Citizens' Climate Lobby

Executive Director and Diversity & Inclusion Director's opening remarks and Luivette Resto's selection of poems.

 

Luivette Resto is an award-winning poet, a mother of 3 revolutionary humans, a Wonder Woman, and a middle school English teacher. She was born in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico but proudly raised in the Bronx. She attended Cornell University, earning her B.A. in English Literature with a minor in U.S. Latinx history. Later, she received her MFA in Creative Writing, Poetry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is a CantoMundo and Macondo Fellow and a Pushcart Prize nominee. She is the executive editor of Angel's Flight Literary West magazine and a member of the board of directors for Women Who Submit. Her two books of poetry Unfinished Portrait and Ascension have been published by Tía Chucha Press. Unfinished Portrait was a finalist for the 2008 Paterson Poetry Prize, and in 2014 Ascension was honored with the Paterson Award for Literary Excellence. Some of her latest work can be found on Bozalta, Spillway, and North American Review. Her third poetry collection Living on Islands Not Found on Map, published by FlowerSong Press, is a finalist for the 2022 Juan Felipe Herrera Best Poetry Book Award at the International Latino Book Awards. She lives in the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles.

 

Luivette Resto

Twitter: @lulubell.96

Check out more information about Luivette's books: https://www.luivette.com/books

https://youtu.be/f6wB0DgKkm4

https://vimeo.com/750917097

Join CCL Conservative Outreach Director Drew Eyerly for a training that will help attendees understand the perspectives of conservatives about the Inflation Reduction Act and how to best engage conservative audiences around the clean energy, local jobs, and American innovation generated within the bill.

Our recent big win on climate legislation owes much to the grassroots organizing that CCL and others provided. More solutions will be needed to meet our climate goals — like a price on carbon! — which means more grassroots organizing. Joining us this month is CCL Advisory Board member Hahrie Han, who specializes in the transformational process that empowers volunteers to be effective advocates. Dr. Han is a Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University and the Inaugural Director of the SNF Agora Institute, which strengthens global democracy through powerful civic engagement and informed, inclusive dialogue. She is the author of several books, her most recent being Prisms of the People: Power & Organizing in Twenty-First-Century America.

Join CCL's Director of Diversity and Inclusion Karina Ramirez, Student Engagement Manager Steffanie Munguia, and leadership from the Climate & Environmental Justice Action team for a training that will explore important perspectives and experiences from the environmental justice communities regarding some of the policy impacts surrounding the details of the Inflation Reduction Act and its implementation. 

 

Skip ahead to the following section(s):

(0:00) Intro & Agenda

(7:30) What does the IRA offer

(22:30) EJ leaders share their views

Join CCL's Senior Director of Programs Don Addu and other CCL staff for an overview of CCL's fall plans to launch Earth Day: Election Edition. CCL volunteers in Wisconsin dreamed up the notion of hosting a second Earth Day six months after the April 22th Earth Day and i’s such a good idea that we’re rolling it out nationally. To keep it simple, you may decide to replicate an amazing Earth Day or outreach event you hosted a few years ago or you may decide to pull out all the stops and invite your whole county to participate. CCL’s goal is that events all across the country help center climate change action as a top issue for voters. Staff will review the resources that are provided including CCL branded handouts slogans, and a social media packet.

Adrian Rafizadeh is motivated to connect with fellow young conservatives about climate change. “Polling from Frank Luntz found that 75% of Republicans under 40 support a carbon fee and dividend, which is really major,” Adrian explains in the latest episode of Citizens Climate Radio. “That 75% number is something that we're really trying to laser in on and focus on within the Conservative Caucus because there's so much potential there.” He also had advice for Progressive, Liberals, and Moderates who want to connect with climate-concerned conservatives. 

When it came to US climate policy, as a high school student, Adrian Rafizadeh strongly opposed one of the first major attempts by the Democrats. The Green New Deal was introduced in 2019 spearheaded by the progressive US member of Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC.  The Green New Deal on the table got a lot of Conservatives thinking, talking, and writing about climate change, including Adrian. 

While writing a paper for a class, Adrian sought to debunk the Green New Deal. In doing so, Adrian suddenly saw the issue of climate change differently. He recognized the seriousness of the problem the USA and the world face, and he decided he needed to do something about it. That set Adrian on a quest to find a way to address climate change that also fits into his world view and politics. Adrian politically leans right, and he is a member of the Republican party. 

Adrian, a child of Iranian immigrants, shares his climate journey with us. He reveals how he found his way into a climate organization, and he tells what Progressives who want to engage Conservatives in climate conversations can do to open up a dialogue. He talks about one of his favorite climate solutions, carbon fee and dividend. 

Adrian Rafizadeh is an incoming student at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. You can learn more about Conservatives engaged in climate work by visiting CCL Conservatives.  

If you want to hear more conservatives talking about climate, check out RepublicEN’s EcoRight Speaks Podcast.

The Art House

Randi Hacker is the author of the children’s book,  Life on a Different Planet, A Climate Crisis Handbook. The book opens with words in large bold letters that spell out, Welcome to the End of the World. Turn the page to see someone edited the sign to say, Welcome to Beginning of the New World. 

Since the early 1990s, Randi has published books and magazines designed to help young people learn about environmental issues and climate change. In the Art House she explains how with all her work she seeks to be honest with young people about the problems we face while also giving them ideas for concrete actions they can take. 

Life on a Different Planet, A Climate Crisis Handbook is full of original art work by Ron Barrett, the artist who illustrated the award winning book, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The illustrations bring a sense of whimsy and playfulness to book while also helping readers come close to hard realities. 

Other Resources for Children and Parents

Citizens’ Climate Education Presents Climate Classroom! This is a flexible, multi-disciplinary middle school curriculum. It is designed to give students a toolkit of advocacy skills for climate solutions.

What Do We Tell the Children? Episode four of Climate Changed featuring Pacific Islander poet Craig Santos Perez. Ben Yosua Davis chats with P Craig about parenting in a climate changed world.

Click here for a transcript of this episode. 

Good News Report

We have two Good News Reports. Nate Abercrombie, Conservative Outreach Coordinator for Citizens Climate Lobby, shares recent successes from CCL’s Conservative Caucus and tells us about a new campaign to reach out to Utah Conservatives. 

Dana Nuccitelli, a Research Coordinator at Citizens Climate Lobby Tells us about a very big piece of legislation. The Inflation Reduction Bill passed in both houses of congress. President Joe Biden signed it into law earlier

Join members from our Development Team for a free, virtual conversation about how to find the fun in fundraising and how to recruit new major donors for our national work. We will be discussing:

The importance of fundraising for our mission

How to identify folks in your network who are likely to invest $1,000 or more in our mission

How to make the “ask” yourself, and/or how to transfer leads of $10,000+ to the Development Team

The very critical celebratory ritual for each secured donation 

After this 45-minute training, you’ll have all the tools you need to bring people into this work as new donors and actually enjoy the process while doing so!

Join CCL Research Coordinator Dana Nuccitelli for a training on the Climate Benefits in the Inflation Reduction Act. Dana will discuss all the energy and climate items in the bill, how much it will reduce US greenhouse gas emissions, and the health benefits of the cleaner air that will result from the bill's provisions. We'll also be sure to review where things stand as of Thursday evening and how you and your community can take action to help ensure its passage. 🎉 

Skip ahead to the following section(s):(0:00) Intro & Agenda(2:34) Background (5:30)What’s In the Bill On Climate?(20:54) How Much Will It Cut Emissions?(27:09) How Many Lives Will It Save?(35:11) What Doesn’t It Accomplish?(36:54) Taking Action

Slides: https://cclusa.org/inflation-reduction-act-slides  Take Action: https://cclusa.org/action Find Out More: https://cclusa.org/nerd-corner 

#InflationReductionAct #ActOnClimate

EJ Baker (they/them)  and Rae Binstock (she/her) tell us about Good Energy Stories, a story consultancy for the age of climate change. Their mission is to inspire, support, and accelerate stories in scripted TV and film that reflect the world we live in now —and help us envision a better tomorrow. 

They talk about the kind of stories and approaches to storytelling that move audiences to feel empathy for those suffering and an enthusiasm for solutions that make the world a better place.  

Rae Binstock is a playwright and screenwriter. Her plays include That Heaven’s Vault Should Crack (The New Group, Lark Development Center, T. Schreiber’s Studios), Land of No Mercy (Landing Theatre Company, Salt Lake Acting Company, Princess Grace finalist), and WALKERS (The Shelter, O’Neill Conference semifinalist, Jerome Fellowship finalist). Her work has appeared in Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival, Jewish Plays Project, and the Fresh Fruit Festival, among others. Rae’s pilot Homecoming was selected for the 2020 WriteHer List, and she is a two-time semifinalist for the Sundance Episodic Lab.

Rae is a Dramatists Guild Fellow, a Rita Goldberg Playwrights Workshop Fellow at the Lark, and a 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow. She has attended numerous residencies, including the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, PLAYA Summer Lake, and the Ragdale Foundation. Rae served as the Writers’ Assistant on both FX Networks’ FOSSE/VERDON and Apple+’s shows Schmigadoon and IF/THEN. She is also one of the two authors of the Climate Storytelling Playbook, a writing guide for climate change stories published by Good Energy. She lives in Los Angeles with her cat, Black Cat.

As creative director, EJ Baker talks about the unique color palette they chose for the Good Energy website. They explain why you will not find a spot of green anywhere! They are a co-founder of Maybe Ventures, an art and strategy collective focused on envisioning more just, sustainable, and beautiful new worlds. EJ’s work has been featured in Fast Company, Variety, Typewolf, and Fonts in Use. Hailing from the forests of upstate New York, they now live amongst the urban cottontails and sidewalk dandelions of Somerville, MA.

Expanding our outreach to include people from a variety of constituencies can strengthen our organization and improve our effectiveness as advocates. This month, we talk with Bob Inglis and Princella Talley about how they communicate with diverse audiences about climate change. Bob is a former Republican Congressman from South Carolina, and is now the Executive Director of republicEn, an organization empowering conservatives to advocate for market-based solutions to climate change. Princella is a Fellow at Large with the OpEd Project whose writing has been featured in numerous publications throughout the country. She previously worked for Citizens' Climate Education as a Development Coordinator and Diversity Outreach Coordinator.

 

Skip ahead to the following section(s):

(0:00) Celebrations & Opening

(1:36) Bob Inglis & Princella Talley with Q&A

(23:20) Legislative Update

(29:51) August Actions & Updates

(34:32) Climate Donors

(36:45) Remembering Our Roots

 

August Pre-Call video: https://vimeo.com/739086712

RepublicEn: https://republicen.org/

The Op-Ed Project: https://www.theopedproject.org/

Thank your Democrat Member of Congress: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/get-...

Senator Hickenlooper Thanks CCL: https://vimeo.com/738999227/c30dd7aa29

Help support our work: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/donate/

CCL's Inflation Reduction Act Watch Party: https://community.citizensclimate.org...

Pam Saunders Toast: https://vimeo.com/738725915/84952e5106

CCL's Jim Probst Story: https://vimeo.com/737636838

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