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Activist Debbie Dooley has some choice words for individuals who believe that fossil fuels have no impact on the environment. If you think fossil fuel is not damaging the environment, she says, pull your car in a garage, start up your engine, and inhale the exhaust fumes for a few minutes and see what happens.

You could be forgiven for suspecting that Dooley might be a Democrat. According to a Gallup poll conducted last year, 85 percent of Democrats believe humans are contributing to increases in global temperature. But shes not. Dooley is a conservative, gun-owning Trump supporter who also happens to be a co-founder of the Tea Party.

Dooley runs Conservatives for Energy Freedom, where she advocates for the expansion of renewable energy and for cuts to government regulations she believes hinder that growth. Through her efforts, she has even won over unlikely allies such as Al Gore.

According to Dooley, the problem with her fellow conservatives is that they've been brainwashed for decades into believing we're not damaging the environment. As a result, Dooley speaks with them about renewable energy in a political language conservatives respect, using phrases like energy freedom, energy choice, and national security.

When speaking to conservatives in these terms, you have a receptive audience and they will listen to you, Dooley says. If you lead off with climate change, they're not going to pay a bit of attention to anything else you say.

Watch this episode of Vox Voices to learn more about how Dooleys discusses the environment with fellow conservatives and why she thinks caring for the environment is not necessarily anti-Republican.

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I'm a Tea Party conservative. Here's how to win over Republicans on renewable energy. - Vox

Photo: Ben Sklar, Getty Images

Activist holds a sign as others belonging to the tea party movement rally at the State Capitol in 2011. Tea party groups returned Monday to register their discontent at how the legislature is moving on some issues.

Activist holds a sign as others belonging to the tea party movement rally at the State Capitol in 2011. Tea party groups returned Monday to register their discontent at how the legislature is moving on some

These politicians are Texas Tea Party-approved.

These politicians are Texas Tea Party-approved.

Tea party groups blast Texas House over sanctuary cities, budget

AUSTIN -- Get it done or face payback at the polls.

That was the message that hundreds of tea party activists brought to the Texas Capitol on Monday, displaying their anger over a plan to tap the state's savings account to balance the budget, the failures of a strong ban on sanctuary cities and property tax reforms to quickly pass into law.

Also on their list: passage of the Senate's version of the so-called "bathroom bill," repealing gun licensing laws to allow any Texans who can own a pistol to carry one, a halt on new toll roads, a ban on dismemberment abortions and passage of legislation to guarantee religious liberties.

"I would grade the House with an F at this point, and the Senate a B-plus," said JoAnn Fleming, executive of Grassroots America, a leading conservative activist group.

WRAP IT UP: Texas House passes budget after 15 hours of debate

"Once again in this building, there are elected Republicans -- particularly in the House -- who are saying they don't care what they promised during the campaign, what voters elected them to do, and the people of Texas are here to make them care.

"If they get a C rating, they should be fired. C is not good enough," she said. "There's no space alien criteria that will save them."

The activists, many of them wearing black t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Don't California My Texas," said the budget and property tax reforms, along with a ban on sanctuary cities, are at the top of their list to be passed by the Legislature.

"People are hot. They're mad about their property taxes," said Aaron Harris, executive director of Direct Action Texas, applauding a Senate bill that would limit how much local officials can raise property taxes without voter approval. "This is the single biggest issue at the local level we encounter . . . And I'll tell you this, they will remember this bill, come election season."

He said property taxes in Texas are the fourth highest among all states in the nation.

CHALLENGE RISES: Tea Party-backed Senator draws Democratic challenger in 2018

Echoing the sentiment that some key bills for conservatives may die because lawmakers are not acting fast enough, Dana Hodges, state director of Concerned Women for America, said the Senate version of the so-called "bathroom bill" needs to to pass the House, not a House-revised version, before time runs out.

Terri Hall, founder of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, said the continuing proliferation of toll roads -- and the Legislature's reluctance to stop new ones from being built -- "is the fastest ticket to destroying Texas' stable economy.

"Our message to the Republicans in this building is that you should do what you say you're going to do and, if you don't, there will be consequences at the polls," Fleming said.

Senate and some House leaders declined to respond publicly to the criticism, saying privately the activists were entitled to their opinions.

"The Texas House has approved a balanced budget that reduces overall spending while prioritizing public education and the protection of vulnerable children," said Jason Embry, a spokesman for House Speaker Joe Straus. "Speaker Straus appreciates the input of Ms. Fleming and the 35 other people who came to her rally today."

Scroll through the gallery above to see the Tea Party's favorite Texas politicians

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Tea party groups blast Texas House over sanctuary cities, budget - Chron.com

By Curtis Houck, Newsbusters.org

On Saturday, the major broadcast networks dedicated airtime to the liberal Tax Day protests against President Trump as one network aired a crowd chanting lock him up, another refused to acknowledge the anti-Trump violence in California, and all of them declined to label the demonstrations.

This coverage of April 15 protests by liberals stood in stark contrast to how ABC, CBS, and NBC dismissed and smeared the Tea Party-led Tax Day events on this date eight years ago.

CBS Weekend News did not give the leftists their own segment, but shamefully ignored the violence in Berkeley, California.

As nationwide Tax Day protests reached the sunny streets of West Palm Beach, Florida, today, President Trump spent time at his International Golf Club and Mar-a-Lago resort nearby, correspondent Errol Barnett explained.

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Networks Parrot Demands of Liberal Tax Day Protests; Smeared Tea Party Events Eight Years Ago - Fox News

One military father recently had a very magical tea party with his 4-year-old daughter, Ashley, and the special moment was captured on camera.

My husband had no idea what was going to happen until we showed up to the shoot, Lizette Porter said of her husband Keven Porter, a U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor. He was hesitant at first but after a little talking I was able to convince him. He would do anything for Ashley.

She added, He was kind of embarrassed, but then my daughter had seen the whole set up and was so excited. He couldnt say no.

The timing also worked out perfectly for the daddy-daughter photo shoot as April is the Month of the Military Child.

I figured that would make it a little more special to the both of them, said the proud mom.

Although the two are really close, Lizette said her daughter often misses out on one-on-one time with her dad due to his rigorous work schedule.

She doesn't get to see him much due to work, deployment, and most recently his job as a drill instructor, said Lizette, of Oceanside, California. Any time they can get together she is sure to take advantage of.

Lizette wanted the photo shoot to help show that military men have a softer side to them.

Drill instructors still have a life after working long and hard hours, she explained. Many of them have families that after hours they still have to attend to ... and yes, a lot of them have a completely different side to them.

She added that she wants people to realize how resilient military children [are] to have their parents away, or not near them as much as possible.

Its safe to say the precious pair had a blast together at their photo shoot. The family plans to hang the pictures in Ashleys room when they move into their new house.

I got emotional watching them just be themselves and see how much she loves her daddy, said Lizette.

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Marine dad surprised with magical tea party photo shoot with 4-year ... - ABC News

Thousands of people marched in cities around the country to demand that President Trump release his tax returns on Tax Day, in a demonstration that echoed the 2009 tax rallies that launched the Tea Party movement.

Saturday's Tax March, which took place in nearly 200 cities around the country, was unusual for a liberal protest both in its subject matter and its specificity : rather than focus on more typically leftist issues like police brutality, climate change or reproductive rights, the Tax March was all about taxes, which is typically a rallying cry of Republicans. Specifically, the marchers had just one demand: to see Trump's taxes.

Most of the protests were largely conflict-free, but at least a dozen demonstrators were arrested in Berkeley after a pro-Trump demonstration resulted in a fistfight against counter-demonstrators, punctuated with pepper and smoke bombs. It did not appear to be related to the Tax March.

The March took place exactly eight years after the first major Tea Party rally to protest Obama policies on April 15, 2009, which was widely credited as the beginning of the far-right Tea Party movement. Saturday's Tax March was superficially similar to that first Tea Party in some ways: many of the protesters were older than the millennials who flocked to earlier anti-Trump rallies, and there were more conspicuous displays of patriotism than one normally sees at liberal rallies.

Older people generally tend to care more about tax issues, and the Tea Party was made up mostly of older Americans: three-quarters of self-identified Tea Party members are over 45, according to a 2012 CBS News poll , and almost a third are over 65. Similarly, the Tax March tended to attract a slightly older set of protesters than other anti-Trump marches have. Many said they had protested against the Vietnam War and segregation in the 1960s and 1970s.

"It seems older than the Women's March was," says Betsy Klein, 69. "Because a lot of younger people haven't had experiences like we have, paying our taxes every year for 40 years. Every other president since we've been adults has released his tax returns." Her friend Kate McMullan, 70, chimed in: "Even Nixon."

Retired woodworker Ellin Rothstein, 72, said the scene looked familiar. "I demonstrated in the '60s. I didn't do anything until this Cheeto got into the White House," she says. But she noticed fewer younger faces than she had at the Women's March. "Most of the people here have paid taxes for 30 or 40 years." She added that the injustice might not resonate so much with younger people who are just beginning to file their own tax forms. "We're longtime taxpayers. Why break with tradition that's been going on for decades? It's so unfair."

There was plenty of Tax March protest art, from paper "pussy-hats" made of tax returns, to a woman dressed in a tutu made of dollar bills, to another a sign that said "You can grab my pussy if you show me your taxes." But marchers also showed more conventional displays of patriotism, like waving flags or wearing red-white-and-blue outfits. Many said they wanted to show that Trump's taxes are a bipartisan issue that all Americans should care about.

James Riti, 49, carried a massive American flag that he waved enthusiastically throughout the March. "A lot of these protests let the Republicans have the patriotic slant, but this is an issue for all Americans," he said. "Everybody makes it about right vs. left, but it's about right vs. wrong."

"Dissent is patriotism," said Magdalena Schmidt, a 47-year old registered nurse who marched holding a big American flag. "It's not just the Tea Party jackoffs who get to be patriotic." Her husband Roderic Schmidt, who helped her carry the flag, agreed. "The right does not have a monopoly on patriotism. I'm tired of that story."

While some estimate that more than 300,000 people attended the 2009 Tea Party protests, many of those people attended the hundreds of small local rallies of just a few thousand people. The largest Tea Party rally was in Atlanta, where 15,000 people reportedly showed up. Organizers and experts are still counting up the total number of people who attended Saturday's Tax March, but already organizers say that 25,000 people marched in Washington D.C. and 45,000 marched in New York.

But for Trump supporters who encountered the Tax March protesters, the demands fell on deaf ears. "He's paid his taxes if not, he'd be in jail," said a Trump supporter named Mike who preferred not to give his last name. "He's just playing games, he's busting their balls."

"These people having nothing better to do," he added. "They're crying about this, and then next week they'll be crying about something else."

On this, Mike has a point: next week is the March for Science on April 22, which will feature thousands of scientists marching to protect research funding, and the week after that is the People's Climate March on April 29, to protest Trump's climate change policies.

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How the Tax March Echoed the 2009 Tea Party Rallies - TIME