Weekly Briefing: Your Messages Can Move Congress Faster On Clean Energy
January 10, 2024
As we get into the swing of 2024, we’re kicking off our first big action of the year: sending messages to Congress about clean energy permitting reform. The template message in our online tool says, in part:
2023 was the hottest year on record, and global carbon pollution is still on the rise, so we need to move faster on clean energy. Please work together on bipartisan permitting reform legislation that can pass this Congress!
Since we launched this action yesterday, CCL volunteers have sent 1,079 messages. Your representative and senators need to hear the message from you, too.
We laid significant groundwork on this issue in 2023, generating tens of thousands of messages and holding hundreds of lobby meetings throughout the year. Some permitting reforms passed last summer, and further opportunities emerged with the introduction of the BIG WIRES Act in the fall. Just weeks ago, CCL volunteers held 379 lobby meetings on that bill.
Keep the drumbeat going into the new year by sending your messages today!
In other news this week:
• Snowmen hit the streets: With fresh snow falling in many northern states, local CCL chapters are holding snowman protests. Yesterday, CCL Duluth built more than 100 little snowmen — complete with tiny protest signs — on the steps of a monument at their City Hall, earning coverage in the Duluth News Tribune.
• PROVE IT Act gets committee markup: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee just announced they are planning a markup of the PROVE IT Act next week. Remember, that’s the Senate bill introduced last year that would lay groundwork for using trade to drive down global emissions. Catch up with our blog post from August and related training from last week, and we’ll keep you posted on opportunities to support this bill’s progress.
• Advocacy around the world: As CCL chapters educate our communities and push American lawmakers for climate action, Citizens’ Climate International volunteers are doing the same in dozens of countries around the world. Read CCI’s 2023 highlights, including meetings with lawmakers in Canada, Germany, Mexico, Nigeria, Romania, and more.
Take action this week
If you have a little time: Join CCL's Election Engagement Action Team. 2024 is a big election year, which means lots of opportunity to push climate change higher on candidates’ agendas and mobilize climate voters to the polls. Go ahead and sign up for the Election Engagement Action Team now, so you’re on the list for updates about voter registration tabling, phone banking, postcarding, and more throughout the year.
If you have more time: Attend our monthly meeting this Saturday. This Saturday, Jan. 13, is CCL’s first national meeting of 2024! Join us this weekend to hear from CCL staffers Flannery Winchester and Brett Cease about the climate policy opportunities ahead for the year and how your chapter can plan to make an impact.
Featured: CCL Grand Junction / Grand Valley
CCL Grand Junction / Grand Valley is located in Colorado’s fast-warming “Western Slope” region, and is led by Susan Hess, Aaron Hoffman, and Kate Daniel. “What started as a fairly insular chapter strictly focused on federal climate policy is growing into one of the more active climate groups in our region,” Aaron says.
In recent months, the chapter has been invited to comment on their city's first Sustainability and Adaptation Plan from a climate perspective. Several CCLers — Aaron, Susan Hess, Thomas McCloskey, Bill Barron, and Charlie Post (pictured above left to right) — met with the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel’s editorial board, generating an editorial endorsement for permitting reform and an invitation to submit follow-up op-eds in the future. Aaron asked a climate question to Sen. Hickenlooper at a town hall and earned some great local media coverage for that question.
The chapter also makes it a point to get together with the other groups in their congressional district (CCL Durango and CCL Montrose) “to socialize and strategize,” Aaron says. “This practice started during the height of the pandemic. We found that meeting jointly with other chapters gave us inspiration, ideas, and new friendships. We have continued it for the same reasons, and we met together in December for a year-end wrap up and to celebrate our successes!”
Have you logged your recent activities in the Action Tracker? Tell us what your chapter has been up to lately! Action Tracker
Want your chapter to be featured? Share your info and photos with us.
Upcoming trainings
1/11: Developing Your Chapter’s 2024 Action Plan - Join Todd Elvins, CCL's National Actions Director, to coordinate your areas of focus for the year ahead. Join us!
1/18: Election 2024 - Helping Climate Voters Elect Climate Champions - In 2024, CCL wants more climate voters to vote, and we want climate to be a key issue for every candidate in every election. We'll discuss options for CCLers to engage during the 2024 elections locally and nationally. Join us!
Need training on the basics? Catch our next session of Core Volunteer Training, made for newer volunteers:
1/16: Preventing Burnout as a Climate Advocate - Climate work can feel heavy and hard. Take this chance to connect with others, share authentically, listen deeply, and build your personal resilience. Join us!
To see other topics and past trainings, visit the Training Topics page of CCL Community.
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