After greeting his audience backed by the sound of birds chirping, Utah Sen. John Curtis described his journey toward realizing the influence humans have on the climate, before engaging in a curated question and answer session.
The event, titled “Bringing people together for constructive conversation about climate change,” was held at Utah Valley University on Monday evening.
Representing the environmental group Mormon Environmental Stewardship Alliance, Søren Simonsen said his faith is a major reason he cares about climate change.
“Sea coast cities are concerned with the rising level of the ocean, which will bring ocean tides to their doorstep and over their thresholds,” he said. “Global warming is also affecting agriculture and wildfire.”
Then Simonsen encouraged Curtis “to continue to be a leader in reducing methane emissions.”
The event was sponsored by Utah Clean Energy, Mormon Environmental Stewardship Alliance, Mormon Women for Ethical Government, Citizens’ Climate Lobby and Citizens’ Climate Education.
Former Gov. Gary Herbert and several state lawmakers were in attendance.
Sen. Curtis on how he started believing in climate change
Curtis began his remarks by thanking the audience for being patient with him on his “journey.”
“If it’s a journey for me, it could be a journey for other people. And we shouldn’t lose hope or confidence in people who aren’t where we are and where we want them to be,” he said.
As a U.S. representative for Utah in 2021, Curtis founded the Conservative Climate Caucus. The group’s purpose is to “educate House Republicans on climate policies and legislation consistent with conservative values.”
Curtis said his faith in God led him to feel “reverence for the Earth,” which led him to start the group.
“I think we’re born with — most of us, if not all of us — some sense that there’s a higher power that’s been involved," he said.
Then he referenced town halls earlier in his political career, where “someone about 20 years old would raise their hand and ask something like, ‘Do you believe in climate change?’“
“My first answer was no,” he said. But “I couldn’t leave it at that, because I would see the disappointment in that 20-year-old’s eyes.”
Curtis said he began asking oil executives and conservative think tanks if humans were causing climate change, “and their answers were all ‘yes.’”
So “we started to experiment with actually saying, ‘Yes,’” Curtis said. “And it actually felt really good. I came to the conclusion that I did not personally need to resolve how much influence a man had over it, I just needed to get to, ‘Of course it’s changing and man had some influence over it.’”
With this new acceptance, Curtis said he “did some very simple things.”
“I changed my light bulbs to LED,” he said, and the audience laughed.
Executive orders are bad for land stability, Curtis says
When asked about the EPA’s regulation rollback for greenhouse gas emissions, Curtis said, “It’s hard to say what the next move is.”
“I do think this is a very important point to make when we have a win or a loss, as you would categorize it ... if it’s done in the executive branch, it’s temporary,” he said.
He continued, “To be honest, none of it is going to matter in two and a half years ... we need to find a bipartisan path forward to move that into legislation.”
Curtis waved his hand back and forth. “It’s not good to do this,” he said.
The senator referenced several items of legislation he’s been involved with, including the Fix Our Forest Act and permitting reform he worked on with Utah Sen. Mike Lee.
“When it’s done administratively, it’s all one side, and the loser is the land,” Curtis said. “Hopefully we can stop that.”
Curtis has sharp words for DOGE
When asked what he could do to mitigate President Donald Trump’s “attempt to dismantle the NOAA” and other research centers, Curtis responded, “Let me start in a place that will make some of you grumpy.”
“We’re overspending a lot. We’re $39 trillion in debt, and that’s growing quickly. We’re not coming up with any good solutions,” he said.
Curtis compared the Department of Government Efficiency with his time as mayor of Provo. He cut the city’s budget by 9%, and “increased employee morale,” he said.
“That’s not what happened in DOGE. We didn’t ask any questions, we just blew things up. We fired people who give permits at the Forest Service. In my opinion, it cost us a lot of money to save the same money,” Curtis said.
However, Curtis said, government agencies should be ready to spend less.