CFACT president and co-founder Craig Rucker spoke to a gathering of student activist leaders at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. The event was important as many of the club’s leaders are new students to the university and the club, and are learning about CFACT’s mission for the first time.
“It was pretty cool to hear our CFACT president give an overview of the group’s mission, especially to the incoming freshmen to the club. We have a lot of plans this coming semester to make an impact on our campus, and this talk no doubt energized everyone,” said club leader Kirby Gibson.
Rucker focused on why CFACT was established in 1985, as well as the alternative environmental message the organization preaches today.
“David Rothbard and I founded CFACT because we realized there needed to be an alternative, conservative voice on environmental issues, even in the 80’s,” Rucker said. “That was before climate change was really an issue, but environmental topics were still mostly dominated by left-leaning groups. And the solutions they always offered to legitimate issues like water and air pollution or other things, always grew the size of government in a way that severely limited liberty and hampered economic and societal progress. We didn’t think that was right.”
Today, college students are taught a one-sided view on the environment; mainly, that socialist style government regulations are the only way to solve environmental problems. CFACT’s mission of promoting free market solutions to environmental problems remains vitally important.