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Buzzzzzz…What’s that Sound? It’s the UM Bees

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Honey – it’s delicious, nutritious, and one of the most labor-intensive food products known to man. That is, if we give credit where it’s due – to bees and those who work to keep them flourishing!

This week: Rich Wieske, maker of meade and pollinator of the City of Detroit with Green Toe Gardens and Mike Bianco UM Bees Minister (one among many!) and bee activist join us in the studio to share their wealth of knowledge and buzzing passion for reversing one of the most disquieting developments of our time – the disappearance of the honey bees. Jim Johnson, Jennifer’s uncle and backyard beekeeper, joins in the conversation too, with his account of the sacrifices burgeoning beekeepers must sometimes make to keep their hives happy over the recently brutal winter months.

Listen in and learn what intrepid beekeepers like Rich, Mike, and Jim are doing to cultivate more and better hives of happy bees.

Interested in starting your own hive(s)? Check out a beekeepers association nearest you:

At the University of Michigan: UM Bees
The Northern Bee Network
The Southern Michigan Beekeepers Association
The Michigan Beekeepers Association
The Central Ohio Beekeepers Association

STEM Africa with a Conservation Twist, Featuring Dr. Heather E. Eves

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This week Dr. Rebecca Hardin takes us on an auditory cruise across continents, academic disciplines, and musical gems like no one else can (NB: we can say that, cause she’s our hero).

Inspired by the upcoming April 1-4, 2014  U-M STEM-Africa Initiative Conference: Effective U.S. Strategies for African STEM Collaborations, Capacity Building, and Diaspora Engagement sponsored by the UM African Studies Center, Rebecca takes us through the complexities and cultural politics of technological change, economic growth, and academic research on the African Continent and in the African Diaspora.

Dr. Heather Eves enriches our conversation with insights from her conservation-oriented collaborations across Africa, the US, and Europe.  Dr. Eves has worked for over 15 years to build curriculum and build capacity on management overhunting and the bushmeat trade in Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa, most recently with the Bushmeat Free Eastern Africa Network.

If that’s not enough – we feature creative (and sometimes scathing) musical and lyrical commentary on these same issues in African and African Diasporic poetics – from the orchestral stylings of the Central African Republic, Gil-Scott Heron, and Sun-Ra to the “only MC with and MSC,” Naeto C.

It’s a show you will not want to miss.

Inspirired to learn more: Register (for free) for the upcoming UM Science, Technology, Engineering and Math conference here.

 

Food Gatherers & TedxUofM

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Food Gatherers & TedxUofM
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For over 25 years, Food Gatherers has worked to alleviate hunger and eliminate its causes in the Ann Arbor community. Priya Khangura talks to us about Food Gatherer’s innovative programs, including its food rescue operation, local food bank, school produce pantry, and farm. Listen in for some inspiration to join Food Gatherers in their fight against hunger and food waste, and visit their volunteer page for more info.

In the second half of the show, the most excellent Tedx University of Michigan team joins us to offer a preview of the 5th Tedx U of M event: Against the Grain, where this year IHIH’s own Jennifer Lee Johnson presents on the importance of retheorizing gender and sustainability in relation to the fishing industry on Lake Victoria.

Functional Fitness

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Functional Fitness
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Join us in a lively conversation around function, form, fitness, and food with Ann Arbor’s own Ryan Sullivan.  Ryan’s an impressively articulate, generous, and observant trainer and owner of the “boutique-y” gym Functional Fitness.  He’s a self proclaimed “nerd,” but we prefer to think of him as a “fitness intellectual” trained in the vernacular arts of movement.

Cookie Woolner (historian and Riot Grrrl) and Mirs Kahn (UM grad and all around awesome gal) sit in as exxxtra special guest co-hosts.

And, we get pumped with tunes from Arnold Schwarzenegger, Roots Manuva, the Descendents, Beastie Boys, Weird Al, and James Brown!

Curious re: Kettlebells? Check out this Irish Maven of Steel:

Urban Ecosystem Health

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Urban Ecosystem Health
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Ever wonder where all this newly melting snow is heading?  Whether it’s kosher to dump your paint down the drain? Or, whether there’s a toxic plumb of Dioxane 1,4 heading into the mighty Huron River?  Then listen in!

This week Evan Pratt, Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner, graces the WCBN studios with his water-related (and musical!) expertise.

And, we chair dance to Washtenaw’s own Hullabaloo!

Ann Arbor Soup + Food Recovery Network = Lunch for Your Ears

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Ann Arbor Soup + Food Recovery Network = Lunch for Your Ears
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On this show we talk about the community building power of crowd-sourcing, as well as the awesome work that students at the University of Michigan are doing to fight food waste.

Miranda Kahn and Izzy Morrison of Ann Arbor SOUP organize micro-granting dinners that bring people from around Ann Arbor together to celebrate and support positive projects in the area. For $5, attendees receive soup, salad, and a vote. The night features presentations by 4 organizations as well as live music. After presenters share their ideas and answer questions, everyone votes on who they believe should win the money gathered from the night. Ann Arbor SOUP was inspired by Detroit SOUP.

One of the organizations that Ann Arbor SOUP supported in 2013 is the University of Michigan chapter of the Food Recovery Network, which recovers surplus perishable food from campus dining halls and donates to Food Gatherers. Taylor Flowers and Hannah Gingerich of FRN talk to us about the impact of food waste, FRN’s accomplishments, and how they hope to grow in the future.

It’s Hot in Here’s Lovefest 2K14!

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It's Hot in Here's Lovefest 2K14!
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February 14th marks the most celebrated (albeit, corporatized) day for lovebirds everywhere AND one of the final days of WCBN’s Annual FUNdraiser.

In celebration of this delicate confluence – where love and money intertwine and beget more love and money –  we invited friends (and friendly lovers) of It’s Hot in Here to join our exxxtra special Lovefest 2K14 Fundraiser edition. We featured the loveliest of tunes and the hottest of our It’s Hot in Here Family for an exxtra-special hour of heart-warming, purse string-loosening news|views|grooves. Continue reading It’s Hot in Here’s Lovefest 2K14! →

Dance, Sound, and Sustainability 

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Dance, Sound, and Sustainability 
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Continue reading Dance, Sound, and Sustainability  →

Malaria, Metal, and Detroit’s Heidelberg Project, et al.

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Malaria, Metal, and Detroit's Heidelberg Project, et al.
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What do malaria, heavy metal, and community art have in common? They’re the focal points of this week’s It’s Hot In Here! We’re joined in the studio by Dr. Peter Larson, post-doctoral scholar in ecology and epidemiology at the University of Michigan, and, awesomely enough, an avid metal fan and musician. Peter shares his love of his work and music with us; introducing us to a host of metal tunes from various countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and offering some insight into the spatial distribution and determinants of infectious diseases in Kenya and Malawi.

In the second half of the show, we hear from Katie and Emily of Detroit’s Heidelberg Project. The Heidelberg Project is an open-air art environment in the heart of an urban community in Detroit’s East Side. Tyree Guyton, founder and artistic director, uses everyday, discarded objects to create a two block area full of color, symbolism, and intrigue. Now in its 27th year, the Heidelberg Project is recognized around the world as a demonstration of the power of creativity to transform lives.

[Just the] Tips for Beating the Winter Blues

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[Just the] Tips for Beating the Winter Blues
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Baby, it’s cold outside. In this episode of IHIH, we ask, “What exactly is a polar vortex?”, share some rather unusual stories about the grand fight against the winter blues, and check in with the SNRE Food Olympics.
If the show doesn’t quite warm you up enough, keep groovin’ to our music playlist (featuring such greats as Barrett Strong, ZZ Top, J Dilla, and Usher), preferably with a hot toddy in hand.