Outlook April 2025: Looking forward to more innovators, influencers and innovation

by | Apr 10, 2025

Event with the Indianapolis chapter of the American Conservation Coalition (ACC). Left to right: Host Kacey Shriner – republicEn events contractor, Aiden Shank – ACC, Connor Marley – Clean Energy Network, Bob Inglis – republicEn Executive Director.

Dear EcoRight Supporter,

March had us moving among policy innovators in Indianapolis, influencers in Tallahassee, and trailblazers of global innovation in Houston. It was the kind of month that has us aiming for more of the same in the months to come.

In Indianapolis, our contractor, Kacey Shriner, orchestrated a joint event with our compatriots American Conservation Coalition and Clean Energy Network. Take away: these—mostly young—conservatives are the policy innovators who will reshape the GOP on climate.

In Tallahassee, our contractor, KC Mullen, got us meetings with three state senators and two state reps. Take away: These five are positioned to influence decisions at the federal level—by speaking to federal office holders, by reducing the threat to federal office holders, or by being elected to federal office themselves.

In Houston, our friend Mendo Kundevski from S&P Global got me the opportunity to speak at the CERA Week “Agora.” I expanded my vocabulary by coming to understand that “Agora” means “meeting place.” It wasn’t the main stage; that’s where trailblazing kings and queens of industry and/or countries are invited to speak to the throng of over 12,000 CERA Week participants. The Agora was a smaller venue of knowledgeable folks who understood “internalizing negative externalities” without my unpacking it as “bringing accountability for the side effects of burning fossil fuels.”

Meanwhile, Chelsea was in Concord, NH as a guest panelist for a discussion after a viewing of the new film The Whitehouse Effect, and Angela was in Lexington, KY, presenting her idea for a new community-based project at a conference at the University of Kentucky. You can read more about their events below. 

Engaging and encouraging right-of-center policy innovators, cheering influencers, and getting a bead on innovation: thank you for making all these things possible by investing in us.

Onward,

Bob

Community Outreach & Engagement

The whole team is in on it

In March, our director of editorial content, Chelsea Henderson (pictured below), was invited to participate in a panel discussion in Concord, NH. The panel followed a screening of the film, The White House Effect, a documentary depicting President George H.W. Bush’s efforts on the “greenhouse effect,” aka climate change. Bush had run in 1988 on being the president who could use the power of the White House to solve the problem, but ultimately, his chief of staff, New Hampshire’s John Sununu, interfered with that promise.

Our engagement director, Angela Larck (pictured below), headed to the University of Kentucky in Lexington to present her plans to build a community of inquiry within republicEn. A community of inquiry is a group that comes together with the shared goal of deep understanding through inquiry – asking questions, challenging assumptions, and building knowledge together. This project is currently in the early design phase.

Podcast

We kicked off our March EcoRight Speaks episodes with Professor Leaf Van Boven, whose research shows that climate policies with bipartisan support and/or initiated by Republican lawmakers stand a better chance at passage and have durability, a message we have been leading with from the start. We followed up with two professionals in the green economy, Ben Evans from the U.S. Green Buildings Council and Shannon O’Shea Fitzgerald, a sustainability expert. 

Climate Week En Review

Your Weekly Roundup of EcoRight News from republicEn.

In the Media

republicEn articles/opinions

republicEn mentions/quotes/coverage

republicEn multimedia coverage

republicEn blog mentions/quotes/coverage

Events

Upcoming events

  • 04/16: Virtual – “Environmental Politics” class guest speaker, University of Buffalo, NY
  • 04/17: Virtual – “Climate Change Communication” class guest speaker, Eckerd College, FL
  • 04/17: Washington, DC – Planet Forward Summit at George Washington University, keynote speaker
  • 04/22: Virtual – Virginia Tech “Sustainability” class guest speaker
  • 04/22: Dallas, TX – Panelist “Engaging the public: Communicating & Integrating Climate Messaging into Culture.” The Earth Day Women’s Summit. Earth X.
  • 04/24: Rock Hill, SC – Guest speaker: “How to Get the World (and Conservatives) in on Climate Action.” Winthrop University.
  • 05/06: Savannah, GA – Savannah South Rotary Club guest speaker
  • 05/8: Virtual – Climate AI Workshop, University of Virginia
  • 09/2: Martin County, FL – Martin County Republican Party, monthly meeting guest speaker

Past events

  • 03/6: Indianapolis, IN – “Reclaiming America’s Beauty & Power Dinner” panel discussion w/ ACC, CEN
  • 03/7: Indianapolis, IN – Covenant Christian High School guest speaker
  • 03/10: Virtual – Zoom with FL Rep. Berny Jacques
  • 03/11:Tallahassee, FL – Meeting with FL Rep. Chad Johnson
  • 03/11: Tallahassee, FL – Meeting with FL Rep. Monique Miller
  • 03/11: Tallahassee, FL – Meeting with FL Sen. Joe Gruters
  • 03/12: Tallahassee, FL – Meeting with FL Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez
  • 03/12: Tallahassee, FL – Meeting with FL Sen. Jay Collins
  • 3/12: Concord, NH – The White House Effect, film screening and panel discussion
  • 03/13: Houston, TX – CERAWeek S&P Global Fireside Chat “US Climate Landscape: Bridging Climate Divisions” guest speaker
  • 03/19: Virtual – “Environmental Thought and Practice” class guest speaker, University of Virginia
  • 03/27: Virtual – OLLI session on History of Climate Politics guest lecturer, George Mason University, VA
  • 03/29: Lexington, KY – “Paying It Forward: Research that Serves the Community” conference presenter, University of Kentucky
  • 04/04: Washington, DC – Georgetown University class guest lecturer
  • 04/04: Spartanburg, SC – Sustainability Leadership Initiative “Energy and Emissions” guest speaker, Furman University
  • 04/09: Cleveland, OH – Guest speaker: “Can free enterprise solve climate change?” Case Western Reserve University Law School