The Daily Mail Called. Apparently a Yard Sign Is International News Now.
Read the full Daily Mail article here.
I want to be transparent about something: I didn't start this to get press coverage.
I'm a realtor and a dad in Riverdale, Utah. I made a yard sign out of frustration after a conversation with a friend. That's it.
But now the Daily Mail has written about it — one of the most widely read news outlets in the world. And I think that says something worth paying attention to.
Here's how they framed it:
"Jordan Smith, a resident of Riverdale, has become the unlikely face of a growing backlash over the proposed Stratos Project in Box Elder County, a sprawling data center development that has sparked fierce debate about water, growth and the future of Utah's natural resources."
"Unlikely face." That feels right. I'm not an activist. I'm not a politician. I'm someone who got frustrated enough to make a sign.
The frustration came from a pretty simple observation. As the Daily Mail put it:
"While Riverdale residents have been ordered to cut back on water use amid worsening drought conditions, Smith says ordinary homeowners are being asked to make sacrifices while lawmakers consider developments that would place huge demands on water and power supplies."
My city issued mandatory water restrictions starting April 27th running through November. The reasoning? Reservoir levels at dangerously low capacity. The Weber River drainage system in serious decline. Officials used the phrase "extremely bleak." Those are their words, not mine.
And yet — in the same drought, in the same state — a 40,000-acre data center development is moving through the approval process.
So I made a sign that said: "This home identifies as a data center and will use whatever amount of water it wants."
I told the Daily Mail exactly why:
"The signs are intentionally satirical. Humor and perceived hypocrisy have a way of making people pause and pay attention when they otherwise might keep scrolling."
The whole thing started from a throwaway comment. As I explained in the article: a friend jokingly said, "You should just make a yard sign about how you feel." So I did. And then something unexpected happened.
"What started as a tongue in cheek idea quickly turned into something much bigger. The response has honestly been far larger than I expected."
Messages from people across Utah and beyond. Complete strangers who felt the same way but didn't have a way to say it.
I want to be clear about what this is and what it isn't. I told the Daily Mail directly:
"My concern is not about technology itself. It is about transparency, long term planning, and whether residents fully understand the scale of these projects and their potential impact on local resources and communities."
That's the whole thing. That's the entire point.
The project backers say the Stratos development won't pull water from homes or farms, that it'll use a closed-loop system and existing water rights. The Utah Department of Natural Resources says it will provide oversight. Maybe everything goes exactly as promised.
But "trust us" isn't a water policy. And a yard sign isn't a solution — it's a conversation starter.
Apparently, it started one in England too.
Read the full Daily Mail article here.