A News Magazine for Conservatives Who Care About the Environment
By John Hart
In 2020, we launched “C3” – an online news magazine that gives conservatives who care about the environment a home, and a voice.
“C3” is a project of C3 Solutions (the Conservative Coalition for Climate Solutions). The mission of our parent organization is to develop, amplify, and elevate solutions that will protect our natural and economic environment. This video is a good description of our mission and ethos.
The name “C3” is also inspired by science. The vast majority of plants and crops on earth are “C3 plants” (see technical description here) that use light to turn CO2 into oxygen. We hope “C3” will be a light that will inspire our readers to turn ideas into action.
Our tagline, “Getting climate, energy & environment news right” makes three points.
First, there is a vast center-right conspiracy on climate hiding in plain sight. There is an extensive network of organizations, policymakers, and other leaders on the right who are hard at work promoting solutions. C3 will draw attention to what we believe is a major, underreported news story.
Much of our content will be curated from this network. We’ll also feature original and exclusive content from policymakers, business leaders and policy experts.
The topics we’ll cover at C3 will range from policy, science, technology, economics and culture. While we’ll be focused heavily on policy and politics on the eve of an election, we also believe that life happens between elections. Millions of right-leaning Americans think about stewardship and sustainability in their daily lives and we’ll cover stories important to them.
Second, getting the “news right” means we are concerned with accuracy and objective reality. We emphatically reject both climate “alarmism” and “denial.” Treating science as “settled” in either direction isn’t science but an ideological conclusion in search of supporting evidence. We welcome skeptics of all stripes and will celebrate honest questions, tough debate and genuine curiosity.
Third, getting the “news right” means we are unapologetically conservative in our worldview. We believe the public square is stronger, and the conversation clearer, when left-eye dominant outlets compete with right-eye dominant outlets.
As conservatives, we believe free economies tend to be clean economies. We believe local solutions are almost always better than top-down government mandates. And we believe that principled entrepreneurs tend to be more effective problem solvers than technocratic experts.
We also start with the assumption that everyone “cares” about the environment in the same way we all care about health care. No one wants dirty air and water any more than they want to get sick. Treating each other with respect, and rejecting a culture of contempt, leaves ample room for vigorous debate about the best solutions.
At C3, we believe there are millions of Americans like us. We believe you can care about the environment without approaching Al Gore with bended knee. You can be for solutions without adopting big-government policies. And you can share your passion for stewardship and sustainability without sounding like a radical environmental leftist.
The days of one side “owning” this conversation are over. At C3, we’ll show that conservatives are here to stay.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.
