Citizens' Climate Lobby

For those of us who want to motivate our friends to climate advocacy, we are often looking for a silver bullet—that perfect talking point that will get people on board. One of the most popular is, “We need to think about future generations. We must act on behalf of the children and the grandchildren.” In this episode we explore this climate pitch. 

Main Section

Host Peterson Toscano speaks with three women whose lives have been affected by pollution particularly in their childhood. Piper Christian is a 16 year old climate advocate from Utah who was moved by an even younger person from Malaysia she met at the Paris Climate Summit last November. Clara Fang is an ecologist and poet, who as a girl experienced extreme pollution in her homeland of China. Now living in the USA, she is seeking global solutions to climate change. Cathy Orlando a Canadian had an epiphany about climate change when she was pregnant at age 40. She brought her instincts, knowledge, and sass with her to the climate advocacy table. 

The Art House

We also hear from ecologist and poetLilace Mellin Guignard who during our Art House section of the program asks the profound question, “How do we raise children in a time of climate change?” She answers this question with a poem. 

Puzzler

Many people wrote in with their answers to last month’s Citizens’ Climate Puzzler. Hear how people responded to Claire, who is concerned about climate change but feels there are bigger issues to address. In addition to hearing from listeners, we are joined by Joanna Huxster, PhD, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Bucknell University who does research on the public’s understanding of climate change. She shares her expert opinion on what sort of responses might be most effective. 

This month’s Puzzler

Imagine you are chatting with someone while traveling somewhere—bus, train, plane, camel—however you travel with others. You reveal that you are concerned about climate change. You say you are pursuing a variety of solutions. The person you are speaking with, let’s call him Sven, replies, 

“I could not agree more. In fact, I am doing so much to address global warming—I recycle, take shorter showers, ride my bike to work, and I have become a vegan. If we each would just do our own part, we will tackle this problem.” 

What do you think about Sven’s response? Is he correct to assume that if enough people change their individual consumption habits, we will tackle this problem? He clearly cares about addressing climate change and is putting lots of effort into cleaning up his personal lifestyle. How would answer Sven?

 

Send in your answers. Leave your name, contact info, and where you are from.

Get back to Peterson by August, 15th 2016. You can email your answers to radio @ citizensclimate.org  You can also text  leave a voicemail at 570.483.8194. (+1 if calling from outside the USA.)

Citizens’ Climate Radio is available on podbean, iTunes, and Stitcher Radio. Please rate  and review. If you like what you hear, please share the show with your friends. Citizens’ Climate Radio is a project of Citizens’ Climate Education. 

Our July guest was Matt Anderson, director the National Audubon Society’s

Climate Initiative. In 2014, Audubon released a report, Birds and

Climate Change, which found that 314 bird species — nearly half of all

North American birds — are severely threatened by global warming. Prior

to working at Audubon, Matthew spent two and half years as executive

director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment

(NRPE).

Citizens' Climate Education and Citizens' Climate Lobby presented Congressman Carlos Curbelo and Ted Deutch with CCL’s first Climate Leadership Award.

In accepting the award, Rep. Deutch touched on the change in conversation that is happening around climate change in Congress because of the Climate Solutions Caucus and the key role that CCL played in creating the caucus.

Welcome to the first episode of Citizens Climate Radio. In this podcast we highlight people’s stories, 

we celebrate your successes, and together we share strategies for talking about climate change. 

Our theme this month is Beginnings and Transformations. We bring you an intimate, moving, and at times hilarious conversation with Marshall Saunders, founder of Citizens Climate Lobby, and Mark Reynolds, the executive director. They reveal their origin stories. Highly ambitions and successful businessmen, they seemed unlikely candidates to head up an organization that puts relationship-building and climate advocacy at its heart. 

We also go to the Art House, a section in the show where we highlight creative ways to talk about climate issues. Show host, Peterson Toscano, shares a comic monologue with five of his wackiest characters. Together they reveal the Five Stages of Hot Climate Action! 

Also, hear about our monthly Citizens Climate Puzzler. Check out this month's puzzler and send us your best answer!

You are at a party, perhaps a graduation party or something for work or it really doesn’t matter. You are chit-chatting, and you let drop that you are concerned about climate change. You say you are involved in a group that is pursuing solutions. The person you are chatting with, let’s call her Claire, smiles and says, “Well, I too am concerned about climate change, but really I think there are much more pressing issues that we need to address.” 

How might you respond in a way that opens up the conversation? See if you can offer an answer that affirms Claire while moving her closer to climate change advocacy.  

Get back to Peterson by July 15,  2016. You can email your answers to [email protected] or call  and leave a voicemail at 570.483.8194.  Peterson will read/listen and respond to all of your messages. He will then share the best answers in our next episode which airs July 25, 2016.

 

Citizens Climate Radio is a monthly podcast and a project of Citizens Climate Education. Please subscribe to the Citizens Climate Lobby iTunes channel or wherever you listen to audio programs, and please share, rate, and review. 

In this legislative update from the 2016 conference, Legislative Director Danny Richter reviews CCL's overall strategy to pass Carbon Fee and Dividend, including what needs to happen before and after the bill is submitted.

How do we get people to want to hear what we have to offer?  Surprisingly enough - by being good listeners!  Elli Sparks, Bill Barron,  Jim Waterhouse and Davia Rivka demonstrate how to connect with people in a way that can result in them wanting you to give them more information.

CCL Senior Congressional Liaison Jay Butera, whose efforts helped to launch the House Climate Solutions Caucus, shares his daily affirmation that sustains him day in and day out: Why I Act on Climate.

Citizens’ Climate Education’s Global Strategy Director Joe Robertson discusses CCL’s efforts at COP21 in Paris, the creation of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition and how the Pathway to Paris project has transitioned into the Citizens’ Climate Engagement Network. CCEN is creating a new global civic space to bring the voice of the citizens into the global climate negotiating process.

How do we get people to want to hear what we have to offer?  Surprisingly enough - by being good listeners!  This workshop will help you hone your skills at connecting with people in a way that can result in them wanting you to give them more information.   You will learn and share the kinds of prompts that draw out curiosity, and then you and a partner will have a chance to try out your new listening skills.  This method of listening is especially useful for one-on-one conversations as can often occur at tabling events.

Speaker

 

Susan Flores Higgins

Citizens' Climate Education

Director of Member Relations

One of the most powerful tools we have for generating political will is to get letters to the editor and op-eds published in our local newspapers. So, how do you get published? CCL Communications Director Steve Valk will cover the sure-fire strategies for publishing LTEs and look at best approaches for drafting op-eds that your newspaper will consider for publication.

Speaker

 

Steve Valk

Citizens' Climate Lobby

Director of Communications