Weekly Briefing: Building on our Fix Our Forests Act momentum

Dec. 10, 2025

Healthy forests are a key part of the climate puzzle — and they’ve been a big part of our advocacy in 2025! Throughout this year, CCLers have generated local media hits, sent thousands of calls and emails to Congress, and collected endorsements from trusted messengers in support of the Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA). We also discussed FOFA at in both our Summer and Fall constituent lobby meetings — and we've seen this work pay off.

Early in the year, the bill passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 279–141. In March, an improved version of the bill was introduced in the Senate as S. 1462 and referred to the Senate Agriculture Committee. And in October, FOFA passed out of committee with a vote of 18-5.

Individually, our voices as climate advocates struggle to break through and make change. But through our coordinated nationwide efforts, with well-informed staff partnering with motivated local volunteers, we've been effective at helping move this bill through the legislative process.

Head to CCL's blog for a full recap of the bill's journey through Congress so far and how our advocacy work has helped it advance.

Our FOFA Advocacy

In other news

Making progress toward $1.25 million: We still need to raise over $580,000 to hit our $1.25 million year-end fundraising goal — and we only have a few weeks left to close the gap. Reaching our goal ensures we can deepen our advocacy and better equip volunteers like you for more climate progress in the year ahead. Please consider making a donation today!

Take action

If you have a little time: Make sure your 2025 actions are logged. Your personalized ‘CCL Wrapped’ video comes out this weekend! Using data from CCL’s Action Tracker, this personalized video will show and celebrate the work we did together this year, including your individual actions like the number of times you contacted Congress, attended a group meeting or training, and more. Be sure you’ve logged all your actions from this year in CCL’s Action Tracker, so your personal Wrapped stats are complete.

If you have more time: Attend CCL's December Monthly Meeting. Plan to join us for our final Monthly Meeting of the year this Saturday, Dec. 13, starting at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT. We'll look back at our activities and accomplishments in 2025 and get ready for a strong start to 2026. CCL volunteers will share reflections on their Fall Lobby Week experience, and we’ll look ahead to 2026 with CCL Interim Executive Director, Ricky Bradley. Set a reminder and we'll see you there!

Featured: 'High Conflict' Book Study Group

Here at CCL, we're big fans of the work of Amanda Ripley — a New York Times bestselling author, Washington Post contributor, and co-founder of Good Conflict. She has joined us as a guest on past monthly meetings and gave a wonderful keynote at our 2025 Summer Conference.

Now, volunteers have the opportunity to join in a long-term book study about Ripley's 2021 book "High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out." The study, led by CCL Chicago volunteer Mike Holler, will include a thoughtful readalong and interactive workshop focused on approaching conflict in a healthier way.

At last week's CCL Town Hall, Mike explained why he started the book study, saying, "I've seen high conflict in the news, in my community, and sometimes even among CCL volunteers. I think we all benefit from identifying high conflict, rejecting it, and instead substituting healthy conflict where we're making sure we're focusing on mutual respect at all times."

The book study kicked off this past September, but interested volunteers can join at any time, as each month's meeting covers just one chapter. The next meeting, scheduled for 4 p.m. ET on December 19th, will focus on Chapter 3.

"I felt that a standard book club situation where you read it in a month and then forget about it and next month move onto another book wouldn't have the same effect," said Holler. "I really wanted to take it slowly and to integrate it into our day-to-day lives."

Watch the full Town Hall recording, or sign up for the "High Conflict" book study.

Upcoming trainings

12/11 Previewing CCL's BRIDGE Advocacy Program - Join Brett Cease, CCL’s VP of Field Operations, for a training that will preview CCL’s new “BRIDGE” program: Building Relationships in Dialogue, Growth, and Engagement. Brett will preview the framework that offers practical insights for having more effective, empathetic climate conversations that build understanding and momentum for change. Join us!

This program will serve as one of the foundational building blocks for Citizens’ Climate’s advocacy. Through BRIDGE, we will learn and practice the relational advocacy skills necessary to help Members of Congress see climate action as salient, feasible and safe, as we described in our new Strategic Plan.

To see other events and CCL trainings, visit the Training Topics page of CCL Community.