{"id":3846,"date":"2019-09-19T16:26:05","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T16:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/?p=3846"},"modified":"2020-05-19T16:47:46","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T16:47:46","slug":"the-non-partisan-environmental-group-that-will-make-you-feel-hopeful-about-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/2019\/09\/19\/the-non-partisan-environmental-group-that-will-make-you-feel-hopeful-about-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"The Non-Partisan Environmental Group That Will Make You Feel Hopeful About Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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by Alison Gilchrist, CSTPR Science Writer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is the first in a CSTPR series of profiles of non-partisan environmental groups on the University of Colorado Boulder campus.<\/em> Photo above: Citizens\u2019 Climate Lobby members lobbying for Joe Neguse.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s anything that can make you feel hopeful about the future of climate change, it might be the Citizens\u2019 Climate Lobby. Or, more precisely, the people who make up our local chapters of the Citizens\u2019 Climate Lobby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Citizens\u2019\nClimate Lobby (CCL)<\/a> is a grassroots environmental group with chapters all\nover the world. The goal of the organization is to write and support\nlegislation that influences climate policy in specific ways. Chapters also\ntrain volunteers to interact directly with their political systems to achieve\nthis goal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boulder has two chapters: Boulder CCL<\/a> and a CU-specific chapter<\/a>. This month, both groups are paying close attention to the international furor created, in part, by climate activist Greta Thunberg. An international climate strike (to be held between September 20th<\/sup> and 27th<\/sup>) is kicking off this Friday, and has already mobilized a much younger crowd than many other political events. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelsey Grant is the leader of the CCL chapter at CU Boulder, and will be attending the strike. Her experience from past strikes galvanized her, and she\u2019s excited to be participating again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou finally realize you\u2019re not alone,\u201d said Grant. \u201cYou realize there are people who are equally committed to getting something done\u2014it makes you feel hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: Citizens\u2019 Climate Lobby members lobbying for Jared Polis.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grant is especially supportive of the climate strikes as a way to get younger people involved in the political discussion. \u201cIf we didn\u2019t have youth doing this, we wouldn\u2019t be where we are today,\u201d she said. \u201cA strike conveys a certain message to your lawmakers: that you want something done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grant also attends the strike with some CCL-specific goals in mind: reaching across the political aisle between liberals and conservatives. CCL only supports legislation with bipartisan buy-in, despite many climate-focused groups and movements catering to left-leaning citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile in theory the strikes are non-partisan, in practice\nthey\u2019re actually not. It just naturally attracts more left-leaning\nindividuals,\u201d says Grant. \u201cBut conservatives want a place in this discussion as\nwell; they take it seriously. They increasingly feel disenfranchised from the\nlarger Republican party.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grant says that the strike can be an opportunity to build bridges. \u201cFor the people going to these strikes, this is a really good opportunity to reach their hands out to conservative peers and say: this is a place for you. We\u2019re going to make a place for conservative solutions, and we want your discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the strike is not the only way that CCL members in Boulder are making themselves useful in the battle for effective climate change policy. Although supportive of the strike, Lindsay Sonderhouse, Boulder CCL chapter member, is missing it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI do think strikes are important; they show that there\u2019s an incredible amount of people who care about this problem,\u201d said Sonderhouse. \u201cBut in terms of what I\u2019ve seen be the most effective, I think that if I went, it would be the least effective that I did this year.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sonderhouse is a physics graduate student at CU Boulder studying optical atomic clocks. She joined CCL to feel like she was making a palpable difference in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt like I wasn\u2019t doing enough outside of my own lab,\u201d\nSonderhouse said. \u201cClimate change is one of the most important topics to me,\nand I do feel like our generation needs to solve it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She recruited Daniel Palken, a fellow physics graduate student studying dark matter. Palken came into the CCL fold with similar motivations, and agrees that although the strikes are important, there are multiple places where people can have an impact on climate policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo: Citizens\u2019 Climate Lobby members, Dan Palken and Lindsay Sonderhouse, in DC to lobby, in front of the Capitol building.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now, all of these parts of the climate movement don\u2019t\nhave enough people in them,\u201d said Palken. \u201cWe could use more people striking,\nmore people in the halls of congress. But one of those is even more\neffective\u2014the halls of congress approach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, said both Sonderhouse and Palken, is where young people can really make a difference. Sonderhouse spoke to the power of lobbying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you have a younger person there, then the member of\ncongress seems to be really engaged,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re listening more,\nthey\u2019re usually impressed by somebody who\u2019s young, who\u2019s taking the initiative\nat such a young age to be involved in politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And younger people bring a valuable and powerful perspective\nto the table: the perspective of those who didn\u2019t cause the problem but are\ntrying to solve it anyway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYounger people have a different moral standing in the argument,\u201d said Palken. \u201cYounger people did not create the problem of climate change. But very ironically, we\u2019re the ones who are going to have to deal with it. I think that\u2019s why you see that a) young people feel very empowered to act on it, and b) why people will listen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: Citizens\u2019 Climate Lobby members lobbying for Cory Gardner.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palken thinks that although the younger generation has done an excellent job of driving attention to the issue, it\u2019s currently the older generation who are left carrying the legislative torch. He urges Friday\u2019s strikers to get involved beyond the walk-outs and try to engage with the political system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think if the younger generation would do for climate\npolicy what it\u2019s done for climate awareness, we would probably have this\nproblem solved next week,\u201d said Palken. \u201cIf you got all the young people off\nthe streets, into their congressional offices, respectfully lobbying, in the\nmode that CCL has worked on developing for ten years now, with all the know-how\nwe have in place, you would have a lot of progress very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Citizens\u2019 Climate Lobby could be just the group for\nthose strikers and activists who want to make this change. Open to all,\ndeliberately non-partisan, and committed to training volunteers, it feels like\nan oasis from the highly confrontational political debates that are happening\nat the moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CCL is specifically trying to implement a carbon fee and dividend, a system that imposes a carbon tax on the sale of fossil fuels, and distributes the revenue equally as a regular payment to individuals. This system would reduce carbon emissions without being a disproportionate burden on lower-income populations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interested in the specifics? Want to lend a hand to the cause regardless? The Boulder chapters of Citizens’ Climate Lobby want to meet you. As Kelsey Grant says, the time to get involved is now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo:<\/em>Citizens\u2019 Climate Lobby members attend a student-led climate strike on March 15 with Joe Neguse.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYoung people want our governments to rise to the occasion, and to respond in a way that matches the urgency and magnitude of climate change,\u201d said Grant. \u201cI personally would love to see more people engaging within the political system because I think we can be extremely powerful there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, you know<\/em> you\nwant an “Ask Me About Carbon Fee & Dividend” t-shirt. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alison Gilchrist, CSTPR Science Writer This article is the first in a CSTPR series of profiles of non-partisan environmental groups on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. Photo above: Citizens\u2019 Climate Lobby members lobbying for Joe Neguse. If there\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentaries","category-science-writer-alison-gilchrist"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-02 16:48:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3846"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4347,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3846\/revisions\/4347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}