Sacramento Press Article by Ira Cohen
May 24, 2010, 08:36 PM
SSF Keynote “Why The Climate Crisis Can Only Be Solved By Citizen Lobbyists” May 20, 2010
By Ira Cohen
"Why the Climate Crisis Can Only be Solved by Citizen Lobbyists”
Sacramento Sustainability Forum is a monthly venue for connecting businesses, non-profits, government and interested citizens in the Sacramento region in order to promote sustainability, share insights and resources, and support movement toward a more sustainable future. The May SSF event was held at SMUD Auditorium Thursday, May 20.
Approximately 65 attendees filled the auditorium, including interested citizens and students as well as members of the business, nonprofit and government communities.
The Keynote topic was called "Why the Climate Crisis Can Only be Solved by Citizen Lobbyists", presented by Mark Reynolds, Executive Director - Citizens Climate Lobby. Mr. Reynolds has been working with organizations and individuals for over thirty-one years to empower them to make a difference in their world. Much of that time was spent in the public and corporate world providing training programs he designed and led on effective communication, leadership, team building and time management.
The purpose of Citizens Climate Lobby is to create the political will for a sustainable climate and to empower individuals to have breakthroughs in exercising their personal and political power. Citizens Climate Lobby is a national, non-partisan, grassroots organization founded in early 2007. It organizes and trains people by congressional district throughout the country how to educate Congress to enact effective climate legislation. The organization is based in Coronado, CA, and can be found on the web at http://citizensclimatelobby.org.
Mr. Noss began the evening by reviewing that this was an extraordinary week on many levels. At the Mayor’s Green Initiative Kickoff, Mayor Johnson, Maria Shriver and the Governor spoke about what they are trying to do here in Sacramento. The authors of Cradle to Cradle were present to launch an institute here in California- The Green Products Innovation Institute (http://gpii.com). The keynote focused on climate change and what citizens can do about it.
There are now over 400 who "like" SSF’s page on Facebook. Jacob Griscom introduced the sponsor program, saying that SSF aims to evolve the collective consciousness of the inside of the community. They want to focus on food, water, green jobs, he said. The community wants our region to be about more than just cleantech. The organic way they approach creating growth has attracted other organizations to help spread the word. They aim to have 250 attendees per month at events.
Griscom says that the keynote speaker has been inspirational to him, as he teaches each of us to influence policy in our community. It’s scary to look into the face of climate change and feel the full magnitude of it is terrifying because it is transformative. You must be accountable for your part in our future.
After Mr. Reynolds is introduced, he gave a very enthusiastic and audience-engaging presentation. He said there are over 2,300 paid energy/climate lobbyists in Washington, four for every one member of the House of Representatives. Most of these lobbyists are paid for by big coal and oil, and even if all of the green organizations in the country pooled their resources it would not match one month's quarterly profit from Exxon. If we leave the future of the planet up to paid lobbying we have a predictably bleak future, he said.
He went on to say that money has enormous influence in Washington DC. North Dakota is afraid to make the transition from coal to something else. 2009 was the first year that there were more wind jobs than coal jobs in the country. There has been a failure of citizens to generate enough will to influence the decisions of the politicians. Mr. Reynolds said that we need to do something useful and he wants to prepare attendees as if they were having a meeting with Senator Boxer to discuss climate change.
For 20 years CCL founder Marshall Saunders had spent time generating micro credit loans in third world countries. He went to the poorest of the poor. He lent women small amounts of money ($100 or less) to buy something to create a business in their village to lift them out of poverty. 99 percent of those loans were repaid. He has only lent to women and it has been extremely successful.
He considered the question “Did you do something useful with your life or do you just take up space?” He saw the movie An Inconvenient Truth. The climate issue always seemed too big to him. He said he tried to ignore the problem. After Marshall saw the movie he decided would have to throw himself into the climate issue the same way he had thrown himself into the poverty issue.
One question that was asked to the audience was, "What something does the person close to you have that has been important?" Reynolds had the audience pair up with someone near them, and discuss this with their “partners” in earnest.
Reynolds says that Citizens Climate Lobby exists to create the political will for a sustainable climate. Whatever they do is based upon whether or not it helps create sustainability. They also want to empower the community.
They create political will by getting as much time as possible with members of Congress, he said. They say you can meet with a staffer. If you consistently do that as a group and you are useful and create a partnership you will eventually get to meet with Senator Boxer. It will take a partnership to get this done.
The first thing a Congressman does each day is read the letters to the editor section of the paper.
“When we go to their office we show them letters to the editor from people who want things to change,” Reynolds said. This is used as a way to reach them. They go to members of every group and train people how to get press, to work to get time with Congressional members, get published regularly, and work to build a coalition of leaders to show Congress that if they do the right thing people will get behind them.
At this event, Reynolds focused only on the face to face time. The website has sample letters to leaders explaining why they should do the right thing and how to get to members of Congress.
Reynolds walked attendees through CCL’s meeting template. They don’t meet with anyone until they know what they admire and respect about them. They’re looking for common ground to work with them. They take the steps they can. They’re always looking for where they can find common ground with everyone. Carbons will kill us guaranteed. Nuclear power might. He says “We want you to research the crap out of people before you meet with them. Find out what is really interesting to them and what they have accomplished”. They practice all the time, and have a conference call once a month to try to expand members knowledge so that when they meet with the member of Congress they are giving them the most current accurate info. They practice how to speak about the issue. Having the facts is not always enough.
There are at least two camps on how you reduce emissions. One camp is “cap and trade”- you can trade your permits to other organizations. This has always included offsets. How are you going to manage that? Instead of setting up a managed system, CCL wants to put a fee at every oil well and coal mine, and keep increasing the price annually. Instead of buying permits you would get a rebate. Under any plan the price of energy has to go up. You can rebate a monthly dividend check that is greater than their increased energy cost. They are for 100 percent recycling of the revenue so all people get a bigger dividend then you pay for energy.
Next Reynolds went through how CCL members conduct meetings. They take the road of respect with the members of Congress: Tell them your purpose is to find out what their priorities are with energy and climate in the U.S. What do they like about it? Reynolds said he looks for where there is common ground and where he can make a few key points. Get a few points in while they are talking inside of what they are committed to doing with common goals.
Reynolds added that you have to be really good at listening. Listen, practice speaking effectively and take a course of options. 10,000 hours is the number of hours needed to be an expert at anything, although Reynolds said he doesn’t expect anyone to put in that amount of time toward this process. Congressmen don’t care about emails. Politicians are most impacted by handwritten letters. It makes a big difference. Ask for face-to-face time.
Reynolds closed by saying the world is looking at California as representative of America’s future. When we have AB 32 on the block, that will speak loudly to the world and the rest of the country. If we can’t hold that down then we’re in trouble, he said.
The 2006 law, known as AB 32, seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California and imposes new requirements on power plants, manufacturers and other businesses. A coalition of business groups headed by Tesoro Cos. and Valero Services have turned in signature petitions for a California Jobs Initiative for the November ballot that asks voters to consider putting the brakes on what the Associated Press calls “the nation's most far-reaching global warming law.”
The evening ended with some final announcements, including that the next Sacramento Sustainability Forum event will be on June 17, and will be held at Hot Italian in Sacramento, with three speakers talking about local food.
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About Sacramento Sustainability Forum:
Leaders include Jacob Griscom, the Western Regional Manager for BetterWorld Telecom, a nationwide, carbon-neutral, full-service voice and data telecommunications carrier, Richard Noss, who co-founded Sacramento Green Drinks and is CEO of GreenVision, a company that provides environmentally responsible branded presentation packaging, Ben Phillips-Lesenana, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of eGreenItems, an eGreenPlanet, Inc. Company delivering eco-friendly and green solutions, and Jon Haas, the Sacramento Area Farmers' Market Manager for Healthy Gardens, a family run certified organic wholesale nursery.
Supporters include City of Sacramento, Environmental Council of Sacramento, SSB, Green Drinks Sacramento, AEP, Green Capital Alliance, Valley Vision, Sacramento Tree Foundation, Professional Environmental Marketing Association Sacramento Chapter, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, The Green Office, Green Sacramento, SARTA CleanStart, Kenyon/Yeates, Sacramento Business Journal, Solar Power, Michael Brandman Associates, Sacramento State College of Continuing Education, Marketing by Design, Business Council on Climate Change, The Urban Hive, LPA, Uptown Studios, Coalition on Regional Equity, CA Business Alliance for a Green Economy, California Product Stewardship Council, Verde Group, Ubuntu Green, downtowngrid.com Sacramento, Eco-Chic Design, Aztec Solar Inc., Cassia Communications.
Link to Sacramento Press site and this article:
http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/27708/SSF_Keynote_Why_The_Climate_Crisis_Can_Only_Be_Solved_By_Citizen_Lobbyists_May_20_2010
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