{"id":624298,"date":"2026-05-05T05:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T05:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/624298\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T05:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T05:25:10","slug":"utah-sen-john-curtis-shares-personal-climate-change-journey-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/624298\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah Sen. John Curtis shares personal climate change ‘journey’ \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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. <\/p>\n

The event, titled \u201cBringing people together for constructive conversation about climate change,\u201d was held at Utah Valley University on Monday evening. <\/p>\n

Representing the environmental group Mormon Environmental Stewardship Alliance, S\u00f8ren Simonsen said his faith is a major reason he cares about climate change. <\/p>\n

\"\"Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, speaks at \u201dAn Evening with Senator John Curtis: Bringing People Together for Constructive Conversation about Climate Change,\u201d at the Scott C. Keller Business Building at UVU in Orem on Monday, May 4, 2026. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News <\/p>\n

\u201cSea coast cities are concerned with the rising level of the ocean<\/a>, which will bring ocean tides to their doorstep and over their thresholds,\u201d he said. \u201cGlobal warming is also affecting agriculture and wildfire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then Simonsen encouraged Curtis \u201cto continue to be a leader in reducing methane emissions.\u201d <\/p>\n

The event was sponsored by Utah Clean Energy, Mormon Environmental Stewardship Alliance, Mormon Women for Ethical Government, Citizens\u2019 Climate Lobby and Citizens\u2019 Climate Education. <\/p>\n

Former Gov. Gary Herbert and several state lawmakers were in attendance. <\/p>\n

\"\"Soren Simonsen, Mormon Environmental Stewardship Alliance board member, speaks at \u201cAn Evening with Senator John Curtis: Bringing People Together for Constructive Conversation about Climate Change,\u201d at the Scott C. Keller Business Building at UVU in Orem on Monday, May 4, 2026. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Sen. Curtis on how he started believing in climate change<\/p>\n

Curtis began his remarks by thanking the audience for being patient with him on his \u201cjourney.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s a journey for me, it could be a journey for other people. And we shouldn\u2019t lose hope or confidence in people who aren\u2019t where we are and where we want them to be,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

As a U.S. representative for Utah in 2021, Curtis founded the Conservative Climate Caucus<\/a>. The group\u2019s purpose is to \u201ceducate House Republicans on climate policies and legislation consistent with conservative values.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"Tom Moyer and Andy Barros talk with Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, at \u201cAn Evening with Senator John Curtis: Bringing People Together for Constructive Conversation about Climate Change,\u201d at the Scott C. Keller Business Building at UVU in Orem on Monday, May 4, 2026. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News <\/p>\n

Curtis said his faith in God led him to feel \u201creverence for the Earth,\u201d which led him to start the group. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re born with \u2014 most of us, if not all of us \u2014 some sense that there\u2019s a higher power that\u2019s been involved,” he said. <\/p>\n

Then he referenced town halls earlier in his political career, where \u201csomeone about 20 years old would raise their hand and ask something like, \u2018Do you believe in climate change?\u2019\u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first answer was no,\u201d he said. But \u201cI couldn\u2019t leave it at that, because I would see the disappointment in that 20-year-old\u2019s eyes.\u201d <\/p>\n

Curtis said he began asking oil executives and conservative think tanks if humans were causing climate change, \u201cand their answers were all \u2018yes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, speaks at \u201cAn Evening with Senator John Curtis: Bringing People Together for Constructive Conversation about Climate Change,\u201d at the Scott C. Keller Business Building at UVU in Orem on Monday, May 4, 2026. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News <\/p>\n

So \u201cwe started to experiment with actually saying, \u2018Yes,\u2019\u201d Curtis said. \u201cAnd 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, \u2018Of course it\u2019s changing and man had some influence over it.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

With this new acceptance, Curtis said he \u201cdid some very simple things.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI changed my light bulbs to LED,\u201d he said, and the audience laughed. <\/p>\n

Executive orders are bad for land stability, Curtis says\"\"Utah Valley University acting President Wayne Vaught talks with Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, at An Evening with Sen. John Curtis: Bringing People Together for Constructive Conversation about Climate Change, at the Scott C. Keller Business Building at UVU in Orem on Monday, May 4, 2026. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News <\/p>\n

When asked about the EPA\u2019s regulation rollback<\/a> for greenhouse gas emissions, Curtis said, \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say what the next move is.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI 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\u2019s done in the executive branch, it\u2019s temporary,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cTo 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.\u201d <\/p>\n

Curtis waved his hand back and forth. \u201cIt\u2019s not good to do this,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The senator referenced several items of legislation he\u2019s been involved with, including the Fix Our Forest Act and permitting reform<\/a> he worked on with Utah Sen. Mike Lee. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it\u2019s done administratively, it\u2019s all one side, and the loser is the land,\u201d Curtis said. \u201cHopefully we can stop that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curtis has sharp words for DOGE\"\"Brandy Smith, Utah Clean Energy communications director, talks with Leesa Crump at An Evening with Sen. John Curtis: Bringing People Together for Constructive Conversation about Climate Change, at the Scott C. Keller Business Building at UVU in Orem on Monday, May 4, 2026. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News <\/p>\n

When asked what he could do to mitigate President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cattempt to dismantle the NOAA\u201d and other research centers, Curtis responded, \u201cLet me start in a place that will make some of you grumpy.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re overspending a lot. We\u2019re $39 trillion in debt, and that\u2019s growing quickly. We\u2019re not coming up with any good solutions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Curtis compared the Department of Government Efficiency with his time as mayor of Provo. He cut the city\u2019s budget by 9%, and \u201cincreased employee morale,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not what happened in DOGE. We didn\u2019t 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,\u201d Curtis said. <\/p>\n

However, Curtis said, government agencies should be ready to spend less. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After greeting his audience backed by the sound of birds chirping, Utah Sen. John Curtis described his journey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,5817,8793,79],"class_list":["post-624298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-news-division","tag-news-feed-national","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}