Action Sheet, March 2017
Monthly Meeting, Saturday, March 11, 2017
at 10:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00 p.m. Eastern
Two Join Options
1. To connect by video conference, go to zoom.us, select “Join A Meeting” and enter
2017201717 for the meeting ID, OR use this URL: http://cclusa.org/meeting
2. To connect by phone: For either phone option, you’ll enter 2017201717 as the
meeting ID. 1-646-558-8656 (please use if you have unlimited calling) or toll-free
1-877-369-0926.
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your Internet connection is poor, you can connect by phone.
If you have problems connecting, please contact Zoom’s 24/7 support at 888.799.9666.
CONFERENCE CALL GUEST:
Devashree Saha, Brookings Institution
Devashree Saha will discuss the decoupling of decarbonization and the
economy, and how carbon emissions are declining despite a growing
economy. She is a senior policy associate and associate fellow at the
Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program. Her research primarily
focuses on the intersection of clean energy and economic development
policy, including the transition to a clean energy economy.
Prior to joining Brookings, Saha worked at the National Governors Association where her work
spanned clean energy, transportation and land use planning issues. She holds a Ph.D. in public
policy from the University of Texas at Austin.
Actions
1. Ask friends to support expansion of CCL’s D.C. staff.
2. Write letters to the editor.
3. Practice the laser talk about the Climate Leadership Council’s proposal.
ACTION
Ask friends to support expansion of CCL’s D.C. staff
CCL volunteers have done incredible things in our nation’s capital, encouraging Republicans to
go public with their climate concerns and recruiting new members for the bipartisan House
Climate Solutions Caucus.
Now CCL plans to deepen its support for our volunteer work by hiring two new staff members
to our D.C. team. Raising $17,000 in new monthly donations will allow us to hire staffers for
both the House and the Senate, providing a larger day-to-day presence in Washington and
ensuring that the voices of volunteers are heard.
Help us spread the word by inviting your email lists and social circles to join this effort. You can
write your own invitation, or use the sample email below as a template. In either case, please
note in your invitation that donations to this effort will not be tax-deductible, as they are going
to CCL (a 501(c)4 organization). And, of course, convey our deep appreciation for all that your
friends and family do to support our work together!
Donation Link:
http://cclusa.org/monthly
—
SAMPLE EMAIL
Subject Line: Speak for the climate with us!
Body:
Dear friend,
As someone who is concerned about the effects of climate change, I volunteer with Citizens’
Climate Lobby because I see it as the best hope for bringing Republicans and Democrats
together to enact solutions. I’m writing now to ask for your support and to consider becoming a
monthly donor to this highly effective organization.
One example of the progress we’ve achieved is the formation of the bipartisan Climate
Solutions Caucus, which now has 26 members – 13 Republicans and 13 Democrats. As our
empowered citizen advocates continue to communicate with their members of Congress, we
anticipate that the caucus will grow and reach critical mass sometime this year.
This and other breakthroughs have occurred despite the fact that CCL has only two full-time
staffers in Washington. With your help, CCL will be able to hire two additional staffers with
experience on Capitol Hill to accelerate our momentum.
Because these positions require lobbying, donations to this campaign are NOT tax deductible. A
monthly contribution of any amount, though, will be greatly appreciated and can be done
quickly and easily at the following link: http://cclusa.org/monthly
Thanks for your consideration. Together we can preserve a livable world for the children of
today and tomorrow.
ACTION
Write letters to the editor
Letters to the editor are always a great way to amplify your voice in the conversations we
have with members of Congress. The more letters that a newspaper receives on a particular
topic, the greater the chances that one of those letters will be published. So, even if your
letter does not get published, you’ve provided an “assist” (in basketball scoring terms) for
the volunteer in your group who does gets a letter in the paper. To facilitate this action, we
suggest asking volunteers to bring a laptop, tablet or other device to compose letters.
At your meeting this month:
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Bring recent editions of your local newspaper to your meeting and take a few
minutes to comb through for letter to the Editor opportunities.
Listen to the 4 ½-minute recording from CCL Communications Director Steve Valk
on constructing a letter to the editor: https://ccl.podbean.com/e/how-to-constructa-letter-to-the-editor/ (You may have to copy and paste the URL into your
browser)
Have everyone choose an LTE opportunity and write a letter. Time permitting, have
one or two volunteers read their letter aloud.
Can’t find a recent LTE opportunity? There are several topics in the news lately that your
newspaper may consider:
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Spring has sprung early in much of the nation, with February setting records for alltime high temperatures. This disturbing trend, attributable to climate change, is
disrupting natural weather patterns on which we have long relied.
The new administration has started the process of rolling back regulations, like the
Clean Power Plan, that were designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With no
help from the White House, we must now turn to Congress to enact effective climate
solutions.
Speaking of effective climate solutions, the Climate Leadership Council, which
includes Republican luminaries George Shultz, James Baker and Hank Paulson, made
big news last month with their “Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends.” It calls for
a carbon tax starting at $40 per ton with all revenue returned to households as
quarterly dividends.
If you get published, be sure to…
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Have the person in your group responsible for field reports submit your letter as
soon as possible after publication.
Send your published letter to your group’s congressional liaisons so they can
forward it to House and Senate staffers.
Share your letter on social media platforms. On Twitter, tweet your representative
and senators with a link to your letter.
LASER TALK
Climate Leadership Council vs. CCL proposal
Is the Climate Leadership Council proposal the same as CCL’s?
I'm glad you asked! There are some important differences, but overall CCL is very, very
excited about the proposal and that the conservative luminaries who wrote the
Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends have entered the national discussion. Only two
individuals in the 20th century have served as both Secretary of State and Secretary of the
Treasury, and they are both authors on this paper. We welcome their voices.
Their proposal has 4 pillars. Two of those pillars are virtually identical to CCL's: the border
adjustment and the 100% dividend. The price pillar is different than ours, with their plan
starting higher and increasing more slowly than ours. We think our starting price and rate
of increase will be better for the economy and yield larger emissions reductions. Their
fourth pillar, regulatory roll back, is not a part of CCL's proposal. However, since both
proposals will yield greater emissions reductions than the regulations that were put in
place, those rules would become unnecessary.
Learn more about the Climate Leadership Council’s Carbon Dividends proposal on CCL
Community at: https://community.citizensclimatelobby.org/resources/conservative-casefor-carbon-dividends/ (registration required).