By Rachel Helgeson, CVPost reporting intern
Is civil discussion of climate change possible?
Citizens’ Climate Lobby thinks it is.
The group focuses on building respectful relationships to encourage people from all backgrounds and political outlooks to advocate for climate change solutions. These relationships are intended to promote discussions that don’t impose on personal ideology or beliefs.
CCL’s goal is not to persuade or “browbeat” anyone to believe that climate change is real, according to Kate Hale Wilson, a retired UW-Eau Claire English professor and local CCL co-leader.
“Part of our approach is respect and appreciation for members of Congress, or, by extension, anybody that we’re working on building a relationship with. Say, somebody on the county board or at a local business,” Hale Wilson said in a recent interview.
James Boulter, the other local CCL co-leader and a UW-EC environmental chemistry professor, said he had always believed climate change was an “’out there’ sort of thing, but really it’s a ‘right now’ sort of thing.”
After studying climate science for nearly two decades as an atmospheric chemist, Boulter wants the wider world to “understand and appreciate science… and [the] potential risk” climate change poses.
Boulter said this belief drives CCL to pursue respectful engagements with politicians and the public to find solutions that improve communities around the world.
National and International Chapters
There are 63 international CCL chapters, including at least one each in Australia, Canada, India and over 30 other countries, Boulter said.
Nationally, CCL has 392 chapters and Eau Claire’s local chapter has about 20 active members, Hale Wilson said.
On its national website, CCL lists its top values. “Relationships” is listed as third of the six core values.
Beneath it, the website says the key to creating wholesome relationships is listening, being honest and practicing humility. With such relationships, “enduring change” is possible, it adds.
Fostering political relationships founded on respect is imperative to CCL’s global goal to pass legislation that ultimately would benefit communities in America and abroad, according to the group’s website.
Carbon Fee and Dividend
The website outlines climate solutions like the revenue-neutral Carbon Fee and Dividend, which could ultimately add millions of jobs and prevent thousands of “premature deaths” with “improved air quality,” according to CCL.
The Carbon Fee and Dividend would impose a fee on all fossil fuel producers. The fees would be pooled and then distributed equally to American households to offset the increased energy costs that would result from the fee.
Boulter said this dividend would go equally to everyone, those “working three jobs to feed their kids or millionaires in suburbia. This is not a regressive, but rather progressive economic impact. So this policy approach honors and protects the environment, the economy and the people.”
CCL estimates that market forces would then encourage the growth of alternative energy industries, resulting in new jobs. (For more information on the Carbon Fee and Dividend from CCL: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/laser-talks/carbon-fee-dividend-laser-talk/)
Pressure With Respect
CCL teaches its members how to “apply pressure to multiple sources” using respect while engaging with both liberals and conservatives, Boulter said.
Some 12 to 15 local members meet each month in Eau Claire to discuss and learn through materials provided by national CCL staff. These materials include brief, informative guides addressing climate issues.
In her interview, Hale Wilson said the goal is not to memorize the short publications but to understand “what’s the gist of this and how can I become comfortable with this talking point.”
Boulter said that in addition to emphasizing the importance of respectful discussion, CCL realizes the effectiveness of listening. He said, with a smile, that as a science professor he finds it harder at times to listen than simply to lecture on scientific evidence.
At chapter meetings, members also listen to live conference calls from featured speakers selected by the national CCL staff. Speakers include – among others – military leaders, people of different religious backgrounds, liberals, conservatives, professors, scientists and communication experts.
Using Personal Touches
Boulter said CCL is finding ways to relay evidence and the consequences of climate change in more personal approaches.
“We’re using different language to talk about the issue, appealing to the values of a wide range of people, not just environmentalists… [that’s how] it becomes personal, by speaking to people’s values, not just the science of climate change, the dire predictions of harm, or the overwhelming challenge of addressing it,” he said.
Each year in June, CCL members can put their respectful approaches into practice in Washington, DC. There, the group discusses, rather than debates, solutions for climate change with hundreds of members of Congress, Boulter said.
In 2017, CCL members attended over 1,600 meetings with federal legislators and their staff and volunteers sent over 72,000 letters to their representatives, Boulter said. The group has also published over 4,000 items in various media including letters to the editor and op-ed articles.
Notes from the legislative meetings are analyzed to discover trends in response to CCL’s proposals. Boulter said the group is “seeing a strongly discernable shift of fewer Democrats refusing to engage out of frustration, and big decrease in Republicans responding to our citizen climate lobbyists in a negative manner.”