Cathedral of the Madeleine hosts screening of films about Great Salt Lake conservation efforts

Friday, Jan. 24, 2025
Cathedral of the Madeleine hosts screening of films about Great Salt Lake conservation efforts + Enlarge
Lisha Tathireddy, a seventh-grader at The Madeleine Choir School, speaks at the Jan. 15 film screening at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. At right is Gregory Glenn, the school’s pastoral administrator.
By Marie Mischel
Intermountain Catholic

SALT LAKE CITY — More than 200 people representing a variety of interests gathered at the Cathedral of the Madeleine on Jan. 15 to watch two films about conservation efforts for the Great Salt Lake. The event was co-sponsored by Great Salt Lake Interfaith Action Coalition, Grow The Flow and the Youth Coalition for Great Salt Lake.

The first film that was screened was “The Last Resort,” directed by Michael Fleischner; this documentary gave voice to many of the diverse interests that have a stake in the Great Salt Lake, including farmers and the ski industry, as well as some of the conservation efforts being undertaken.

The second film, “Listen to their Voices,” directed by Gabe Brown of the Youth Coalition for Great Salt Lake, focused on the role that young people are playing in environmental advocacy.

Before the screening, advocacy groups staffed informational tables in the cathedral foyer and the Bishop Glass Room in the rectory. Among the groups were the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, Great Salt Lake Audubon, the Utah River Council and the Wuda Ogwa northwestern band of Shoshone.

Prior to the screening, two students from The Madeleine Choir School spoke about the importance of conserving the Great Salt Lake. Fourth-grade student Emma Holmes told of a visit her class took to Antelope Island, which is in the Great Salt Lake.

“The views of the lake were beautiful, with blue skies popping through the clouds,” she said. “One thing I really noticed was the shoreline.  The lake appeared much smaller than previous pictures, with parts looking more like small ponds instead of one giant lake. My first thoughts were, ‘How did this happen and what can we do to keep the lake full? If the lake dries up, will this affect our wildlife, vegetation, and air quality?’ It’s important for all of us to educate ourselves and become more aware of the problems we face with the shrinkage of the Great Salt Lake.”

Lisha Tathireddy, a seventh-grader at the Choir School, spoke about how some of the issues Pope Francis discusses in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ apply to the Great Salt Lake.

“Every animal there is becoming a smaller and smaller population,” she said, and this is occurring around the world.

Pope Francis also mentions the voice of indigenous people, who “care about the environment,” Tathireddy said, “and that’s what we need to do in Utah. We need to care for the Great Salt Lake.”

Choir school students study the lake during their years at the school, said Gregory Glenn, pastoral administrator, noting that Pope Francis talks about conservation and the web of life in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’.  The film screening “is very much about the web of life that our community has with the lake, and it also addresses things like the migratory birds and the brine shrimp and all of the things that I don’t think we understand how vital all this is. And that, as the salinity level rises because of the falling water level, the brine shrimp are starting to suffer, and that would be a catastrophe” because the shrimp are the basis for much of the lake’s ecosystem.

The film screening was also a way for the cathedral to be more involved with the interfaith community, Glenn said.

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