As the streets of Utah County flooded and the freeway filled with hail Aug. 13, a group of citizens met under a pavilion in Rock Canyon Park to talk about environmental stewardship. It might sound unusual to folks not familiar with Utah that such a conservative area would be interested enough in environmental stewardship to meet in the pouring rain just to talk about it, but to anyone who’s lived in Provo, it wasn’t surprising.

As bullets of rain pelted the pavilion roof, panelists spoke as loud as they could to break through the noise and answer questions from attendees. Utah State Representative Tyler Clancy hosted the event with special guest panelists Chris Johnson, Bob Inglis, Hattie Hobart, Sarah Bateman, and Piper Christian. Utah County Commissioner Amelia Powers Gardner was also present and shared some remarks.

The event wouldn’t have been possible without leadership from the Utah State Legislature’s youngest member, Rep. Clancy. Not only did Rep. Clancy host this event but he has also shown great interest in collaborating with the public on environmental stewardship. This last legislative session, he passed a resolution (H.R. 5) that calls on Congress to take efforts to hold China accountable for pollution.

This event also wouldn’t have been possible with a community that cares about conserving and sustainable stewardship of the beautiful natural resources we’ve been blessed with in Utah. In the six years I lived in Provo, I observed a great interest in the community to do good, and that extended to environmental stewardship, as well.

Amid the vitriol of American politics, I am glad to see cooperation and goodwill from the people of Utah and from leaders like Rep. Clancy. If the rest of America followed the “Utah way,” the world would be a much better — and cleaner — place to be.

Andrew Sandstrom, Ogden