Virtual rally to save the GSL held just before 2022 legislative session
More than 400 people joined a virtual rally Saturday afternoon to speak about the shrinking Great Salt Lake just before the 2022 legislative session.
The event was originally planned to take place in person at the Utah State Capitol, but due to the rising numbers in coronavirus cases, the organizers of Save Our Great Salt Lake moved the proceedings to Zoom.
During the virtual meeting the co-founder and executive director of Save Our Great Salt Lake, Denise Cartwright, said the Great Salt Lake hit a historic low this past summer.
“It is drying up and leaving behind a toxic lake bed that’s on its way to becoming one of the largest dust emission sources in North America,” Cartwright said.
According to Cartwright, ecosystem collapse at the Great Salt Lake is preventable, but so far Utah legislators have failed to take meaningful action.
“We’re here to demand our elected officials prioritize water conservation,” Cartwright said.
Cartwright said she would be sending the recording of the Zoom to the legislators in the following week. Plans to flood elected officials’ mailboxes were made — and attendees of the rally were asked to fill out a Google form with their information and messages.
The Vice Chairman of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation Brad Parry spoke about the importance of keeping balance with mother nature.
“We need to become more climate adaptive,” Parry said. “We need to use less water in the population for things we don’t need.”
The Shoshone Tribe has come to depend on what the Great Salt Lake provides for the ecosystem for over a thousand years and, according to Parry, if the lake continues to dry up it will drastically affect these communities.
Working and lower class people will also face challenges as the lake continues to shrink. USU sophomore Cristina Chirvasa spoke about the loss of recreational opportunities and tourism.
“The loss of these actually leads to job loss for those working in those industries,” Chirvasa said.
Other industries — such as the brine, mineral and ski industries — will lose jobs because of these losses, according to Chirvasa.
“Without the lake, the quality of our snow will go down, and the ski and tourism industries will take a major hit,” Chirvasa said, “as will Utah’s economy.”
According to Chirvasa, those of a lower socioeconomic status are also going to be disproportionately affected by the effects of air pollution, as the water retreats and exposes more sediment to the air.
“The wind is going to carry it to the surrounding communities,” Chirvasa said, “potentially even as far as Cache Valley.”
The lake holds toxic particles like arsenic and lead in its sediments and, according to Chirvasa, when these particles become airborne, they pose health risks to humans — such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
“These conditions are going to be felt more seriously for those of lower socioeconomic status since their access to quality healthcare is limited,” Chirvasa said.
Zach Frankel, the executive director of the Utah Rivers Council, mentioned dozens of bills have been introduced over the last two decades to the Utah legislature to save water, only to be defeated by water lobbyists.
“They kill good legislation,” Frankel said. “Because they work for water suppliers that make money selling water.”
Frankel is hopeful there are some legislators who will have the ethical courage to stand up to these water lobbyists — though he acknowledged there will be legislators who will not help the Great Salt Lake this legislative session.
“It is our job to sort out that difference to demand of our Utah legislators the ethical courage that we as Utahns want to save the Great Salt Lake,” Frankel said.
Many artists have contributed to this cause, creating artwork featured on Save Our Great Salt Lake’s Instagram page.
Artist Nick Carpenter made a graphic design of an eared grebe, as they are one of the species of bird that has the most to lose from the lake receding.
“Over half of their population migrates to the Great Salt Lake every summer to gorge themselves on brine shrimp,” Carpenter said. “And once they’re here, they molt their flight feathers.”
If conditions at the lake decline after these birds have arrived for the season, there could be a huge die-off since they won’t be able to fly anywhere else, according to Carpenter.
Carpenter finds humans have a similar relationship to the lake.
“We are also grounded and can’t easily move our cities and infrastructure if the lake were to dry up and become a dust bowl,” Carpenter said.
Author and activist Terry Tempest Williams attended and spoke at the rally. Williams wrote about the lake when it was at a record high, and continues her work when it has reached the opposite.
“This is more than an ecological or political crisis,” Williams said. “It’s a spiritual one. The earth will survive us. We are the ones being baptized by fire.”