This story was first published by the Guardian. It appears here as part the Climate Desk collaboration. Mike Johnson was just a few months from becoming House speaker in late 2014, when he received an impassioned plea from his father Patrick. The
This article, which was first released by the Guardian, is presented below as a part of the Climate Desk partnership.
In late 2014, Mike Johnson was just a few months away from winning the presidency when he was met with an ardent appeal from Patrick, the late father of his father, to whom the man would eventually pay tribute in his first speech as House speaker.
When Mike was 12 years old, the elder Johnson, a former firefighter in Shreveport, Louisiana, narrowly avoided death in an professional explosion. This incident changed the course of both men’s lives. He had recently joined a neighborhood economic organization working to oppose US government plans to burn more than 15 million pounds of dangerous munitions outside. It had forced Patrick and Janis Gabriel, his future wife, to take the lead in economic advocacy in Louisiana.
Patrick and Janis turned to the most powerful person they knew as authorities were about to approve the “open burn,” which would have released enormous amounts of known carcinogens into the atmosphere.
” Mike, you need to get involved in this, this is really important… Your family really lives at ground zero,” his father and I told him.
Finally, an ambitious, right-wing constitutional lawyer named Mike Johnson would quickly fill the vacant position for Louisiana’s eighth state congressional district, whose borders are only 20 miles from Camp Minden, the military outpost of the largest illegal munitions dump in US history. Two years prior, a small number of the munitions had voluntarily detonated, creating an explosion radius of four miles.
Gabriel recalled that the two had driven to Mike Johnson’s law offices in the late morning, and Patrick Johnson had told his son about the urgent environmental and health risks the dangerous dump posed to locals as well as to members of the Johnson family who lived nearby.
Mike, you need to get involved in this, this is truly important, his father and I told him. In an interview with the Guardian, Gabriel stated that “your family truly lives at ground zero.” ” We essentially begged him to say something, there, to someone.”
Then there was a brief up and forward, she said. Gabriel remarked,” He just was n’t interested.” ” He had another obligations. He always showed any interest in the environment.
Profoundly disappointed, the couple left. She said,” The fact that he would n’t devote five minutes of his time to the effort just blew my mind.” ” He essentially shut us down,”
Johnson’s spokesperson stated that he “disputes this characterization as described” but declined to respond to a request for more information.
Since being promoted from relative obscurity to the House speakership in October, Gabriel, 72, has given this unsuccessful appeal to Johnson a lot of thought in recent months.
Mike Johnson, a climate science denier, has discussed how his Christian faith has influenced his political outlook. A close look at Johnson’s prior statements reveals that his anti-climate advocacy frequently reflects a Christian fundamentalism that is associated with the creationist movement.
Camp Minden, Louisiana’s third congressional district, has long voted adamantly Democrat, but many locals continue to have serious worries about pollution and the climate crisis. Some claim that their representative in Washington, who is currently next in line for the presidency, is inherently failing them because the district experienced record heat and a number of climate-related disasters in just one year.
Only five months into his second term in the US Congress, Mike Johnson’s opinions on climate change came to light in 2017. At a boisterous town hall meeting in Shreveport, Johnson was asked how he felt about the climate crisis. Johnson responded by criticizing climate change data, claiming to have even seen” the data on the other side.”
The question is whether the climate is changing as a result of the atmospheric cycles that have occurred over time or because we drive SUVs.
I do n’t think in the latter. I do n’t believe that is the main driver.
Some of the attendees booed.
Johnson led the Republican Study Committee two years later as it lobbied against liberal Democrat efforts to put a Green New Deal into effect. Johnson has received nearly$ 350,000 in political donations from the oil and gas sector since his election in 2016. Johnson criticized the comprehensive national plan for climate action as a “guise to usher in socialism principles” and establish “full government control.”
The remarks matched the Democrat party’s support for fossil fuels in Louisiana, which is financially reliant on the oil and gas sector.
The comments, however, revealed a worldview that is very different from conventional Democratic pro-industry norms, according to experts who study the Christian fundamentalist movement of creationism. They interpret Johnson’s comments and rejection of climate science as proof that he adhered to young-Earth creationist ideals, such as the idea that the Earth is only 6,000 years older.
Democrats “view the climate agenda as a component of their religion,” Johnson remarked to an interviewer. There is n’t another way that I can put it.
Johnson has been closely involved with the creationist movement since 2014, before he entered politics, when a vocal supporter and attorney for Answers in Genesis ( AiG), if you know what I mean. This is the name of the international fundamentalist Christian group that built opulent replicas of Noah’s Ark and amusement parks in Kentucky. Johnson eventually assisted the group in securing taxpayer incentives for the project after a contentious legal battle.
David MacMillan, a former Christian fundamentalist who has left the movement, said,” Creationists can simply wave aside all of the geologic evidence of climate change because they are convinced that all rock layers were laid down in an enormous flood about 4, 400 years before.”
MacMillan attended denier conferences as a child, had articles posted on AiG’s website, and contributed to the fundraising effort for the founding of the organization near Cincinnati, which resulted in him being listed on the donor wall and being granted access to lifetime membership. He is presently speaking out against the perils of science denial after leaving his fundamentalist beliefs behind.
They will inform you that the monthly ice core layers, which number in the hundreds of thousands, were simply a collection of snow that formed as the Earth cooled following Noah’s flood. They think that in order to find patterns that will draw attention to themselves and advance narratives that appease the world’s elite who want to rule us, climate scientists are sorting through pointless noise.
Furthermore, MacMillan continued, the majority of fundamentalists contend that even though the climate is changing, it should n’t matter because they anticipate the world’s impending, apocalyptic end.
Johnson developed a close bond with Australian Christian fundamentalist Ken Ham, the founder of AiG, who asserted that people should n’t be concerned that they will destroy the planet because God wouldn t permit it to happen in the first place.
According to MacMillan, who is familiar with Ham, the founder of AiG pioneered a strategy for attempting to sow scientific skepticism by portraying scientific consensus as only an ideology, similar to religion.
When asked why Democrats pursue policies to address the climate crisis in a video interview with American psychologist and alt-right provocateur Jordan Peterson in November of last year, Johnson instantly drew from this creationist strategy.
” When the Lord returns, we’re going to be around until he stays.” We’re seeing a lot of signs, so maybe that’s quickly.
According to Johnson,” They regard the climate agenda as part of their religion.” I am at a loss for how to explain it. They pursue it fervently out of religion. They do n’t give a damn about the suffering these policies cause the people they are supposed to be helping because, in reality, they’re helping the planet.
Johnson would have likely had to agree to the group’s statement of faith, which includes the claim that the Bible is “factually real” and that its authority is not limited to religious or heroic themes, but also to history and science. However, MacMillan claimed that Johnson has a close relationship with the organization—his bio appears on its website, he has written blogposts for the association, and Johnson spoke at an AiG event in Kentucky.
All employees of the AiG ministry, whether in any capacity or as volunteers, are required to abide by and accept our Statement of Faith and conduct themselves in accordance with it, according to the group’s website.
All articles, books, and other materials produced or distributed by the group are routinely reviewed by an AiG editorial review board to ensure that they adhere to the organization’s values and that there is n’t mission drift.
Johnson mentioned the end of the world and the second coming of Christ in a speech he gave final year at Ham’s Ark Encounter conference center.
In an address that was met with a standing ovation, he said,” We are hopeful people because we know how the book ends… God wins.” The charge is for us, but it has n’t been decided yet. We will remain here until the Lord departs and returns. And given that we’re seeing a lot of signs, perhaps that’s immediately.
Reclaim: overcoming the war on women for the glory of God is the topic of Mike Johnson and his wife’s speech at an AiG conference scheduled for April of next year.
” MacMillan said,” There is no doubt that Mike Johnson proved to AiG’s satisfaction that he agrees with every aspect of that statement of faith.
It alludes to those religious convictions:” Do n’t worry about the environment; God will look after you because we have a limited time here.” It’s absurd.
Johnson’s brief biography can be found on the AiG contributors page. He is one of only two appointed officials to be posted on the website of the fundamentalist group, according to a review of their 267 biographies. The other is Tony Perkins, a former state representative from Louisiana and the present head of the Family Research Council, an evangelical lobbying group for the far right. One of Johnson’s social mentors, Perkins, again asserted that he thought God sent floods to punish homosexuality and frequently cited the Bible to refute climate crisis solutions.
A spokesperson for Johnson said:” The speaker is not liable for the views of others” and declined to elaborate when asked by the Guardian if Johnson had always supported the AiG statement of faith, shared Ham’s views on climate, or thought the Earth was 6, 000 years old.
Instead of responding to certain inquiries about Johnson and the group’s statement of faith, AiG focused on his lawful work for the organization. Answers in Genesis was extremely happy and grateful for Mr. Johnson’s services, according to a spokesman, A Larry Ross.” Mr Johnson served the ministry quite effectively and professionally in this matter.
When explaining her explanation of why Mike Johnson had ignored his father’s pleas for assistance with the air pollution crisis at Camp Minden, Janis Gabriel cited his staunch social pragmatism and hardline faith.
Gabriel remarked,” It speaks to those spiritual beliefs. We only have a limited amount of time here, so do n’t worry about the environment; God will take care of you. It’s absurd.
Gabriel claimed that she was disclosing specifics of secret conversations because Johnson now holds a position of enormous power when she officially discussed her relationship with the House speaker for the first time. She wished to increase public awareness of” who and what he is, as well as how that will impact his work for us.”
That is the crucial discussion, she said.
Mike Johnson framed his criticism of those looking for climate solutions in his interview with Peterson in 2022 around conversations he was having with locals there.
They have successfully replaced Father God with Mother Earth, and they think we are obligated to her. This is what I try to explain to our people when I’m in Louisiana.
Louisiana’s fifth congressional district is currently going through new extremes related to global warming even as the speaker dismisses worries about the climate crisis.
The city of Shreveport experienced back-to-back days of record heat in August as temperatures soared to 110F ( 43C ) in a year that was almost certain to become the hottest on record.
This year in Johnson’s district, a remarkable 33, 000 acres were scorched by the largest wildfire in Louisiana history, which also destroyed the local economy.
A water crisis in the south-east and hundreds of wildfires in America’s wettest state were both caused by the destructive drought that plagued Louisiana for months as well. This year in Johnson’s district, a remarkable 33, 000 acres were scorched by the largest wildfire in Louisiana history, which also destroyed the local economy. This year, the combined effects of the heat and drought cost Louisiana’s agriculture sector$ 1.69 billion.
A spokesman for the Louisiana health department ( LDH) reported that the state also experienced a record number of heat-related deaths over the summer, with 69 people passing away between June and September of this year. According to information provided to the Guardian by LDH, this death toll was nearly twice as high as any in the previous six years.
According to a report released this year that looked at all occupational heat-related illnesses between 2010 and 2020, the north-western region of Louisiana, which has some of the highest rates of poverty in the state and is fully covered by Johnson’s district, has seen the most illness rates.
According to the government report, “heat exposure is intensifying as climate change increases the frequency, severity, and duration of intense heat events.”
According to Todd Thoma, who has been the coroner in the Shreveport area for 16 years, this year alone saw a record six deaths from severe heat. Dr. Thoma cited a combination of persistent extreme heat, high poverty rates, and power outages that contributed to the increased risks for the city’s most vulnerable residents as he combed through each case file in his office, saying,” This was an extraordinary year to me.
A 62-year-old woman who passed away in June after a tornado destroyed her home’s power, leaving her without air conditioning. Four days after, a 49-year-old man was discovered unconscious on the sidewalk. Additionally, on July 13, 34-year-old Ted Boykin, the father of a person who was discovered dead inside an unair-conditioned trailer home used by the unhoused community of Shreveport, was found.
The coroner’s report stated that the external air temperature inside was 98F. Boykin’s domestic body temperature was 107.9 degrees.
The speaker’s denial of the climate crisis poses a threat to the long-term well-being of coming generations, according to MAGA extremists.
In an interview, Sandy Boykin-Hays, a sister of the boykin, expressed her opinion that the climate crisis had affected her brother and reprimanded her congressman and others for their refusal to accept science. Boykin-Hays claimed that the system had let him down. And because they are wealthy, I’m sure they would n’t believe that climate change was staring them in the face in Washington. They are wealthy. They do n’t need to be concerned about the air conditioning or the source of your upcoming meal.
Boykin-Hays, a food delivery driver who also helps with poor referral, was compelled to borrow$ 3,000 to cover the cost of her brother’s funeral. They are oblivious to the real problem because it has no bearing on them, she claimed.
Despite receiving some bipartisan support in committee, the California Democrat Judy Chu’s bill to protect workers from extreme heat has not already received a hearing in Washington, where Johnson now has the authority to introduce legislation to the House floor.
Chu asserted that MAGA extremists like the speaker’s denial of the climate crisis poses a threat to his constituents ‘ health during the summer. Coming generations in America and around the world could be in danger from it in terms of their long-term well-being.
According to meeting minutes reviewed by the Guardian and interviews with two different board members, Janis Gabriel and Patrick Johnson both joined the Citizens Advisory Group, which was established to consult with the EPA about local issues at Camp Minden.
Johnson also contributed to the” stop the burn” efforts by co-writing, recording, and performing an original song. The EPA finally agreed to use a cleaner alternative to dispose of waste in 2016 and 2017, which forced the agency to change its course. ” Patrick Johnson sings,” Take a stand against the poison, safeguard the lives of our coming children.
The fact that his father survived the 1984 explosion has been referred to by Mike Johnson as an “actual miracle” that “made me a person of very heavy faith.”
After surviving a flaming explosion brought on by the leak of ammonia at the cold storage facility, the former firefighter rose to national prominence as an advocate for the safety of hazardous materials. Another firefighter perished in the mishap in 1984. Gabriel claimed that the near-death experience altered his religious perspective. When Johnson was a student at Gabriel’s Vedic center in Shreveport in 2013 to practice tai chi and qigong martial arts, the couple first met. Before Johnson passed away from cancer in December of that year, the couple got married in October 2016.
Gabriel claimed that the senior Johnson was” obviously accepted climate science and was acutely aware of the environment.” He accepted Mike Johnson’s “extremist stance” on Christianity even though he “certainly did n’t agree” with it. Regarding their support for Donald Trump, Gabriel claimed that the two disagreed.
The fact that his father survived the 1984 explosion, according to Mike Johnson, “made me a person of very strong faith.” Johnson’s campaign literature also makes reference to the incident, and in his opening remarks as speaker, he referred to how his late father” changed all of our life trajectories.”
Johnson, however, seemed to show little interest in the Camp Minden issue that his father was campaigning on starting in January 2015, when he officially entered politics. Three organizers referred to this time as the beginning of increased advocacy.
Ron Hagar, the chairman of the board, claims that he received invitations to attend citizen meetings as native campaigning increased but chose not to go.
Hagar, a close friend of Patrick Johnson’s, said,” He stayed when far away from it as possible.” He did n’t feel obligated to defend the interests of the people he represents.
Although he was listed as a co-sponsor of an insignificant 2015 state house resolution to prevent the facility from accepting any more waste explosives, an examination of open records did not turn up any mention of Mike Johnson at the time. Photographs reveal Johnson was also present at a press conference held at the location in December 2015, but the older organizer present claims Johnson did not speak, and the state representative is no cited in the local media.
Gene Reynolds, a Democrat state representative who represents Minden in the 10th district, spoke out in favor of the issue. Reynolds, who is then retired, ignored numerous requests for comment. Johnson’s spokesperson refuted claims that he had nothing to do with the incident by citing common activity and “other activities” that the Guardian had cited.
” Dad was correct regarding Shreveport’s economic issues. These and other problems are getting worse, Johnson sent a text.
Johnson’s brief time in the state legislature was devoted to far-right policy initiatives related to his biblical worldview, such as introducing legislation to push up against same-sex marriage, and he also continued to concentrate on his non-profit law practice, which included his work with Ham’S Ark Encounter.
Gabriel moved out of state after her husband’s passing. Johnson and she started to lose touch, despite their unusual friendly texts. Johnson and Gabriel exchanged content Mother’s Day messages in a May 2019 exchange that the Guardian witnessed. Gabriel informed him that she had relocated to a different state and entirely left Shreveport. ” Do n’t hold it against you in the least for staying there!” Shreveport is currently going actually downward, and it’s sad to see,” Johnson retorted.
Gabriel continued by saying that Patrick had advised her to leave, in part because of his prediction of “worsening economic problems.” Johnson was furthermore informed by her that his father would be pleased with his “love, devotion, and support” for his own children.
” Dad was correct regarding Shreveport’s economic issues. These and other problems are getting worse, Johnson retorted. However, he quickly moved to inform her of his quick ascent in Congress in the same message:” I’ve been advanced in leadership in record time ( currently the 10th ranked Republican! ), and God keeps saying that we are doing what He has called us to do, which gives us hope. This article, which is a part of the Climate Desk collaboration, was first published by the Guardian. In late 2014, Mike Johnson was just a few months away from winning the presidency when he was met with an ardent appeal from Patrick, the late father of his father, to whom the man would eventually pay tribute in his first speech as House speaker. The
This story was first published by the Guardian. It appears here as part the Climate Desk collaboration. Mike Johnson was just a few months from becoming House speaker in late 2014, when he received an impassioned plea from his father Patrick. The
House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks to reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday, following a meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP. This story was originally published by the Guardian and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.. Mike Johnson was a few months away from assuming elected office in late 2014 when he was confronted with an impassioned appeal by the man he would later pay tribute to in his first speech as House speaker: his late father, Patrick.. The elder Johnson, a former firefighter in the Louisiana city of Shreveport, had survived a near fatal industrial explosion when Mike was 12 years old, a defining event in both men’s lives. He had just joined a local community environmental group working to fight against US government plans to burn—in the open air—over 15 million pounds of toxic munitions. It had thrust Patrick and his future wife Janis Gabriel on to the frontlines of Louisiana environmental advocacy.. As authorities were on the verge of approving the “open burn,” which would have sent vast quantities of known carcinogens into the air, Patrick and Janis turned to the most influential person they knew.. “His father and I went to him and said: ‘Mike, you need to get involved in this, this is really important…Your family really lives at ground zero.’”. Then an ambitious, right-wing constitutional lawyer, Mike Johnson would in a matter of weeks fill the vacancy for Louisiana’s eighth state legislative district—whose borders are just 20 miles from Camp Minden, a military base where the illegal munitions dump—the largest in US history—was located. A small amount of the munitions had spontaneously exploded two years before, causing a four mile blast radius.. The pair drove to Mike Johnson’s legal offices in the late morning, Gabriel recalled, and Patrick Johnson explained to his son the immediate environmental and health dangers the toxic dump posed, not only to residents in the immediate vicinity but to members of the Johnson family living in the region.. “His father and I went to him and said: ‘Mike, you need to get involved in this, this is really important. Your family really lives at ground zero,’” Gabriel said in an interview with the Guardian. “We basically begged him to say something, to someone, somewhere.”. A terse back and forth followed, she said. “He just wasn’t interested,” Gabriel said. “He had other things to do. He was never interested in environmental things.”. The couple left deeply disappointed. “It just blew my mind that he wouldn’t give five minutes of his time to the effort,” she said. “He basically shut us down.”. A spokesperson for Johnson said he “disputes this characterization as described” but did not respond to an invitation to elaborate further.. Gabriel, 72, has thought about this failed appeal to Johnson repeatedly in recent months, ever since he was thrust from relative obscurity to the House speakership in October.. A denier of climate science, Mike Johnson has spoken about how his evangelical faith has shaped his political worldview. According to a broad examination of his past statements, Johnson’s anti-climate advocacy often bears the hallmarks of a Christian fundamentalism linked to creationism.. Louisiana’s fourth congressional district, which includes Camp Minden, has long voted staunchly Republican, but many residents still hold deep concerns about pollution and the climate crisis. In a year the district experienced record heat and a number of climate-related disasters, some say their representative in Washington, who is now second in line to the presidency, is fundamentally failing them.. Mike Johnson’s views on climate change became publicly apparent in 2017, just five months into his first term in the US Congress. Asked how he felt about the climate crisis by a constituent at a rowdy town hall meeting in Shreveport, Johnson launched into a critique of climate change data, saying he had also seen “the data on the other side.”. “The climate is changing, but the question is: is the climate changing because of the natural cycles of the atmosphere over the span of history, or is it changing because we drive SUVs?. “I don’t believe in the latter. I don’t think that’s the primary driver.”. Some attendees booed.. Two years later, Johnson—who has received almost $350,000 in political donations from the oil and gas industry since his election in 2016—led the Republican Study Committee as it lobbied against progressive Democratic efforts to implement a Green New Deal. Johnson denounced the sweeping federal blueprint for climate action as a “guise to usher in the principles of socialism” and create a system of “full government control.”. In Louisiana, which is economically dependent on the oil and gas industry, the remarks were consistent with the Republican party’s support for fossil fuels.. But to experts who study the Christian fundamentalist movement of creationism, the comments revealed a worldview that falls far outside traditional Republican pro-industry norms. They see the remarks, and Johnson’s rejection of climate science, as evidence of Johnson’s adherence to young-Earth creationist beliefs, including the presumption that the Earth is just 6,000 years old.. Democrats “regard the climate agenda as part of their religion,” Johnson told an interviewer. “I don’t know any other way to explain it.”. Johnson has been closely associated with the creationist movement since 2014—before his entry into politics—when he became a vocal supporter and lawyer for Answers in Genesis (AiG), a global fundamentalist Christian organization that built a gigantic Noah’s Ark replica and amusement park in Kentucky. Following a headline-grabbing legal battle, Johnson ultimately helped the group secure taxpayer incentives for the project.. “Creationists can just wave away all of the geologic evidence of climate change because they are convinced that all rock layers were laid down in a global flood about 4,400 years ago,” said David MacMillan, a former Christian fundamentalist who has left the movement.. MacMillan grew up attending creationist conferences, had posts published on AiG’s website, and helped raise money for the establishment of AiG’s first creationist museum near Cincinnati, earning him a spot on a donor wall and a lifetime pass to attend. Now—having left his fundamentalist views behind—he is speaking out about the dangers of science denial.. “They will tell you that hundreds of thousands of annual ice core layers are just a bunch of snow that formed while the Earth was cooling off after Noah’s flood. They believe climate scientists are sifting through meaningless noise to try and find patterns that will get them noticed and promote narratives that please the global elite who want to control us.”. What’s more, MacMillan added, most fundamentalists argue that even if the climate is changing, it should make no difference because they also expect the imminent, apocalyptic, final judgment of the world.. Johnson forged a close relationship with the AiG founder Ken Ham, an Australian Christian fundamentalist who has argued that humans “don’t need to fear that man will destroy the planet, as God wouldn’t let that happen anyway.”. MacMillan, who knows Ham, said the AiG founder pioneered a technique of trying to sow doubts about science by presenting scientific consensus as merely a belief system, much like religion.. In a video interview with the Canadian psychologist and alt-right provocateur Jordan Peterson in November last year, Johnson drew directly from this creationist strategywhen asked why Democrats pursue policies to address the climate crisis.. “We’re going to be here until the Lord tarries, when the Lord comes back. And maybe that’s soon, because we’re seeing a lot of signs.”. “They regard the climate agenda as part of their religion,” Johnson said. “I don’t know any other way to explain it. They pursue it with religious zeal. And they care not what type of pain these policies inflict upon the people that they are supposed to be serving because they’re not serving the people, they’re serving the planet.”. While many media reports have highlighted Johnson’s controversial relationship with Ham, MacMillan said Johnson’s close association with the group—his bio appears on its website, he has written blogposts for the group, and spoken at an AiG event in Kentucky—means Johnson would probably have had to agree to the group’s statement of faith, which includes the assertion that the Bible is “factually true” and that its authority is not limited to spiritual or redemptive themes, but also history and science.. According to the group’s website: “All persons employed by the AiG ministry in any capacity, or who serve as volunteers, should abide by and agree to our Statement of Faith and conduct themselves accordingly.”. An AiG editorial review board regularly reviews all articles, books and other materials produced or distributed by the group to make sure they are in line with AiG values and that there “is not mission drift.”. In a speech delivered at Ham’s Ark Encounter conference center last year, Johnson raised the apocalypse and Christ’s second coming.. “We are hopeful people because we know how the book ends … God wins,” he said in an address that was met with a standing ovation. “The charge is for us, it’s not yet determined. We’re going to be here until the Lord tarries, when the Lord comes back. And maybe that’s soon, because we’re seeing a lot of signs.”. Mike Johnson and his wife are due to speak at an AiG conference event in April next year, entitled: “Reclaim: overcoming the war on women for the glory of God.”. “There is no doubt that Mike Johnson demonstrated to AiG’s satisfaction that he agrees with every aspect of that statement of faith,” MacMillan said.. “It speaks to those religious beliefs: ‘Don’t take care of the environment because we have a finite amount of time here and God will take care of you.’ It’s crazy.”. A short biography of Johnson is included on AiG’s contributors page. A review of the 267 biographies on the AiG site indicates he is one of only two elected officials to post on the fundamentalist group’s website. The other is Tony Perkins, a former Louisiana state representative and the current president of the Family Research Council, a far-right evangelical lobby group. Perkins, one of Johnson’s political mentors, once said he believed floods were sent by God to punish homosexuality and regularly cites the Bible to deny solutions to the climate crisis.. When asked by the Guardian if Johnson had ever endorsed the AiG statement of faith, or if he shared Ham’s views on climate or if he believed the Earth was 6,000 years old, a spokesperson said: “The speaker is not responsible for the views of others” and did not respond to an invitation to elaborate.. AiG did not respond to specific questions about Johnson and the group’s statement of faith and instead commented on his legal work for the organization. “Mr Johnson served the ministry very effectively and professionally in the matter and Answers in Genesis was very pleased and grateful for his services,” said a spokesman, A Larry Ross.. Janis Gabriel pointed to Mike Johnson’s hardline faith and political pragmatism when explaining her interpretation of why he had brushed aside his father’s appeals to help with the air pollution crisis at Camp Minden.. “It speaks to those religious beliefs,” said Gabriel. “‘Don’t take care of the environment because we have a finite amount of time here and God will take care of you.’ It’s crazy.”. Gabriel, who was discussing her relationship with the House speaker for the first time publicly, said she was disclosing details of private conversations because Johnson now holds a position of immense power. She wanted to further public understanding of “what and who he is and how that will affect the job he’s doing for us.”. “That is the important conversation,” she said.. In his 2022 interview with Peterson, Mike Johnson couched his critique of those seeking climate solutions around conversations he was having with residents in his district.. “When I’m in Louisiana I try to explain to our folks, listen: ‘They have effectively replaced Father God with Mother Earth … They believe we owe fealty to Mother Earth.”. Even as the speaker rejects concerns about the climate crisis, Louisiana’s fourth congressional district is already experiencing new extremes tied to global heating.. In a year almost certain to become the hottest on record, the city of Shreveport endured back-to-back days of record heat in August as temperatures soared to 110F (43C).. The largest wildfire in Louisiana’s history occurred this year in Johnson’s district, scorching a staggering 33,000 acres and decimating the local economy.. Louisiana, too, endured months of devastating drought, which contributed to a water crisis in the south-east, and hundreds of wildfires in America’s wettest state. The largest wildfire in Louisiana’s history occurred this year in Johnson’s district, scorching a staggering 33,000 acres and decimating the local economy. The heat and drought combined cost Louisiana’s agriculture industry $1.69 billion alone this year.. The state also logged a record number of heat-related deaths over the summer, according to a spokesman for the Louisiana health department (LDH), with 69 people dying between June and September this year. This was almost double the death toll of any in the past six years, according to data released to the Guardian by LDH.. A report published this year, which examined all occupational heat-related illnesses between 2010 and 2020, found that the highest rates of illness occurred in Louisiana’s north-west, which has some of the highest rates of poverty in the state and is entirely covered by Johnson’s district.. “Heat exposure is intensifying as the frequency, severity, and duration of extreme heat events increases due to climate change,” the government report acknowledges.. In Shreveport, six people died from extreme heat this year alone—a record year, according to Todd Thoma, who has served as coroner in the Shreveport area for 16 years. “This was an exceptional year to me,” Dr Thoma said, as he combed through each case file in his office, pointing to a combination of prolonged extreme heat, high poverty rates and power outages that contributed to the increased risks for the city’s most vulnerable residents.. A 62-year-old woman who died in June after a tornado knocked out power to her home, leaving her with no air conditioning. A 49-year-old man, found collapsed on the sidewalk just four days later. And, on 13 July, 34-year-old Ted Boykin, a father of one who was found dead inside a trailer home, with no air conditioning, that was used by Shreveport’s unhoused community.. The ambient air temperature inside was 98F, according to the coroner’s report. Boykin’s internal temperature was 107.9F.. “The denial of the climate crisis by MAGA extremists like the speaker is…a danger to the long-term wellbeing of future generations.”. In an interview Boykin’s sister, Sandy Boykin-Hays, said she considered her brother a victim of the climate crisis and chastised her congressman and others for a failure to accept science. “He was let down by the system,” said Boykin-Hays. “And to them [in Washington], I’m sure they wouldn’t believe, even if it [climate change] was staring them in the face, because they’re rich. They have money. They don’t have to worry about air conditioning or where your next meal is coming from.”. Boykin-Hays, who works as a food delivery driver and volunteers with homeless outreach, was forced to take out a $3,000 loan to pay for her brother’s funeral. “They’re ignoring the true issue because it doesn’t affect them,” she said.. In Washington, where Johnson now holds the power to bring legislation to the House floor, the speaker has not yet expressed a position on a bill introduced by the California Democrat Judy Chu, to protect workers from excessive heat, despite it receiving some bipartisan support in committee.. “The denial of the climate crisis by MAGA extremists like the speaker isn’t just a danger to the health of his constituents during summer months,” said Chu. “It’s a danger to the long-term wellbeing of future generations in America and around the world.”. Both Janis Gabriel and Patrick Johnson became board members of the Citizens Advisory Group set up to engage with the EPA over community concerns at Camp Minden, according to meeting minutes reviewed by the Guardian and interviews with two other board members.. Johnson even co-wrote, recorded and performed an original song to help the “stop the burn” efforts, which eventually helped force the EPA into a course change by approving use of a cleaner alternative to dispose of the waste throughout 2016 and 2017. “Take a stand against the poison, protect our future children’s lives,” Patrick Johnson sings.. “Mike Johnson has described his father’s survival in the 1984 explosion as an “actual miracle” that “made me a person of very deep faith.”. The former firefighter had become a national advocate for hazardous material safety after surviving a fiery explosion caused by leaking ammonia at a cold storage facility. Another firefighter died in the 1984 accident. The near-death experience, said Gabriel, changed his spiritual outlook. The couple met in 2013 when Johnson attended Gabriel’s Daoist center as a student in Shreveport to practice tai chi and qigong martial arts. The pair married in October 2016, shortly before Johnson’s death from cancer in December that year.. The elder Johnson, said Gabriel, clearly accepted climate science and was “acutely aware of the environment.” While he “certainly didn’t agree” with Mike Johnson’s “extremist stance” on Christianity, he accepted it. The pair disagreed over support for Donald Trump, Gabriel said.. Mike Johnson has described his father’s survival in the 1984 explosion as an “actual miracle” that “made me a person of very deep faith.” His campaign literature still references the accident and, in his first speech as speaker, Johnson described how his father’s near death “changed all of our life trajectories.”. But from January 2015, when he formally entered politics, Johnson appeared to display little interest in the Camp Minden issue that his father was campaigning on. It was a period described by three organizers as the start of heightened advocacy.. He was given invitations to attend citizens’ meetings as local campaigning ramped up, according to the board’s chairman, Ron Hagar, but did not attend.. “He stayed as far away from it as possible,” said Hagar, a close friend of Patrick Johnson’s. “He had no sense of responsibility to stand up for the people he’s representing.”. A search of public records did not indicate Mike Johnson had spoken on the issue at the time although he was listed as a co-sponsor of a minor 2015 state house resolution to stop the facility from accepting further waste explosives. Photographs show Johnson was also present at a December 2015 press conference at the site, but according to a senior organizer in attendance, Johnson did not speak and the state representative is not quoted in local media.. The issue was championed by a Democratic state representative for the 10th district, which includes Minden, named Gene Reynolds. Reynolds, who is now retired, did not return multiple calls for comment. A spokesperson for Johnson pointed to public activity cited by the Guardian and “other activities” to dispute claims he had not been involved in the matter.. “Dad was right about the environmental problems in Shreveport. Those and other issues are mounting,” Johnson texted.. Johnson’s short tenure in the state legislature was spent focused on far-right policy initiatives tied to his biblical worldview, including introducing legislation to push back against same-sex marriage, and a continued focus on his non-profit law practice, including work with Ham’s Ark Encounter.. Following her husband’s death, Gabriel moved out of state. She began to lose touch with Johnson, although the pair exchanged occasional cordial text messages. In one May 2019 exchange, seen by the Guardian, Johnson contacted Gabriel to wish her a happy Mother’s Day. Gabriel told him she had left Shreveport permanently and moved to a different state. “Don’t blame you one bit for staying there! Shreveport is really going downhill now and it’s sad to watch,” Johnson replied.. Gabriel then explained that her decision to leave had come on Patrick’s advice, partly due to his prediction of “worsening environmental problems.” She also told Johnson that his father would be proud of his “love and devotion and support” of his own children.. “Dad was right about the environmental problems in Shreveport. Those and other issues are mounting,” Johnson replied. But in the same message, he moved quickly to update her on his rapid rise in Congress: “I’ve been advanced in leadership in record time (currently the 10th ranked Republican!), and God continues to affirm that we are doing what He has called us to do, so that keeps us encouraged.”
