Citizens' Climate Lobby

Join Dr. John Cook, research fellow at the Climate Change Communication Research Hub at Monash University, creator of Skeptical Science, and Cranky Uncle for an AMA on Countering Scientific Misinformation. Dana Nucitelli, environmental scientist, writer, and author, interviews Dr. Cook about the beginnings of Skeptical Science, his work on Cranky Uncle, and his perspective on questions from the audience on how to counter scientific misinformation.

If you're interested in exploring Cranky Uncle, Dr. Cook has set up a group code "CCLAMA" to jump straight into the game - download the game on iPhone (http://sks.to/crankyiphone), Android (http://sks.to/crankyandroid), or browser (https://app.crankyuncle.info).

As the government affairs coordinator at the National Audubon Society in Washington, DC. Tykee James has a special role—organizing bird walks with members of Congress and congressional staff! Birding has been important to him ever since he started as a teen in Philadelphia. 

Last year, after a racist incident against a Black birder in New York’s Central Park, Tykee James and fellow birders decided to create #BlackBirdersWeek. They had only hours to organize the event which included using social media to reveal a whole world of birding by people of color. During that week, the #BlackBirderWeek campaign had more than 600 million impressions on social media sites. It also generated national press coverages.

Tykee joins us to talk about the incredibly successful campaign and the need to tell stories about Black experiences that go beyond narratives of trauma. He also shares his plans for this year’s Black Birders Week. 

Tykee James is the government affairs coordinator at the National Audubon Society and sits on the board of directors of the DC Audubon Society, Wyncote Audubon Society, Audubon Maryland-DC, the Birding Co-op, and the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University.  In his personal time he is the audio producer for Wildlife Observer Network, a wildlife media project he started with some wildlife-friendly friends in Philly. Tykee hosts two podcasts: Brothers in Birding and On Word for Wildlife.

The Art House

Citizens Climate Radio host, Peterson Toscano, shares some of his own climate story. In doing so, he evokes the spirit of American poet, Walt Whitman. He reveals there was a lot more to the bard than just his famous book, Leaves of Grass. Whitman evolved from an aimless young man to a dynamic new poetic prophet to a tender and faithful caregiver to young men devastated by the American Civil War. 

Like the need to increase our empathy during this time of the Coronavirus Pandemic, Peterson stresses how climate change requires an opening of the heart. Whitman models this beautifully in the ways he cared for wounded and dying soldiers. 

Influenced by Gary Schmidgall’s book, Walt Whitman: A Gay Life, Peterson recreates the moment of Whitman’s first breakthrough. It happened at an evening in the Opera when he heard the Italian diva Madame Marietta Alboni. Her voice pierced Whitman and opened up his artistic soul. You will hear Fac ut Portem from Rossini’s Stabat Mater available on Archive.org as Peterson narrates the moment.

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

Good News Story

Our Good News Story comes out of Portland, Oregon. Lane Shaffer is a 15 year old high school student. He is one of several students seeking to change public transportation policy in the Portland area. 

In addition to working on this public transportation project, Lane is also one of the hosts of All in My Head podcast. It is produced by a group of teens that are making a podcast for youth, by youth. They counter stereotypes around mental health in the teen BIPOC (Black, and Indigenous, People of Color) and LGBTQ+ community. 

If you have good news to share, contact Peterson radio @ citizensclimate.org

Dig Deeper

• How to Be an Urban Birder, book by David Lindo

We always welcome your thoughts, questions, suggestions, and recommendations for the show. Leave a voice mail at 518.595.9414. (+1 if calling from outside the USA.) You can email your answers to radio @ citizensclimate.org  

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.

Our April event features a conversation with Kyle Kammien, Senior Business Relations Representative and Dr. Jessica Moerman is the Senior Director for Science and Policy at the Evangelical Environmental Network.

Evangelical Environmental Network: https://creationcare.org/​

Register For Next Month: https://cclusa.org/bigtent​

Join us for Big Tent Climate Talks, a new, engaging, monthly conversation that spotlights leaders in the climate community outside of CCL doing important work in building coalitions around effective climate solutions. At CCL, we know solving climate change requires a variety of policies and perspectives. That's why we do this work under a big tent that includes folks from the right, the left, and every spot in between. In our Big Tent Climate Talks, we'll talk to a wide variety of climate leaders outside of CCL to learn more about how we can all work better together.

The economic case for a revenue neutral carbon tax, such as the Energy Innovation Act, has never been stronger. Join CCL Research Coordinator Jerry Hinkle for a training that evaluates the climate and health benefits of the Energy Innovation Act and compares them to the policy costs to outline why there is such widespread support from economists for such policies.  

Skip ahead to the following section(s):

Full White Paper: https://static.smallworldlabs.com/cclobby/content/contents/training/Economics/Econ_Benefits_CFD_Paper.pdf 

Join medical doctors and CCL Health Action Team co-leaders Rob & Lori Byron for a webinar that will explore the health implications of Dr. Shindell's testimony: Health and Economic Benefits of a 2ºC Climate Policy, the research behind CCL's messaging highlighting that the Energy Innovation Act "will improve health and save 4.5 million American lives over the next 50 years by reducing pollution Americans breathe. Poor air quality is responsible for as many as 1 in 10 American deaths today, and sickens thousands more." Increasing levels of greenhouse gas concentrations in our atmosphere bring about human health consequences. The release of toxic pollutants is hardest on vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, frontline communities and those with asthma or cardiovascular disease.

Skip ahead to the following section(s):

• (0:00) Introduction

• Presentation Slides: http://cclusa.org/health-impacts  (all studies are footnoted in the speaker notes)

At a time when distrust and animosity between our political parties appear to be at an all-time high, we need to take a step back and find ways to work together so we can solve the big problems facing our nation. We hear this month from Rev. Franklin Ruff, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Stillwell, Kansas, and past president of American Baptist Churches of the Central Region. He is also the Red Co-Chair of the Braver Angels Kansas City Alliance. Rev. Ruff is a conservative who says, “One of the things we can do to make [our country] better is look and see the humanity of others and to be humble.” He’ll talk about how to bridge differences and listen to each other to find common ground.

Join CCL's Strategy Director Tony Sirna for a training aimed at helping CCL volunteers understand Clean Electricity Standards. As Congress and climate advocates look at how to move forward on climate this year, you may have seen articles popping up that discuss a clean electricity standard. This training covers what a Clean Electricity Standard (CES) is, how it works, and how it compares to a carbon fee and dividend.

Skip ahead to the following section(s):

Presentation Slides: http://cclusa.org/understanding-ces  

Outreach to the agriculture community can help cultivate allies and build support of the Energy Innovation & Carbon Dividend Act among farmers with farms of all sizes, agribusiness and consumers. Tune in to this webinar to learn what leaders of CCL's Agriculture Action Team are up to and their recommendations in your own connection-building with your local agricultural community including helping to understand the Growing Climate Solutions Act.

Skip ahead to the following section(s):

Presentation Slides: http://cclusa.org/agriculture-outreach 

The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2021 has been reintroduced into the House by Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL-22) and 28 original cosponsors. Join this training by Mark Reynolds, Citizens' Climate Lobby's Executive Director, Madeleine Para, CCL's President, Dr. Danny Richter, CCL's Vice President of Government Affairs, and Lesley Beatty CCL’s Director of Marketing for an overview of the new bill, it's legislative details, action steps, and messaging recommendations. 

Skip ahead to the following section(s):

Helpful resources:

Use our Action Tools to write to your members of Congress: http://cclusa.org/write  

Send a postcard to President Biden about this policy: http://cclusa.org/postcard  

Write a letter to the editor about this bill: http://cclusa.org/lte  

Amplify the news on social media: http://cclusa.org/facebook  

Check out the current cosponsors of the bill here: http://energyinnovationact.org  

Learn more about how the bill works here: http://energyinnovationact.org/how-it-works/ 

The bill is a “carbon fee and dividend” approach to carbon pricing. You can learn more about that idea here: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/price-on-carbon/  

Check out Columbia University’s assessment of this legislation: https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/research/report/assessment-energy-innovation-and-carbon-dividend-act  

Noah Kaufman’s “Nature Climate Change” paper that Danny referenced: https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/research/article/near-term-net-zero-alternative-social-cost-carbon-setting-carbon-prices  

You can sign up for our text alerts here: http://cclusa.org/text  

You can join our Monthly Calling Campaign here: http://cclusa.org/mcc  

You can contribute to CCL by visiting http://cclusa.org/donate 

Tonight’s Reintroduction Presentation Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MpKiPwHlIg71PwfpQ-c53Z59Wf9RaquerGTMVVmXf8U  

Community page on the bill: https://community.citizensclimate.org/topics/energy-innovation-act 

Comparison between the new bill and the one from last Congress: https://community.citizensclimate.org/resources/item/19/486 

Q&A on the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act: https://community.citizensclimate.org/resources/item/19/285 

If you are feeling up,  down or somewhere in between, hopefully by the time you finish this episode you will feel encouraged in the great work you are doing. 

Dr. Krista Hiser is teaches  at Kapiʻolani Community College and is currently serving as the Director of the Center for Sustainability Across the Curriculum in Hawaii. Her research uses focus groups, interviews, and reflective writing to learn more about student and faculty perspectives on climate change and sustainability. To share the findings she and her colleague Matthew K. Lynch co-wrote the paper, Worry and Hope: What College Students Know, Think, Feel, and Do about Climate Change. It appears in the Journal for Community Engagement and Scholarship. 

This study is being replicated at universities in the USA and reveals how students are feeling about climate change and where they are learning about it. With this data, Kr. Hiser leads workshops to help faculty expand their teaching strategies in order to help students manage complex emotions related to our climate predicament. 

Dr. Hiser has published on community engagement, service-learning, organizational change, post-apocalyptic and cli-fi literature. She is also the author of Field Notes: Teaching Climate Change in Higher Education, a blog available through Medium.com

The Art House

Sarah Jaquette Ray is a professor of environmental studies, a writer, and a mom. She doesn’t necessarily see herself as an artist. In taking on climate change though, she recognizes the essential role of the arts. On Earth Day 2020, in the midst of an urgent Coronavirus pandemic, she published a book that is helping people navigate their strong feelings about climate change.  

A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet, provides practical insights and proven techniques for keeping focused on pursuing solutions for a complicated and challenging topic. With warmth, humor, and expertise, Sarah Jaquette Ray will help you better know how to stay engaged without becoming overwhelmed. 

Host Peterson Toscano says, “Reading Sarah’s book, I saw how the concepts she covers are not just helpful for students in high school and college. They also are questions and issues artists who are engaged in climate work consider all time. For storytellers, Sarah suggests we adjust the lens of how we look at climate stories. Telling the stories that will have the most impact takes real work.”

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

Good News Report

Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz from Yale Climate Connections shares some good news in addressing a long history of injustice. He chats with Cate Mingoya of Groundwork USA, a network of environmental justice organizations. In order to fight inequality in their neighborhoods, some city residents are using maps to reveal what they have known for a long time. They show how racist housing policies of the past have left residents more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change today.

Mingoya says the maps show how the impacts of redlining persist, and provide an important tool for local residents, “to sit down with their local government, with elected officials, with leaders in their community and say, ‘You need to explain why this is still the case and you need to explain what you’re going to do to make things look a little bit different.’”

If you have good news to share, leave a voice mail at 518.595.9414. (+1 if calling from outside the USA.) 

Dig Deeper     

• Kent University Anthropology and Conversation Blog Post: “We must be kind to ourselves and respond rather than react to climate change” – Responding mindfully to eco-anxiety  

We always welcome your thoughts, questions, suggestions, and recommendations for the show. Leave a voice mail at 518.595.9414. (+1 if calling from outside the USA.) You can email your answers to radio @ citizensclimate.org  

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.