To meet its current consumption levels with renewable energy, the United States would need the area equivalent to what’s currently used for maple syrup.

Put another way, we could get rid of corn ethanol, switch 30% of the freed-up farmland to solar to generate 100% of US electricity, and use the other 70% of the freed-up land for whatever we want.

To clarify, per mile driven, corn -> ethanol -> combustion vehicle uses 100 times more land than solar PV -> power grid -> electric vehicle.

Next time someone asks you about energy and land use, maybe remind them that the ~35 million acres that currently grow corn for ethanol in the US could produce ~15 PWh per year of electricity from solar photovoltaics. That's ~3.5 times more than *total annual generation from all US power plants*.

It is quite naive to think that we can afford to build anything else than multifamily housing when it’s a subsidized project for low income farm workers. This country had a “single family normativity” issue where we expect that anyone can live in a low density home

Utah’s water situation is looking absolutely BLEAK. We’ve had above-average temps, a record-low amount of water coming out of the snow we did get, reservoirs will be strained and EVERYONE is being asked to conserve no matter where you are in the state: www.fox13now.com/news/utah-dr... #utpol #Utah

Despite GOP lawmakers' rush to change Utah law, more than 8,000 voters have asked to have their signatures removed from petitions supporting a repeal of Utah’s anti-gerrymandering law.

This is an adopted regulation for parks. Don’t have fun kids.

Washington just passed a “millionaire tax,” after Massachusetts passed its own in 2022. New Mexico enacted universal childcare last year. And organizers in Montana and California are advancing a ballot measure that would get corporate money out of politics. We still have power to fix the system.

Letter: If middle schoolers can grasp that warmongers use bogeymen to intimidate and justify conflict, why can't the adults?

Nearly 6 billion people live in the 101 countries that a study has identified as confronting a net decline in water supply — signaling enormous challenges for food production and a heightening risk of conflict and instability. (Published July 2025)

If you're not familiar, the format for a "truth sandwich" is: * start with a true statement * introduce the newsworthy lie or distortion * true statement again The idea is that the false claim should not be the first or last impression. It's useful when you think a lie should not be ignored.

This is insane.

1. A few months before it started a war in Iran, the Trump administration decommissioned the last of its four mine countermeasure ships. These ships were “capable of finding, classifying and destroying moored and bottom mines.” Now the Strait of Hormuz is closed.

NEW: Toxic oil waste is increasingly shooting out of the ground in Oklahoma, contaminating the state’s drinking water. We found that regulators identified 2,000 problem wells in a 2021 report. Then they ignored their findings. With @readfrontier.bsky.social

America first is America alone.

I remember seeing images of the last minesweepers being transported out of the gulf, like… two months ago. They really could not be bothered to plan two months in advance, or never bothered to study literally what every war game involving the gulf foresaw as a risk in the Hormuz Strait. Mining.

Take note SLC 👀

masterful gambit to make shipping costs go up higher by artificially reducing the supply of truck drivers in the middle of the biggest energy crisis in 50 years

If you want better things, elect Democrats, keep electing Democrats, elect better Democrats, & reward them when they come through.

Another mega computing campus is planned near the Great Salt Lake, fueling concerns the Utah Inland Port Authority is driving water-hungry growth.

ICE has killed someone new.

“This is not just a budget adjustment,” writes Utah Women & Leadership Project Director Susan R. Madsen in an op-ed. “It is an existential threat to work that tens of thousands of Utahns rely on.”

Almost like it was a mistake to alienate all of our allies with idiotic trade wars, and then launch an actual hot war where we needed their help gcaptain.com/trump-calls-...

Incredible that to some people, ending capitalism seems like a most viable solution than ending single family zoning

This should be the biggest weather and climate news on your radar today. You can send an email today to say why dismantling NCAR is a bad idea for everyone: [email protected]

Trump’s Make America Sick Again plan takes another step forward.

I hope every company that tries to do this gets shut down so hard that it becomes a third rail no other company is willing to touch.

Here's a new one: ICE detained a man in Utah who had been arrested for a suspected drug sale ... that turned out to be dried pinto beans. Utah case was dropped but the man, who arrived in US as a minor and has deferred action, was transfered to ICE. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

NAACP Salt Lake City: “A detention center designed to rapidly process deportations risks creating a system that prioritizes detention first and questions later, an approach that has too often resulted in civil rights violations, family separation and the erosion of due process.”

Utah Senate/House Democrats: “We will do everything in our power to defend the constitutional and due process rights of all those who call Utah home.”

SLC Council: “Our neighbors — no matter where they were born — deserve safety, dignity and the opportunity to thrive. News like this undermines those goals for our community.”

SLC Mayor Erin Mendenhall: “Let me be clear. A detention center does not belong in our capital city — full stop.” SL County Mayor Jenny Wilson: “We cannot allow aggressive and often unlawful federal enforcement tactics to take root in our community.”

Voices for Utah Children: “We are deeply concerned about the negative consequences of having an ICE facility in our state, especially for children in immigrant families. …This will not make us safer or stronger; it will only increase family separations.”

I read the “Save America Act,” so you don’t have to. Most of the media apparently *hasn’t* read it because, if they had, they would be sounding the alarm about the provision in Point 1, below, which almost none of them have even mentioned. I hope this summary helps raise awareness. 1/

The University of Utah is poised to assume ownership of a historic train station on the western edge of downtown Salt Lake City, although it remains unclear what it plans to do with it. https://www.ksl.com/article/51463137/u-to-assume-ownership-of-historic-rio-grande-depot-in-salt-lake-city

Sickening racism from a sitting senator. The Ogles hate is contagious. You’re either calling this out or normalizing it. There’s no third option.

Oh, hell no

Trump ended the IRS Direct File program that allowed millions of taxpayers to file taxes for free. That happened after Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, lobbied the government to block the IRS from launching its own program. Intuit also donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration. See how this works?

Geez, this is bleak

And who just gave this corporation a pardon? Donald Trump.

The suburban branch set for the biggest upgrades will share space with a prominent performing arts group.

Skateparks are the fourth most used recreation space in terms of total weekly use hours…ahead of things like dog parks. And if we want to teens to be healthy and active, we need to create spaces for them to do their thing. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Back in architecture school, I designed a skatepark to accompany a multi-family housing project. At my final presentation, a member of the review board noted that one of the community concerns was crime in the area and asked if a skatepark would exacerbate the problem. (1/2)

Skateboarding is a unique urban art/sport that attracts people (often teens) to get active outside, often in underutilized spaces. Forward thinking cities (Paris, Malmo, Minneapolis, etc.) are embracing skateboarding to help advance urbanism and meet sustainability goals.

Stories ≠ literature, and I swear they're just coming up with these things to piss us off

Minesweeper but it's the Strait of Hormuz. Source: sweepthestrait.com

83 points on 43 FGA and 43 FTA has to be the most ludicrous stat line in NBA history.

SLCo GOP follows the rest of the party's descent into white supremacism. Shirley has called for exposing the "Jewish Invasion" in New Jersey, spread blatant lies targeting Somalis in Minnesota, and uses his mission language to target, exploit, and humiliate Latino immigrants on his YouTube channel.