New House Speaker Mike Johnson Holds Extreme Views on Climate Change and Science
Louisiana legislators and progressive activists warn that Johnsons polite demeanor masks dangerous ideas
Sierra Club
By Delaney Nolan
October 30, 2023
John Delgado, a former Baton Rouge Metro council member who was critical of Johnson when he was still a state representative, said Johnsons climate skepticism is borne out of evangelical dispensationalist beliefthe idea that the end times herald the second coming of Christ. There are people who just want to see the world burn because they are waiting for the next one, Delgado told Sierra. He explained that those who are eager for the Rapture want it [the world] to end sooner.... And so theyre not going to care about the environment, theyre not going to care about the coastline, theyre not going to care about rising ocean temperatures.
When you talk about climate change, Delgado said, he [Johnson] truly doesnt care.
Johnson was chairing the Republican Study Committee when it claimed that wind turbines cause headaches, anxiety, depression, and cognitive dysfunction. That claim is apparently based on commentary written not by scientists but by a Canadian family physician, along with a retired pharmacist and an accountant.
Jackson Voss, a Louisiana native and former policy advocate in DC, encountered Johnsons staff during his time as a legislative staffer. Voss, now a policy coordinator at the Alliance for Affordable Energy, described Johnsons views as being anti-science on issues ranging from climate change to reproductive and mental health. Voss also echoed Delgados impression of Johnson, that his positions are influenced less by politics than by a deep conviction in Christian fundamentalism. His convictions are extreme, said Voss, but theyre sincerely held.
Johnson, who has advocated for public schools to teach the Bible as an accurate record of history, is opposed to reproductive rights and LGBTQIA equality
Justin Solet, a long-time environmental justice organizer from Louisiana
described Johnson as a zealot and says if Johnsons vision were realized in Louisiana, we would turn into Gilead, a reference to the fascist ethnostate in Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale.
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https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/new-house-speaker-mike-johnson-holds-extreme-views-climate-change-and-science