Even though his religious peers seldom stray from gospel basics and usually shy away from sermonizing about hot-button issues like climate change, Steven E. Snow, an emeritus general authority for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wishes they would.
“It would be a good thing for them to do,” said Snow, who is a passionate environmentalist. But the 17.2 million-member global faith is a “big organization that can move slowly, and many in the leadership do not share the opinion I have about climate change. That’s perfectly appropriate.”
Snow, who was featured recently in an extended and extensive interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, noted that the church’s general authorities typically avoid getting involved in social issues. He said the most striking exception to that came in 1981, when then-church President Spencer W. Kimball and his counselors in the governing First Presidency spoke out pointedly and poignantly against the arms race and basing the MX nuclear missile system in Utah.
[Read our extended Q&A with Steven Snow.]
If Latter-day Saint leaders mention the environment at all, they typically do so in general terms such as the need to be good environmental stewards — although senior apostle Dallin H. Oaks warned against “global warming” in 2017 and Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé addressed caring for the Earth’s resources in 2022.
Even if more and more high-level church leaders were to deliver more and more green-leaning speeches, Snow isn’t sure their views would mirror his own.
“I don’t know if the brethren have studied [climate change] a lot, and many of them are Republicans,” said Snow, who is a devout Democrat.
To the extent Republicans believe in climate change, they seem predisposed to do little if anything about it. Only 12% of Republicans and people who tilt toward Republicans believe tackling climate change should be a top priority, according to a January 2024 survey by the Pew Research Center, compared with nearly 60% of Democrats.
U.S. Latter-day Saints are also blasé about climate change. Only 10% say they worry about the issue, according to a 2023 PRRI study, and 8% say there is no solid evidence to support it is happening — despite the overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary.
For Snow, his environmental commitment helps inform his faith. And that commitment and service to the planet has never flagged or wavered, except in instances when health issues arose or his church chores were too laborious for him to volunteer his time to ecological causes.
One organization Snow has worked with extensively periodically is the Grand Canyon Trust. As a member and later chair of the regional organization’s board, he was involved in ensuring that coal-burning power plants on the Colorado Plateau abided by federal regulations to clean up their stacks.
“Many of [the plants] couldn’t do it and ended up closing,” Snow recalled. “But some of the renewable sources of energy have replaced [them]. The coal-burning plants, the bad ones, are pretty well closed now.”
(Steven E. Snow) Steven Snow is pictured with his grandchildren along the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. The emeritus Latter-day Saint general authority says he cares passionately about the environment and, above all else, his family.
Snow no longer works with the Grand Canyon Trust, but he still serves as a board member with the Virgin River Land Preservation Association, trying to protect sensitive lands by helping to establish conservation easements.
As passionate as Snow is about the environment, his beloved wife, Phyllis, who died from post-COVID-related issues last January, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren remain his top priority.
“I’ve been told all my life how important family is …,” he said. “As you get older, you appreciate what that all means. I’m very grateful for a wonderful family.”
