Featured chapter: CCL Cincinnati

CCL Cincinnati has recently had a flurry of local media hits, with letters published by chapter members Cindy Johnson (Jan. 16), Elaine Olund (Jan. 24), Stephen Druffel (Jan. 30), and Chris Heckman (Feb. 3).

“Our city’s paper has put out a lot of climate change-related articles,” says Kelly Patterson, who co-leads the Cincinnati chapter with Tony Potochnik. One chapter member, Stephen McClanahan, keeps an eye on the paper and alerts others in the chapter when he sees those pieces.

In Elaine’s letter, she responded to a Cincinnati Enquirer article about 2024 being the hottest year on record, telling readers, “Change begins by demanding solutions and sensible changes. It begins with you. Let your elected officials know this is an issue you care about. Together, we can change political will — and begin to heal our world.”

In addition to this strong start to 2025, the chapter is also building on a notable success from last year. In 2024, Chris Heckman led the chapter in encouraging the Cincinnati school board to pass a resolution committing to renewable energy and an all-electric future. He is now beginning to pursue another resolution with another school district in the area.

Also this year, Kelly says, “We have things in the works to get us together in person more. We are ‘adopting a spot’ in our city that we will keep clean, and we have a tour scheduled with our city's recycling center.” Kelly adds that the chapter has had a lot of new volunteers join since the November election, so she hopes these activities will help welcome people and get them plugged in. Great work, CCL Cincinnati!