About Us
Stay Salty: Lakefacing Stories is a podcast and multimedia project about overlooked stories from people connected to and impacted by the receding Great Salt Lake. We grapple with what it means to stay in the Great Salt Lake Basin as we face an ecological and public health crisis. We ask: Why stay? How to stay? And who gets to stay (or leave)? As we ask these hard questions, we also tap into the salty humor many of our communities use to get through challenging times.
Our project centers people of color, Indigenous, queer, disabled and working-class voices that often go unheard. We aim to create space for collective memory, grief, love and possibility for Utah’s imperiled inland sea and all the human and more-than-human life that depend on the great waterbody. We uncover people’s connection to place, while addressing the socioeconomic and political factors that influence belonging and mobility. We also identify pathways to heal, restore, and avert the crisis so all near Great Salt Lake’s shores and airsheds can live healthy, thriving lives.
So what is the crisis?
Great Salt Lake brinks on ecosystem collapse. Due to unsustainable water use made worse by climate change, the Great Salt Lake has reached record lows, threatening the lives of millions of people, millions of birds and other wildlife. This poses major threats to Utah’s economy and public health. The impacts of toxic dust storms are already hitting working-class communities of color throughout counties surrounding Great Salt Lake. Scientists have warned that if we don’t take drastic, immediate action to get water to the lake, the inland sea could collapse in less than five years.
Why tell stories?
We believe stories can build understanding, compassion and connection. Our community is reckoning with how we relate to water and adapt to climate change across northern Utah. There’s a need to talk across differences and geographies to find shared solutions that work for city dwellers, industry, farmers, outdoor recreationists, and everyone intimately impacted by the fate of Great Salt Lake. We are inspired by our colleagues in the Climate Justice Alliance who say, “All of our efforts must begin with the narrative: our story and vision for the world we want and know is possible.”
Meet The Team
Our production team includes creatives and community organizers who are rooted across the Great Salt Lake basin.
Donor Transparency
This project is produced by Of Salt and Sand, a Utah-based storytelling collective, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that produces multimedia projects with, by, and for communities most impacted by economic transition and climate crisis across Utah. The Stay Salty production team has full autonomy and editorial independence from other Of Salt and Sand projects.
Acceptance of in-kind and financial support from the below entities does not establish endorsement of donors or their products, services, or opinions. The Stay Salty production team maintains full editorial independence and authority over the content we produce and stories we share.
Current Major Funders
Utah Humanities. Utah Humanities empowers groups and individuals to improve their communities through active engagement in the humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed by Stay Salty do not necessarily represent the views of the National Endowment for the Humanities, or Utah Humanities.
Sierra Club Foundation (an independent fiscal sponsor of Sierra Club’s charitable environmental programs).
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance has provided in-kind support by letting us use its audio recording studio at its office in Salt Lake City. SUWA does not have any involvement in the project and we maintain a firewall between our editorial decisions and the organization.