This week’s Local Motion brings you a regional roundup from Rocky Mountain Community Radio. The program is packed with stories from across the Mountain West—stories of community, climate, and culture.
We begin in Moab, Utah, where citizen scientists are helping map the city’s hottest and coolest zones. With the help of heat sensors and GPS trackers, volunteers like Adrian Corticelli and Mimi Drozdetsky are driving and walking the streets of Moab to gather hyper-local climate data. The project, a collaboration between the City of Moab and the nonprofit Science Moab, aims to guide future decisions about cooling centers, shade infrastructure, and heat mitigation.
“Folks said loud and clear that we’re seeing intensifying heat, wind, and flooding,” said Science Moab’s Kerry Schwartz. “These are things we’re going to have to continue dealing with. What is the city doing to help us mitigate those risks?”
From Moab, we head to Kiowa County, Colorado, where researchers with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies are up before dawn, listening for birds. Crew leader Eric Defonso walks us through the meticulous process of surveying bird populations and surrounding habitat, part of a growing effort to monitor how climate and land use are impacting avian life.
“We’re not just writing down the birds,” Defonso explains. “We need to notate the distance to the bird, whether we heard a call or a song, and what kind of vegetation surrounds the site.”
Then, it’s off to the Montrose County Fair in Western Colorado, where kids in jeans and boots parade their pigs and steers around the arena. It’s the culmination of a year of hard work for these young people—and the crowd is standing-room only.
“I usually cry after they’re gone,” one young exhibitor admits.
The fair is about much more than ribbons and prize money. Parents say it teaches responsibility, business skills, and commitment. As one father put it, “It’s not really about the steer. It’s about the kid.”
Finally, we hear from author Will Potter, whose new book, Little Red Barns: Hiding the Truth from Farm to Fable, investigates the impacts of industrial agriculture—and the legal tactics used to shield it from public scrutiny.
