Great Salt Lake

Great Salt Lake is the first volume of Thirst, a series of publications by Fazal Sheikh that examine the effects of climate change and extraction in the western United States. It examines the way in which Great Salt Lake, the largest saltwater lake in the Western hemisphere, has been aggressively depleted and polluted by overuse. It charts the destruction of lakeside areas by industrialization, the extraction of natural minerals from the lake and its subsequent pollution by chemical waste, the loss of its natural wildlife habitats, the depletion of the rivers that feed it, and the toll of rising temperatures and long periods of drought, all of which have brought the lake to crisis point. By November 2022, the lake had reached its lowest ebb, exposing a poisonous rim of chemical dust that, carried by the wind, threatened the surrounding populations. Fazal Sheikh’s disturbing images render the lake as a diseased body of water in danger of extinction, and together with a personal essay by Terry Tempest Williams, document its destruction and its struggle to survive.