Five Levers

Introduction

CCL groups our organizing activities into five "levers" of political will. You can read more about them on the five levers page on CCL Community. This page highlights our chapter's work as it relates to the five levers.

Lobbying Congress

CCL is all about building relationships, and it even empowers us to build relationships with our members of Congress!

Photo of a dozen people seated around a table in a meeting room, including Representative Ro Khanna

We meet regularly with our members of Congress. All CCL volunteers are welcome and encouraged to participate in lobby meetings; the only requirement is to complete the Climate Advocate Training first.

Photo of two constituents standing next to Representative Ro Khanna

When our elected representatives host town hall meetings, we make a point of showing up and asking about climate change. Sometimes we even get to take a picture with the representative!

Media relations

Photo of a section of a newspaper showing a letter to the editor entitled Price on Carbon must be part of this year's climate legislation

CCL volunteers write letters to the editor relating current events and articles to climate solutions, and we often get published! Here in Silicon Valley East, we most commonly write to the Mercury News and the East Bay Times, and we sometimes also write to smaller papers such as the Tri-City Voice. This is a great way to get our climate message in front of thousands of local readers.

And of course, CCL offers training. Silicon Valley East chapter members can join our work meetings (scheduled in between chapter meetings) for training customized for our local papers. CCL Community also has a resource page for letter-writers.

Screenshot from facebook showing a post about the Fremont Climate Solutions Ambassador Program Screenshot from Instagram showing nine thumbnail posts

We use social media to share chapter activities, local climate action opportunities, and interesting articles and videos related to climate change.

Grassroots outreach

Photo of two women wearing face coverings standing behind a table that has a sign that says 'Solve Climate Change' and a tablecloth that says 'Citizens Climate'

We go out into the community to spread the word about climate solutions and how to get involved with CCL. Here we are at the Hayward farmer's market.

Photo of a young man standing next to a table with a tablecloth that says 'Citizens Climate Lobby' with green grass and trees in the background

Sometimes we get to table in gorgeous spaces! This was the Alum Rock Earth Day celebration.

Photo of a man facing an audience with a slideshow slide that says Citizens' Climate Lobby

Grassroots outreach also includes giving presentations. CCL offers training and support for people who want to learn how to give a good presentation about climate change. We connect with other groups in our local community who want to hear about our work, and we offer to give presentations to their members.

Grasstops outreach

Logo of Tri City Dems annotated showing they have endorsed EICDA

Part of CCL's strategy is for local leaders to voice their support for climate solutions in general and for the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act in particular. Our local Tri City Democratic Forum has voted to endorse the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act after hearing a presentation from our CCL chapter.

Chapter development

We meet monthly on the 2nd Saturday of the month at 4 PM. We offer an orientation for new members at 3:30 PM before every chapter meeting.

Photo of five people sitting around a table at a park

This was our March 2022 meeting, our first in-person meeting after two years of virtual chapter meetings! We met outdoors to keep the COVID risk low. We're planning to do a hybrid approach going forward with some vitural meetings and some in-person meetings, so that we can balance the convenience of meeting online with the stronger connections we build in person.

Screenshot of a Zoom conference call showing a grid of four photos, each showing a person's head and torso

Most months, we schedule a work party in between our monthly meetings. Members can choose to attend to get training from chapter leaders or to work on CCL tasks.