Citizens' Climate Lobby

Join us for the launch event of a new CCL Training pilot - 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.

These talks will take place for 40-45 minutes on the fourth Thursday of every month at 3:00 pm ET / 12:00 pm PT. Our launch event features a conversation with Jamie DeMarco and Quentin Scott of Chesapeake Climate Action Network and Taylor Krause, CCL’s National Partnerships & Coalitions Coordinator.

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

Register For Next Month's Talk: https://cclusa.org/bigtent

More information about CCAN: https://chesapeakeclimate.org/ 

Join Dr. Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Penn State, and Science Policy Network leader Dana Nuccitelli for this quarter's Ask Me Anything that answers CCL volunteer climate science questions. Dr. Mann, Keynote for CCL's 2016 International Conference, is also director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center (ESSC) and the author of several books including his most recent work, The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back our Planet.

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More About Dr. Mann: https://michaelmann.net/

Join CCL's Communications Coordinator Steve Valk for a training that provides an overview of the news hierarchy, a formula for writing effective letters to the editor, and common protocol for those seeking either an introductory lesson or a refresher on writing effective letters to the editor. It closes with a discussion on what to do after your letter is published and applies the training to two actual news stories. 

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Last month we featured three Conservative Christians who told us how their faith compels them to promote creation care and climate change solutions. This month we feature one of America’s most widely known Progressive Evangelical Christian thought leaders. Rev. Tony Campolo is professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern University, and he led the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education for more than 40 years. 

Rev. Campolo has written over 50 books on topics that have educated and challenged his Evangelical Christian audience. He has been ahead of his time on a variety of social issues. In 1992 he published the book, How to Rescue the Earth Without Worshiping Nature, A Christian Call to Save Creation. In the book, he seeks to help believers see they have a role to play in caring for creation. 

Rev. Campolo, who is 85 and has never retired, suffered a stroke in 2020. He is at home recovering with the help of his wife Peggy. Before the Pandemic and his stroke, Citizens Climate Radio’s host, Peterson Toscano, was fortunate enough to sit down with Tony and ask him about his 1992 book. 

Rev. Campolo reveals his frustration with fellow ministers and accuses them of not listening to God’s voice in regard to the mandate to care for creation. 

The Art House

Returning to the Art House is Jennie Carlisle, the curator and director of the Smith Gallery at Appalachian State University along with Laura England, a senior lecturer. They are two of three co-facilitators of ASU’s Climate Stories Collaborative. Both Jennie and Laura appeared in Episode 49 and told us about how in spring 2020 they quickly adapted to the Covid Global Pandemic by putting their annual Student Climate Stories Showcase onto Instagram.  

Some climate leaders see art straightforward communication tool. But art overloaded with messages about issues and politics can turn out clunky and preachy. How does an artists stay in a creative space? When producing climate arts, what is more important the process or the product? 

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

Good News Report

This episode we begin a new feature, The Good News Report. Listeners share their climate successes with us. Good news this month comes from Cathy Orlando in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. She is the International Outreach Manager for Citizens Climate Lobby and also the Canadian Director. Slow, steady, and relentless climate advocacy has paid off! 

If you have good news to share, contact Peterson Toscano: radio @ CitizensClimate.org 

Dig Deeper                                                                      

• Ron Sider, Canadian-born American theologian and social activist

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.

Join CCL group leaders who have been innovating with how their chapter is conducting outreach and recruitment right now in the online era. We'll hear from CCL leaders who have been innovating with social get-togethers such as happy hours and watch parties, along with leaders that have found ways to table, host climate conversations, and build coalitions within their community. Bring your ideas, experiences, and suggestions and learn what's worked for other groups to stay creatively connected and engage in outreach online during the pandemic.

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As we gear up for reintroduction of carbon-fee-and-dividend legislation in the new Congress, we heard from economist Dr. Noah Kaufman, lead author of the 2019 Columbia University assessment of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. The study confirmed the effectiveness of the bill from both an environmental and economic perspective. Dr. Kaufman is Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia, leading research focused on climate change policies. He also teaches a course on Energy Decarbonization. During the Obama administration, he served as the Deputy Associate Director of Energy & Climate Change at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

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Join CCL group leaders who have been innovating with their online group organizing to help build cohesiveness and action opportunities together as a chapter. We'll hear from leaders who have helped organize phonebanking efforts, Energy Innovation Act endorse-a-thons, and Call Congress parties. Bring your ideas, experiences, and suggestions and learn what's worked for other groups to stay creatively connected and productive online in the pandemic.

CCL VA Call Congress website: https://cclvirginia.org/2020/11/23/calling-congress-party/ 

CCL Raleigh-Durham Endorse-A-Thon Planning Doc: 

Log Those Coworking Actions: 

In a followup to our most downloaded episode,  What Does the Bible Say About Climate Change?, host, Peterson Toscano speaks with two Christian women about their faith, their commitment to creation care, and why they see Citizens Climate Lobby as a place where they can pursue meaningful solutions. They talk about their values, the Bible, the spiritual charge to do the work of reconciliation, especially in a contentious and politically divided country. They speak with conviction about the need for Christian believers to take creation care seriously.

Kelsey Grant served as a CCL fellow with the Mountain West Higher Education Region. Currently she is a CCL Conservative Fellow and member of the Conservative Caucus Executive Team. At the University of Colorado-Boulder she is a pre-law student, double majoring in Political Science and Philosophy. She discovered Citizens’ Climate Lobby through her church, where she co-founded environmental ministries, taught about environmental stewardship as a Sunday School teacher, and occasionally served as a guest preacher. She has published over a dozen Op-Eds/letters to the editor. Kelsey was named a 2020 Udall Scholar and 2020 Truman Scholar Finalist for her work on conservative outreach in the climate space and empowering individuals to be effective facilitators of bipartisanship. Kelsey Grant’s Instagram. 

Andrea Zink is from Tennessee and has spent her professional career working in the non-profit sector for mission-driven organizations such as The Salvation Army, Vanderbilt University, and Nashville Opera. She attends the United Methodist Church and serves on the United Methodist Circle of Grace prison ministry music team and on several UMC Creation Justice work committees.Andrea joined CCL in 2016 when she discovered CCL's bipartisan approach to climate change solutions. Andrea Zink’s Instagram.

The Art House

In the Art House you will meet Lindsay Linsky. A Bible-believing Christian in Georgia, she is the author of the book, Keep It Good—Understanding Creation Care through Parables. Through her book she seeks to break through environmental apathy and partisan noise to show Christians God’s simple yet beautiful message of creation stewardship.

As a teacher, Lindsay Linsky understands how challenging it is to correct misinformation, and she recognizes the power of stories to engage people with new ideas. In our show she shares practical insights and a very powerful Bible verse that highlights the call to creation care.

Lindsay Linsky has been featured on panel discussions at theology conferences as well as podcasts and webinars on Creation Care Radio, Yale Climate Connections, and RepublicEN’s The EcoRight Speaks podcast. Special thanks to Price Atkinson for introducing us to Lindsay Linsky.  

Lindsay earned her PhD in Science Education with a focus on environmental education and ocean literacy from the University of Georgia, and lives with her husband and children in Suwanee, GA. Lindsay Linsky on Twitter.

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

Dig Deeper

• Lindsay Linsky on Why Christians Need to Keep Creation Good (YouTube)

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  

In 2021 we will also introduce a new feature to our monthly show. Our Good News Report will give listeners a chance to share those important and often under-reported stories of climate successes. It may be a story of national significance or something happening in your own neighborhood. We want to celebrate your successes. If you have a good news story, email us: 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.

Join CCL leaders from the Latinos and Catholic action teams and Spanish-Language resources development for a training that will review CCL's resources available to use in your chapter's outreach to Spanish speaking community members and an invitation to join new initiatives to prepare presentations for Latinx and Catholic audiences.

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• CCL Spanish Language Resources Overview (3:03)

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• Tonight’s slides: http://cclusa.org/latinx-catholic-outreach-slides 

With President-elect Joe Biden vowing to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement in January — and as we celebrate the 5-year anniversary of that accord — we turn to Christiana Figueres to get an overview of where things stand globally on national commitments to fight climate change and what's needed going forward. Figueres was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2010 until 2016, during which she marshaled 196 countries to sign the Paris accord in 2015. Following her tenure with the UNFCCC, she co-founded Global Optimism, which "exists to catalyse transformative actions in our world" to tackle climate change.

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