Weekly Briefing: We’ll See You In D.C. This Summer
March 13, 2024
Registration is now open for CCL’s 2024 Summer Conference & Lobby Day! Called “Making Moves and Moving Congress,” this annual conference and lobby day is CCL’s flagship event. It takes place June 8-11 this year in Washington, D.C.
It’s clearer than ever that being able to find common ground with each other brings us closer to the climate solutions we need. So at this year’s conference, we’ll dive deeper into how to bridge divides and keep advancing the climate conversation.
We’re cooking up some creative new activities to help, including a postcard writing party, a mass tabling opportunity to have climate conversations out in Washington, D.C., and our first-ever student summit. We’re also excited to welcome Jerome Foster II as this year’s keynote speaker. Jerome, a longtime CCLer, is the youngest-ever White House Advisor as a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and founder of WAIC Up.
After these conference activities, we’ll head to Capitol Hill for hundreds of respectful and productive meetings with Congress. Meeting with CCLers and seeing us in the hallways and cafeterias of the House and Senate makes a huge impression on members of Congress. They can’t ignore that climate change matters deeply to people across the country. We will arrange your meetings, put you with a supportive lobby team, and train you on everything you need to know.
Register early to grab your lobby spot and to get the early bird discount, which ends on April 1.
In other news this week:
• New March donations are quadrupled: Thanks to your generous support, we’re more than halfway to our $10,000 goal in new monthly donations! We still need $4,254 in monthly pledges. Don’t forget, for every dollar you pledge, an anonymous matching donor will add three more — that quadruples your donation in March, April, and May. Donate today!
• Hottest February on record: Last month was the hottest February on record. And for the last nine months, we’ve had the hottest January, hottest December, hottest November… you get the idea. We posted this meme on Instagram and encouraged our followers to tag their lawmakers, making them aware of the news.
• CCI director on Climate Optimists: Joe Robertson, Executive Director for Citizens’ Climate International, appeared on the latest episode of the Climate Optimists podcast. Tune in to hear him break down the challenges and opportunities of the UN climate process.
Take action this week
If you have a little time: Write a letter about the climate mentions in the State of the Union. President Biden delivered the State of the Union address last Thursday, and he highlighted how climate action is bringing investment and jobs to the U.S. You could write a letter to the editor in your local paper about this (or another) timely topic. If you want to go big, personalize and submit this local op-ed template that also references the State of the Union. Find this and more local media ideas in CCL’s March Action Sheet.
If you have more time: Watch the recording of CCL’s March meeting. At CCL’s March meeting on Saturday, we heard from Drew Eyerly, CCL’s Conservative Outreach Director, and Karina Ramirez, CCL’s Diversity & Inclusion Director, about how we as climate advocates can work better together even when we come from different backgrounds. We also celebrated recent successes and shared upcoming actions you can take this month. Check out the recording if you weren't able to join us live.
Featured chapter: CCL Ventura County
CCL Ventura County, led by Adrian Conway and Faith Grant, is a vibrant chapter in southern California. In January, they hosted an “Electrify Your Home or Business” event with nearly 20 local exhibitors, running from 10 a.m. to the early afternoon. Educational presentations covered practical topics like how heat pumps work in your home, how to take advantage of incentives for rooftop solar and battery storage, and how opting for an electric vehicle lets you avoid the fluctuating costs of gas.
“Months of planning went into the event to ensure we got a large turnout and everything ran smoothly,” says chapter member Terri Wallace. Their hard work paid off! “Our chapter received lots of great publicity for the event with two articles in local newspapers,” Terri says. “The turnout was great, and feedback from attendees, exhibitors, and speakers about the quality of the event and the educational resources provided was very positive.”
The chapter is planning to hold this event again on July 27 this year. If any other chapters want to hold a similar event, Terri says, CCL Ventura County has “a lot of useful tools, tricks, tips and techniques” available on their chapter website, including an event flier, exhibitor and speaker information, promotional materials, and recordings of their event. Awesome job, CCL Ventura County!
CCL has nearly 400 chapters across the country. Find your local chapter today and get plugged in.
Upcoming trainings
3/14: Empowering Your Requesting - The strength of CCL's chapters runs on volunteer leaders feeling empowered to make requests, especially requesting volunteers to participate. This session, led by Jean Ritok, former co-leader of the Raleigh-Durham chapter, will teach you how to do this effectively. Join us!
3/21: CCL's 2024 Conservative Conference Highlights - Join CCL staff for a recap of some of the best parts of CCL's 2024 Conservative Conference presentations and keynotes. We'll plan on watching shorter segments that sample highlights from through the day's line-up of speakers. Join us!
Need training on the basics? Catch our next session of Core Volunteer Training, made for newer volunteers:
3/19: Grassroots Outreach Basics - Join Dave Cain, CCL Presenters & Schedulers Action Team Leader, and Tamara Staton, CCL Education & Resilience Coordinator, to learn the bite-sized best practices of tabling and presentations. Join us!
To see other topics and past trainings, visit the Training Topics page of CCL Community.
Nerd Corner's Chart of the Week
February was Earth's 9th straight record-hot month
Join the discussion about what's going on with this streak of record hot temperatures.
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