Weekly Briefing: We’re Positioned For Progress In 2025
December 11, 2024
CCL’s Fall Virtual Conference, “Positioning for Progress,” had an incredible turnout this weekend with 1,333 unique attendees tuning in. The reach extended even further than those individual Zoom users, since lots of our chapters hosted group watch parties to attend the virtual conference together. Thanks to everyone who attended!
CCL Executive Director Rachel Kerestes started the conference with a message of confidence about CCL’s role heading into the new Congress and the new administration. “We are one of the few groups who can truly meet this moment,” she said. “We have the skills, the relationships, the reputation — and, most importantly, we have you, the volunteers — to do what needs to be done.”
Throughout the day, we also heard from:
- Senator-elect John Curtis, a Republican from Utah, who founded the Conservative Climate Caucus. Senator-elect Curtis offered a thoughtful reflection on his own climate journey, saying CCL’s engagement “inspired me to want to do more.”
- Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, who chairs the bipartisan House Climate Solutions Caucus. Rep. Houlahan offered an important reminder that, even in our polarized political time, “Climate change is not the responsibility of one party or another. It’s something we have to tackle together.”
- CCL Policy Fellow Danny Richter, who covered what CCL’s carbon pricing advocacy might look like next year. One main takeaway? “There may still be an opportunity to pass a border carbon tariff in the 119th Congress,” Danny said, and CCL will engage in that effort in a big way.
The conference also prepared attendees for more than 300 virtual lobby meetings, which are taking place this week. CCLers are asking Congress to pass the Energy Permitting Reform Act, to preserve the climate measures of the Inflation Reduction Act, and to pass the RISEE Act.
If you missed any part of the conference, catch up on the recordings through our Fall 2024 Conference playlist. Then you’ll be ready to hit the ground running with climate progress in 2025.
In other news this week:
- More than halfway there: Wow! CCL supporters have already donated an incredible $750K since our year-end fundraiser kicked off on Giving Tuesday—thank you for your generosity! This total includes $300,000 unlocked through a bonus gift from Climate Guardian donors. With our $1.25M goal in sight, every donation counts. If you haven’t already, please donate today to help us protect climate progress in the year ahead.
- CCL on Bluesky: A new social media platform, Bluesky, has gained huge numbers of new followers in recent weeks. CCL is now active on Bluesky, too!
- Steffanie spreads her wings: Steffanie Munguía, CCL's amazing Student Engagement Director, is migrating to another role! She will be Zoo Miami's first-ever Avian Conservation Programs Manager, supporting bird conservation efforts and running community outreach programs to deepen people's knowledge and appreciation of birds in South Florida. Share your well wishes for Steffanie on this Kudoboard.
Take action this week
If you have a little time: Call Congress about this permitting reform bill. Congress only has a few weeks left to finish up negotiations and pass any remaining bills that have enough support. With your help, the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 could be one of those bills! We’re lobbying on it in our virtual meetings this week, and you can amplify the message by calling your members of Congress. Use our easy online tool to dial them up, follow our short script, and make your voice heard. Our goal is 3,000 calls, and we’re at 988 calls so far. Call your MOCs today!
If you have more time: Gather IRA success stories. Communities across America, and millions of individual households, have benefitted from the climate measures in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). First thing in 2025, we will need success stories on hand to tell Congress, so we can encourage them to keep the IRA in place. Start to ask around to find these stories of IRA benefits in your own CCL chapter or community. Find more guidance in our December Action Sheet.
Featured chapter: CCL Fayetteville
After officially re-launching in February, CCL’s Fayetteville chapter has been a flurry of activity. Co-led by Joanna Person-Michener and Sterling Smith, the chapter’s membership ranges from older community members to local college students from the University of Arkansas.
CCL Fayetteville has tackled everything from tabling events, to letter drop-offs at local congressional offices, to grasstops outreach. Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan has approached the chapter about helping build support for protecting the city’s tree canopy, and he even attended a chapter meeting! Chapter members learned about Fayetteville’s new climate action plan through a presentation from the city’s Resilience and Sustainability Director.
And, in all of these action-packed months, the chapter has prioritized meaningful time together to connect. They went for a hike at a local nature reserve for one of their recent meetings, because for Joanna and Sterling, resilience is the name of the game.
“We’re trying to instill hope for people,” Joanna says. Sterling adds, “When all of us can support each other and just move the needle little by little…we can get there.” Keep crushing it, CCL Fayetteville!
Want to chat with the CCL Fayetteville volunteers about their work? Join the conversation on CCL Community.
Upcoming trainings
12/12: Hosting A Film Screening - In this training, CCL staff will unveil the updated Film Screening Guide resource and share how CCL chapters have used screenings to attract their community for discussions on climate and clean energy solutions. Join us!
12/17 - 12/31: No live trainings - Enjoy the holidays!
To see other topics and past trainings, visit the Training Topics page of CCL Community.
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