The Great Salt Lake is drying up and has become the staging ground for a climate change catastrophe.
Already this oasis in the middle of the desert has shrunk by two-thirds its size, and it’s on track to continue to disappear. Salt Lake City’s booming population already has one of the highest water usages of major desert cities and is set to exceed water supply by 2040.
If the Great Salt Lake were to disappear, the results would be devastating to both the ecosystem and the human population.
The Great Salt Lake is one of the most important stopovers for 10 million migratory birds. Without the lake, the shrimps and flies the birds eat will die off, leaving nothing for them to refuel on for their journey. The lake bed also contains high levels of heavy metals – including arsenic. Without water, those metals get kicked up in the atmosphere by wind storms and land in the lungs of residents.
What’s happening to the Great Salt Lake is a clear demonstration of how dire the consequences of a changing climate will be. It is a test Salt Lake City and communities around the country are facing, and the only way to pass is if we take swift action to stop the worst effects of climate change.
SEEC members of Congress are working to pass and implement green laws to protect our environment from a warming climate. They need to know you’re standing with them. Will you chip in with a donation right now?
If climate action isn’t taken fast enough, the Great Salt Lake will cause an all-out “environmental nuclear bomb,” as one Utah state legislator put it. Whole ecosystems will be completely unrecognizable if we choose to do nothing.
That’s why SEEC members are fighting in Congress to take an all-systems approach to stop the worst effects of climate change from happening. Will you donate today to support their efforts?