Weekly Briefing: Watch Our D.C. Team Talks Lobbying

April 5, 2023

Why come to D.C.? CCLers have big impact when we lobby in person

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had conversations with staffers who have been so impressed by how many people we bring to the Hill every June. Every single chair in the Longworth cafeteria seems to be taken by a CCLer, and that really sends a key message to members of Congress that we’re there, we’re united and we’re going to push them to advance priorities on climate. ”

That’s CCL Senior Director of Government Affairs Jenn Tyler describing the impact of CCL’s presence on Capitol Hill during our June lobby day. While the climate movement celebrated a big win with the Inflation Reduction Act last year, there is still much left to be done to ensure the U.S. reaches its climate goals, like enacting permitting reform to speed the transition to clean energy. CCL is uniquely positioned to encourage bipartisan cooperation on this critical issue, and our volunteers can play a big role by lobbying in person en masse.

In our lobbying push this June, CCL will build on the momentum from our Conservative Climate Leadership Conference and Lobby Day, which was held last week. Conservative volunteers met with Republican offices to discuss permitting reform as well as carbon fee and dividend. NBC News covered the conference and published a story about how Republican engagement on climate change is growing.

Check out the invitation from Jenn and CCL VP for Government Affairs Ben Pendergrass to attend this year’s conference and lobby day in this video, and then go online to register for this exciting event. See you in June!

Register Now!
In other news this week:  

• Members of Congress weigh in: CCL is not alone in pushing for clean energy permitting reform — Sen. Angus King (I-ME) and Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA-50) just published a joint piece in TIME about the issue, saying, “We’re in a race against climate change. In this Congress, our focus must be on how to plan, permit, and approve climate action projects much faster than America is used to.”

• The right kind of climate optimism: A recent Vox article explored the idea of climate optimism, identifying “changeable optimists” as a group that “thinks the future can be better but knows that a better future won’t happen on its own.” That type of optimism is part of CCL’s core values. Through optimism, we turn our concern about climate change into action, and we make a difference!

• CCL staffing updates: We’ve recently made some changes to our national staffing. Executive Director Madeleine Para details the changes in a letter on CCL Community.
 

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Your gift + $100,000 bonus gift = BIG impact

You did it! We saw an incredible outpouring of grassroots support during our March fundraiser, which resulted in us surpassing our goal of $10,000 in new monthly contributions by about 6%. This means we’ll receive the $100,000 bonus gift from our angel donor! Hundreds of volunteers like you rose to the occasion and we want to say THANK YOU. This collective support will have a big impact on our climate solutions work. 

Didn’t have the opportunity to make a contribution during the campaign? You can still make a donation today!

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Take action this week  

If you have a little time: Write to Congress about healthy forests. Have you heard about CCL’s Climate Action Program? It’s a monthly action you can take to advance important climate policy goals. This month, we’re asking Congress to protect investments for healthy forests in the upcoming Farm Bill. 

If you have more time: Plan your Earth Day outreach. April is Earth month, which presents tons of opportunities for outreach. In fact, CCL has set a goal of 500 outreach events this month. So organize yourselves, get out there, and table and present at every event you can find. Let’s show Congress that there is strong support for climate policy!

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Find your CCL chapter | Check out our Action Teams | Browse upcoming events

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Upcoming Trainings 

4/6: How to Create a Stable Clean Electric Grid - Part One - Join CCL Research staff for a two-part training that will provide an overview of what kinds of energy and infrastructure will be needed for a stable, clean energy electric grid and the main technologies that are most likely to get us there. Join us!

4/13: Generating News Coverage - This training explores how to earn news coverage — articles, TV segments and radio interviews — featuring you and your local CCL chapter. Join us!

Newer to CCL and excited to make a difference? Our next cycle of Core Volunteer Training begins next week. This series is specifically created to support you in becoming more active with CCL:

4/11: CCL Community Website Walkthrough - Led by Tamara Staton, CCL Education and Resilience Coordinator, this initial CVT training focuses on helping participants navigate our websites and opportunities for harnessing the talents, experience and interests you bring to CCL. Learn more.

To see other topics and past trainings, visit the Training Topics page of CCL Community.