owls are mating, juncos and chickadees are migrating to lower elevations, and the Audubon Christmas Bird Count is happening.

DECEMBER 21 Today is the Winter Solstice, celebrated by Pagans as the rebirth of light. Late this afternoon, the Sun will reach the southern apex of its year-long journey, where it will rise and set for three days, then turn and begin its unhurried journey back to the Northern Hemisphere.

DECEMBER 22 Ice fishing should be good from now through the end of the month. Look for Sirius, the Dog Star, low in the southeast around 9 p.m.

DECEMBER 23 Black- capped chickadees, starlings and magpies are regular visitors to feeders. It’s a good time to set out suet, as they need some extra fat right now.

DECEMBER 24 Tonight was once celebrated as Mother Night, when all the great goddesses gave birth and the world was born. Animals were believed to possess the gift of speech, and the trees in the forest were said to bloom briefly at midnight, producing fruit which granted immortality.

DECEMBER 25 The modern Christmas tree originated in Germany during the Middle Ages as the primary prop in a medieval play. The “Paradise tree,” set up on December 24, the feast day of Adam and Eve, represented the Garden of Eden. The fir was decorated with the apples of temptation and wafers symbolizing the bread distributed at the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. By the 17th century, when German settlers brought the custom to the American colonies, cookies, stars and other decorations had replaced the wafers and apples.

DECEMBER 26 Moose in local canyons are beginning to shed their antlers.

DECEMBER 27 FIRST QUARTER MOON. Dark days got you feeling like a hermit? Check out the website “Hermitary— resources and reflections on hermits and solitude,” www.hermitary.com.

DECEMBER 28 Native Americans called the frozen fog that sometimes haunts the Wasatch front and other mountain valleys pogonip, and recommended against breathing it.

DECEMBER 29 If you have a cold, try an infusion of chamomile and a pinch of thyme to irrigate nasal passages. Chamomile vapor is also helpful in clearing the lungs.

DECEMBER 30 Porcupines, skunks and raccoons are denned up in tree cavities and under rock outcrops (and similar urban structures), coming out to feed during mild weather.

DECEMBER 31 The Sun rises at 7:51 a.m. today, and sets at 5:09 p.m.
Green thoughts emerge from some deep source of stillness
which the very fact of winter has released.
— Mirabel Osler

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"The Moon Dance"
by Michael Leu

CURRENT MOON

moon cycle

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