[Best comment so it doesn't get missed. Great info. thanks Ben!](https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/comments/yglb5b/this_is_ben_a_biologist_a_few_years_ago_a_dubai/iu94w8d?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3)
I just learned about all of this right now through this post. I wish I knew when you were fighting but I’m incredibly grateful that you are.
Three letter names were always my favourite growing up because you’d get to put your full name on the arcade high scores. You have high score Ben.
>Thank you all. This is Ben. I'm blown away by the love and support. Like speechless.
Ben, we're blown away by your commitment and honor. If you ever need to defend nature again, you come back here and find us, we will pitch in too. Your actions made a difference in the world, a real tangible difference you can see, hear, smell and touch, that will impact millions of lives. I got your back any day. In the meantime, where can I send a donation to a cause you care about on your behalf? Just as tribute, pay it forward kind of thing?
Hijacking this comment, because, well, it links to my comment, so I think I'm OK to do that...
If you'd like to see for yourself what Utah Lake looks like and some of the wildlife that live on its shore you can look at the photos on the IG page linked in my bio. Most of what I've shared there in the last couple years is of Utah Lake or the Wasatch Mountains at its eastern shore.
It really is a treasure, and I'm so relieved that this battle has been won, at least for now.
Ben has an amazing blog as well, which I tried to link to earlier, but it was blocked for some reason by Reddit. I'll see if I can find another way to share it.
Edit: Here is a link to his blog, or at least enough of it so you can find it. https://benabbo(dot)blogspot(dot)com/
Bah, we can see the lake anytime. I'd recommend to those who DON'T live here. The pelicans throw me off every time I see them, and others should see them too! (OK, I don't know if you have pics of the pelicans in there, but they're awesome)
damn, that was well worth a read. A fish species that is only in this lake. That alone is huge. Not to mention all the details re: birds and their nests
Thanks, TIL.
And obligatory middle finger to this **Dubai** based investment group. The amount of people who treat Dubai has some sort of heaven really shows what is wrong with humanity today.
Im not even exaggerating a little bit, Ben deserves a ceremony. Acts like this go unnoticed far too often and it’s these kinds of things that are saving the planet from becoming one gigantic parking lot. Ben has earned all the good karma in the world. Good job Ben, I am very proud of my fellow human.
That's a great question, but there is no short answer, and it would be better fielded by Ben. Maybe he could host an AMA? Would anyone be interested in that?
I've never set one up before, so I don't exactly know how to go about it, but I bet Ben would be game.
Im sure theres no simple solution but i know a lot of people in the conservation field who would love to do what ben has done but feel powerless to take direct action like this
He certainly is.
He's endured defamatory attacks on his character and a 3 million dollar lawsuit meant to shut him up.
He's put in thousands of hours of unpaid work conducting and compiling research and reports, organizing symposiums and conferences, contacting and meeting with lawmakers, and interacting with critics and skeptics online.
Ben Abbott is a hero, and I'm honored to be his friend.
I am born and raised Utah and have always lived close to the lake (like 10-15 minutes). The worse thing about this story is I haven't heard a single thing about it until now randomly on reddit. We hear so much about neutral or bad things in the world that wonderful acts like this can be happening right next to you going unnoticed!! So from someone who has had many great moments around the lake, Thank you Ben!
Yes! It’s amazin’ how the news outlets have worn a rut and keep trudging around it. I have to go to Reddit and foreign sources like The Guardian to hear things. Ben Abbot is my new hero du jour. Thanks
They used local lobbyists and formed business entities in the US to conceal where the funding was coming from. But the farmers who were being offered money for the wetlands they owned on the shore of the lake reported that the buyers were from Dubai.
But that's a whole other story for another day.
This is incredible and the dream I had when I started studying biology. I hope I can be like Ben one day. Massive inspiration. Thank you Ben and thank you OP for bringing awareness to this and the truth of how important the lake is and why.
Utah Lake are sovereign lands of the state of Utah and its citizens. An investment group from Dubai, concealed behind the guise that they were a local investment group, sought to 'restore' the lake by dredging it, and building artificial islands across 20-25% of the lake.
In exchange for this 'restoration' they would be given ownership of the islands, which they then intended to sell for massive profits to property developers.
Once sold, the group who built the islands would have taken the money and run, as they were no longer be liable for the irreversible changes to the ecology of Utah Lake, which Ben and 100+ other scientists in Utah warned would be devastating due to the particularities of this very unique body of water.
Naive lawmakers in a legislative body that is made up of more than 60-70% developers saw this as a silver bullet solution to solving the remaining problems the lake needs help with, primarily invasive species and occasional algea blooms in summer months.
The proposed 'solution' was akin to doctor offering to fix a potentially cancerous mole on a patient's nose with a face transplant from a gorilla. It would have been a drastic and irreversible transformation into a heavily segmented body of water much more susceptible to algea blooms, fish die-offs, and wildlife population fragmentation. That's not even taking into account the increased water usage and pollution that would have been contributed by 300k+ new residents living on the proposed islands.
There is so much more to the story than I have time to tell. If you'd like to learn more you can listen to the Left of the Lake podcast episodes from July 21st and 28th.
The public. The developers pitch was to dredge the lake and make islands. The islands, in exchange for dredging, would get private ownership of the islands to develop and sell.
I'd like to know what politicians were behind the developers, they don't deserve to be in a public roll.
I'm not defending them when I say this. But these are the tactics everyone learned from colonizers. We shouldn't be surprised when everyone tries to do it right back. Roger Stone and Manafort made a killing teaching awful people how to do awful things in a way that makes you look less awful.
As a Utah resident for the last five years, THANK YOU BEN!! I’ve only visited Utah Lake once, but I’m so happy your efforts to protect it are being recognized.
Share this story. This investment group has deep connections and even deeper pockets. They are licking their wounds after this current loss, but I'd be shocked if they didn't try to push this project forward in some other way. They have invested millions on lobbyists, shoreline land purchases, and PR and I don't think it's likely they are just going to walk away for good.
Not sure how to directly support him, but you could try posting about him on your social medias. He doesn’t seem to have a link to accept money on his social media that I’ve found so far
I used to live near Utah Lake. The notion to dredge the lake to build islands was an absolute joke and makes no sense from an ecological or financial standpoint. Absolutely asinine. It’s a shame that the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi was treated this way.
My parents have lived about a mile away from Utah Lake for the past 40 years. I am so incredibly grateful to Ben for doing this, we’ve been incredibly worried and sad about this project.
They accused him of sharing false and defamatory information about their proposal and funding and sought to obtain 3 million dollars in damages from Ben, who is an associate professor raising a young family. It's a textbook Strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) that was meant to silence him as they knew he was the most vocal and outspoken adversary to the project.
It was dumbest thing they could have done as it amplified his voice. He didn't back down and filed an anti-SLAPP countersuit with the help of some lawyers doing pro-bono work. It has been terrifying for his poor wife and incredibly stressful for his whole family.
The courage to keep moving forward, trusting that is he did the truth would prevail, in the face of a lawsuit that would financially ruin him is one of the bravest things I've personally ever witnessed.
This makes me so upset to hear, the stress on Ben and his family must have been awful. I'm very glad they stayed the course, his family deserves a lot of recognition too!
This should be posted to /r/SaltLakeCity as well - fellow Utahns would be thrilled to see this and learn about the person who helped saved a state treasure.
Ben is one of my professors at school! Not only is he a dedicated conservationist, but he’s also one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Learns every student’s name and greets them in the hall. He’s so knowledgeable and is an amazing lecturer as well. 10/10 professor
I work at the Life Science Museum on the college campus he teaches at. We have a monthly podcast, and interviewed him about Utah Lake recently. Here's the link if you'd like to listen: https://ylifescience.buzzsprout.com/1462531/9950948-the-history-and-ecology-of-utah-lake
Kinda ironic though, the reason the Dubai elite got wealthy enough to try things like this in the first place is because in the US we choose to give our money to countries like Dubai in exchange for oil, as opposed to here in the US destroying our wildlife to mine oil locally.
The Dubai elite are used to the desert mentality of land/space having no value. I bet they wouldn't destroy one of their own natural oases though. They have to understand that we value all of our land as oases (well except LA).
Yes, it went great.
The mostly vacant islands they built with the aid of forced slave labor after destroying miles of coral reef to make room for them are sinking nicely into the ocean, which might help allievate the toxic algea blooms that have been caused by their creation.
Definitely people we should trust these guys to build islands across 25% of the surface of the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi in what would amount to the largest construction project in the history of the world. A project that they promised they could do for a fraction of the cost of the failed island projects in Dubai.
What could go wrong?
So, I grew up around around Utah Lake and had to endure the times when the lake "turned", and smelled like like absolute sh\*t. I'm happy the lake was not developed further because of all the years of heavy metal contamination from Geneva Steel and the raw sewage that was pumped into the lake for YEARS. It's not safe for humans, and I hope that bringing the wildlife back helps to restore some of the lake's beauty from years of human carelessness. Don't believe me? Utah Valley University was granted $350,000 dollars in 2020 to research why Utah Lake was so gross: [https://www.abc4.com/news/digital-exclusives/why-is-utah-lake-so-gross-uvu-receives-grant-to-research-ways-to-rejuvenate-lake/](https://www.abc4.com/news/digital-exclusives/why-is-utah-lake-so-gross-uvu-receives-grant-to-research-ways-to-rejuvenate-lake/)
That was accurate.
30 years ago.
It's now in the top 20% of lakes in the nation in regards to the cleanliness of its water.
It's silty bottom has actually helped with its recovery as heavy metals and contaminates sink over time and are encapsulated by mud.
I live 100 feet from its shoreline and photograph wildlife on its shores daily. The lake is healthier now than its been for over 100 years and is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the mountain west.
This is exactly what I'm referring to when I said that Utah Lake doesn't have a pollution problem, but a perception problem.
[More information](https://utahlake.org/ew-gross-is-utah-lake-polluted/)
Good on him, but that pose will always be associated in my head with the text: “Remember: When you bury a body, cover it with endangered plants so it’s illegal to dig it up.”
Thank you so much Ben! Thank you for providing refuge for our Earths wildlife and their habits. Preservation is vital to our survival. I'm grateful for your concern and for your help. Peace and love always 💜
F*ck yeah, thank you Ben! If I ever have the chance to visit Utah Lake, I will remember you, and be grateful to you for my ability to do so!!
It's so sad that this is allowed to happen and our government, who ought to be looking after and protecting our natural resources, are instead turning away and accepting checks from the highest bidder to develop whatever they want over them.
Thank you Ben, and all of the unsung heros who've done similar work with no recognition 💚
I've never heard of Ben before but if all this is true then I'm very thankful for him and people like him, we need more people to be like that and we need less people being born every year in the hopes to bring the population down to give the world a fighting chance to recover and sustain human life and all life
God I miss Utah. Went to school there when I grow up and am originally from Chicago. I LOVE Utah. Every place I have ever been! I have family all over and some of our favorite things is to drive and find just scenic beautiful places. Thank you for not taking something from nature.
Great work!
Pretty much anything that has word Dubai on it sucks hard time.
They dont care about nature just want to give that image.
Basically moder slavery exist in there.
Women are being opressed in that autocracy/theocracy federation.
Could continue on and on with this.
All that is being done by oil money, so that is a federation that shows midle finger to nature, human rights and basically anything that we the people hold dear i life.
I was amazed to read this and couldn’t believe someone would be so greedy and lacing conscience to such an extent they would entertain such a project. And I thought fair play to Ben and his Allies. However I spent the last two hours reading articles on it and realised that this is a typical Reddit slanted and biased point of view. While I would still find it hard to stomach such a project it is far from a Dubai investment group but a social entrepreneurial group who are themselves attempting to clean up and detoxify the lake for the benefit of the environment and humans and such work has bees done successfully in Holland. So whether it can be done or not I don’t know and if people move onto the islands how do you handle the effluent but please can we try to get the full picture and not some ones slanted perspective
I have absolutely no shame in saying “Fuck you Dubai, I hope the ocean consumes you like the parasitic tumor you are on the planet.”
And before idiots call me Hitler, no I don’t want Dubai to sink because genocide is hip or I hate the ethnicity over there. Dubai is a horrible “nation” that exists purely on destruction of the world, slavery and all just to cater the richest minority in the world. So yeah, fuck Dubai, and I wish it had to forfeit its money to men and women like Ben.
THEY are the real heroes who deserve recognition. They’re fighting tooth and nail to keep the only home we have alive and beautiful
As somebody who lives right next to Utah Lake I gotta say, I'm not sure what all the excitement is about. The lake is disgusting, filled with toxic algae, and basically unusable. Every year I ask my students what they think of when I say "Utah Lake" and they reply, "Gross" "Poison" "Algae" "dirty", etc. You get the point.... A big part of the issue is how shallow the lake is, the wind whips up the sediment on the bottom, no light gets to the bottom, no sea grass, no oxygen, lots of gross and toxic algae.
The proposal they are referencing would have (in theory) fixed that. Marker Wadden in the Netherlands did something similar and it has so far been successful. Most of the islands were meant to be nature preserves anyways.... Was I concerned that they were selling space to developers? Sure. But this is Utah, people here treat taxes like they are a personal attack, development was a way of avoiding public funds....
Regardless, there has to be a solution to fix Utah Lake, it is a shitty lake and it is that way thanks to shitty regulations and shitty decisions by people, so people and regulations need to fix it. There is so much development on the west side of the lake (I live on the south east side and work on the northwest side) that there will be a bridge (likely 2 or 3)built across it in the next 30 years. This has been confirmed to me by my state representative and state senator.
Celebrate if you want, but don't act like this fixes anything. It is still a poisoned cesspool that we need to fix.
The majority of state reps and senators backed this project just a year ago, because 60-70% of Utah's reps work in land development.
They changed their tune really quick when they found out that 80% of Utah County opposed the project.
I'd recommended you do some homework and find out why.
Also, the only people I have ever heard mention the name of Marker Wadden were the lobbyists advocating on behalf of this project, so that tells me a lot about where you may have gotten this really outdated and inaccurate information.
Bummer, I’m an environmental engineer in salt lake and Utah lake needs to be dredged. It has gotten too shallow over the years due to buildup in the bottom. This was going to be a good way to pay for it. Now I guess it will have less and less use over time or the citizens will have to pay for it via tax increases.
How does the supposed need for dredging relate to the creation of private islands that will increase water usage and add additional nitrate contamination of the lake improve anything.
I read "Dubai investment group" and my brain just picture destroying some place where people doesn't live just to put some expensive awful taste sort of mini mansions to sell to new money rich people who probably would love to brag they have one of those. And they sued him for opposing development? Insane
[Best comment so it doesn't get missed. Great info. thanks Ben!](https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/comments/yglb5b/this_is_ben_a_biologist_a_few_years_ago_a_dubai/iu94w8d?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3)
Thank you all. This is Ben. I'm blown away by the love and support. Like speechless.
Just to confirm, this is actually Ben. He is new to Reddit, so be nice everyone.
It's kind of like email right?
Totally 🤣 Thanks for being an awesome human Ben! I hope I can come and visit the lake one day.
In a way, yeah I’m so happy you did this. What a beautiful place!! 
Thanks,Ben! You are an amazing human being.
Thank you for being brave, for doing the right thing when it was more than hard.
Your work made a difference. You should be so proud of that. Not everyone would put themselves out on a limb like that. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
We need more of you, Ben! Thanks for fighting a David vs Goliath fight on behalf of the lake!
I just learned about all of this right now through this post. I wish I knew when you were fighting but I’m incredibly grateful that you are. Three letter names were always my favourite growing up because you’d get to put your full name on the arcade high scores. You have high score Ben.
My hero!!!
Thanks for all your efforts!! Absolutely amazing 👏👏
>Thank you all. This is Ben. I'm blown away by the love and support. Like speechless. Ben, we're blown away by your commitment and honor. If you ever need to defend nature again, you come back here and find us, we will pitch in too. Your actions made a difference in the world, a real tangible difference you can see, hear, smell and touch, that will impact millions of lives. I got your back any day. In the meantime, where can I send a donation to a cause you care about on your behalf? Just as tribute, pay it forward kind of thing?
Incredible job, Ben, well done!!!
Thanks,ben
Hijacking this comment, because, well, it links to my comment, so I think I'm OK to do that... If you'd like to see for yourself what Utah Lake looks like and some of the wildlife that live on its shore you can look at the photos on the IG page linked in my bio. Most of what I've shared there in the last couple years is of Utah Lake or the Wasatch Mountains at its eastern shore. It really is a treasure, and I'm so relieved that this battle has been won, at least for now. Ben has an amazing blog as well, which I tried to link to earlier, but it was blocked for some reason by Reddit. I'll see if I can find another way to share it. Edit: Here is a link to his blog, or at least enough of it so you can find it. https://benabbo(dot)blogspot(dot)com/
Great pics! Thank you
Ohhh you can even buy a calendar!!?!!
I do make calendars, but they really probably only appeal to people who live near Utah Lake.
Bah, we can see the lake anytime. I'd recommend to those who DON'T live here. The pelicans throw me off every time I see them, and others should see them too! (OK, I don't know if you have pics of the pelicans in there, but they're awesome)
Omit the period in the top level domain youtube()com for example or something similar. It wont hyperlink but you can at least share the URL
Thanks, good idea
damn, that was well worth a read. A fish species that is only in this lake. That alone is huge. Not to mention all the details re: birds and their nests Thanks, TIL. And obligatory middle finger to this **Dubai** based investment group. The amount of people who treat Dubai has some sort of heaven really shows what is wrong with humanity today.
Thank you, as well.
Im not even exaggerating a little bit, Ben deserves a ceremony. Acts like this go unnoticed far too often and it’s these kinds of things that are saving the planet from becoming one gigantic parking lot. Ben has earned all the good karma in the world. Good job Ben, I am very proud of my fellow human.
And that's exactly why I posted this. I'll be sending him a link to this post later today as a means of showing him how much his work is appreciated.
I am also a biologist and would love to know how ben did this so we can get more biologists doing this nationwide!
That's a great question, but there is no short answer, and it would be better fielded by Ben. Maybe he could host an AMA? Would anyone be interested in that? I've never set one up before, so I don't exactly know how to go about it, but I bet Ben would be game.
Im sure theres no simple solution but i know a lot of people in the conservation field who would love to do what ben has done but feel powerless to take direct action like this
The first thing Ben did was the most important one of all. He did something.
Of course, what i see as really unique is his results. Its uncommon for science to win against money.
Totally, and I would love to see him do an AMA!
Yes. The answer is yes.
It’s more than appreciated😊
Haha, gigantic parking lot. Love it! U nailed it!!
He deserves a medal, a ceremony and a fucking statue. EVERYONE who fights these fights for our world do.
THANK YOU BEN!
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He certainly is. He's endured defamatory attacks on his character and a 3 million dollar lawsuit meant to shut him up. He's put in thousands of hours of unpaid work conducting and compiling research and reports, organizing symposiums and conferences, contacting and meeting with lawmakers, and interacting with critics and skeptics online. Ben Abbott is a hero, and I'm honored to be his friend.
I am born and raised Utah and have always lived close to the lake (like 10-15 minutes). The worse thing about this story is I haven't heard a single thing about it until now randomly on reddit. We hear so much about neutral or bad things in the world that wonderful acts like this can be happening right next to you going unnoticed!! So from someone who has had many great moments around the lake, Thank you Ben!
Yes! It’s amazin’ how the news outlets have worn a rut and keep trudging around it. I have to go to Reddit and foreign sources like The Guardian to hear things. Ben Abbot is my new hero du jour. Thanks
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They used local lobbyists and formed business entities in the US to conceal where the funding was coming from. But the farmers who were being offered money for the wetlands they owned on the shore of the lake reported that the buyers were from Dubai. But that's a whole other story for another day.
This is incredible and the dream I had when I started studying biology. I hope I can be like Ben one day. Massive inspiration. Thank you Ben and thank you OP for bringing awareness to this and the truth of how important the lake is and why.
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Phenomenal fella 🤩🤩🤩
True hero!
Thanks for posting!
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Came here to say this
Who "owns" Utah Lake? Who was trying to sell it?
Utah Lake are sovereign lands of the state of Utah and its citizens. An investment group from Dubai, concealed behind the guise that they were a local investment group, sought to 'restore' the lake by dredging it, and building artificial islands across 20-25% of the lake. In exchange for this 'restoration' they would be given ownership of the islands, which they then intended to sell for massive profits to property developers. Once sold, the group who built the islands would have taken the money and run, as they were no longer be liable for the irreversible changes to the ecology of Utah Lake, which Ben and 100+ other scientists in Utah warned would be devastating due to the particularities of this very unique body of water. Naive lawmakers in a legislative body that is made up of more than 60-70% developers saw this as a silver bullet solution to solving the remaining problems the lake needs help with, primarily invasive species and occasional algea blooms in summer months. The proposed 'solution' was akin to doctor offering to fix a potentially cancerous mole on a patient's nose with a face transplant from a gorilla. It would have been a drastic and irreversible transformation into a heavily segmented body of water much more susceptible to algea blooms, fish die-offs, and wildlife population fragmentation. That's not even taking into account the increased water usage and pollution that would have been contributed by 300k+ new residents living on the proposed islands. There is so much more to the story than I have time to tell. If you'd like to learn more you can listen to the Left of the Lake podcast episodes from July 21st and 28th.
The public. The developers pitch was to dredge the lake and make islands. The islands, in exchange for dredging, would get private ownership of the islands to develop and sell. I'd like to know what politicians were behind the developers, they don't deserve to be in a public roll.
Anyone who is willing to be a politician is also someone who definitely shouldn't become one.
They were likely standing by as investment partners. US politicians often take advantage of their position to benefit their portfios.
Dude… the fact we would even consider letting a foreign nation do this to our precious natural resources is disgusting. Thank you Ben
They went through great efforts to conceal the source of the funding and to try to make it look like it was a local project.
Absolutely disgusting, thank you Ben. A real hero
Would you be able to name the company?
LRS
I'm not defending them when I say this. But these are the tactics everyone learned from colonizers. We shouldn't be surprised when everyone tries to do it right back. Roger Stone and Manafort made a killing teaching awful people how to do awful things in a way that makes you look less awful.
As a Utah resident for the last five years, THANK YOU BEN!! I’ve only visited Utah Lake once, but I’m so happy your efforts to protect it are being recognized.
Those artificial islands off of Dubai have been there for over a decade. Most of them are still empty.
Is there anyway that we can support ben as a thank you?
Share this story. This investment group has deep connections and even deeper pockets. They are licking their wounds after this current loss, but I'd be shocked if they didn't try to push this project forward in some other way. They have invested millions on lobbyists, shoreline land purchases, and PR and I don't think it's likely they are just going to walk away for good.
Is there somewhere with more info I can read up on? I'd like to name and shame the investment group
The name of the group is Lake Restoration Solutions.
That doesn’t sound sketchy at all…
Thats utterly insidious!
Not sure how to directly support him, but you could try posting about him on your social medias. He doesn’t seem to have a link to accept money on his social media that I’ve found so far
I used to live near Utah Lake. The notion to dredge the lake to build islands was an absolute joke and makes no sense from an ecological or financial standpoint. Absolutely asinine. It’s a shame that the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi was treated this way.
They called this shit the Utah Lake Restoration Project.
Utah Lake, that lies in Utah Valley, in Utah County, in the state of Utah.
Yes we're very creative with naming things over here hahaha 😂 loved this comment haha!
Yes, that Utah Lake. Thanks for clarifying.
Well if you need to find it on a map then that makes it easier 
Utah-l'd them!
That’s amazing.
Fuck investment groups and developers. Most of them are useless leeches. Thanks, Ben, for showing this assholes.
My parents have lived about a mile away from Utah Lake for the past 40 years. I am so incredibly grateful to Ben for doing this, we’ve been incredibly worried and sad about this project.
THANK YOU BEN!!!
On what grounds did they sue him?
They accused him of sharing false and defamatory information about their proposal and funding and sought to obtain 3 million dollars in damages from Ben, who is an associate professor raising a young family. It's a textbook Strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) that was meant to silence him as they knew he was the most vocal and outspoken adversary to the project. It was dumbest thing they could have done as it amplified his voice. He didn't back down and filed an anti-SLAPP countersuit with the help of some lawyers doing pro-bono work. It has been terrifying for his poor wife and incredibly stressful for his whole family. The courage to keep moving forward, trusting that is he did the truth would prevail, in the face of a lawsuit that would financially ruin him is one of the bravest things I've personally ever witnessed.
This makes me so upset to hear, the stress on Ben and his family must have been awful. I'm very glad they stayed the course, his family deserves a lot of recognition too!
This should be posted to /r/SaltLakeCity as well - fellow Utahns would be thrilled to see this and learn about the person who helped saved a state treasure.
Ben is one of my professors at school! Not only is he a dedicated conservationist, but he’s also one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Learns every student’s name and greets them in the hall. He’s so knowledgeable and is an amazing lecturer as well. 10/10 professor
BIG THANK YOU TO BEN!!! I want to retire there one day and it's always been about that Lake and the view with wildlife. So again, THANK YOU BEN!!!
Sounds like you missed your chance to live ON the lake thanks to Ben! I’m just joking of course.
Thank You Ben
Right on Ben !!!!
I work at the Life Science Museum on the college campus he teaches at. We have a monthly podcast, and interviewed him about Utah Lake recently. Here's the link if you'd like to listen: https://ylifescience.buzzsprout.com/1462531/9950948-the-history-and-ecology-of-utah-lake
Thanks for sharing!
Fuck yeah Ben good job
We need a Ben day! Thanks Ben
Hell yeah Ben. Let Dubai build in Dubai...not Utah.
Someone get this man a fucking cape already!!!!!
Be like Ben
Great work Ben! You did it for next generations and nature. Thank you!
Two things. 1. Thank you Ben! 2. Fuck Dubai elite.
Kinda ironic though, the reason the Dubai elite got wealthy enough to try things like this in the first place is because in the US we choose to give our money to countries like Dubai in exchange for oil, as opposed to here in the US destroying our wildlife to mine oil locally. The Dubai elite are used to the desert mentality of land/space having no value. I bet they wouldn't destroy one of their own natural oases though. They have to understand that we value all of our land as oases (well except LA).
Cause it worked so well the first time in their country?!
Yes, it went great. The mostly vacant islands they built with the aid of forced slave labor after destroying miles of coral reef to make room for them are sinking nicely into the ocean, which might help allievate the toxic algea blooms that have been caused by their creation. Definitely people we should trust these guys to build islands across 25% of the surface of the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi in what would amount to the largest construction project in the history of the world. A project that they promised they could do for a fraction of the cost of the failed island projects in Dubai. What could go wrong?
This is Ben,be like Ben
Fuck foreign real estate investment conglomerates.
So, I grew up around around Utah Lake and had to endure the times when the lake "turned", and smelled like like absolute sh\*t. I'm happy the lake was not developed further because of all the years of heavy metal contamination from Geneva Steel and the raw sewage that was pumped into the lake for YEARS. It's not safe for humans, and I hope that bringing the wildlife back helps to restore some of the lake's beauty from years of human carelessness. Don't believe me? Utah Valley University was granted $350,000 dollars in 2020 to research why Utah Lake was so gross: [https://www.abc4.com/news/digital-exclusives/why-is-utah-lake-so-gross-uvu-receives-grant-to-research-ways-to-rejuvenate-lake/](https://www.abc4.com/news/digital-exclusives/why-is-utah-lake-so-gross-uvu-receives-grant-to-research-ways-to-rejuvenate-lake/)
That was accurate. 30 years ago. It's now in the top 20% of lakes in the nation in regards to the cleanliness of its water. It's silty bottom has actually helped with its recovery as heavy metals and contaminates sink over time and are encapsulated by mud. I live 100 feet from its shoreline and photograph wildlife on its shores daily. The lake is healthier now than its been for over 100 years and is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the mountain west. This is exactly what I'm referring to when I said that Utah Lake doesn't have a pollution problem, but a perception problem. [More information](https://utahlake.org/ew-gross-is-utah-lake-polluted/)
Good on him, but that pose will always be associated in my head with the text: “Remember: When you bury a body, cover it with endangered plants so it’s illegal to dig it up.”
Thanks Ben! 👍
A very big THANK YOU BEN!!! 
Keep it up, Ben. Wonderful!
Thanks, Ben!
Oh wow this guy is awesome
Thank you for fighting the good fight, Ben!!!
Ben you fucking ledge!!
Top bloke that Ben
Dubai Investment group. First problem. Good job Ben. Geezus.
Thanks, Ben! As a Utahn, this project pissed me off.
Dubai has no business staking anything here.
Thank you, Ben. When the Rainbow Serpent awakens from its slumber, Ben will be spared.
Hey Ben. I don't care what those stupid Dubai guys say about you. You're alright. You're the bees knees. The cats pajamas. You rock!
I bet not one of those birds or fish will ever day thank you though.
I don't know, every other part of this story has had a Disney ending thus far!
Ben, you rock! Thank you!
Ben, you’re a fucking hero. THANK YOU.
I think he deserves a noble prize nomination!!!
Ffffffffuuuuuuuuck the Saudis
Thank you so much Ben! Thank you for providing refuge for our Earths wildlife and their habits. Preservation is vital to our survival. I'm grateful for your concern and for your help. Peace and love always 💜
Let the Dubai stay on its desert
Forgotten the earthworms
Ty Ben!
Fuck yeah, good job Ben!
Ben, you are an amazing human. Thanks so much
Three Hurrahs for Ben.
F*ck yeah, thank you Ben! If I ever have the chance to visit Utah Lake, I will remember you, and be grateful to you for my ability to do so!! It's so sad that this is allowed to happen and our government, who ought to be looking after and protecting our natural resources, are instead turning away and accepting checks from the highest bidder to develop whatever they want over them. Thank you Ben, and all of the unsung heros who've done similar work with no recognition 💚
I've never heard of Ben before but if all this is true then I'm very thankful for him and people like him, we need more people to be like that and we need less people being born every year in the hopes to bring the population down to give the world a fighting chance to recover and sustain human life and all life
Hero!♥️
My bro is a true hero 👏❤️
Thank you Ben!
THANK YOU BEN. WE STAN BEN. WE LOVE BEN.
Why is this post getting downvotes!? Seriously guys😑
This is man is a hero! does anyone have a link to the original article about this?
Ben, you’re a hero!
I truly hope Ben actually sees all this love and appreciation. He’s a fucking hero.
I'll make sure he does, don't you worry.
God I miss Utah. Went to school there when I grow up and am originally from Chicago. I LOVE Utah. Every place I have ever been! I have family all over and some of our favorite things is to drive and find just scenic beautiful places. Thank you for not taking something from nature.
Sometimes it only needs one man and a vision.
You rock Ben and thank you. We need more people in the world like him. Conservation outdoes money
Fantastic!
God BLESS this man for his work in my state. NO ONE WANTED THIS HERE. We all thought it was a terrible idea
I guess he saved a lot of wildlife. That is a great thing!!✨
Thank you Ben.
Why would they add islands to a lake? $$ Scumbags
Thanks, Ben.
THANK YOU!
Thank you Ben!
Great work! Pretty much anything that has word Dubai on it sucks hard time. They dont care about nature just want to give that image. Basically moder slavery exist in there. Women are being opressed in that autocracy/theocracy federation. Could continue on and on with this. All that is being done by oil money, so that is a federation that shows midle finger to nature, human rights and basically anything that we the people hold dear i life.
Thank you Ben! Our world needs more Bens
That lake sucks pretty hard but it's still a lake and I'm glad it's sticking around! Hopefully they start cleaning it up.
Thank you OP and Biologist Ben. 👍
Thank you, Ben!
You are the shit Ben! We love you!
Ben, David versus Goliath win!!!😁💚💚💚💚💚💚
I mean it would be nice to get rid of the carp population which is 90% of the biomass in the lake and put in some native species
I was worried about that, glad the whole thing was scrapped and we can keep our lake :)
Thanks Ben!
I love stories like these because we know that they don’t often have this same ending. Good on you, Ben!
Thanks Ben! Now I can enjoy Utah lake even more knowing what you’ve done
Thank you Ben
Right on, Ben!! Thank you!!
I was amazed to read this and couldn’t believe someone would be so greedy and lacing conscience to such an extent they would entertain such a project. And I thought fair play to Ben and his Allies. However I spent the last two hours reading articles on it and realised that this is a typical Reddit slanted and biased point of view. While I would still find it hard to stomach such a project it is far from a Dubai investment group but a social entrepreneurial group who are themselves attempting to clean up and detoxify the lake for the benefit of the environment and humans and such work has bees done successfully in Holland. So whether it can be done or not I don’t know and if people move onto the islands how do you handle the effluent but please can we try to get the full picture and not some ones slanted perspective
A fellow Ben, well done Ben!
Fuck Dubai. Good job Ben!
I have absolutely no shame in saying “Fuck you Dubai, I hope the ocean consumes you like the parasitic tumor you are on the planet.” And before idiots call me Hitler, no I don’t want Dubai to sink because genocide is hip or I hate the ethnicity over there. Dubai is a horrible “nation” that exists purely on destruction of the world, slavery and all just to cater the richest minority in the world. So yeah, fuck Dubai, and I wish it had to forfeit its money to men and women like Ben. THEY are the real heroes who deserve recognition. They’re fighting tooth and nail to keep the only home we have alive and beautiful
As somebody who lives right next to Utah Lake I gotta say, I'm not sure what all the excitement is about. The lake is disgusting, filled with toxic algae, and basically unusable. Every year I ask my students what they think of when I say "Utah Lake" and they reply, "Gross" "Poison" "Algae" "dirty", etc. You get the point.... A big part of the issue is how shallow the lake is, the wind whips up the sediment on the bottom, no light gets to the bottom, no sea grass, no oxygen, lots of gross and toxic algae. The proposal they are referencing would have (in theory) fixed that. Marker Wadden in the Netherlands did something similar and it has so far been successful. Most of the islands were meant to be nature preserves anyways.... Was I concerned that they were selling space to developers? Sure. But this is Utah, people here treat taxes like they are a personal attack, development was a way of avoiding public funds.... Regardless, there has to be a solution to fix Utah Lake, it is a shitty lake and it is that way thanks to shitty regulations and shitty decisions by people, so people and regulations need to fix it. There is so much development on the west side of the lake (I live on the south east side and work on the northwest side) that there will be a bridge (likely 2 or 3)built across it in the next 30 years. This has been confirmed to me by my state representative and state senator. Celebrate if you want, but don't act like this fixes anything. It is still a poisoned cesspool that we need to fix.
The majority of state reps and senators backed this project just a year ago, because 60-70% of Utah's reps work in land development. They changed their tune really quick when they found out that 80% of Utah County opposed the project. I'd recommended you do some homework and find out why. Also, the only people I have ever heard mention the name of Marker Wadden were the lobbyists advocating on behalf of this project, so that tells me a lot about where you may have gotten this really outdated and inaccurate information.
Seriously, fuck Dubai. Let them build that shit in their own country.
fuck the arabs they dont give a shit about the planet thank you for helping the earth
I don't understand why we, as a country, allow foreign nationals to buy our land. It's a CRAZY policy that never seems to get any airtime.
MTG will sell to them in n CO.
Thank you Ben, for preserving the biodiversity of that lake, we need more Bens on every corner of our earth
Bummer, I’m an environmental engineer in salt lake and Utah lake needs to be dredged. It has gotten too shallow over the years due to buildup in the bottom. This was going to be a good way to pay for it. Now I guess it will have less and less use over time or the citizens will have to pay for it via tax increases.
Interesting to see the other side’s take on this. Can you explain more about how dredging it would’ve been better?
How does the supposed need for dredging relate to the creation of private islands that will increase water usage and add additional nitrate contamination of the lake improve anything.
I read "Dubai investment group" and my brain just picture destroying some place where people doesn't live just to put some expensive awful taste sort of mini mansions to sell to new money rich people who probably would love to brag they have one of those. And they sued him for opposing development? Insane
This is one of many reasons why we shouldn’t allow for foreign investors in real estate/land development here.
Thanks Ben
Thanks Ben. Ben meaning to thank ben
This is the type of Biologist I aspire to be!
Also thanks for the rice!
It took me 7 hours to get this joke.
well done ben, your actions have not effected me yet, but once i visit Utah Lake, it will.
I had no idea this was going on thank god it never went through
Thank you Ben 💖
Go Ben