UTAH YOUTH ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS

Catch up with UYES in the news.

Rocky Mountain Community Radio Weekly News Roundup: 3/11/2026

March 7, 2026. By Maeve Conran, KSUT. This week on the Regional Roundup. We hear a report on the growing outdoor recreation economy, get a look at an abortion doula program supporting patients in Western Colorado, and feature youth activists rallying at the Utah legislature in support of efforts to save the Great Salt Lake.

2026 Utah legislature on Great Salt Lake, Colorado River and the environment

March 7, 2026. By Ben Winslow, Fox 13. The announcement hit like a welcome thunderstorm in the drought. FOX 13 News was the first to report that Utah’s Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands had successfully won an auction for the bankruptcy assets of U.S. Magnesium, a company branded one of Utah’s top polluters and located on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. The state wanted the water to help save the shrinking lake. Lawmakers rushed through $30 million in funding to make it happen.

Utah Wants To Refill The Great Salt Lake In Just Eight Years

March 7, 2026. By iHeartRadio. Utah is mounting an ambitious — and some say near-impossible — campaign to refill the Great Salt Lake by 2034, when Salt Lake City is set to host the Winter Olympic Games. The effort has drawn an unlikely coalition of Republican lawmakers, environmental groups, business leaders, and even President Donald Trump.

Activists rally in support of Great Salt Lake conservation legislation

February 27, 2026. By Georgia Metcalfe, Daily Utah Chronicle. A few dozen conservation activists and citizens rallied at the Capitol on Wednesday to urge state legislators to revisit SB250, a bill allocating $200 million in funding for the Great Salt Lake. Sen. Nate Blouin sponsored the bill.

RADIOACTIVE WORKSHOP TACKLES ART AND A.I.

February 26, 2026. By Lara Jones, KRCL.

Hijacked bill will push resolution on saving the Great Salt Lake

February 26, 2026. By Ben Winslow, Fox 13. SALT LAKE CITY — Rep. Joseph Elison’s bill has been hijacked by his House Republican colleagues and he’s OK with it.

Group calls on Utah to reconsider stalled Great Salt Lake bill amid $1B federal request

February 25, 2026. By Carter Williams, KSL. SALT LAKE CITY — A few dozen people showed up at the Utah Capitol on Wednesday to urge state lawmakers to reconsider a $200 million Great Salt Lake bill, increasing their pressure after learning how much money the state has asked of President Donald Trump.

Voices: Young Utahns are doing our part to save the Great Salt Lake. We’re asking lawmakers to do the same.

February 21, 2026. By Muskan Walia and Nate Blouin, The Salt Lake Tribune. For the past few years, a familiar refrain has echoed through conversations about the Great Salt Lake: If things don’t change, people will leave. Businesses will relocate. Families will move. Young people will take their futures elsewhere.

Youth advocates aim to move $200 million to Great Salt Lake conservation

February 20, 2026. By Thys Reynolds, Utah Public Radio. Like many of her fellow activists, Autumn Featherstone says she is disappointed by the lack of public funding for Great Salt Lake conservation.

Bill to increase Great Salt Lake funding stalls in committee

February 16, 2026. By Georgia Metcalfe, Daily Utah Chronicle. Mountains without snow. A start to February that feels like April. The Great Salt Lake so dry, scientists warn of “serious adverse effects” on people, wildlife and the landscape.

‘Real, tangible action’: Young Utahns push lawmakers to rescue the Great Salt Lake

February 10, 2026. By Anna Knox, Utah News Dispatch. Mountains without snow. A start to February that feels like April. The Great Salt Lake so dry, scientists warn of “serious adverse effects” on people, wildlife and the landscape.

What is being done to stop the Great Salt Lake from shrinking?

February 7, 2026. By Eva Terry, Deseret News. The shores of the Great Salt Lake, the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, have been receding for several decades, but Utah Gov. Spencer Cox seems determined to fill it back up.

PODCAST: IS EVERYONE WELCOME HERE?

February 5, 2026. By Lara Jones, KRCL.

Utah lawmaker wants state to match $200M Great Salt Lake fundraising effort

February 4, 2026. By Carter Williams, KSL. SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s philanthropic community came together last year to pledge $200 million toward efforts to get water back to the Great Salt Lake so it’s healthy in time for when Utah hosts the 2034 Winter Olympics.

LAWSUIT THREATENED OVER GREAT SALT LAKE ENDANGERED SPECIES PETITION

October 2, 2025. By Ben Winslow, Fox 13 News. SALT LAKE CITY — Dozens danced and sang and protested on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, demanding more action to save it. 

Utah teens lead 2034 Olympics-inspired protest supporting Great Salt Lake

October 28, 2024. By Mariah Maynes, KSL NewsRadio. SALT LAKE CITY — A group of Utah teens held an Olympics-inspired protest Saturday, drawing attention to the negative impacts a drying Great Salt Lake could have on the state and the 2034 Olympics. 

Young Utahns Suing State, Calling for Climate Action

May 4, 2023. By Alex Gonzales, Public News Service. Lola Maldonado grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah’s most populous metro area, nestled into the west side of the Wasatch Mountains, where the range’s highest peak, Mount Nebo, stands nearly 12,000 feet…

To be carbon neutral by 2040, here are the steps Salt Lake City schools are starting now

Oct. 13, 2022. By Sofia Jeremias, Salt Lake Tribune. Among other changes, solar panels are being installed at six schools as part of a $29.5 million project.

Highland students lead a Die-In mourning the Great Salt Lake

Sep. 29, 2022. By Nate Luthy, Highland Rambler. On an afternoon in early September, a group of students laid down to rest in the dry lakebed of the Great Salt Lake, surrounded by headstones. They were protesting the shrinking of the Great Salt Lake…

Utah’s youth climate activists held a funeral for the Great Salt Lake

Sep 16, 2022. By Caroline Tracey, High Country News. ‘Even though we’re the ones speaking up, the only landscape we know is something dead.’

Great Salt Lake a sovereign entity ‘worthy of legal rights,’ group says

Sep. 14, 2022. By Ben Winslow, Fox 13 News. New approach in law tries to puts natural resources and wildlife on the same legal footing as humans.

Utah youth hold mock funeral for Great Salt Lake in call to action for state legislators

Sep. 5, 2022. By Ryan Bittan, ABC4. Young organizers from Utah Youth Environmental Solutions (UYES) carried out a demonstration at the Great Salt Lake Saturday, holding a “funeral” for the lake which is rapidly approaching ecological collapse.

Utah youth hold “die-in” to mourn the decline of Great Salt Lake

Sep. 5, 2022. By Saige Miller, KUER 90.1. Over 100 people walked silently in a single file on the dry Great Salt Lake bed Saturday. They wanted to send a message to elected Utah leaders that a healthy Great Salt Lake is vital to the environment, residents and future generations.

Utah youths hold ‘die-in’ for Great Salt Lake, challenge elected leaders to take bolder action

Sep 4, 2022. By Leia Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune. With the lake receding most of their lives, Wasatch Front students call out policymakers for leaving the burden of its fallout on their shoulders.

Youth group holds ‘die-in’ to illustrate dire situation of shrinking Great Salt Lake

Sep. 3, 2022. By Mythili Gubbi, Fox 13 Salt Lake City. A group of youth activists is hoping to make a change and is pushing for state leaders to address the Great Salt Lake crisis now — sooner rather than later.

Utah youth to hold funeral style demonstration for Great Salt Lake

Sep. 2, 2022. By Alejandro Lucero, KSL. Young Utahns with the Utah Youth Environmental Solutions Network plan to gather at the Great Salt Lake, on Sept. 3, to hold a “funeral-style”  demonstration. The group plans to stage a “die-in”…

Why these students want Utah to make a change to climate education

Mar. 25, 2022. By Carter Williams, KSL. Natalie Roberts walked around the Utah State Board of Education building Friday afternoon with a stack of reports and a letter signed by students regarding how climate change is taught in Utah schools…

Want to see the faces fighting climate change? Check out these teenagers in Park City

Nov. 21, 2021. By Lee Benson, Deseret News. Park City High School students are responsible for getting the school district to set a goal of achieving 100% clean energy by 2030…

SLC Schools plans to achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2030

Oct. 8, 2021. By Jason Nguyen, ABC4. Salt Lake City School District is now adopting a student plan to achieve 100% clean-renewable electricity by 2030, and carbon neutrality by 2040. The district has 43 buildings, and students found they are the largest source…

Sustainability – Salt Lake City School District

By Gregory Libecci, Salt Lake City School District. During the June 2020, Salt Lake Board of Education meeting, students from Highland, East, and West high schools presented a Sustainability Resolution that was revised then unanimously approved!…

Salt Lake school board vows to create ‘more environmentally sustainable schools’

Jun. 20, 2020. By Marjorie Cortez, Deseret News. With the objective of establishing “healthier, more environmentally sustainable schools,” the Salt Lake City Board of Education has adopted a resolution that calls on the school district to meet all of its energy needs with…

Student-initiated resolution to power Salt Lake City School District with 100% clean energy adopted

Jun. 8, 2020. Renewable Energy World. The Salt Lake City District School board unanimously passed a resolution at a recent meeting, establishing the goal of transitioning the school district to 100% clean electricity by 2030, and off fossil fuels…

Utah youth lead rally over climate change

Dec. 6, 2019. By Amy Joi O’Donoghue, Deseret News. Young activists joined by some older counterparts rallied on the steps of the state Capitol Friday about climate change and issues like the inland port before delivering 4,000 letters to…

How a group of teenagers convinced the Utah legislature to recognize climate change

May 22, 2018. By Isabella Gomez and Saeed Ahmed, CNN. Piper Christian has yet to vote in her first election, but she’s already changing the political landscape in her state. The 18-year-old from Utah spent two years spearheading a resolution…

High schoolers forced Utah to admit climate change is real

May 9, 2018. By Jack Greene, High Country News. It sounds completely improbable: The Utah Legislature recently adopted a resolution that moves the state from denial of global climate change to the recognition that finding a solution is crucial…