This article originally appeared in the City print issue, in stands April 2025. It has not been updated and some information may be out of date.
Listening to the sound of the Great Salt Lake from the comfort of your home used to be unthinkable, but with help from the minds of GSLHopeline, it has been made a reality.
The creators of this pink payphone are three friends who grew up together in Sandy, Utah. Nick Carpenter, co-creator of the GSL Hopeline, said the idea was born out of a fascination with interactive audio experiences.
“I was really inspired by this old [Snap Judgement] episode about a payphone in the Mojave Desert where strangers could call in and talk to each other,” Carpenter said. “That got me thinking, what if we could create something similar but tied to the Great Salt Lake?”
The Pink Payphone allows individuals to call in, listen to the sounds of the lake and leave voice messages reflecting on their experiences, concerns and hopes for its future. The project received funding through the Wake the Great Salt Lake grant in July 2023 and debuted publicly in January 2024. Since then, it has been popping up at various locations around Salt Lake City, including rallies and public events, to engage the community in an unexpected and meaningful way.
So why pink? Carpenter found the standard blue payphone on KSL Classifieds and from there the discussion began on whether or not to keep it blue for the nostalgic feel. But as the team discussed, they found that pink was the obvious choice since it stood out and was radically different.
Not only is pink a standout color, it also represents the lake colors.
“Obviously we’re referencing the upper part of the lake that gets really red from the brine shrimp, and just this, I think the salinity as well. And then obviously brine shrimp are kind of like a reddish, like briny pink.” Carpenter said. “Pink Floyd, the famous flamingo that escaped Tracy Aviary, lived on the lake, was pink. So yeah, pink just felt unexpected, but also nodded to a lot of the color that’s already out at Great Salt Lake.”
The initiative comes at a crucial time. The Great Salt Lake faces significant environmental threats, including declining water levels and increased dust pollution, which pose risks to both human and ecological health. Eric Albers, a senior natural resources policy analyst at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, emphasized the gravity of the situation.
“People are really concerned about the human health impact of a dry Great Salt Lake, particularly with dust and heavy metals in the lake sediments,” Albers said. “Beyond that, we also have the ecological impacts. Millions of migratory birds depend on this lake as a stopover point.”
Public awareness and engagement are key to reversing the lake’s decline, and Albers believes initiatives like the Pink Payphone play a valuable role in shifting the narrative.
“So often we focus on the doom and gloom scenarios, but this project reframes the conversation in a positive light,” Albers said. “It helps people imagine what the lake could be rather than just mourning its loss.”
Despite recent policy changes aimed at preserving the Great Salt Lake, including adjustments to water rights laws and the Agricultural Optimization Program, experts like Albers stress that more needs to be done.
“I feel like that’s how a lot of the narrative around Great Salt Lake has been seen, that you’ve got to choose two of those. You can have a healthy lake and population growth, or a healthy lake and agriculture … you can’t have all three,” Albers said.
For now, the Pink Payphone continues its mission, popping up in new locations across Salt Lake City. While the project stays within city boundaries due to grant stipulations, Carpenter and his team hope to eventually bring it directly to the lake.
In order for the voicemails to be more accessible to the public, they have also started a podcast. The first episode can be found on their website.
“The idea is to do a short film, using a lot of these voicemails as sort of the story. And then we’ll be doing some abstract animation to sort of take you through visually what people are talking about when they’re sharing their story,” Carpenter said.
As the Great Salt Lake stands at a critical crossroads, initiatives like the Pink Payphone remind us that every voice, and every drop of water, matters.
“We want to keep people on their toes,” Carpenter said. “The goal is to make people think, reflect and hopefully take action.”
