Great Lakes Regional Conference A Big Success

Average Rating:
CCL’s 2019 Great Lakes Regional Conference was a huge success this past weekend! There were 186 in attendance, including 45 students (including a group from the College of Wooster shown here). The keynote address was given by Dr. Carolyn Woo, Distinguished President’s Fellow for Global Development, Purdue University, and former President and CEO of Catholic Relief Services. Dr. Woo spoke of the “Energy Transition Dialogues,” held at the Vatican in 2018 and 2019, which she helped to convene. These meetings brought together the CEOs of major oil companies, investment firms and environmental watchdog groups, and led to the signing of carbon pricing and climate impact transparency resolutions. 
16afc8ed724c820ab94c63797f110c26-huge-coBy John Sabin

CCL’s 2019 Great Lakes Regional Conference was a huge success this past weekend! There were 186 in attendance, including 45 students (including a group from the College of Wooster shown here). The keynote address was given by Dr. Carolyn Woo, Distinguished President’s Fellow for Global Development, Purdue University, and former President and CEO of Catholic Relief Services. Dr. Woo spoke of the “Energy Transition Dialogues,” held at the Vatican in 2018 and 2019, which she helped to convene. These meetings brought together the CEOs of major oil companies, investment firms and environmental watchdog groups, and led to the signing of carbon pricing and climate impact transparency resolutions. 

The conference included a focus on the importance of diversity within CCL. Clara Fang, CCL’s Higher Education Outreach Coordinator, presented a plenary session on “Building an Inclusive and Empowering Culture.” This was followed by a session on “Growing Conservative Engagement,” led by CCL Development Associate Topher Anderson, and a panel on “Diversity in Youth Climate Advocacy,” led by Great Lakes Regional Fellow, Jess Wilber. 

Another highlight of the conference was the showing of the documentary film “Anote’s Ark,” which depicts the people of the island nation of Kiribati as they face inexorably rising sea levels. The film was presented by Cincinnati volunteer Mike Roman, who was introduced to Kiribati during his time in the Peace Corps, and whose dissertation led to the making of the film. Participants at the conference report coming away inspired, rejuvenated, and ready to dig into more CCL action back home.

John Sabin is a regional coordinator for the Great Lakes Region. More CCL regional conferences are scheduled through the rest of 2019 and early 2020. Find your regional conference on this list, and plan to attend!

 
Posted by Steve Valk on Sep 25, 2019 12:02 PM America/Los_Angeles

Share this

Share:

Recent Posts

CCL’s West Los Angeles chapter has had “a very challenging 2025 so far,” say group leaders Gerda Newbold and Kathy Seal, beginning with several of their longtime members losing their homes in the Palisades fire. “Additionally, the hostility toward—and active dismantling of—climate legislation by the current administration has been difficult to ... more
Posted by Flannery Winchester on CCL Community Bulletin Jun 26, 2025 6:19 AM PDT
June 25, 2025 “About 128 million Americans from Louisiana to Maine are under heat advisories Wednesday amid a severe heat wave impacting much of the U.S.,” CBS News reported this morning. “Extreme heat is only becoming more common,” TIME points out . “In the United States, heat waves now occur three times as often as they did in the 1960s, and [...] ... more
Posted by Flannery Winchester on CCL Community Bulletin Jun 26, 2025 6:18 AM PDT
June 18, 2025 On Monday, the Senate Finance Committee released its portion of the big budget bill that’s working its way through Congress. After the House passed a version of this bill that drastically cuts America’s clean energy tax credits, we’ve been pushing hard on the Senate — and the Senate Finance Committee in particular — to do a better job ... more
Posted by Flannery Winchester on CCL Community Bulletin Jun 23, 2025 3:47 PM PDT
June 11, 2025 We’re talking up clean energy tax credits — and Senators are listening At the end of May, the House of Representatives voted to pass a budget bill that would dramatically roll back America’s clean energy tax credits. In the days since that vote, CCLers have been working hard to encourage the Senate to protect these tax credits. Volunteers ... more
Posted by Elissa Tennant on CCL Community Bulletin Jun 11, 2025 6:04 PM PDT