Citizens' Climate Lobby

The first of two Climate Advocate Training podcasts offered by Citizens’ Climate University. Lesson one reviews the structure of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, building relationships with elected representatives, creating political will, appealing to the best in others and practicing laser talks.

Citizens’ Climate University is an initiative of Citizen’s Climate Education.

In this lesson CCL's Elli Sparks challenges us to consider the possibility of outcomes to a conversation when a CCL volunteer asks questions instead of lecturing? Can we build political will by focusing on others? How can we train ourselves to “seek first to understand, rather than be understood”?

The following is a discussion from CCL’s Program Director Madeleine Para regarding how to prepare for and how to lead a CCL monthly meeting. 

People will stick with CCL when they feel included at the meetings and when the meetings leave them with a sense of hope and progress. You don’t want them to feel unwelcome or like they are wasting their time. The goal is to have as many people as possible engaged in productive actions that are meaningful to them.

The second of two Climate Advocate Training podcasts offered by Citizens’ Climate University. Lesson two focuses on finding common ground and shared values, understanding Citizens' Climate Lobby's methodology, preparing for and participating in a lobby meeting and explaining our proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: Carbon Fee and Dividend.  

Citizens’ Climate University is an initiative of Citizen’s Climate Education.

CCL's IT Director Tony Sirna and Bessie Schwarz from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication discuss how we can leverage the Yale Climate Opinion Maps data in our meetings with Congress and others.

The maps and data sets Bessie and Tony refer to are located on the website of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.

Bessie Schwarz from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication explains the Climate Opinion Maps, what's under the hood, what conclusions you can draw from the results and what trends there are in how Americans relate to climate change.

Bessie refers to the maps and data sets found at the Yale Project on Climate Change Communications website.

Our guest for the October call was Dr. Patrick Verkooijen, Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change for the World Bank Group. He has been working closely with Rachel Kyte, the World Bank Vice President and Special Envoy for Climate Change, and has been instrumental in the building of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition. 

 

On the national call, Dr. Verkooijen spoke about the World Bank’s involvement in climate change and the role it is playing to facilitate carbon pricing throughout the world. Originally from the Netherlands, he became Special Representative for Climate Change at the World Bank in July 2012, and represents the World Bank in UN meetings on climate change, and serves as principal advisor to the Vice President SDN, specifically engaging with the UN and other partners leading global efforts in the climate change area.