Many people now working to preserve a livable world were motivated after viewing the documentary "Chasing Ice." Pictures, as they say, are worth a thousand words, and James Balog's images and films speak volumes about the damage human activities have inflicted on our environment. For 35 years, the acclaimed photographer has documented how we have modified our planet's natural systems. He founded the Earth Vision Institute, whose work was featured in "Chasing Ice." He has a new book out, based on the film, "The Human Element: A Time Capsule from the Anthropocene," and we were thrilled to have him join us on this month's call.

Skip ahead to the following section(s):(0:00) Intro & Agenda(6:19) James's Presentation(22:09) Q&A Discussion(25:33) Legislative Update(33:45) February Monthly Actions

CCL's February Action Sheet: https://cclusa.org/actionsheetFebruary Pre-Call Video: https://vimeo.com/676599489 Earth Vision Institute: https://earthvisioninstitute.org/ Chasing Ice: https://chasingice.com/ James Balog's New Book: https://www.rizzoliusa.com/book/9780847870882/ James's Inside Climate News Essay: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05122021/a-lifes-work-bearing-witness-to-humanitys-impact-on-the-planet/

Ahead of CCL's March 29-30 Conservative Conference, join Conservative Outreach Director Andrew Eyerly for a training that will provide ideas and resources for all members of CCL to recruit conservatives. Regardless of your political affiliation, the ideas in the training to engage with conservatives concerned about climate change that also may be interested in joining a supportive community in Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

Skip ahead to the following section(s):(0:00) Intro & Agenda(3:02) Background(8:19) Who To Reach Out To(20:28) Hosting An Event(31:21) Having A Conversation(39:08) Putting It All Together

Presentation Slides:  http://cclusa.org/growing-conservative-membership  CCL Community Training Page: https://community.citizensclimate.org/resources/item/19/364  2022 CCL Conservative Conference: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/climate-change-conferences/conservative/

Join Charlotte Ward, CCL's State and Local Media Coordinator for a training that discusses the process of writing an op-ed, how to submit an op-ed to your local print media outlet; and different approaches or angles one could take.

Skip ahead to the following section(s):(0:00) Intro & Agenda(2:10) Why Write An Op-ed?(3:20) Planning Your Op-ed(8:22) The Writing Process(16:27) Ideas & Examples

Presentation Slides: http://cclusa.org/ccu-op-eds  

CCL Community Training page: https://community.citizensclimate.org/resources/item/19/113

Join CCL Research Coordinator Dana Nuccitelli for a training that will review what research is out there about any inflationary impacts from climate policies like a carbon price or other provisions in the Build Back Better Act. Dana will review what resources and materials are also available for you in your own outreach.

Skip ahead to the following section(s):

(0:00) Introduction and Agenda

(2:10) What is inflation and what causes it?

(15:26) Why It Matters

(20:20) The Effect of Carbon Fee & Dividend

(24:46) Summary & Takeaways

Presentation Slides: http://cclusa.org/inflation-slidesCCL Community Page:  https://community.citizensclimate.org/events/item/24/9005

Deciding what one wants to do and be in life has often been hard for young people in high school and college. Now with a global pandemic in a time of climate change, it is more difficult than ever to answer the questions, What do you want to be when you grow up?

Many graduation speeches exhort us to Pursue our Passions, and many a parent worry that such a pursuit will lead their child into a jobless future.

Flannery Winchester was not put off by the concerns of others. She wanted to study English literature. She had no idea her skills and passion would lead her to taking on a national role in communicating to people about climate change. 

As Citizens Climate Lobby’s Communications Director, Flannery Winchester trains and supports volunteers to publish written pieces in local media, appear on TV and radio. She also pitches national media, manages and edits the CCL blog, and keeps our volunteers informed and inspired through social media and regular newsletters.

Flannery came to CCL after content and marketing roles at an email marketing agency, an international software company, and a local women’s magazine in Atlanta. She began volunteering with CCL in 2015 and joined the communications department in 2017. When she’s not working, she’s probably gardening, reading, or spending time outside with her dogs.

The Art House

Krista Hiser is back with another instalment of the Ultimate Cli-Fi Book Club. This time she looks at a book that hits very close to home. She dives into the Pandemic and climate change in Emily St. John Mandel’s novel, Stations Eleven.

You can hear standalone versions of The Art House at Artists and Climate Change

Good News Report

Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz, and this is Climate Connections shares good news. Electric trucks could save lives: Pollution from diesel trucks is associated with health problems, and it disproportionately harms low-income people and communities of color. 

 

You can hear Citizens’ Climate Radio on:

iTunes

Spotify

SoundCloud

Podbean

Stitcher Radio

Northern Spirit Radio

PlayerFM

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.

Join CCL Research Coordinator Rick Knight for a training that will explore what methane is, where it comes from, and how it affects the climate.  The training also explores the various measures that have been enacted, other policy designs that have been proposed to control and how it fits in with CCL’s overall climate advocacy.

 

Skip ahead to the following section(s):

(0:00) Introductions and agenda

(3:04) What methane is and why we should care

(10:15) Where methane comes from

(21:19) Methane policies and regulations

(34:16) How methane fits in our advocacy

Presentation Slides and citations: http://cclusa.org/methane-fee-slides 

CCL Community Page: https://community.citizensclimate.org/events/item/24/9004

Join CCL Research Coordinator Jerry Hinkle for a review of six different climate impact and policy tools available to CCL volunteers in the Local Impacts category of our resource directory to help you understand the impacts on the state level. Jerry will review some of the recent research available to include in your advocacy, including the Health Co-Benefits by State from Decarbonization, Household Impact Study Resource, Rural Economic Benefits of Climate Policy, and Climate Central's Tools.

Skip ahead to the following section(s):

(0:00) Intro & Agenda

(4:31) PNAS: Health, Agriculture & Labor Benefits

(8:18) Household Impact Study

(10:18) Nature: Poverty Alleviation

(12:24) MIT: Net Climate Policy Benefits

(15:11) Rural Economic Benefits

(20:30) State Climate Policy Dashboard

Presentation Slides: http://cclusa.org/state-level-climate-tools 

CCL Community Page: https://community.citizensclimate.org/events/item/24/9003

Support from faith communities carries considerable influence with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, 30% of whom are Catholic. This month, we'll hear from José Aguto, executive director of Catholic Climate Covenant, which helps U.S. Catholics respond to the Church's call to care for creation and care for the poor. José will talk about the Covenant's work, how to connect with Catholics on climate, and the Covenant's support for climate solutions like the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. José worked for the Friends Committee on National Legislation before joining Catholic Climate Covenant. He served in the U.S. Army and is a graduate of Brown University and Villanova Law School. 

Skip ahead to the following section(s):(0:00) Intro & Agenda(4:51) Jose's Presentation(20:42) Q&A Discussion(28:10) Legislative Update(33:44) CCL January Actions

CCL's January Action Sheet: https://cclusa.org/actionsheet  January Pre-Call Video: https://vimeo.com/663491023 Catholic Climate Covenant: https://catholicclimatecovenant.org/ CCL's January President and Senate Action Campaign: https://cclusa.org/take-action We're All Part of God's Plan(et): https://godsplanet.us/ Laudato Si Action Platform: https://laudatosiactionplatform.org/ CCL's March 29 - 30, 2022 Conservative Conference: http://cclusa.org/conservativeconference Vatican Statement Supporting Carbon Pricing:https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2019/june/documents/papa-francesco_20190614_compagnie-petrolifere.html CCL's Resilience Hub: https://cclusa.org/resilience

Join Todd Elvins, CCL's Action Coordinator, for a training that provides a thorough action guide organized by CCL’s lever of political will that your group can use to plan and coordinate your areas of focus for the year ahead. Know that we trust that each group will do what is appropriate for its local politics and volunteer resources.

CCL Community Training Page: https://community.citizensclimate.org/resources/item/19/384 Presentation Slides: http://cclusa.org/chapter-action-slides 

Skip ahead to the following section(s):(0:00) Intro(3:00) Planning Guide & Important Dates(5:38) Being An Oasis In The Storm(9:40) Educating & Activating Your Communities(13:52) Getting Voters To Ask Candidates & Elected Officials For Climate Action(19:26) New Years' Resolution & Social Media Action

Citizens’ Climate Radio is a monthly podcast hosted by CCLer Peterson Toscano. Browse all our past episode recaps here, or listen to past episodes here, and check out the latest episode in the post below. 

How can we help the public embrace the science that reveals our climate has been changing dramatically and very quickly? And more than that, how do we make them feel and experience the data so profoundly that it causes them to respond? 

These are the questions UK-born artist Caroline Roberts brings to this month’s episode of Citizens’ Climate Radio, and to her art installation, the present of my life looks different under trees. This piece is an immersive installation of cyanotypes that has been exhibited at BOX13 ArtSpace and HCC Southwest in Houston, TX.

Originally from the UK, Caroline moved to Houston, Texas, 18 years ago. She explains that a story about drowned forest thousands of years ago in the UK, along with recent flooding in her city, inspires and informs her artistic work. 

“The installation consists of 60 11-feet high panels, each one representing a year of Houston weather data and encircling the Back BOX like a grove of trees. Each varies in width based on the rainfall intensity, as measured by the number of days on which the total rainfall was greater than three inches: the point at which street flooding occurs. The panel color, from ice-blue to blue-black, represents the average nighttime temperature for that year. At first glance the immersive nature of this cyanotype installation provides a cool environment as Houston temperatures fall into autumn. However, a closer look gives the bigger picture: more shocking than any graph, this forest-like environment shows the story of rising temperatures and intensifying rain events.”

While Caroline started her career as a chemical engineer with the faith that science would save the environment, she soon realized that many fields and talents could contribute to environmental advocacy. 

Caroline has always relied on science, and after crunching the numbers about the future of the country’s coastline due to climate-related flooding, she found herself in a state of horror and shock for weeks.

Caroline wanted people’s jaws to drop when they saw her art, which visualizes the overwhelming information she has seen predicted for the near future. As environmental conditions over time have grown worse, her installation’s fabric coincides, growing heavy and darker and colder as the fabric winds through history and to the present.

Caroline says that viewers were “gobsmacked” by her forest of fabric, and hopes that all who see her piece will contemplate the view of their own life under trees.

For more information on the data behind this installation please continue to the story and data page.

The Art House

For this month’s segment, you will hear a dramatic reading of Kamil Haque’s play, “Confessions of the Little Match Girl to the Star.” Kamil explains that in creating this piece, he chose to fracture a fairy tale, a nursery rhyme and the calling out to one’s “mama.” These common symbols of innocence form the spine of the play. 

To create the heart and soul of this piece, Kamil examined and extracted pieces from the transcripts of Greta Thunberg’s 2019 U.N.'s Climate Action Summit and George Floyd’s final moments in 2020. Through these channels he explores how two people on opposite ends of the age and racial spectrum express grief and anguish at their circumstances. How might their spirit and the spirit of their message live on literally and metaphorically?

“Confessions of the Little Match Girl to the Star” was performed at The BTS Center’s Climate Change Theatre Action 2021 event. It is read by Dr. Natasha DeJarnett, a public health expert and the chair of Citizens’ Climate Education board. 

You can hear standalone versions of The Art House at Artists and Climate Change.

Good News Report

Our good news story this month comes from Solemi Herandez, the Southeast coordina