Conservative Fellow Spotlight: Hannah Rogers
By: Aidan Martin
A lover of animals and long-time vegan, CCL’s newest Conservative Outreach Fellow, Hannah Rogers, first heard about CCL at a climate rally she organized in high school while holding her classroom pet fish in hand. Hannah continued volunteering with CCL in college and actively participating in the University of Utah chapter, where she is currently working toward a dual degree in Environmental Science and Sustainability Studies.
Raised in Draper, Utah, a predominantly Mormon community near Salt Lake City, Hannah’s go-getter mentality and willingness to go against the grain has played a big role in her individual faith and relationship with the Mormon church. The years she spent in Taiwan growing up also helped her see the church from a unique, outside perspective. When I asked her about how fellow Mormons have responded to her dietary and political choices, Hannah said, “Most people don’t understand that respect for animals and the environment is referenced heavily in Mormon scripture. There are tons of values in the Book of Mormon about being good stewards of God’s earth and having respect for God’s creations. It goes all the way back to the Nephites taking care of the land and preparing for the second coming of Christ.”
Hannah told me the strongest pushback to climate action from within the Church has been from the most religiously zealous, who optimistically believe global warming indicates the long-awaited return of Christ: Armageddon.
Yet Hannah hasn’t let the doomsday fanatics detract from her mission to build support for conservative climate action in the Beehive State, where the future of the conservative climate movement looks strong. Utah Senator Mitt Romney recently expressed support for a price on carbon while John Curtis founded the Conservative Climate Caucus last year and took a Republican delegation to the UN Conference of Parties (COP 26) in Glasgow. When I asked Hannah about the recent outpouring for climate action in Utah compared to other red states, she told me,“I think Romney and Curtis are true conservatives who value free market policies and limited government, and they want to see these ideals reflected in environmental policies. Smart conservatives know that the GOP has to adapt and bring something new to the table to address the most pressing issue of our times if it wants to survive. Smart conservatives also know that authoritarian regimes tend to rise during times of crisis, and with sea levels rising and weather patterns changing, we have to be wary of giving the government too much power.”
Hannah believes we need as many hands on deck in the climate crisis, and young conservatives, “77% of whom see global warming as a serious threat,”have a particularly important role in shaping the future of the GOP and our world. As a young conservative within CCL, Hannah hopes to be an intelligent representation of her party who can communicate climate science and economics in a digestible way while building viable bipartisan coalitions. Moving forward with her activism in Utah and beyond, Hannah is focused on using her understanding of Mormon as well as conservative values to push for greater climate action.
Aidan Martin is a junior at the University of Southern California studying History and International Relations and the Co-Chair of CCL’s Young Conservative Caucus.
This post is the first installation of the new Conservative Column. If you know young conservative volunteers who are looking to share their stories, please let us know by emailing !
