Action Sheet, August 2016
CCL Monthly Conference Call, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016
Groups meet at 9:45am PT/12:45pm ET
The international conference call starts at 10:00 am PT/1:00 pm ET
The conference call part of the meeting is about 45 minutes long and the groups meet for
another hour after that to take and plan actions.
Call-in number: 1-866-642-1665, passcode: 440699#
Callers outside U.S. and Canada, please use Skype: 719-387-8317, passcode 440699#
CONFERENCE CALL GUEST:
Rikkia Ramsey from Truman Center
Our guest for the August 13 national call is Rikkia Ramsey, Policy
Program Coordinator for the Truman Center. Before joining the
Truman Center, Rikkia was Military Legislative Correspondent
for U.S. Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC), addressing constituent
concerns regarding defense and foreign policy issues. She’ll talk
about the Truman Center’s Operation Free, a coalition of veterans
and national security experts that advocate for securing America
with clean energy (see 1-pager further down in this action sheet).
It recognizes that climate change and our dependence on oil are
national security threats and fights on local, state and federal levels for strong clean energy
policies.
Actions
1. Plan to get endorsements.
2. Plan to attend town hall meetings and candidate forums.
3. Practice communication skills exercise included in action sheet.
ACTION
Make plans to gather endorsements
As we gear up to introduce and pass Carbon Fee and Dividend next year, one of the big differencemakers in securing sponsors and support in Congress is endorsements from community leaders,
businesses, faith groups, organizations, local governments and educational institutions. These
endorsements – whether for CCL’s policy or for action on climate change – provide the political
cover for members of Congress to step out of their comfort zone and take leadership on a
contentious issue. Over the next two months, we suggest that groups develop and initiate a plan of
action for gathering these endorsements.
Advance preparation:
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Go to the endorser database and review what is already listed for your chapter.
Review your meeting history and other research to decide what kind of endorsements or
support is most important to your MoCs. If this information is lacking, plan (with the liaison
if there is one) to ask them that.
If you have an endorsement team or endorsement expert, ask them to help you prepare for
your chapter meeting. If you don’t, consider who might be interested in this project.
At your meeting:
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If you don’t have one already, create an endorsement team and/or designate a chapter
endorsement expert to be familiar with the resources available to volunteers.
Share your research about the kinds of endorsements most important to your MoCs.
Survey your active members to find out what connections you have to potential endorsers.
Discuss your priorities and the best balance of quantity versus quality of endorsements for
your group. For example, it may be easier to get a lot of endorsements from small
businesses. It may be higher leverage to get one or two endorsements from a key donor or
community leader, but that can take more time.
Decide on goals. Consider targeting the number of endorsements you'll get by October 31st,
in time for us to use in the November Lobby Day (Nov. 15th) in Washington, D.C.
Resources:
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The Endorser Program page on Community has all endorsement resources in one
place, including all the ones listed below.
The endorsement database.
Citizens’ Climate University webinar on getting endorsements.
Citizens’ Climate University webinar on using the endorser database.
Business Climate Leaders Action Team has resources for helping with outreach to
large corporations.
ACTION
Town hall meetings and candidate forums
Members of Congress will be back in the district through Labor Day, then back in session for a few
weeks in September, and then back home to campaign through the November election. They and
other candidates will be holding events in the community. This can be a good time to connect with
them, whether they are holding a listening session, participating in a forum or holding a fundraiser.
You can find out about events from their websites (including campaign websites) and Facebook
pages. Connect with incumbents and candidates from both sides of the aisle wherever possible. We
can’t and won’t endorse anyone, but we can learn more about them and tell them about us and our
legislation.
At your meeting:
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Appoint someone to watch the candidates' and MOC's websites and Facebook pages for
events.
Create a team of people to attend events
Review possible appreciations
Write and practice asking questions to use at these events
Resources: Town Halls and Candidate Forums on Community.
5-minute communication skills practice
This month’s exercise is for a conversation with an environmental organization. Each
partner will take a role as staffer or CCLer and read the script out loud, then change roles
and do it again.
The Clean Power Plan is the best solution for emissions reductions.
WHAT NOT TO SAY:
Staffer or other contact: I'm not interested in a
carbon tax because we fully support the Clean
Power Plan and believe it’s the best way to
reduce emissions in the United States.
Argumentative: The Clean Power Plan is weak
and currently facing legal problems.
BETTER RESPONSE:
Better Response: CCL believes the Clean
Power Plan is a great start to reducing
emissions, but we will need a legislative
solution to continue reducing emissions to get
to a healthy climate.
ENGAGEMENT ROLE PLAY – Environmental Organization
Staff/ Contact
CCL Volunteer
I'm not interested in a carbon tax because we
fully support the Clean Power Plan and believe
it’s the best way to reduce emissions in the
United States
I’m so glad you’re supporting the Clean Power
Plan. Can you tell me a bit about what your
organization does specifically to support the
CPP, or what updates you have on your
campaign?
It’s going very well, thanks for asking. We have
teams in the field speaking with city mayors,
governors and utilities to help them work
through their plans to meet the CPP and make
sure the plan they come up with is equitable for
low income families.
That’s fantastic. Sounds like great work that is
very much needed. States are a huge part of
the emissions reductions we need. Do you
think the CPP goes far enough in reaching the
amount of emissions required to meet Paris
and other targets set by scientists?
No, there are definitely areas where we need to
add additional regulations to compliment the
CPP, but it’s the only thing working right now so
we’re putting everything into supporting it.
It really is frustrating that the CPP is the only
climate solution currently in play right now.
Do you think additional regulations will be
able to get through Congress?
Of course not, not with the Congress we have
now. But there’s no other option and as a
climate organization we need to support the
administration’s efforts.
What if there was a solution that reduced
emissions further than the CPP and had
backing from both parties? Would you be
interested in learning more about it?
I find it hard to believe that a bipartisan bill is
possible after Waxman-Markey, but, yes, I
would be willing to hear about it and the efforts
you’ve made with Republicans.
Great! I’d be happy to explain our Fee and
Dividend proposal and tell you about House
Resolution 424 with 13 Republicans and the
Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus with 8.