Utah Joy

Prepared remarks by Natalie Gochnour delivered at the Wilkes Climate Summit on June 13, 2026.

Nearly every day since early April, I have looked at the moon  and reflected on the Artemis journey. For me, like I’m sure all of you, I have felt a hefty dose of MOON JOY.

When I unpack this feeling, it’s not the moon that captured my imagination, although those photos were amazing.

What captured my imagination was the expansiveness captured in all those extraordinary photos, coupled with the fragility of planet earth. ( I will note that “fragility” is a word that’s been used before to describe space travel).

MOON JOY captured in a single thought a feeling of both transcendence and threat, of beauty and breakability, and of reward and risk.

This duality of greatness and instability undergirds my remarks today. Utah is both a place of extraordinary opportunity and a place of rising risks.

Today, I’m asking the question…how can we leave Utah better than we found it for our children and grandchildren?

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This inquiry begins with our own form of MOON JOY…something I’m going to call UTAH JOY. I know that sounds a bit corny, but go with me on this.

The idea goes like this…If someone comes and circles our state in 2034 (the year of the Olympiad) much like Artemis circled the moon this year…what will they see?

• Will they like what they see?
• Will they see a state full of opportunity?
• Will they feel a sense of awe?
• Will they feel UTAH JOY?

It begs the question…What would have to be true for UTAH JOY to occur?

Let’s unpack this question and consider what we would like the world to see just 2,830 days from now when the 2034 Olympiad begins.

What attributes come to mind?

• Certainly, we want to have professionally executed games. I’m confident our very capable organizing committee will ensure this.

• Certainly, we need snow. I’ll leave that to a higher power.

• What I’m really looking for – and in keeping with the MOON JOY metaphor – what do we want people to FEEL?

As I’ve contemplated this question I’ve come up with two primary emotions.

• I want people to feel welcome and valued. I think we are pretty good at that in Utah.

• Second, I want people to feel a sense of CONNECTION. And this connection will come in two forms: Connection to people and connection to place.

Both sources of connection are critical to the future of this state. And today – with this extraordinary gathering of scientists, policymakers, industry leaders, students, and community partners from all around this state – we have the opportunity to focus on practical, solutions-oriented approaches to climate, energy, and environmental resilience.

Now comes the hard part.

It’s fine to speak in lofty terms about the beauty of the earth, the transcendent connection we feel for Mother Earth, and all the other aspects of love of place.

But in a world of political division, contempt, misinformation, insatiable energy demand, rising temperatures, a dying inland sea, data centers, war, and so many other challenges… how do we find not just common ground, but higher ground?

How do we make UTAH JOY real?

I’d like to suggest two skills we need to learn and magnify in the years leading up to the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. One skill pertains to how we relate to one another and the other skill pertains to how we communicate with one another.

These skills are:

• Mutual accommodation, and
• Public communications.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on these, and reasonable people can disagree, but let me share a few stories and lessons I’ve learned.

Let’s start with mutual accommodation.

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There are a lot of potential words for this theme. I’m fond of speaking about the PRODUCTIVE MIDDLE where the best ideas from both the right and left come together and lead to real progress.

In my years as a public policy professional, I’ve found that every lasting major step of progress comes from this place of problem solving. Examples include…

• Welfare reform in the 1990s.
• Salt Lake metro area transit investment in the early 2000s.
• The Utah Compact and immigration reform in the 2010s.
• Utah’s relative success during the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2020s.
• To name just a few.

What is it about mutual accommodation that makes it so powerful?

Here I will draw from the words of a prominent faith leader, LDS prophet Dalin Oaks, who in a landmark address on civic theology at the University of Virginia in November 2021 said this…

We have always had to work through serious political conflicts…but today too many approach that task as if their preferred outcome must entirely prevail over all others, even in our pluralistic society. We need to work for a better way—a way to resolve differences without compromising core values.

Oaks posits that through patience, negotiation, and mutual accommodation and without judicial fiat or other forms of official coercion, we can find compromise that improves our world.

We must respect each other enough that in good faith and by caring for one another we respect different life experiences.

So…let’s apply this approach to the issue of the day – a changing climate.

I recently listened to a podcast where Utah Senator John Curtis said he challenges his fellow conservatives who are uncomfortable with the Climate Caucus he founded to do this.

He said something to the effect, “Go into your basement bathroom, when no one is watching, close the door tight, look in the mirror, swallow hard, and say the word CLIMATE out loud. I promise you will survive!”

He didn’t say this, but I will add to those of you in the audience who shun some of our nation’s current energy policies…go into your basement bathroom, shut the door, and say CLEAN COAL or CLEAN DIESEL. I promise you will survive.

If I can be so bold, our job as keepers of our love of place is not to chastise and demean people.

If we wish to be effective, our job is to listen, to understand, and to share our life experiences, all while understanding someone else’s. Sen. Curtis refers to this as understanding people’s journeys

.

The lesson of mutual accommodation and the productive middle was taught vividly to me as a young intern in Washington, D.C.

I will never forget the admonishment of a leader who taught a cohort of interns that our job is to LIBERATE what is RIGHT and TRUE and to CONSERVE what is RIGHT and TRUE.  We can only do this if we connect with people from different life experiences.

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The second skill I wish to highlight is that of managing a public message.

In my nearly 40 years of public policy service, I’m a firm believer in a lesson taught to me by the former managing editor of the Deseret News and policy director for Gov. Mike Leavitt…a man named LaVarr Webb.

He said the following:

Every public policy failure is a failure of communications. Every public policy success is a triumph of communications.

Said another way, the policy is only part of the recipe. You have to communicate it well. And if you can’t communicate it well, it probably isn’t defendable policy.

There is a golden link between policy and communications. One without the other is like an unbaked cake. It won’t hold its shape.

Communications and policy go hand in hand…informing each other.

Let me share an instructive story and a few words of advice.

I worked at the EPA as the Associate Administrator of Public Affairs. This job included all the media work coming out of the largest regulatory agency in the world. It was tough, but exhilarating  work.

This was in the George W. Bush Administration. Pres. Bush was preparing a Clean Air Interstate Rule that required deep emission cuts. They weren’t popular with many in the Republican Party.

After months and months of work, the policy shop at EPA came to the public affairs office, which I led, with their final materials announcing the policy. They shared a proposed draft news release, a fact sheet, and other collateral.

For reasons I can’t explain, they boiled down the new regulations with this phrase: the proposed air quality regulations…and I quote, “…are the most stringent air quality standards in our nation’s history.”

Something didn’t feel right.

Was it our job as government to compel Americans to accept the most strict and demanding air quality standards in our nation’s history?

I think not. It missed the entire point. We weren’t regulating to be stringent. We weren’t regulating for regulation’s sake.

We were regulating to protect human health!

After some thoughtful discussion, we replaced the word STRINGENT with MOST PROTECTIVE and it made all the difference!

We put in place the MOST PROTECTIVE air quality standards in our nation’s history. That sounds much better, and actually captured the essence of all the scientific and legal work that went into the final rule.

The whole experience reminds me of the famous quote by Mark Train…

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is like the difference between lightening and lightening bug.

Choose your words carefully.

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So here’s my advice.

In addition to word choice, embrace three additional public communication techniques.

#1 – Engage to listen, not to talk. You will learn something helpful.

During the 2025 General Legislative Session I learned a valuable lesson from Speaker Mike Schultz, while sharing information about the failing condition of Great Salt Lake.

A group of us explained that one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to raise lake elevation is to purchase agricultural water and shepherd that water to the lake.

Speaker Schultz helped us to understand that “selling” water rights was the wrong approach. “Leasing” water rights would accomplish the same thing, be more cost effective, and be more acceptable to the holders of those rights.

This insight changed everything…and it was a product of engaged listening.

When you engage…don’t just pronounce your point of view…listen and you will be surprised how much you learn and how your proposed policies improve.

#2 – Move towards balance as a communication and policy imperative.

Aristotle was known to say “Be mine a middle station.” He spoke of the power of the “golden mean” and the stability that comes from distancing yourself from extreme points of view.

There is wisdom in Aristotle’s thinking. Be mine a middle station!

My mentor Mike Leavitt tells a story of once seeing two bumper stickers on cars in Salt Lake City at the same intersection. One said, “Save the earth, kill yourself.” Another said, “Earth first, we’ll mine the other planets later.”

The productive middle says something more like…”Save our planet. It’s the only one with chocolate!”

#3 – It’s what people hear, not what you say. Finally,effective communication depends on the listener’s interpretation—shaped by their emotions, prejudices, and beliefs—rather than the speaker’s intent.

This concept was developed by Frank Luntz…the guy who wrote the famous memo recommending the change from “global warming” to “climate change.” If you don’t know this story look it up.

But his point is so well taken. Simplicity gives power and taps into emotions. Effective communications requires us to communicate in a way that people not only understand, but internalize and develop.

Think of communication like planting a seed.

We did this in The Utah Roadmap, a January 2020 report commissioned by the Utah Legislature to assist with legislative policymaking regarding clean air and climate.

In this report we established an air quality/changing climate connection. Remember, it’s what people hear, not what you say.

We made the case that reducing air emissions throughout Utah benefits both air quality and changing climate sensibilities.

We featured a Venn diagram that showed how some emissions-reduction strategies – such as reducing auto dependency, improving energy efficiency, and advancing innovative energy solutions – improve air quality and the climate.

This simple diagram and message provided a productive place for diverse viewpoints to come together. It tapped into what people hear.

That’s the productive middle.

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I’ll close be reaffirming my key points:

How can we leave Utah better than we found it for our children and grandchildren?

First, use the Olympics as a catalyzing event for Utah to get better in every way. Think of it like the expansiveness and fragility of MOON JOY applied to Utah to create UTAH JOY.

Second, help people find higher ground in our political discourse by focusing on connection to people and place. The essential skills are MUTUAL ACCOMODATION and PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS.

Third, seek to liberate what is right and true and conserve what is right and true. Both liberalism and conservatism have a place in our polity.

Fourth, choose words carefully, engage to listen, move towards balance, and focus on what people hear, not what you say.

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One final thought.

I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize that here at the University of Utah, under the direction of Pres. Taylor Randall, we seek to create unsurpassed societal impact. And…as part of our core values we recognize the inherent dignity of all people.

We live during a time of significant polarization and mean-spirited, sometimes even violent, expression and actions. Too often contempt, in all its forms, permeates public policy discussions and prevents progress.

Division and contempt impede progress on climate, wildfire, Great Salt Lake, and other environmental issues.

To make full use of the intelligence, creativity, ingenuity, and love that have always been the authors of great human achievements, we must infuse greater dignity into our lives and the climate discussion.

When we treat others with contempt it makes it difficult to prevent and solve problems.

When we treat each other with dignity – speaking respectfully, listening carefully, asking for more information, focusing on facts – our differences enrich us, inform us, guide us, and exalt us.

This is not only true in public policy, but also in our families, workplaces, communities, and country. Utah will be advantaged if we lead with dignity and our UTAH JOY will be complete.

Thank you very much.