Amelia Diehl

As someone who is not from Utah, or this region, I see myself as a cross-pollinator. When I look out at Great Salt Lake, I can’t help but be reminded of the awe and expansiveness of the Great Lakes I’m used to, and I’ve been reflecting a lot on what these regions can teach each other. 

This is a really fascinating time to be living in Salt Lake City. We are witnessing, and participating in, a very intentional, collective effort to question damaging assumptions about Great Salt Lake. And I think it’s rare to see, in real time, a community come together to make this deliberate effort to actively co-create, and recover, narratives of what an ecosystem means. That kind of cultural shift takes a long time, and also resembles an ecosystem, consisting of many different interdependent voices and ways of knowing, and ways of taking action. This cultural awakening is a testament to the power of narrative, how stories are alive, and we get to write the story of Great Salt Lake together.

Amelia Diehl is a co-producer of Stay Salty: Lakefacing Stories. She is a writer, musician, and organizer with a background in community based storytelling and grassroots climate justice. She grew up in Michigan where the Great Lakes were foundational to her sense of belonging.