It's time for Positively Kansas.

Coming up.

Kansas researchers investigate a save the world from rising tempe We'll show you what it's all abo Also, we take an in-depth look a rough and tumble world of roller The once popular sport is making a comeback in Wichita.

We'll find out why.

Plus, we'll visit a Kansas butte farm and discover why raising monarchs has become the life's passion of this man.

Meanwhile, here's another flying that's not quite as pretty.

We'll learn all about flying spi in our Kansas Wild Edge report.

Im Sierra Scott.

A half hour of and inspiration is coming your w on this edition of Positively Ka Some claim it's the greatest thr facing humanity.

Others disagree.

But whatever your beliefs about climate change and global some Wichita State researchers have been investigating a possible solution that is out of this world.

Literally.

Chris Frank shed some light on what they dis on such sunny days as this.

It's nice to have a parasol to h the sun.

Well, how about a sun shade for The idea of putting some sort of parasol in space is It's been around for about a cen as science to search for answers to climate Yeah, so there's been many peopl who've proposed this idea.

There's even a space sunshade fo that's trying to see if this idea makes sense.

The Planetary Sunshade Foundatio he referred to was formed in 202 because its founders say current at stabilizing Earth's climate are insufficient The foundation believes solar ra management is needed as part of a global warming solu And I simply suggested that there's a lot of big name p who are suggesting that they cou the climate global climate probl by simply blocking of 1 or 2% of the light off.

Wichita State physics professor Doctor Nicholas Salami took the sunshade proposal on as an environmental physics clas Grad student Kelly Kabler was taking the clas as part of her graduate Certificate in Space Science.

This research lines up with Kablers, space science stu and desire to work in the space Professor salami suggested to grad student to analyze the sunshade proposal for potential effectiveness.

Why don't we see how accurate th and how?

Let's put some of our own physic and see if we could what reality Keibler says their efforts were to answer que the sunshade proposals bring up.

Their project is called slowing Climate Change.

Is there relief in the shadows?

Just see whether or not it would effective.

was one question we were trying And if what the percentage actua how much of the sunlight would you have to block out for to be a viable option, to counte the effects of climate change?

They wanted to know how big a su was necessary to deflect enough solar energy to drop the global temperature 1 to return Earth's temperature to it was at the start of the indus That 1.5 centigrade drop is the goal of the Paris Accord.

The model actually allows you to manipulate how big the sun's shade would be, and it turns out, or ends up com how long it would take for the t the temperature of the planet to go down to counteract, the climate change effects.

Salomé says some proposals inclu putting highly reflective partic in the upper atmosphere, such as a chemical or another su putting highly reflective metal particles in space.

Another proposal putting a sunshade at the point where the sun's and Earth's gravity are equal.

So the shade would be in a sustainable point.

In science, it's called the L1 p Many may ask if any of those proposals are pr The point of our project wasn't necessarily to determine whether it was practical.

It was more to determine the numbers behind it so that somebody else can figure how to make it practical.

In other words, they're not about devising a dev It's to use math to gauge the effectiveness of the sunshade pr Their math finds a sunshade would need to be 930 miles wide to really be effectiv But the effectiveness of such a massive shade, they say, would only last about If it still is going to take us to see the temperature of the pl go down.

And that effect is only going to for 60 years.

Then you have to ask the questio you know, is it worth the cost and the expense.

Because as you said, it could be far more expensive than landing on the moon or the Manhattan Project.

That question and others are raised in the stu The WSU paper was accepted for c discussion.

Cabler presented the results in Washington, D.C. at the Environmental Resiliency Conference.

Keibler says those attending wer at how large a sunshade would need to be to be effective But she says they were otherwise impressed with this research.

Any time a scientist builds a mo they have to start off with some basic assumptions.

We think we used honest assumpti but maybe we're more pessimistic than other people who were more optimistic.

In other words, we could be wron But the way science works is that you go out there to a co You present what you've done, you describe the science that went into the calculations, and you let people see if your result makes sense.

Maybe our starting assumptions were pessimistic.

Maybe they were too optimistic.

I thought they were reasonable.

So is a global sunshade even a g We left the practicality on the We've got the numbers presented.

We believe those numbers to be c And I think it's probably up to who is in a different field than we are to probably take tha to the next level and answer that question.

Yeah, it becomes an engineering at one point.

But for now, Professor Solomon says they're finding to indicate a global sunshade may not be pra Then we were surprised that using a physics approach, we didn't actually agr with them.

It's not unusual to have disagre among scientists, especially on such a complicated This is Chris Frank for Positive Our researchers acknowledge that even if the global sunshade idea it would only be a partial solut to rising temperatures.

Well, there's a roller derby rev in Wichita, Kansas.

Women are lacing up their skates to compete, enterta well, just have fun on the oval Kris Frank has our story.

All right, it's time to introduc tonight's home team, rocket City.

Wichita Roller Derby continues on the rising.

Number 14.

Cut me.

After being sidelined by the Cov pandemic for a couple of years.

As you heard the announcers say, the Wichita women's team calls itself wicked And how about the javelin?

We've got Eva Knevil for their h which are also called bouts played at the Cotillion Ballroom in West Wichita.

That dateline 1935, Chicago, Ill the birthplace of the roller ska young entrepreneur Leo Seltzer s an idea on a tablecloth, giving birth to the fast paced sport of roller derby.

Roller derby has actually been a since the 1930s.

The sport back then became a popular, entertain distraction from the economic de going on.

Venues like roller derby grew in the television age becoming a full contact sport la Those were scripted made for TV played out on oval shaped tracks in the 1970s.

Oh go go go go.

Today's derbies are played out on flat tracks rather than banked oval tracks.

Oval tracks have to be construct and then taken down.

Flat tracks are more practical.

Decades ago, several roller derby movies were made, including Kansas City Bomber starring Raquel Welch.

In 1972.

But that was then.

Today's roller derby isn't like These players say, you know, it's not the theatrica It once was.

We can't punch each other.

Kings hammered by Jackie Don.

But we can't fight.

It's a legitimate, real sport.

Not saying that it wasn't back t They obviously had to be amazing to do what they were doing.

But it's just it's different tod Coach Dixon points out it's not the violent sport of th Players aren't allowed to kick, trip, punch, elbow or clothesline playing opponents Still, today's roller derby is very much a contact spo As player coach Priscilla Bruce, the Penguin poi But there is no personal space i derby.

You become, you become best frie You will get smacked in the face hit in the face.

She tells the younger players.

Bumps and bruises will occur in of normal play, but the overt, purposeful, gratuitous, violent actions of the past are not allo That's how in Skate Around, the team drills at the Skate Sou This night includes a beginners The newbies are learning the finer points of the sport and figuring out if it's something they want to g They mix it up with the veterans and learn from them.

It's really fun and I love havin new friends and I love making ne And our team is really a family, so it's awesome.

It's a good way to work out and I love it, really.

I love the sport.

There's a wide range in the ages A million Meals on Wheels.

Holloway is only 12 years old.

She's been with the team eight w I really like skating and my mom helped me out a lot w so I don't it, so I tried it.

You've probably noticed by now the players all have nicknames t It's roller derby tradition.

Coach Allison Dixon goes by Nana's Jinks, a takeoff from the character Jar Jar Binks, who was known for being clumsy and annoying.

Lisa Constantine thinks this is your humble servant.

Well, I'm kind of tall, and when I first started, I was very clumsy and a little a because I'm very talkative.

So, like Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars and Star Wars.

Come on.

As I get the great.

Those derby names give players a chance to take on their alternative entourage persona.

They have their normal day jobs or schoolwork and their pla Well, they represent an edgier p while playing roller derby.

Women have taken the lead in reviving roller derby, dominating the sport to t There are many teams and coed te just not as many.

Here, the team drills to be ready for So this is simulating that.

One of these blockers has to leave.

Maybe for a penalty.

Maybe offense is being played on So you're losing a player.

So when they lose pain klutz is going to flip and fill You're just putting your butt th That's it.

The pack is comprised of two teams of five.

The drills make sense as one learns the game and offen Teams demonstrate how to score a before about begins.

To help spectators understand the strategies the referee and the pointing fin Miranda Krause, known as Miranda Lauren, saw a roller derby bounc at the Cotillion Ballroom and kn this was something she wanted to I think some of it.

I like the a it's definitely a good way to stay active, and the camaraderie is really ni Like, the team is incredible.

Like, everyone's just like best and we help each other out, and I think that's awesome.

and I think that, like, the sport is so different from any sports that I've tried I have very little hand-eye coordination, but like, if it's balance, like, it's that's kind nice, like it's easier.

Ready?

Down on the right.

Kraus is in the beginners class.

Those newbies learn from veteran like Priscilla Brose who goes by the Penguin ou She's candid about how the sport helps her me I have anger, I have anger issue I just I needed an outlet for it and I was heated between roller derby or rugby and rugby.

They run a lot and I hate to run So I've always liked roller skat I thought this would be the best Go go go go.

She's been involved in roller derby since 2015.

It is a good workout.

we do like, we do endurance stuf where we'll, you know, we used to have to skate like, 27 laps and five minutes.

so we do a lot of stuff just to keep your body in shape because you're getting hit.

There's a lot of short, explosive movements.

So we've got to make sure that we are prepared for that.

Obviously taking hits, giving hi just making sure that we watch out for ourselves and our teammates.

One of those teammates is Delane Smith, shown here at the front of the pack and now rotating.

She's a veteran having started i Her playing name is Iva Knievel, after the famed motorcycle daredevil entertainer named Evel So we're working on if you have one of your own play a blocker goes to the penalty bo We're working on, fixing the sea and having someone else filling Smith has turned her love of rol and skating in general into a bu she owns and operates cherry Bom in the Riverside neighborhood, catering to all skaters.

She says the Wichita team played hometown of El Dorado when she w Smith watched and was hooked.

I was obsessed with it ever sinc Smith says women who attend a ga take the bait to join and then w to be ready.

I think it's a lot of female sup I think a lot of women really find themselves attracted to that part of it, where it's a lot of people who are just here to see you suc and push you to be a better play and a better person, both on and off the track as wel How about the javelin?

We've got the eagle for and Derby plays.

You may see either Knievel playi the pivot role both jamming and She says some things about the s aren't understood until you play I didn't realize how much of a mental sport roller derby was, upon joining.

It's a lot of patience, so you have to be patient with y and it's a lot of learning.

You have to be extremely coachab it is also extreme, rewarding once you get something that you've been practicing for weeks or months or a whole y and it finally clicks that feeling of finally nailing something is just so rewarding, rewarding mentally, physically, and socially, but not monetarily Money collected from paid attend goes towards team grants and jer Players aren't paid.

The team hoping sponsors come forward to help support the In the meantime, the newbies and veterans work to their skills to entertain fans and win on the Who are we?

We are.

Get.

This is Chris Frank for Positive The Wicked City team plays home matches at the Cotillion Ba Look for the team's schedule on Spring in Kansas means so many beautiful things b trees, plants and flowers and th grass.

It's also when you start seeing monarch butterflies fluttering their wings.

Anthony Powell profiles a Wichit who has made raising the butterf his life's work.

From the front, Ryan Malone's riverside home makes you stop and simply appreciate the beauty of various vegetation But it's the back of the house where the wonders of nature are even more on display.

This is where Ryan has created the Hatchery Butterfly Farm, a b he started in 2019 when he bough and has been doing full time eve We started with a tour of a gree that doubles as a flight house.

but there's monarchs flying in h there nectar over there on some of this nectar solution.

But it's not just butterflies in These are cabbage white caterpillars.

They're the same color as the le but they're those white butterfl that fly around everywhere.

Ryan raises 17 breeds of butterf and provides them for exhibits around the country, including Wichita's Botanic Gard Butterflies have been his passio since he was a young kid in the And so that was when the height of the monarch population was, it's was about like 12 times the size of that it is now.

so I remember in elementary scho then migrating the fall, and there just be hundreds of bu on my school's campus.

He was mesmerized by their bold and how they glided so effortles in high school.

Ryan's passion continued as he h lead a native habitat butterfly restoration pr It became the thing that I would when I was procrastinating, you know, homework and not wanti you know, train for different sports or whatever I was just researching butterfli and butterfly plants.

At Creighton University in Nebra He was on the pre-med path.

But even as much focus as that t he could never let go of his lov for butterflies.

Every summer I would come back a butterflies from my parents gard or one summer, I had a job at a flower farm where I was cutting the plants and things like that.

And a lot of flowers for flower are actually host plants for but So I'd be saving all those cater and raising those, but then I wo Ryan would eventually change his and transfer to Wichita State, which also helped him be where h most comfortable working with bu After graduating, he took a 9 to but soon realized butterflies were meant to be his life's work It is taking a tremendous amount to get his business where it is A year, in fact, to remove the B grass that swallowed up his back and prevented Ryan from planting vegetation needed to feed caterp So you literally are raising doz and dozens of different types of vegetation to feed the caterpillar?

Yes.

Wow, that's a lot of work.

Yeah.

So I mostly, you know, grew a lot of these from seed myself.

But it's a labor of love, to be Because as you might imagine, Ry never tires talking about caterp and butterflies.

Taking us through the lifecycle an egg is laid, and it's about a for 3 to 5 days, depending on te And then a caterpillar hatches o monarchs are usually caterpillar for about two weeks, but then swallow tails are normally caterpillars for ab Ryan tells us that only 5% of la will actually become caterpillar and then butterflies, because the eggs and caterpillar such an important ecosystem role They are a foundation of the foo chain for so many things that they're, ants, wasps, you know, lizards, caterpillars are basically protein packed little things that, are crucial for the diet, for the entire ecosystem and for those caterpillars that do become butterflies.

Their main role is to quickly re any one butterfly like an adult One of them could lay up to 250 over that two week span.

That cause most butterflies, and I live about 2 to 3 weeks as That's all they lived.

Yeah.

In those few short weeks, they also help pollinate his pla and uplift people's spirits.

Culturally, they are just beautiful and mean You know, everyone sees them as a sign of rebirth or change.

Beauty reflected in butterfly cl Ryan has created that.

Oh, his attracts attention.

Oh my gosh, your jacket.

That is so cool.

And then, I mean, then they're a victim of my, excitement, talking about butter So they're forced to listen for about 20 minutes.

All of us should be so lucky to have that kind of passion for For Ryan Malone, racing butterfl has never felt like a job.

Rather a lifelong love that is turned into the most joy imaginable in Wichita.

I'm Anthony Powell for Positivel Ryan Malone also reminds us that some butterflies can actual quite fierce and conniving.

The Japanese oak blue butterfly, for example, drums the ants with a sweet, mind altering nectar that's so the ants will guard their cat from wasps, spiders, and other p And speaking of spiders, they're not as beautiful as butt to most of us, but these two bug have more in common than you may As we find out in this week's Kansas Wild Edge Report.

The north wind brings autumn to And wild fliers arrive on strong to refuel before heading south t South.

But they aren't the only ones ea to reach new places before winte Spiders forming on October days are alwa for a fast, free ride into new hunting groun and lacking wings.

They use their own specialty to catch the wind silk.

It's called ballooning, and it's an ingenious way to fly distances that range from a few yards to m It's normally thought of as a wa for new hatchling spiders to disperse from their e They build a nursery web, venture the twig and leaf points and then throw out silk that is caught by the breeze.

This carries them a lot to new h But in stronger winds.

Ballooning also works for bigger and heavie These climb to open spaces with full access to moving air, and they wait for a gust that can take them airborne.

Standing straight up with abdome held high, they fire jets of silk from their spinning rich background.

And when the tug of wind is suff they let go to sail away up.

While waiting, they may fight an for the best positions.

They can, of, found in many sizes and kinds of spiders may be pres found by.

The patience pays off, and soon all will get the ride.

They're looking for.

If the breeze fails on takeoff, they simply climb back up to try Hip hop hop, hop.

It's seldom seen and few people are aware of flying spide But it's extremely common, especially in fall, and evidence is found in vast amounts of silv threads that wave in the wind while the spiders simply ride their parachutes until they And then they set up camp in their new surroundings.

For ballooning.

What a way for free airfare.

I'm Mike Blair for Positively Ka Well, that's a wrap for this wee Positively Kansas at KTS dawg is our email address.

If you have a question, comment idea, I. Cierra Scott.

Thanks for watchin We'll see you again soon.