Sunrise Proves the Point: Conservatives Must Lead on the Environment

The Sunrise Movement just announced a strategic pivot. No longer content to focus primarily on climate change, its leaders now declare their mission is to “stop authoritarianism.” In practice, this means fewer conversations about the environment and more mobilizations against President Donald Trump.

Notorious for their full-throated endorsement of the Green New Deal, Sunrise activists regularly protested in prominent congressional offices, most infamously confronting former Sen. Joe Manchin and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Although the group’s tactics have garnered significant attention, its policy goals have hit a brick wall.

For those of us who’ve been watching, this redirection comes as no surprise. Sunrise was never truly about the environment—it was about politics. The Green New Deal was less a conservation plan than a vehicle for reshaping the economy along progressive lines, even including provisions guaranteeing universal health care. While it admitted as much then, it is declaring it now: shifting resources from climate to partisan fights under the banner of “saving democracy.”

This should be a wake-up call for anyone who still believes that America’s environmental future can be entrusted to the professional activist class. For too long, conservatives have been told that the only way to care about clean air, water, and lands is to accept the Left’s package deal of mandates, subsidies, and ideological litmus tests. Sunrise has now ripped the mask off: The environment was never its end goal.

But the environment is our goal. That’s why conservative environmentalists have consistently pushed back against Sunrise’s agenda. We are unapologetically conservative and unapologetically committed to stewardship. We believe that protecting the natural world is an American cause, rooted in the values of responsibility, freedom, and legacy.

Our vision doesn’t require sacrificing economic strength or personal liberty. Instead, it embraces solutions that keep our air and water clean, reduce waste and emissions, and preserve what makes America strong.

When environmental groups abandon conservation to chase political clout, they leave a vacuum. If conservatives don’t fill that vacuum, no one will. We cannot allow the Left to define what caring for the environment means. Nor can we allow groups like Sunrise to rewrite the script so that climate is merely a pawn in their larger war against the right.

The conservative movement has a choice: We can either cede the ground, or we can reclaim leadership on one of the most fundamental responsibilities any society has—the responsibility to leave our nation stronger, healthier, and more secure for the next generation.

We’ve made our choice. We are building a movement that doesn’t silo conservation but integrates it into the broader fabric of conservative priorities: energy independence, strong communities, resilient agriculture, and a healthy future for American families. We don’t claim to be ideologically neutral—but we are committed to results. We don’t hide our perspective. We come to the table as conservatives because that’s what makes our environmental work durable and impactful.

Because if conservatives don’t lead on the environment, we already know what fills the gap. Sunrise may have abandoned its mission. We won’t.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.