Culture Can Conservatives Go Green? A new crop of conservative groups is making the case for being pro-environment—and pro-natalist. Clare Ath always loved the outdoors. The summer after her freshman year of college, she got a job as a backpacking guide in Colorado, planning and leading camping trips in the Rocky Mountains.
Ath noticed that the people she encountered in that environment tended to be secular and politically progressive. The experience made her wonder if there was a place for people like herself, a conservative Catholic who was passionate about the outdoors.
Now, a decade later, this mother of four is cofounder of the new nonprofit Vita Et Terra, which is part of a growing conservative environmental movement that sees more humans as a solution, not a problem. That message is resonating with young conservatives who don’t connect with left-wing environmental messaging but still care about the planet.
Danielle Franz, a self-identified conservative and CEO of the American Co