Featured chapter: CCL Lynchburg

By Group Leader Steve Selby

CCL’s Lynchburg, Virginia, chapter has a small core of very dedicated long-time members. Elli Sparks, now CCL’s Senior Director of Field Operations, worked with our members to get the chapter started in 2014.

Lynchburg is 20 miles east of the Appalachian Blue Ridge and 160 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. The city population is about 80k, and about twice that many live in the neighboring counties. I've heard that Lynchburg is the largest city in the United States without an interstate highway. I don't know if that's true, but it is a bit less connected to the rest of the country than many similar communities.

Our advice for other small chapters is don’t give up or lose hope. Small can be mighty, and we have the important ability to support current members and keep them engaged in their advocacy. Although our outreach may not always result in new active members, it still creates an opportunity to create facetime for the critical issue of climate change.

Here’s a closer look at our activities in Lynchburg:

Lobbying

Unlike Virginia overall, this part of Virginia is solidly red. At last year's lobby day, we were able to start the climate conversation with our first-term Representative's staff. This year we are again hoping to begin establishing a relationship with a new first-term Representative's office. Though this is a challenging district, we have to remember that if we succeed, it could change the world.

Liberty University, by far the largest employer here, presents another opportunity to have climate conversations with the political right. We have had Liberty students do great work lobbying with us in the past.

Grassroots outreach

We usually meet plenty of concerned people at tabling events. We'll be tabling at the Maker Faire at Randolph College in March. Last year at the Faire, we demonstrated the En-Roads climate policy simulation and helped visitors make origami Citizens' Climate Froggies. Some of our members have ideas on how to make it better this year. We'll also have a table at a Parks and Rec Department Earth Day event, as well as tabling a few times at the community farmers market.

Our members also gave a presentation to the Lynchburg Tree Stewards last year, and we joined that group for urban tree planting. Our senior chapter member, Group Leader Emeritus Greg Haugan, made multiple climate presentations last year. We are currently working on setting up some outreach presentations for this year.

Grasstops outreach

For a fairly small city, we have a large nuclear industry that has provided remarkable endorsements and support. Nuclear energy is a great way to start clean energy conversations with conservatives. Two years ago with nuclear industry sponsorship, we were able to bring in the writer of the Oliver Stone "Nuclear Now" film as a guest speaker.

Of course, a price on carbon would be very good for the nuclear power industry. It would start providing an economic benefit for emissions-free electricity generation. We continue to look for opportunities to keep this conversation going.

Chapter development

Seven Lynchburg chapter members attended the Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia last year. Two of our members took part in CCL’s national Summer Conference and Lobby Day.

We also hosted a successful CCL Climate Advocacy Training in September for current members as well as new people, in an effort to bolster our chapter. In December, we got together for a potluck lunch to watch the start of CCL’s Fall Virtual Conference.

Chapter development continues to be a priority this year. We recently had a "Movie Night" with popcorn, where we watched portions of the “True False Hot Cold” documentary. The film is definitely relevant to the current biggest challenges for climate action, and it's a good way for the chapter to get together. We'll also have a summer picnic, and at least one evening at a local brewery.

Great work, CCL Lynchburg!

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