Explore this collection of op-eds, blog posts, radio and podcast episodes to learn what Utah youth have to say about climate and environmental justice.
Podcast: The Great Salt Lake
May 2023. By Lola Maldonado. In this podcast episode, UYES Organizer Lola Maldonado reflects on a disappearing Great Salt Lake.
Opinion: Urge your local school board to apply for renewable energy grants
Jan 15, 2023. By Aarushi Verma. School infrastructure investments can deliver critical student health and learning benefits while reducing harmful air pollution. In the past few years…
If Romney is really worried about the climate, he would not support monuments lawsuit
Sep 8, 2022. By Andie Madsen and Elias Johnson. Recently the state of Utah filed a lawsuit that challenges the Biden administration’s designation of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments to their original size…
Sustain Podcast: Youth Climate Justice
Jul. 12, 2022. Featuring Muskan Walia. In this episode of the University of Utah’s Sustain podcast, UYES Organizer Muskan Walia discusses the local youth climate movement, her work to transition Utah school districts to 100% clean energy, and…
Time to challenge Utah’s old-school energy plan
Mar. 18, 2022. By Aarushi Verma. Every 10 years, state policy makers update Utah’s energy plan. We’re there, again; and the Office of Energy Development folks have released a summary of where they think we should go.
A Gondola is the Wrong Choice for Little Cottonwood
Feb. 24, 2022. By Emma Johnson. I have vivid memories from childhood of driving up Little Cottonwood Canyon and entering a new, magical world filled with rustling leaves, glistening rocks, abundant birdsong, and…
Commentary: Utah schools should move to 100% renewable energy
May 14, 2021. By Nina Serafin, Aarushi Verma and Muskan Walia. Utah is facing threats from a changing climate, which endangers the lives of every community and directly threatens the future of youth. That’s why…
You can’t vaccinate yourself against the effects of global warming
April 21, 2021. By Andie Madsen. What have we brushed aside to make way for our COVID-19 response?…
Young People Don’t Need a Degree to Fight for Their Future
July 15, 2020. By Mishka Banuri. There’s a reason why young people are among the most vocal advocates for bold solutions to the climate crisis: It is our future at stake. Unless we make clear to our leaders that…
Commentary: Herbert is sacrificing my generation’s future
Mar. 24, 2019. By Mishka Banuri. On March 15, I joined the strike for climate action with 500 young people from across the Salt Lake Valley. Rather than going to class, we gathered on the steps of the Utah Capitol…
A First Generation Immigrant’s Perspective on Youth Climate Justice
2019. By Mishka Banuri. A first generation Pakistani immigrant, Mishka Banuri moved to Utah when she was 12 years old and fell in love with that state’s wondrous mountains, aspen trees and red rocks, but…
Utah Youth Environmental Solutions 