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CCL featured on ‘Years of Living Dangerously’
When the award-winning climate change documentary series “Years of Living Dangerously” began work on their second season, the producers looked for inspiring stories about people who are making a difference with efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They found one with CCL Senior Congressional Liaison Jay Butera, whose long-term efforts to bring Republicans and Democrats together on the climate issue finally bore fruit this year with the creation of the bipartisan House Climate Solutions Caucus. Along with celebrity correspondent Bradley Whitford (Josh from “The West Wing”), a film crew from “Years” followed Jay around for several months through the halls of congressional office buildings and during the CCL/CCE International Conference in Washington this past June. The end result is the fabulous Episode 7 in the series shown this fall on the National Geographic Channel. The episode aired Dec. 7, and CCL chapters around the nation organized watch parties in their communities to celebrate our success and attract new members. As of Wednesday, we’ve received field reports from 36 such events. The episode is available for viewing on National Geographic Channel’s website to customers of participating TV providers. Links to other viewing options are available here.
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‘Facing the Surge’ tour blankets East Coast
In one of the most ambitious outreach projects of the year, filmmaker Diogo Freire spent nearly three months traveling from Maine to Key West Florida showing his documentary, “Facing the Surge,” to audiences at 62 screenings in 15 states. Throughout the coastal tour, organized by CCL volunteers, the 25-minute film was followed by a panel discussion, and many of the events included an action, such as writing a note to a member of Congress. The film focuses on the city of Norfolk, Virginia, and its struggles with recurrent flooding. As a coastal town, it’s on the front lines of sea level rise. Flooding presents a regular challenge for entire sections of the city as residents try to get to work, including the naval base in town and school. The film includes a segment of CCL volunteers lobbying in Washington. The response was overwhelming. A total of 2,300 attended the screenings, with more than 800 signing up to be contacted by CCL. “We had very lively discussions after the screenings. The audience was extremely engaged,” Freire said. “A lot of people came because they wanted to learn more and are looking for a new way to make a difference. At the screenings, people signed up to join CCL, wrote constituent letters and postcards on the spot, and took pictures with the hashtag #DearCongress.” Six new CCL chapters were launched as a result of the tour, with four more in progress. “Facing the Surge” is now available on Amazon and iTunes.
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Canada moving on national carbon pricing
In mid-February, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (shown above) announced plans for a national carbon pricing policy. Trudeau and all territorial and provincial premiers then signed the Vancouver Declaration on Clean Growth and Climate Change. They all confirmed that meeting Canada’s climate targets must remain a priority. For over six years, Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) volunteers across Canada have been communicating about climate change and carbon pricing with their federal and provincial parliamentarians. Cathy Orlando, National Director of Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada, has been cautiously optimistic: “How magnificent it is that in 2017 Canada will not only be celebrating its 150th anniversary and 100 years since the Battle of Vimy Ridge, history will also record 2017 as the year Canada passed into law the first national carbon price in North America.” Toward the end of this year, the Pan-Canadian Plan on Clean Growth and Climate was signed by all premiers at the First Minister’s Meeting, except the premiers of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The two premiers expressed concern that carbon pricing would place businesses in their provinces at a competitive disadvantage. CCL Canada has responded with a call for border adjustments to maintain a level playing field. |
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Congressional Education Day
Just one week after the elections, while most Americans were still picking their jaws up off the floor, hundreds of CCL volunteers swarmed over Capitol Hill to meet with 350 congressional offices, asking them to find common ground between Republicans and Democrats to enact legislation to reduces the heat-trapping emissions that are driving catastrophic climate change. In their meetings on Capitol Hill, CCL volunteers asked House members to work with representatives Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) and Ted Deutch (D-FL) and to join the Climate Solutions Caucus. “Republicans and Democrats have been talking past each other on the climate issue for years,” said CCL Legislative Director Danny Richter. “The climate caucus creates a safe place to have a constructive dialogue that, hopefully, will lead to effective solutions.” Also at their meetings, volunteers shared a distillation of 502 reports from meetings held with congressional offices this past June. The summary showed significant progress with the engagement of Republican offices on climate solutions over the past three years. Offices that showed clear and genuine interest were rated Tier 1. Offices that were combative or totally uninterested in interactions were Tier 3. “In 2014, the ratio of Tier 1 to Tier 3 meetings was 3 to 1,” said Richter. “In 2016, that ratio is now 10 to 1, indicating to us that there is much more interest among Republicans to explore ways of solving climate change.” |
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Endorsements emerge as key advocacy tool
2016 saw the emergence of a key advocacy tool for Citizens’ Climate Lobby: Community endorsements for Carbon Fee and Dividend or for action on climate change. Many CCL chapters started gathering signatures on endorsement letters from businesses, chambers of commerce, elected official, faith communities and local leaders. With the help of a central database on CCL Community, these endorsements are recorded for use when groups meet with congressional offices. They are seen as particularly helpful for Republican members of Congress looking for political cover in their districts should they decide to take leadership on climate change. Perhaps the biggest endorsement for CCL’s policy came from the California legislature, which passed a resolution urging Congress to enact Carbon Fee and Dividend. In Middleton, Wisconsin, CCL volunteers succeeded in passing a referendum on election day urging Congress to pass CCL’s proposal. CCL’s website lists endorsements from 35 municipalities and from dozens of newspapers. |
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Southern Energy Freedom Tour
Until recently, if you looked at a U.S. map showing where CCL chapters are located, you couldn’t help noticing the gaping void in the Deep South. That changed dramatically this fall when CCL’s Southern Energy Freedom Tour marched through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The tour was organized and led by CCL Conservative Outreach Coordinator Peter Bryn (shown above leading a presentation in Birmingham), CCL Third Coast Regional Coordinator Brett Cease, and CCL IT Director Ricky Bradley. Covering 22 cities in 22 days, the tour was responsible for adding 11 new CCL chapters that are now active or in progress. In the course of the tour, there were 17 public presentations, 13 meetings with businesses or chambers of commerce, 13 meetings with government or political leaders, 13 meetings with members of Congress or their staff, and 7 media interviews and articles. There was also a regional conference held in Jackson, Mississippi, and the tour generated 245 letters to members of Congress. |
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Household Impact Study on CCL’s policy
In February 2016, Citizens’ Climate Education (CCE) and Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) released a working paper that assessed the net financial impact on U.S. households of a $15/ton of CO2 carbon fee in which all proceeds minus administrative costs are returned to households on a per capita basis. Among the highlights:
- 53% of U.S. households and 58% of individuals receive a net financial benefit as the dividend exceeds the estimated increase in costs of goods purchased (Figure 1). This analysis includes none of the health and environmental benefits that come with the reduction of GHGs.
- The gains are concentrated among those considered “most vulnerable” within our society: those with lower incomes, the youngest and oldest, and minorities.
This resource proved to be particularly useful in congressional meetings, because data from individual states and districts could be extracted from the study. In their November lobby meetings, CCL volunteers invited congressional staffers to attend briefings on the study that were held later in the week. Turnout for the briefings was 53 in the House and 18 in the Senate. |
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Cross-country bike tour raises awareness
In late summer-early fall, CCL Great North Winds Regional Co-Coordinator Mindy Ahler undertook a grueling 10 week, 4,000 mile bicycle ride with volunteer Ryan Hall across the U.S. to raise awareness about climate change and to encourage people to take action. CCL group leaders and volunteers across the country supported the epic journey, dubbed LowCarbon Crossings, which featured more than 30 Community Climate Conversations. The trip generated 40 media pieces in print, on TV and on radio, including public radio programs in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Helena, Montana and Pittsburgh and this story in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Their trek ended on Nov. 13 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The LowCarbon Crossings team brought hundreds of postcards, comments and personal stories from people met along the route that were delivered to congressional offices during CCL’s Congressional Educational Day on Nov. 15. |
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CCL's growing international presence
It’s been a busy year for CCL Global Strategy Director Joe Robertson (shown above). For the first time, CCL/CCE brought an official delegation to the annual UN Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting on climate change, which was held in Marrakech, Morocco, this year. The formation of the Citizens’ Climate Engagement Network (CCEN) provided a platform for people throughout the world to be active participants in forming policies to reduce the threat of climate change. Speaking at COP22, Robertson said, “The world is gathered here in Marrakech to make sure strategies for fulfilling national climate commitments are aligned with the need to escalate ambition, reward overachievement, and actively co-create a new climate economy. The climate-focused empowerment of citizens to become local leaders, conveners, and coordinators of climate action, is one of the market signals not often discussed as a driver of this new economy.” Learn more about the Marrakech meeting and CCE’s work to make sure strong principles for effective, efficient, equitable carbon pricing, are built into the international process in Joe’s COP22 report. At the start of the year, there were no CCL chapters in Africa. There are now one more chapters developing in 12 African nations, and CCL volunteers in Nigeria held their first lobby day. National CCL/CCE conferences were held in Sweden, Germany and Australia. There are now volunteer regional coordinators in all five regions outside the U.S. |
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Giving Tuesday campaign a smashing success!
Two weeks before Giving Tuesday (Nov. 29), our supporters and volunteers learned about the challenge posed by a group of generous donors calling themselves the Women Who Will. The fifteen Women Who Will donated $10,000 each, creating a $150,000 matching grant that would double all gifts to Citizens’ Climate Education through Giving Tuesday. Even better, by the time Giving Tuesday arrived, the Women Who Will had been joined by an anonymous family foundation, making for a total of $250,000 in matching grants!
Our supporters rose to the challenge, raising more than $400,000 by midnight on November 29. It was an amazing display of generosity and enthusiasm that will help put our work together on the strongest possible footing for the year ahead. Our deepest gratitude to all of our supporters!
Remember that though the grant has been fully matched, it’s never too late to join the Women Who Will in committing to a clean and healthy future for all. Tax-deductible donations are gratefully accepted.
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Regional coordinators added to roster
Early this year, with help from a generous grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Citizens’ Climate Education was able to bring under contract some of our most outstanding volunteers to provide support to our groups and to further develop our network of active groups in the United States. Shown above are four of our regional coordinators, (from left) Brett Cease, Mindy Ahler, Paul Thompson and Tamara Stanton. If you’re on CCL Community, you can find out who the regional coordinators are for your part of the country in this section of the resources. |
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