Olympians brief Congress, New CSC members, Early bird conference pricing, and more.

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  Citizens' Climate Lobby  
 
  CCL Weekly Briefing, Apr. 25, 2018
   
 
   
Table of Contents:
Olympians brief Congress
New CSC members
Early bird conference pricing
Media Tip of the Month
Conservative Caucus tabling
New chapter in Zimbabwe
LTE of the week
Blog roundup
Learning opportunities
Action Team updates
Winter Olympians give a message to Congress: Winter is leaving
 

Five members of the U.S. Winter Olympic Team appeared on Capitol Hill Wednesday with an urgent message: Climate change is not something that will happen in the distant future. It’s happening now, and it’s affecting winter and the sports we love.

“Climate change used to seem looming and far away," said gold medal freestyle skier David Wise. "But in my lifetime, I've seen winters start later and become more volatile." He said that because of drought years and then years of heavy precipitation, he never knows when the season will start, or if it will be good.

Joining Wise at the briefing for congressional staffers were cross-country skier Jessie Diggins, halfpipe snowboarder Arielle Gold, biathlete Maddie Phaneuf and alpine skier Stacey Cook.

Gold medalist Diggins said, "We're your canaries in the coal mine. We see [climate change] happening all over the world, and it affects everyone at every level. I see man-made snow everywhere we go -- nobody can count on natural snow anymore. It's a sign we really need to do something. Climate change is taking away a very healthy, incredibly fun, family-oriented sport that I love."

The briefing was co-hosted by Senators Bennet (D-CO) and Collins (R-ME), and representatives from at least 50 different Hill offices were in attendance. To see video clips, pictures, and more quotes from the event, head to CCL’s Twitter or Instagram.

And check out the story about the briefing on ThinkProgress.

READ THE STORY
Climate Solutions Caucus now has 74 members
 

The bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus continues to grow. With the addition of Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) and Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL), the caucus now has 74 members.

Appropriately, the two made their membership official on Earth Day.

“Our climate is changing and already impacting communities in Colorado and across the world. We need to be discussing bipartisan solutions to reduce human impact on the planet to preserve our environment for future generations,” said Rep. Perlmutter in a press release.

“My state, our nation and our world are blessed with an abundance of resources and natural beauty, and it is our responsibility to be good stewards of creation. Maintaining this gift demands smart, forward-looking solutions,” Rep. Hultgren said in a press release.

You can tweet your thanks to Reps. Perlmutter and Hultgren and invite your representative to join the caucus with CCL’s easy-to-use online action tool.

TWEET NEW CAUCUS MEMBERS
CCL 2018: Early bird pricing ends in 5 days!
 

Looking for inspiration to keep up your climate advocacy? Need more information about CCL’s proposal, our strategy, or the progress we’ve made this year? CCL's annual International Conference and Lobby Day, to be held June 10-12 in Washington, D.C., will deliver.

Sign up before April 30 to take advantage of the “early bird” rate and save $50. Learn more about the conference or jump to the registration page below.

REGISTER NOW
Media Tip of the Month: Being nonpartisan
 

These are difficult times to be nonpartisan. It’s hard to remember a time in recent history when our nation has been more bitterly divided. And as long as that division continues to widen, as long as climate change remains a partisan issue, it will be extremely difficult to enact national policies that address climate change. This is why we helped to create the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, to create that judgement-free zone where Republicans and Democrats can come together and develop solutions. That is also why it’s very important for us to maintain a nonpartisan tone in the media that we generate, to be the organization that’s bringing people together rather than pulling them apart.

In this month’s Media Tip, CCL Communications Director Steve Valk looks at recent examples of letters to the editor that struck a partisan tone and talks about the importance of keeping those letters nonpartisan.

WATCH MEDIA TIP
Connecting with Utah conservatives
 

David Folland, Howard Bartlett, and Regina Pistilli led a team of nine Citizens’ Climate Lobby members that tabled at the Utah Republican State Convention on April 21. The group had many conversations with Republicans at the convention, and 33 people signed up to learn more. “I think all of us thought it was worthwhile,” David said after the event. “Hopefully our presence there had some effect, too, in addition to the many conversations we had.”

Are you a climate-concerned conservative? Do you fall somewhere else on the political spectrum but want to connect with conservatives? Check out the CCL Conservative Caucus.

CCL CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS
CCL Mutare, Zimbabwe launches via WhatsApp
 

The first time CCL International Outreach Manager Cathy Orlando presented at a CCL conference in 2011 she had a few technical issues. Executive Director Mark Reynolds told her, "Don't worry. We just make things work."

In true CCL fashion, Cathy made it work with a new CCL group in Mutare, Zimbabwe. With limited internet and phone connectivity, a Zoom call wasn’t feasible, so instead Cathy conducted their training texting with the group via WhatsApp. See a snippet of the training texts above, along with photos of Cathy in Canada and group leader Jussa Kudherezera in Zimbabwe.

After their 2.5-hour training, the group is officially launched. Welcome, CCL Mutare!

LTE of the week in The Oregonian
 

This week’s featured letter to the editor comes from Kendall Sand, published in The Oregonian on April 19. Here’s an excerpt:

My daughter will celebrate her first birthday on Earth Day. She is a third-generation Oregonian. Her father can hardly wait to teach her to snowboard on Mt. Hood, and I anticipate summer camping trips to my favorite spots in Central Oregon. But as her Earth Day birthday approaches, I wonder what kind of Oregon she will know.

Climate change means we're seeing diminished snowpack and more severe forest fires. Already in her young life she has been kept inside for days because the air quality was so poor. Fresh, deliciously good-smelling air is kind of Oregon's thing. I want her to know that.

Read the full letter here. To learn more about writing your own letters to the editor and other published media, visit our print media resources on CCL Community.

PRINT MEDIA RESOURCES
This week on the CCL blog
 

Learning from labor: Where do labor unions stand on Carbon Fee and Dividend? Three CCL chapters hosted a panel to find out. Read more.

Bipartisan resolution: In case you missed it, read about the climate resolution introduced by two Climate Solutions Caucus Republicans and two Democratic House members. Read more.

Meet more volunteers: CCL is chock full of dedicated, inspiring climate advocates from all walks of life. Meet some of them in our blog’s Volunteer Spotlight series. Read more.

Learning opportunities
 

CCL offers two ongoing learning series for volunteers: Citizens' Climate University and Core Volunteer Training. Here are the next few sessions you can join:

4/26 Citizens' Climate University: Engaging Higher Education - Young people have the greatest motivation to do something about climate change. Join CCL Higher Education Outreach Coordinator Clara Fang to learn about engaging students on college campuses. Learn more.

5/1 Core Volunteer Training: Deep Dive with Carbon Fee & Dividend - Robert Archer, a retired US-AID economist and CCL Economic Policy Network contributor, will present new ways of thinking about CCL’s flagship policy. Learn more.

5/3 Citizens' Climate University: New Climate Advocacy Tools - James Fine, Senior Economist with the Environmental Defense Fund, in a webinar that will offer you new tools like the Clean Energy Progress Map. Learn more.

To see all upcoming topics, visit the Learn page of CCL Community.

Action Team updates
 

On the Presenters Action Team support call tomorrow, CCL Governing Board Chairman Dr. Ross Astoria will be a guest speaker to cure all of your border adjustment angst. Have you ever given a CCL presentation and had someone challenge you with a comment like this? “All of this sounds fine, but other countries won’t be doing their part.” You’ve mentioned border adjustments, but now you’re going to have to really drill down. On this support call, Ross will help you learn how to do that. The call will take place on Zoom at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.

Also meeting this week…

  • 4/25 - Environmental Justice Action Team call at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT
  • 4/26 - Schedulers, a subgroup of Presenters Action Team, call at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT 
  • 5/2 - Coal Country Action Team webinar at 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT. This webinar features guest speaker Mark Haggerty from Headwaters Economics to explore questions like What are the ways states and communities are dependent on coal? Which states serve as examples of having good transition plans? What can we as citizens do to help? Details here
  • Visit the full event calendar for dial-in details and future events

 

To check out all of CCL's Action Teams and join any that interest you, head to the Action Team directory on CCL Community.

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