summer 12 THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH VOL. 22 NO. 1 sustainabilitySEEKING AFTER THE ROAR: RECYCLING AT UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS EVENTS TIVo-ing HEAT AND COLD: A PROF’S INNOVATIONS IN ENERGY LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: THE FOUNDER OF THE U’S ORGANIC GARDENS SOlaR IVY: A GREEN TWIST ON THE WALLS OF ACADEME Continuum_Summer12_Cover.indd 1 5/8/12 5:19 PM Continuum_Summer12_Cover.indd 2 5/8/12 4:56 PM summer 12 contents 2 Feedback Your comments 4 Campus Notebook News of the University 34 Alum Profile Engineer Kent Udell works with the elements to seek energy 8 Sidelines innovations. U students By Marcia C. take the lead Dibble in keeping cleanup green at 40 Association News athletics venues. Founders Day By Stephen scholar aims to Speckman help military bases go green; Homecoming 2012; Spring Scott Allred harvests lettuce in one of the U’s organic gardens in 2011. Awards Photo courtesy U Office of Sustainability honorees. 44 Through the Years FEATURE Keeping up with Seeking Sustainability 22 alumni 48 And Finally… A student-led effort has helped make the U campus a leader in being green. Solar Ivy By Ross Chambless Visit continuum. Environmental sustainability has become part of the way the University of Utah thinks. Awareness of sustainability utah.edu for 14 Spotlight issues influences the way buildings are built and remodeled at the U; the transportation that students, staff, and faculty For Fred members are encouraged to use; how the landscaping is irrigated; how the buildings are heated and cooled; even the additional photos Montague, food that’s grown on campus and served by the University’s dining service. Two years ago, the University completed an of the U’s sustain- founding the U’s Environmental and Energy Stewardship Initiative, or “Climate Action Plan,” for steering the University toward zero carbon ability efforts, Fred organic gardens emissions by 2050. The pages ahead explore how these transformations came to be and are continuing to take shape. We Montague’s artwork, was a step on a hope these articles provide you with new information and insights into the green changes taking place at the U. and much larger path. —The Editors more. By Elaine Jarvik Continuum_Summer12_feedback.indd 1 5/14/12 2:47 PM feedback Publisher Alan Rogers Responds William Warren I want to thank Marcia [Dibble] and the Executive Editor Continuum staff for the fine job they did with this Your Comments M. John Ashton BS’66 JD’69 interview. ... Dick Kenney raises several important PRAISE FOR TURKISH PROFESSOR Editor questions. First, there is the origin of life. This is an Jason Matthew Smith interesting question, but it is not a question about I enjoyed reading the article on the Turkish professor here at the U studying and researching Managing Editor evolution. Evolution is the process that happens Julianne Basinger BA’87 MA’91 after living things exist. The study of evolution birds [“Tracking Winged Sentinels,” Spring 2012]. I graduated from the U in 1997 with a degree EVOLUTION DOESN’T CUT It Associate Editor does not include the origin of life. In saying that all Marcia C. Dibble living things evolved from a single ancestral form in Turkish language and literature. It is very nice It is amazing the numerous problems with the Advertising Manager of life, we make no claim about where that original to see a Turkish professor at our University being theories of evolution that their scientific propo- Bill Lines BS’83 so successful. Having lived in Turkey for two years nents gloss over and at the same time refuse to give ancestor came from. Art Direction/Design The rest of Kenney’s comment involves several with my husband and young son, I know how great creationism the time of day because of its supernat- University Marketing & the Turkish people and their culture are. The travel ural nature [“Evolution of a Scientist,” Spring 2012]. Communications questions: the origin of complex adaptations, of sex, David E. Titensor BFA’91 and so on. These are great questions, each of which opportunities in Turkey are also very interesting Let me mention just a few. has motivated a great deal of research. By now, we and historically significant. Few people in the U.S. There is life itself. Evolutionists postulate that Corporate Sponsors understand how all of these phenomena evolved. know where Turkey is located or of its historical billions of years ago conditions were perfect when a ARUP Laboratories Continuing Education at the Take for example the vertebrate eye, which Kenney significance in world history. sunspot or some other natural phenomena accrued University of Utah also mentions. Generations of anti-evolutionists Keep up the great work. providing the chemicals or energy that started life Crowell Advertising have argued that organs of such complexity cannot with a single cell in the sea. Yet deprive a newborn Homestead and Zermatt Resort Intermountain Healthcare evolve. Yet Darwin had an answer in 1859. At that June N. Marvel BA’97 (whatever) of a life-required substance (air) for Physician Recruiting time, Darwin’s argument was just a hypothesis. He Academic Advisor just a few minutes and no chemical or energy will Moran Eye Center described a mechanism by which the eye might University of Utah Middle East Center restore life to a perfectly conditioned creature. Rowland Hall Then there is the fact that a single-cell amoeba University Credit Union have evolved but had no way of testing this hypoth- University of Utah esis. Modern molecular data have made it possible PROUD OF GRANDPA AND THE BLITZ KIDS has a DNA strand that is more complex than a fleet Development Office to test Darwin’s idea, and it appears that eyes I’m Vadal Peterson’s granddaughter, and I grew of 747s. There is no scientific explanation for this University of Utah Health Care Van Cott evolved just as he proposed. Many other complex up hearing how proud he was of the team and the complexity. To believe that a lightning strike or adaptations have been studied in similar detail, circumstances and events leading up to the win some other natural phenomena created it is absurd. Editorial Advisory Committee Colleen Casto BS’82 and we understand how such adaptations are [“The Blitz Kids,” Spring 2012]. Thank you for your What about the problem of reproduction? Vanessa Chang acknowledgement of this great achievement. There is no scientific explanation for the develop- Ann Clark BS’97 assembled. In the same way, we also understand the Jim DeGooyer BFA’96 evolution of sex and of reproductive systems, which ment of reproduction or the requirement for a male Kelli Fratto BS’99 Jenn Gibbs ex’02 Kenney also mentioned. Much of this material Pam Pannier BS’83 and a female in the reproductive process. How does Mike Lageschulte Comment submitted via continuum.utah.edu survival of the fittest explain this? Traci O’Very Covey BFA’83 can be found in college texts on evolution, and the Jodi Patterson Then there are the problems with the variety Keven M. Rowe BS’83 JD’86 story of the eye is in my own book, The Evidence for Kathy Wilets BA’89 Evolution. I, too, am a granddaughter of Vadal Peterson. of life (why are there mosquitoes, etc.?), the beauty Craig Wirth BS’73 Isn’t it amazing how different college sports were all around us, the intricacy of so much of life (the Although we know a lot about the phenomena Continuum is published in that Kenney mentioned, there are other phenomena back then—the coaches did not receive huge eyeball), etc. summer, fall, winter, and spring salaries, [and] the players were shorter! All the In an oversimplification, the total scientific by the University of Utah Alumni that we do not yet understand. For example, no Association and University grandchildren are proud of our grandfather! evidence consists of some visible evolution within Marketing & Communications. one yet understands that evolutionary mechanism Subscriptions are available to U that gave rise to human culture. Our ignorance of a species and a few fossils that appear to show a faculty/staff (visit continuum.utah. Linda Ruiz migration from one species to another. To accept edu/subscribe.php) and through this point, however, does not imply that no such membership in Comment submitted via continuum.utah.edu paltry evidence and totally dismiss intelligent the Alumni Association mechanism exists. It merely means that we have ($40/year). Call (801) 581-6995 not figured it out yet. design is not scientific. for more information. BECOMING A FOOtbALL FACTORY? Opinions expressed in Continuum are not neccessarily those of the Alan Rogers It saddened me greatly to learn, after reading Dick Kenney BS’56 University of Utah administration. in the Fall and Winter issues of Continuum, that my Comment submitted via continuum.utah.edu Copyright ©2012 by the University Comment submitted via continuum.utah.edu of Utah Alumni Association. The alma mater, Utah—of which I was once proud—has University of Utah is an equal opportunity/affirmative decided to become a football factory, following action institution. Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska, We’re eager to hear from you. Please Alabama, and other schools of similar ilk. Thus the contact us online at http://continuum. For advertising opportunities, please call Bill Lines definition of “university” in a Harold Lloyd comedy utah.edu/contact-us/ or send letters to at (801) 581-3718. from 1925 as “a football stadium with a couple of editor Jason Matthew Smith, Standard postage paid at Salt Lake classrooms attached.” [email protected], or to 201 City and additional mailing offices.