CCL–Madison

Hi CCLers and friends, How do you continue to do what you do, given the day-by-day flow of bad news, political and environmental? How do you not just stay afloat, but enjoy yourself and others, tend to your health, and hold out hope? John Sabin, our Great Lakes Regional Coordinator, laid out what to keep in mind about resilience at our December meeting. And lucky us, he wrote up the essence of what he said, so you can read it below. You can also read about a book discussion led by our own Madeleine Para on changing our and others’ minds – a timely topic for climate activism! Speaking of changing minds, the Environmental Voter Project is a fun and interesting way to help people who care about the environment to become consistent voters. Don’t miss Bruce’s explanation of what you can do. We wish you a good rest of the year, complete with connections and at least some of the components of caring for ourselves that John suggests. P.S.: Last month somewhere between 400 and 500 people opened...

Kermit Hovey Hear about experiences and insights from Faiths Connect for Climate Action (FCCA) volunteer Heather Phelps’ work at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28 in Dubai. She’ll share at the February 2, 2024, quarterly zoom meeting of FCCA. This joint initiative of Wisconsin Creation Care Ambassadors and the Faith Community Engagement Team of Citizens’ Climate Lobby-Madison connects, educates, and inspires faith groups for climate action. Contact Trudi Jenny for registration details. This widely traveled and environmentally engaged climate advocate traversed 10 time zones to participate in the Christian Climate Observers Program at COP28. There, she joined a small dedicated non-denominational Christian presence advocating for God’s creation as well as learning how to observe and witness from a Christian and missional perspective. During this holiday season – with faith, hope, and love – may we appreciate, learn from, support, and encourage those taking climate ac...

Our Building Electrification and Efficiency Team will give us an update at our monthly meeting January 13. We will be tabling at the Garden Expo February 9-11. Please consider donating a couple hours of your time. Deputy Madison Mayor Christie Baumel will tell us about her experiences at the UN Climate Change Conference COP28 in Dubai at our monthly meeting February 10.

Holly Jorgenson Looking for something to do in the new year? Want to learn how to further our tabling efforts? Bruce Beck and Wendy Weber have ably coordinated our tabling efforts at the Dairy and Garden Expos and Canoecopia, plus the Westside Farmers Market. We intend to expand our tabling opportunities this year to some events centered around Electrification and Efficiency, and also around Youth. This is a way to try your hand at working directly with our CCL Tabling Team. Together you’ll identify and plan tabling events, reserve a table at those events for outreach, and coordinate the schedule of CCL volunteers willing to help staff the outreach table. We expect it to take a couple hours a month of planning, then working on the details just before the occasional events. You could also do this as a co-lead if we get two volunteers! Contact me at hollydjorgenson@gmail.com or 608-345-2273 for details.

Tom Sinclair Congratulations to Carol Steinhart and Bruce Beck for their letters to the editor (LTEs) published in the New York Daily News, Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star, and Capital Times (all by Carol) and Wisconsin State Journal (two in one month by Bruce). Congrats also to Kermit Hovey for his monthly guest column in the Middleton Times-Tribune. Altogether, Madison chapter members have had more than 60 letters to the editor and more than 15 guest columns published in newspapers and blogs so far in 2023. Bravo! If you’d like to write an LTE but prefer company while you do it, join CCL’s live monthly LTE-writing party on Zoom. The activity begins with a quick training for anyone who needs it, then considers timely letter-writing opportunities. Attendees then turn off their microphones and cameras for 20 minutes to write. Afterward, those who wish can share what they’ve written and get feedback. Interested? Go to CCL Community and search for “Letter-Writing Zoom Party,” then scroll...

Attendees of the November 2023 Stroll and a Scoop Steve Lewis CCLers gathered at the UW-Madison Memorial Union November 19 for the first ever Stroll and Scoop event, organized by Jay Edgar (waving in the middle). It was a beautiful day, and after fueling up on Babcock ice cream, we walked along the Lakeshore Path toward Picnic Point and talked about work, play, and everything in between. Stay tuned for more fun! See Kermit Hovey's photos  of the event.

Madeleine Para Twelve people met to discuss the book How Minds Change, by David McRaney. It was a lovely mixture of curious Arboretum Cohousing members, CCL stalwarts, and a few CCLers from days back. The discussion ranged over the details of deep canvassing and some of its potential uses, connections made by the retired therapists among us, and what might be next. For anyone wondering why all the buzz about deep canvassing, the Yale Project on Climate Change Communications held a webinar on it and its use in building support on climate action. This is perfect for people not wanting to dive into a whole book. Here's the page where the recording can be found . The video is below.

John Sabin John Sabin My dad once told me about a flight he took from Los Angeles to New York – a five-hour flight. A young woman with a baby sat in the row right in front of him, and as the plane took off the baby began to cry. The young mother rocked the baby and said, “There, there, Nancy. There, there, Nancy.” And the baby continued to cry. The mother patiently rocked her child, gave it a bottle, changed its diaper, but still it cried and cried. “There, there, Nancy,” the mother said, over and over. “We will be home soon, and you can have a nice bath, and sleep in your own bed. There, there, Nancy. There, there.” The mother repeated this refrain over and over. Finally, as the plane began its final descent into LaGuardia, the baby fell asleep. As they were getting off the plane, my father said to the young woman, “I admire how patient you have been with your daughter, Nancy.” “Oh, my baby’s not Nancy,” said the woman. “I’m Nancy!” The American Psychological Association says: “Resili...

Holly Jorgenson At the Dane County High School Conference in October, one of the speakers introduced a simple tool for each of us to help identify what we’d like to do toward solving the climate crisis. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s 10-minute TED Talk How to Find Joy in Climate Action lays out the tool clearly. We’ll use the exercise during an upcoming chapter meeting, but you might like to try it yourself in the meantime. See what you think!

Bruce Jamison CCL is collaborating with the Environmental Voter Project (EVP) as a way to engage in the election process in a non-partisan way. The project finds registered voters who are interested in environmental issues but do not consistently vote. You may think they are rare, but they exist in the millions. The goal of the project is to turn this group into regular, habitual voters. It does not engage in promoting any candidate or party. Tony Sirna leads the Election Engagement Action Team. You can learn more about the Team and the EVP on their homepage. Much of the homepage is from the 2022 elections, useful but currently dated. The best way to find out how you can participate is to click on the forum discussions on the left side of the home page. There is a recent forum article from Tony that is particularly useful if you are wondering how to get involved. The main activities are phone banking with a sophisticated dialer and writing postcards (appeals to go vote and how to do i...

Mark Pocan Bruce Jamison Mark Pocan endorsed the Increased TSP Access Act of 2023 (H.R.3036)! We’ve been lobbying Congressional leaders to endorse this bill which helps farmers access TSPs (technical service providers) and take advantage of federal programs to implement climate smart agricultural practices. Pocan added his endorsement on December 12. Please use this link to write or call your thanks for his support of this bipartisan step forward on climate and encourage our Senators to do the same for S.1400, Increased TSP Access Act of 2023 .