At CCL’s 2025 Summer Conference and Lobby Day in D.C. last month, we were privileged to hear from Amanda Ripley in a keynote conversation with CCL’s Illinois State Coordinator Alex Marianyi. We want every CCLer to have a chance to hear Amanda’s powerful message and Alex’s takeaways, so this month’s meeting features recorded highlights from their keynote session. Amanda Ripley is a New York Times bestselling author, a Washington Post contributing columnist, and the co-founder of Good Conflict, a media and training company that helps people reimagine conflict. She has written three award-winning, nonfiction books about three very different subjects: High Conflict, The Smartest Kids in the World, and The Unthinkable. Previously, Ripley spent a decade writing about human behavior for Time magazine in New York, Washington, and Paris.

The July 2025 CCL meeting focused on midyear updates to the 2025 Roadmap, highlighting key accomplishments like nationwide in-district drop-offs, introduction of the bipartisan Foreign Pollution Fee Act, and a full-court press to protect clean energy tax credits. Despite setbacks from the recent budget reconciliation bill, CCL's VP of Communications emphasized the significant positive impact of volunteer advocacy in softening harmful provisions and building long-term bipartisan support for clean energy. Volunteers across the country were encouraged to share local wins and continue showing up, with an eye on sustained progress through grassroots pressure. Looking ahead, the spotlight turned to the upcoming Summer Conference and Lobby Day in Washington, D.C. Interim Executive Director Ricky Bradley celebrated the 860+ registrants and the powerful sense of belonging the event offers. Government Affairs leaders Jenn Tyler and Mindy Ahler provided insight into lobbying strategy, the importance of constituent presence, and how everyone, even those not attending in person, can amplify impact through coordinated calls to Congress. The meeting wrapped with a review of July’s actions, including using local media, social media sharing, and event planning to build visibility and momentum in communities nationwide.

CCL's Vice President of Government Affairs Jenn Tyler and CCL's Research Manager, Dana Nuccitelli provide up to the moment insights on the dynamics in Congress and how we can most effectively use our time in meetings to support our agenda.

This training is your roadmap to showing up confident, clear, and connected when you walk into a Congressional meeting.

In Citizens Climate Radio's newest installment of our  policy series, hosts Elissa Tennant and Dana Nuccitelli dive deep into the latest updates from Capitol Hill. With the Senate Finance Committee’s budget proposal now public, they unpack what it means for the clean energy tax credits created by the Inflation Reduction Act.

How do the House and Senate versions compare? What would repealing these tax credits cost American households and jobs? What role does energy security—and even AI—play in the clean energy conversation? Elissa and Dana bring clarity to a complex policy moment and offer listeners tangible next steps for action.

You’ll also hear about upcoming CCL leadership changes, summer conference plans, and two thoughtful listener voicemails—including one from someone who really wants to bring back Energy Star.

🎧 Topics Covered:

Senate vs. House proposals on clean energy tax credits

The mysterious “bird bath” process

Projected increases in household energy costs

Threats to clean energy manufacturing and jobs

What to expect next in Congress

How you can make your voice heard

📞 Call or text us with your questions or comments: +1 (619) 512-9646

🗳️ Take action to defend clean energy tax credits: https://cclusa.org/IRAdefense

🎟️ Join us at the Summer Conference in Washington, D.C., July 20–22: https://cclusa.org/conference

🎙️ Citizens Climate Radio is a project of Citizens’ Climate Education.

This month, Dana Nuccitelli, CCL’s Research Manager, breaks down why protecting the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits is a huge opportunity for America. Losing these tax credits would have a serious impact on America's climate progress. Keeping these credits in place means lower energy bills, more clean power, greater energy security, and hundreds of thousands of good jobs across the country. We're telling Congress: Keep these tax credits intact!

The Senate is moving forward on their version of a budget reconciliation bill that could drastically cut clean energy tax credits. CCL wants to protect those tax credits. We have been emailing, calling, and meeting with members of Congress about this for months. Now it's time to take the conversation public in local media all around the country! Join this special workshop with Charlotte Ward, CCL's Communications and Media Manager, to learn everything you need to know to write an effective letter to the editor (LTE) or a full op-ed about the tax credits. After a quick overview and training, you'll spend 20 minutes of focused time writing your LTE or personalizing our op-ed template during the call. Please note that this event includes a short visual presentation and helpful links to access as you write. If you're a Citizens' Climate Lobby volunteer, you can log your training automatically when signed into CCL Community by clicking: https://community.citizensclimate.org/log_training?sf_id=a5yUP000000AHfVYAW Resources from this training https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/102bE0oAgDIT_MuHHbONZA2IdSnhDfCRFVw4kD9vQGl8/edit?slide=id.g333ca062a2c_0_26#slide=id.g333ca062a2c_0_26 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B1RfD0AQt6E_28aqHEAV1Uc95wd3dvYByEi-dd9m0XA/edit?usp=sharing

This training provides a detailed explanation of the Foreign Pollution Fee Act introduced by Senator Cassidy (R-LA). CCL Research Fellow Dr. Danny Richter outlines the bill's objectives, including creating a tariff on carbon emissions embedded in imported goods, promoting international coordination on climate policy, and establishing a carbon accounting infrastructure. Danny discusses the bill's specifics, such as the tiered tariff rates based on pollution intensity relative to the U.S. baseline, the inclusion of various greenhouse gases and emissions scopes, and the aggressive enforcement measures. He also places the bill within its political context, highlighting bipartisan interest, the different approaches of its sponsors, and the reasons behind CCL's support, emphasizing its potential to reduce emissions and build on previous advocacy.

This month, we’re excited to feature a group of standout CCL volunteers who represent a wide range of activities. They’ll be sharing their stories in a conversation with CCL’s Vice President of Communications, Flannery Winchester. In order of appearance, we'll hear from Beth Chajes, Delaware State Coordinator; Luke Clarke and Kyle Kalinich, Group Leaders for the Golden-Jefferson, CO Chapter; and Frankie Fachilla, Curtis Baysinger, and Group Leader Fred Lemay from the Middle Tennessee chapter.

In this session, we take a close look at the Senate version of this important bipartisan legislation and explore why it’s critical for the climate, for forest health, and for wildfire resilience. You’ll hear from Dana Nuccitelli, CCL’s Research Manager, who will walk us through the science and policy details, and from Jennifer Tyler, our Vice President of Government Affairs, who will explain what this means for Congress and how CCL volunteers can help move it forward.