Citizens' Climate Lobby

Lobbying Basics: Planning & Practicing Your Meeting

Join this opportunity to practice how to meet with your member of Congress this year for our online lobby meetings. Join CCL Staff for an online training that will walk you through important considerations for preparing to meet and what an actual meeting with your member of Congress looks like.

Skip ahead to the following section(s):

• (0:00) Intro & Agenda
• (5:26) Sample Meeting Agenda- Planning The Meeting
• (15:55) Online Meeting in Action (From Democratic Perspective)
• (26:48) In-Person Meeting in Action (From Republican Perspective)
• (34:27) Similarities & Differences
• (41:34) Key Takeaways

 Presentation Slides: http://cclusa.org/cvtlobby  

CCL Community Training Page: https://community.citizensclimate.org/topics/working-with-congress/lobbying-201 

Lobbying 101: The Transformative Power of Citizen Advocacy

Join CCL Mountain West Regional Coordinator Bill Barron for a training that will demonstrate the advantages we hold as citizens in transforming our government and the policies we adopt. Tune in to hear the personal stories of transformation from CCL volunteers from across the country from Latinos Action Team Co-Lead Alfonso Saldaña to CCL Youth Leaders Nicolas Polimeni and Remi Masarik to New Hampshire State Coordinator John Gage.

Skip ahead to the following sections(s):
Marshall's Invitation To Empowerment (3:08)
Why Lobby As A Citizen? (10:55)
Building Relationships (20:12)
Researching Local Impacts (25:04)
Sharing Your Story (33:28)

Presentation Slides: http://cclusa.org/transformative-power

CCL Community Training Page: https://community.citizensclimate.org/topics/working-with-congress/lobbying-101

Dr Natasha DeJarnett | Citizens Climate Lobby | May 2020 Speaker

Climate change and carbon pollution have always had an impact on public health, and the COVID-19 pandemic bears that out. On this month’s call, Dr. Natasha DeJarnett will look at how these two crises are connected. Dr. DeJarnett is the interim associate director of Program and Partnership Development at the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), where she leads research as well as climate and health activities. She also serves on the governing board of Citizens’ Climate Education.

Helpful Links:

National Environmental Health Association: https://www.neha.org/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 Page: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

Additional Health Action Team Recommended Research Articles: http://cclusa.org/health-research-may-call

Sign up to find out more about Citizens' Climate Lobby: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/join-citizens-climate-lobby/

 

CCL Training: Handling Challenging Questions About The Energy Innovation Act

Join CCL Strategy Director Tony Sirna and Government Affairs Coordinator Adeline DeYoung for a training that will highlight recommendations for communicating about the Energy Innovation Act and including how to approach talking with community members who may voice concerns about provisions within the legislation.

Skip ahead to the following section(s):

Importance of Listening (4:48)

How To Find & Use This CCL Resource (8:03 )

Role-play scenarios (15:14)

CCL Community: https://community.citizensclimate.org/handling-challenging-questions

Presentation Slides: http://cclusa.org/handling-challenging-questions-slides

Join CCL: https://cclusa.org/join

CCR 47 Eco-Grief in a Time of Coronavirus Mourning

How are the impacts of climate change similar to what we are experiencing with the Coronavirus global pandemic? Many climate advocates have long felt sadness, anger, and despair over the destructive effects of climate change and the slow response by elected officials to do anything about it. Suddenly with the Coronavirus Outbreak we are all thrust into yet another existential crisis and even more grief. Eight women talk about working through grief to a place of action. They use their expertise to connect the impacts of climate change to what we are now seeing with Covid-19.

 

Guests include:

• Dr. Nathasha DeJarnett, Interim Associate Director Program & Partnership Development National Environmental Health Association
• Dr. Lise VanSusteren, an American psychiatrist in private practice in Washington, DC with a special interest in the psychological effects of climate change.
• Elizabeth Rush, author of Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore
• Solemi Hernandez, Citizens Climate Lobby Southeast Regional Coordinator
• Edie Lush, co-host of Global GoalsCast podcast
• LaUra Schmidt and Aimee Lewis-Reau, co-founders of the Good Grief Network
• Anna Jane Joyner, co-host of No Place Like Home podcast

See our complete show notes at Citizens Climate Lobby. 

 

Host, Peterson Toscano says, “As a podcaster, I get to hear and share stories. The stories and people I cover educate me about climate change and many other issues. They also affect me emotionally. They stir up sadness along with empathy.” Fellow climate podcasts, Edie Lush and Anna Jane Joyner, point out how essential grief was for them in helping understand what roles to take in the climate movement. 

 

In addition to the mental health risks we face, Dr. DeJarnett highlights the groups most vulnerable to the impacts of Covid-19 and to Climate Change. These include people of color, children, and women. In episode 23 Dr. DeJarnett shared research conducted after Hurricane Katrina. It reveals women experienced extreme trauma in various forms including domestic violence during and after the storm. Dr. DeJarnett worries about similar dangers women now face during this time of extreme isolation. Solemi Hernandez speaks about her concerns for farmer workers and the multiple risks they face as essential workers living in remote rural areas often without health care and with unresolved immigration issues. 

 

LaUra Schmidt and Aimee Lewis-Reau from the Good Grief Network, share the tools they use to help climate advocates face the eco-grief that often slows us down. Through their 10-Step Program, Personal Resilience and Empowerment in a Chaotic Climate, they have seen climate advocates breakthrough so they are more energized to do their work.

 

All of the guests share best practices and strategies to help process grief and cope with stress in this time of Coronavirus. 

 

Thank you to Raul Diaz Palomar for music from his album Musica Para Poder Contra La Verdad.

 

Art House 

 

In the Art House, writer Elizabeth Rush returns with good news. Her book Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore has garnered awards and was chosen as the Read Across Rhode Island pick. At the kick off event Elizabeth watched an excerpt of a play based her book. Observing herself portrayed on stage gave her a chance to realize something about her own grief process she had not noticed before. 

 

She talks about what she learned and reads selections from her book. 

 

Dig Deeper

• Four ways Coronavirus is Turning the Natural World Upside Down, The Atlantic
• Experts See a Worrisome Link Between Pollution and Coronavirus, The Hill 
• Climate Change and Health Equity, American Public Health Association 
• Coronavirus: Why Has the Virus Hit African-Americans So Hard? BBC
• Climate Change Increases the Risk of Violence Against Women, United Nations
• Climate Change Leads to More Violence Against Women, Girls, Deutsche Welle
• As Cities Around the World Go on Lockdown, Victims of Domestic Violence Look for a Way Out, Time Magazine 
• How Millions of Women Became the Most Essential Workers in America, New York Times
• How the Pandemic Will End: Generation C, The Atlantic
• We Need Courage, Not Hope, to Face Climate Change, by Dr. Kate Marvel, On-Being
• Olio Food Sharing App
• Dutch Baby Recipe, New York Times

 

Puzzler Question

 

Listeners share what they would say to Charles. He was worried about the Yellow Vest Protests in France and how something similar might happen in the USA if legislation is passed to put a price on carbon. 

 

New Puzzler Question 

On Earth Day in an on-line conversation with your friend, Gretchen, you share your renewed commitment to promote climate solutions. Gretchen slowly shakes her head  and says, “You know I am concerned about the planet too, but with so many people affected by Covid-19, I think we are just going to have to deal with that first. Climate action is very important, but for so many people right now, there are more pressing issues..”

 

Gretchen is correct. When people are struggling to pay bills, put food on the table, and as they recover from so many different losses, they often don’t have space for climate conversations. In fact, this has been true for lots of marginalized people for a long time, even before Coronavirus. So this puzzler question is for you to answer for yourself. How do you navigate your climate work as we deal with the impacts of Coronavirus? 

 

Send Peterson your answers. Leave your name, contact info, and where you are from.

Get back to him by May, 17th, 2020. Email your answers to radio @ citizensclimate.org or leave a voicemail at 518.595.9414. (+1 if calling from outside the USA.)

 

You can hear Citizens’ Climate Radio on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, Podbean, Northern Spirit Radio, Google Play, PlayerFM, and TuneIn Radio. Also, feel free to connect with other listeners, suggest program ideas, and respond to programs in the Citizens’ Climate Radio Facebook group or on Twitter at @CitizensCRadio.

 

CCL Training: Preparing For Media Interviews

Join CCL's Communications Director Flannery Winchester for a training that builds volunteers’ interview skills, particularly for radio and television. Learn how to prepare for and respond to interview questions, keep the interview on track, and get your message across in the media.

Skip ahead to the following section(s):
Pre-interview prep (1:59)
Preparing your message (6:05)
Practicing: Bad, better, best (11:20)
CCL’s recommended talking points (17:11)
Pivoting (28:08)
Presentation tips (37:15)

Helpful resources:
Presentation Slides: http://cclusa.org/preparing-for-interviews
CCL Community Training Page: https://community.citizensclimate.org/resources/item/19/110

Nathaniel Stinnett | Citizens' Climate Lobby | April 2020 Monthly Speaker

Step one to generate political will for climate solutions is to get people who care about the environment to vote. When Nathaniel Stinnett found out that environmentalists, by and large, were staying home on election day, he saw a problem in need of a solution. That's why in 2015 he launched the Environmental Voter Project, which identifies environmentalists who don't vote and reaches out to get them to the polls. On this month's call, Nathaniel will share some of the ways his organization has successfully activated this important bloc of voters.

Helpful Links: Environmental Voter Project: https://www.environmentalvoter.org/

CCL Action Sheet: https://cclusa.org/actionsheet

Citizens' Climate Lobby Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CitizensClimateLobby/

CCL Training: Talking Climate Change with NNOCCI

This training will boost your skills in proven communications techniques that shift the national conversation about climate change to be more positive, civic-minded and solutions-focused through providing an overview of the National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation's recommendations for identifying common values, metaphors, and solution-framing.

Skip ahead to the following section(s):
What is NNOCCI? (3:14)
NNOCCI Resources Available (11:40)
What Americans Think About Climate Change (13:37)
The Core Story of Climate Change (21:35)
What Does This Look Like In Conversation? (31:48)
Summary & Next Steps (44:15)

Presentation PDF: https://cclusa.org/talking-climate-change-training

CCL Community Training Page: https://community.citizensclimate.org/resources/item/19/451

Follow NNOCCI On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NNOCCI/

CCL Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CitizensClimateLobby

CCL Training: Self-Care For Stress Reduction

The overwhelming unknown of a global pandemic, impacting our families, our futures, and for many of us, our own well-being is quite the recipe for chaos, both inside and out. Add to this the underlying stress of climate change and everyday life management and our well-being as climate advocates can teeter on the edge. This training features CCL Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator and Education & Engagement Assistant Tamara Staton and CCL's Peer Support Action Team Co-leads Laura Sacks and Jeff Joslin to support us in attending to our inner advocate - the one who so clearly wants change, ease and calm, but may at times struggle to find it.

Skip ahead to the following section(s):
Consider The Context (4:28)
Know Yourself & Accept Your Needs (5:57)
Lean On Your Resources (10:04)
The Importance Of Play (18:14)
Climate Anxiety Event (27:36)
CCL Peer Support Action Team (30:32)

Presentation Slides: http://cclusa.org/self-care-stress-reduction

Follow us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/citizensclimatelobby

Twitter: http://twitter.com/citizensclimate/

CCL Training: Communicating With Progressives

Join CCL Texas State Coordinator and Progressive Outreach Action Team leader Bob Hendricks and LA State Coordinator Nicole Hammond for a training on communicating with progressives regarding putting a price on pollution. We'll facilitate a review of what CCL's ongoing plan for outreach to non-profit organizations is at the national and local level, and recommendations to talk about carbon fee and dividend with progressive groups.

Skip ahead to the following section(s):
(0:00) Intro & Agenda
(3:30) Who Are Progressives? 
(7:03) Talking to Progressive Individuals
(13:28) Climate Justice and Environmental Justice
(18:37) Talking about CCL's Policy Agenda
(28:45) Conclusions

Presentation Slides: http://cclusa.org/progressive-communications 

CCL Community Training: https://community.citizensclimate.org/topics/communicating-across-the-aisle/communicating-with-progressives