Among the audience that Pope Francis hopes to influence during his upcoming visit to the US, many young US conservatives who are increasingly waking up to the threat of climate change, and the opportunities of the renewable energy economy.
In a recent swing to a very conservative corner of Michigan, Michele Combs of “Young Conservatives for Energy Reform” brought the message of an emerging paradigm shift.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Michele Combs and Lt. Gen. Richard Zilmer (Ret.) seem like an unlikely couple to promote alternative energy and clean energy policies – especially to the West Michigan Young Republicans.
Combs, a former “Young Republican of the Year,” is president of Young Conservatives for Energy Reform, a group she created two years ago.
Zilmer is a former commander of Operation Iraqi Freedom who serves on the eight-year-old Military Advisory Board for the CNA Corp., a non-profit think tank based in Washington, D.C.
Both were in Grand Rapids on Monday, Nov. 17, to address the West Michigan Young Republicans.
Though clean energy is a cause trumpeted primarily in progressive environmental groups, Combs said it’s also a message that is being well-received by young conservatives.
“They want something done about energy efficiency and saving the planet,” Combs said during a taping of “West Michigan Week,” a weekly news program on WGVU-TV. “This is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue. This is a family issue.”
Combs said her group is bypassing the Republican establishment with its message of alternative energy.
“This is an issue the Republicans have not wanted to address. But we’re hearing it from the grass roots,” she said.