Author: CCLATX

Citizens' Climate Lobby Austin Chapter @cclatx
Conservative case for clean energy

The Conservative Case for Clean Energy and Climate Security Action

On By CCLATXIn Clean Energy, Faith and ClimateLeave a comment

Despite partisan politics, there’s a strong synergy between conservation efforts, carbon emissions reduction, and conservative principles. I am an advocate of traditional conservative policies – from balanced budgets and eliminating deficits in government, to personal responsibility and social policies which value life though clean air, water and energy. I have supported conservative candidates throughout my life beginning with serving as part of Governor Bill Clements’ election campaign staff.

Additionally, as a native Texan and ministry leader for 18 years, my love for this state and my faith drive me to leave the world in better condition than I found it—as I believe is the case for millions of Texans. We must continue to reduce greenhouse gases and promote technology that aids this mission to protect the natural, God-given beauty of our state and nation. To do that, we need smart, practical and bipartisan climate solutions from Washington to Texas.

Texas has always been a leader when it comes to developing the energy resources with which we have been blessed, which has increasingly—and rightfully— included renewables like wind and solar power. As America’s power grid faces rising demand, it is imperative that our congressional delegation, including Senator John Cornyn, find bipartisan solutions that support clean energy as part of an all-the-above energy strategy that will address conservation and emissions reduction efforts for a more sustainable future while making America more energy independent.

While climate change is a complex issue, understanding it comes down to the basic principle that greenhouse gas emissions released by human activity are the primary cause of global warming that’s leading to climate change. The data supporting this is decidedly not partisan—over two-thirds of Republicans agree—and has been on scientists’ radar for many years. It is time for us to apply 21st century-solutions to this growing problem that threatens communities across Texas and the country.

Conservative and religious figures from Billy Graham to President Ronald Reagan have a long history of supporting conservation and environmental protection efforts. Rev. Graham called for us to be the “trustees of God’s creation” and said, “we aren’t to abuse it or neglect it”. Whether the impetus lies in acting as good stewards of God’s creation or protecting our natural resources from the ravages of pollution, as President Reagan spoke of, conservatives have been active on these issues for generations—and we must continue to lead the way in advancing policies that address carbon emissions and clean energy in a way that protects our people, our land, and our economy.

Lawmakers from Austin to Washington, D.C., must work together to advance pragmatic, bipartisan, fiscally sound solutions to the climate and energy challenges we face. Doing so will not only help us continue to protect and preserve our environment for generations, but will also help attract new businesses and industries to the state, which in turn will help create new jobs for hardworking Texans and strengthen local economies.

Investing in renewable energy, as well as new, emerging carbon-capture technologies, can help us support the growing need for energy in a way that benefits Texas communities. As it is, millions of Texans are already paying a hefty price for the lack of energy security, both through their wallets and with their health. We pay more for air conditioning due to our rising temperatures, we are experiencing more frequent extreme weather events that prevent families from keeping the lights on, and we are spending more due to congestion from outdated transmission lines.

Without a doubt, energy security and the need for more clean energy is now more important than ever. We need lawmakers to continue supporting and advancing bipartisan solutions that help reduce emissions and increase our clean energy capabilities, while protecting our environment, creating jobs and powering a stronger, more sustainable economy.

Larry Linenschmidt

Larry is a native Texan, activist, and ministry leader

Published by the Austin American-Statesman

June 9, 2024

Washington, D.C.

Watch CCL’s Summer Conference Online

On By CCLATXIn CCL Summer Conference, CCLATXLeave a comment

Join 1,000+ people from across the country – including some of our own volunteers from Austin – to tell Congress that later is too late to stop the pollution overheating the planet.

Although registration for the in-person conference is now closed, you can watch most of the conference online by registering on Zoom, or by watching the CCL YouTube channel.

June 8-11, 2024

Conference speakers and sessions cover a broad range of topics. Among them are:

  • Near-term opportunities for climate policy in Congress.
  • Bridging partisan divides that keep us from acknowledging the scope of the problem.
  • Making climate change a top priority in every 2024 election.

Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy climate change organization focused on national policies to address the national and global climate crisis.

Our consistently respectful, nonpartisan approach to climate education is designed to create a broad, sustainable foundation to drive climate action across all geographic regions and political inclinations. By building upon shared values rather than partisan divides, and empowering our supporters to work in keeping with the concerns of their local communities, we work towards the adoption of fair, effective, and sustainable climate change solutions.

You can join the Austin chapter by following this link. There are also other regional teams you might like to consider. If you sign up to join CCL (which is free of charge), then you can complete your profile and you will receive important notifications direct to your inbox.

Texas and Regional Chapters

Thank you for your interest in our work. We hope you will share our website and posts with family and friends. And if you have questions – including members of the media – please use the secure contact form provided on this website.

Washington, D.C.
Thanks to Adobe for this beautiful photograph of Washington, D.C.

Why Do People Need to Celebrate Earth Day? The Answer Should Be Obvious

On By CCLATXIn Earth DayLeave a comment

Earth Day. Why do we even need one?

For 150,000 years of human existence, we numbered only a miniscule few million at most. Earth was a vast ocean of non-human nature in which there were tiny islands of human impact. In the past 75-100 years these tiny islands have grown to the size of continents. A hundred years ago there were just under 2 billion of us. We now number more than 8 billion, soon to hit 10-12 billion. And the average environmental impact per person has far more than quadrupled.

It became obvious that a concerted effort was needed to protect our lovely planet earth. In 1970 the Environmental Protection Act was passed. Earth Day was born.

In the years after 1970, we congratulated ourselves on real improvements in environmental health. Our creeks no longer looked like soapsuds-filled bathtubs. The Cuyahoga River no longer caught fire. Little did we realize that for every step forward we made, we were taking two steps back.

In the past few decades, man has been the cause of the decimation of countless species, and increased the species extinction rate to hundreds or even thousands of times the normal rate. We have created more than 80,000 chemicals that never existed in earth’s 4 billion year history. A number of them exist in the bodies of living creatures, yours included; evidence exists that many are harmful to life, but we have tested just a tiny fraction of them for long-term impacts.

We have measurably changed the acidity of the oceans, which experts expect to drop by the end of this century to a pH level not experienced in more than 14 million years, impacting ocean ecologies, food supplies, and the world economy. We will soon have heated earth to 1.5C warmer than pre-industrial temperatures and are on track to heat 2.5-3C warmer by 2100, higher than it has been in millions of years. Summer arctic ice is shrinking by more than 12% per decade. Desertification and increasingly punishing droughts are creating water scarcity, impacting food production the world over, including our U.S. Southwest.

We are rapidly depleting groundwater resources worldwide. It is likely our heating of the oceans will disrupt ocean currents that would disrupt climate in heavily populated Atlantic nations. A quarter of marine life depends upon healthy coral reefs for important parts of their life cycle, and by 2030 it is estimated that 90% of them will be threatened by human activities, with nearly 60% facing high to critical threat levels. The oceans are filled with many millions of tons of plastic, not only in the grossly large form of sacks, bottles, and six-pack rings, but also microplastics too small to see, which enter the oceanic and human food chain.

Our list of serious environmental challenges can seem overwhelming, leading to despair and denial. But if we recognize the problems and commit to resolving them, we can. We almost succeeded in destroying the earth’s ozone layer but were able to come together to create multi-national agreements that nearly eliminated the production and release of ozone-depleting chemicals.

We can do the same for protecting our overall earthly environment if we make a concerted effort. A movement is afoot, the so-called 30×30 initiative, proposed in 2019, to protect 30% of earth’s land and sea areas from human activity by the year 2030. As of Dec 2022, 190 nations had signed on to this initiative. Though a 50×50 plan is more in line with what is needed, 30×30 is a hopeful first step – only if nations live up to their words. 

So the need for Earth Day is obvious, and it is fitting that we have a special, once a year commemoration. We need to put into practice that every single day of the year is Earth Day.

Mark Warren

A native Austinite, Warren is a volunteer with Citizens Climate Lobby and has studied climate and environmental issues for years. 

Published by the Austin American-Statesman

April 21, 2024

Thank you for printing a lovely commentary on Earth Day. We all dislike pollution, and we know that it can wipe out entire species, but do we know how much it harms us? Over 60,000 Americans die prematurely every year from air pollution, most of which comes from burning fossil fuels. This is equivalent to a fully loaded jumbo jet crashing every three days, with no survivors. We don’t have to live this way anymore. There are cleaner ways to produce energy. We need to let our leaders know that we want to breathe deeply and live.

Marie Miglin, PhD.

Volunteering as Co-Leader, Austin Metro Chapter, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Consulting Engineer with 35 years in the energy sector

mtmiglin@gmail.com

Actions Teams

CCL Action Teams: A Place for Everyone

On By CCLATXIn CCL Action Teams, CCLATXLeave a comment

Action Teams are organized around specific interests and affiliations. Each team hosts its own meetings and most are national if not international in membership. Action Teams work to create the political will for a livable world. By creating Action Teams, Citizens’ Climate Lobby demonstrates its commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Consider joining an Action Team! For example, here are a few of many options.

In order to join an Action Team, you need to become a CCL member. That is free and you can learn more by signing up on the national office secure communication platform.

In addition, we wanted to share a recent webinar that shares a wide range of timely information. About the speakers:

“Karina Ramirez and Drew Eyerly present, ‘Understanding What You Don’t Understand,’ which outlines the importance of working together while embracing differences. Andrew (Drew) Eyerly serves as CCL’s Conservative Outreach Director, where he lends a conservative voice and perspective to the organization’s mission while working to recruit, engage, and retain right-of-center volunteers. Prior to joining CCL, Drew served in the United States Army for 12 years as a Preventive Medicine Specialist and as a Medic completing tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Karina Ramirez (She/Her/Ella) joined CCL as a volunteer in 2017 and has served as CCL’s Diversity & Inclusion Director since 2018. In this role, she supports volunteers and staff working toward inclusion and belonging efforts. Karina is originally from Ecuador and lives in West Palm Beach, Florida.”

Like what you see? Check out our Zazzle shop for CCL t-shirts and swag.

Spring Updates

On By CCLATXIn CCLATX, PROVE IT ActLeave a comment

Thank you for following our website, Voices of Austin. If you like what you see, please share our pages and posts with family and friends. And if you have suggestions at any time, email us using the secure contact forms provided.

PROVE IT Act | Please follow the link to lend your support

The PROVE IT Act would require the Department of Energy (DOE) to study and compare the carbon emissions of products that are produced in the United States vs. other countries. Within two years, the DOE will publish a study comparing the carbon output of U.S. goods, like aluminum, cement, crude oil, fertilizer, iron, steel and plastic, to goods made elsewhere.

Getting this information organized into a database is critical to enable America to negotiate effectively with trading partners who have carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAMs) in place. 

It has been introduced by Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) as S.1863 and passed by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in January 2024. We hope it will be introduced in the House soon. Let’s encourage more members of Congress to sign on as cosponsors to keep this bill moving forward!

New Members and Volunteers Welcome

Please join our Austin Metro Chapter by following the link. We welcome volunteers from all walks of life. Once you join, you will have easy access to local, statewide and national events and educational programs. You might also enjoy listening-in to our monthly national Citizens’ Climate Lobby meetings on YouTube. Here is the March recording.

One of the things our chapter likes to do, is to staff Citizen Climate Lobby information tables at events of all kinds during the year. Kindly email jessyeubanks@gmail.com for tabling opportunities. Coming up are the SFC Farmers Market on March 30, Earth Day Austin 2024 on April 20, and UT Earth Day on April 25. Thank you!

@CCLATX will be there! If you’d like to volunteer at our table display, we’d love to have you. Or, simply attend. We would love to see you there.

Protect America’s $20 Billion Investment in Agroforestry

On By CCLATXIn Agroforestry, Farm BillLeave a comment

It only takes a “click” to email your elected representatives.

Please join us in telling your member of Congress to secure our $20 billion investment in agroforestry.

  • Congress has extended the existing 5-year Farm Bill through September 2024.
  • Congress will work on a new 5-year Farm Bill starting now.
  • The new Farm Bill will likely be enacted before September.

Your email will ask your members of Congress to protect the investments in climate-smart forestry and agriculture from the Inflation Reduction Act in the new Farm Bill.

Sustainably managing our farmland and protecting our forests is essential to solving climate change and to preserving our way of life.

The Farm Bill is a legislative package that provides financial support to America’s farmers and forest-owners. Congress is working on a new version of the Farm Bill that should include $20 billion in aid for climate-smart forestry practice. But right now, that funding is at risk of being reallocated – unless we step up.

Thanks you for taking the time to email your elected representatives!

Click to email now
Lobby Day Volunteers

Year in Review & Holiday Greetings from Susan Adams, CCL Coordinator, Third Coast Region

On By CCLATXIn CCLATXLeave a comment

Holiday greetings to our generous Third Coast climate donors!

I wanted to express my heartfelt gratitude for your generosity to Citizens’ Climate Education Third Coast in 2023. Thanks to you and the other amazing supporters from around the region, we were able to have hit impactful milestones like the following:

  • Hosted our first ever Texas State Lobby Day in Austin in March, where 81 volunteers from across Texas met with 66 State House and Senate offices to talk about transmission bills.
  • Held our 9th Annual Regional Conference in New Orleans, making it our most inclusive ever by offering 50 tree ticket waivers, 42 free/discounted student tickets, and 21 travel grants (see the highlight video here).
  • Funded $6,000 in travel scholarships to 13 volunteers so that they could attend our CCL National Conference and Lobby Day in Washington, D.C. in June. 
  • Funded several rural outreach events, including the 3-day Feather Fest in Galveston, Texas in April, sending volunteers from Lubbock to Odessa, Texas to participate in a public EPA air pollution hearing, hosting a chapter relaunch in College Station, Texas, and hosting a holiday gathering in Southaven, Missippi. 
  • Supported fund raising efforts like the Austin chapter’s Tour Divide fundraising appeal.
  • Provided over $4,000  in chapter support, including tabling materials, food, and event fees for student chapters at Concordia University and Texas A&M University, and smaller chapters throughout Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas.

Please read more about the amazing successes of our Texas State Lobby Day and 9th Annual Regional Conference in New Orleans in these reports:

Looking to 2024, we plan to use our donor funds to support initiatives like the following:

  • Support 2024 Regional Chapter Expansion, targeting outreach events to launch or revive 15 targeted chapters in our newly enlarged Third Coast Plus region, which now includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. Tentative targets include Corpus Christi, El Paso, Galveston, Baton Rouge and Shreveport.
  • Fund travel scholarships from across our region for the CCL National Conference in Washington, D.C., June 8 – 12.
  • Support our 10th annual Regional Conference being tentatively scheduled for October 5 at Texas A&M University Galveston. Our ability to offer free tickets and travel grants is crucial to making these events inclusive.
  • Support Get Out the Vote efforts throughout the region, including candidate climate policy forums, postcards campaigns, and more.

Want to pitch in for 2024? You can donate through our webpage here at any time! 

Finally, I’d like to share a brief video our program team created last week in honor of all that our CCL volunteers accomplished, through your support, in 2023! I can’t wait to see what we accomplish in 2024. 

Have a wonderful holiday,

Susan Adams, Coordinator for the Third Coast Region

Take Action: Austin City Council

On By CCLATXIn Austin EnergyLeave a comment

Austin Energy indicates it wants to build more dirty energy, fracked-gas plants. They also seem to be in no hurry to shut down our dirty coal plant. We must stop them. We cannot do this directly, but our Austin City Council can.

We need your help sending an email to Mayor Kirk Watson and your City Council representative saying that Austin citizens like you do not want MORE DIRTY ENERGY PLANTS!

You can do this fairly quickly and easily. Follow this link. Complete the form, and click on “start writing.” Add your personal reasons at the beginning of the email that is already composed. You can share general reasons, like you oppose more carbon pollution which kills 50,000 – 100,000 Americans annually, and sends childhood asthma rates soaring. Or you can give more personal reasons, like wanting your grandchildren to have a liveable planet and not to have to tell them that we in Austin, like too many places, decided to try to make a little more money and keep polluting, even after scientists told us it would destroy life as we know it.

Please help us insist that Austin use clean energy and keep cutting carbon pollution, not build new fracked gas plants, and ask that Austin shut down our part of the Fayette Coal Plant as soon as possible.

The Austin Metro Chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby voted to join other groups in fighting against more dirty energy plants. Thank you for your help!

Bob Hendricks, CCL State Coordinator
Victoria Hendricks, CCL State Coordinator
Susan Adams, CCL Regional Coordinator, Third Coast Plus

@CCLATX in Washington, D.C., a Recap and Thanks!

On By CCLATXIn CCLATXLeave a comment

Enthusiastic and motivated members of Citizens’ Climate Lobby from across the nation met with members of Congress. The final numbers are in! During last week’s lobby day on Capitol Hill, our volunteers held an incredible 436 lobby meetings on Capitol Hill. That’s 160 House Republicans, 182 House Democrats, 45 Senate Republicans, 46 Senate Democrats, and 3 Senate Independents.

The photographs above are courtesy of Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

Austin Metro Chapter volunteers and other Texas volunteers met with elected officials from all districts of Texas. Our primary ask was to get permitting reform done to expedite renewable energy projects through required process. The Inflation Reduction Act that passed in 2022 provides federal funds to invest in renewable energy, which will provide hundreds of thousands of new jobs, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and thereby lower global warming emissions. This is the first time large investments are allocated for clean energy projects in a bill to address climate change.

The photographs above are courtesy of Kalpana Sutaria and Austin Metro volunteers.

In order to combat climate change and reduce emissions, it is essential we speed up the rate at which we build electricity transmission to ensure we can connect new wind and solar to the grid. If we do not build clean energy infrastructure faster, we will only achieve about 20% of the potential carbon pollution reduction from the climate policy that is already in place.

Lawmakers recently reached a deal on the debt limit, which included some permitting reform measures, but it is just a small piece of what is needed. We still need to speed up approval of additional power lines to transmit clean energy if we are going to meet our climate targets. Austin Metro Chapter volunteers also believe strongly that communities should have their voices heard on the environmental and other impacts of proposed energy projects.

Before the lobby meetings in Washington, D.C., our volunteers attended the international 2023 Climate Lobbying Reboot June Conference, where they heard from inspirational speakers such as Dream.org Green for All National Campaign Director Jameka Hodnett; Dean of The Fletcher School at Tufts University Rachel Kyte; Democratic Representative Scott Peters (CA-50); and Ambassador Francis Rooney III, who was the Republican representative for Florida’s 19th Congressional district from 2017 to 2021.

Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that brings together volunteers from across the political spectrum to advocate for legislation to help solve the climate crisis. Volunteers meet regularly with their members of Congress to ask them to support federal policy to lower the heat-trapping emissions altering and polluting our climate. Learn how to join by following this link.

Thank You

The Austin Metro Chapter would like to thank the following elected officials and their dedicated staff members for taking the time to meet with us. We deeply appreciate your time and attention.

  • Congresswoman Kay Granger | TX12
  • Congressman Randy Weber | TX14
  • Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee | TX18
  • Congressman Michael C. Burgess | TX26
  • Congressman Colin Allred | TX32

And:

Why We Do This

Citizens’ Climate Lobby volunteers from both sides of the aisle consistently contact their Representatives and Congressmen and Congresswomen to ask for climate action. Texas already sees dramatic impacts from a warming climate. Our leaders must support policy to reduce carbon emissions with the speed needed, and we deeply appreciate their efforts.

Although the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported an increase in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide in 2022, a clean energy transition is swiftly happening in the United States. Just three months after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, 100,000 climate-friendly jobs were created and families that take advantage of clean energy and electric vehicle tax credits from the bill are set to save more than $1,000 per year.

RISEE Act

In addition, during their meetings in Washington, D.C. the Austin Metro Chapter shared information about the RISEE Act. The Reinvesting in Shoreline Economies and Ecosystems Act, introduced in the 118th Congress by Senators Whitehouse (D-RI), Cassidy (R-LA), Representatives Fletcher (D-TX) and Weber (R-TX), would develop dedicated funding streams for coastal infrastructure and resilience efforts to safeguard vulnerable communities and businesses most threatened by sea level rise and coastal erosion. This bipartisan legislation would establish a new revenue sharing model between the federal government and coastal and Great Lakes states for federal offshore wind money generated beyond six nautical miles from a state’s coastline. To read more about RISEE, see the downloadable document below.

risee-actDownload

Kalpana Sutaria

Project Manager, City of Austin and Member, Austin Metro Chapter

and

Susan Adams

CCL Regional Coordinator for the Third Coast

June 2023 Update from Cynthia Lesky

On By CCLATXIn CCLATXLeave a comment

Because so many Austin chapter members will be in Washington, D.C. for CCL’s National Conference and Lobby Day, there will be no local chapter meeting this month. But you can mark your calendar now for the July 8 meeting. In the meantime, here are a few things we’d like you to know about.

  • There will be the usual second-Saturday national call at noon, June 10. Respected long-time climate leader Bill McKibben will be featured. The link to that meeting is: cclusa.org/meeting.
  • We can all participate in the national conference via livestream this Sunday and Monday. Registration link is here. Even if you only have time for a couple of sessions, I know you’ll find it useful. And it is free.
  • Action Alert: you should have received a text and/or email action alert this week. Mine came on June 6, subject: June Action: Push on Permitting Reform. If you didn’t receive that email, let me know. Or if you prefer text for future alerts, go here:

https://citizensclimatelobby.org/text-alerts

That’s all for now, except to encourage you to take advantage of the many opportunities for personal and professional development in the training resources on CCL Community. And please let me know if there’s any way I can help you in your own climate activism or if you’d just like to know more about the Austin chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. As always, I’d love to hear from you!

Cynthia Lesky

Austin Metro Chapter Group Leader

cynthia.lesky@gmail.com