CCL Monthly Conference Call, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014
Groups meet at 9:45am PT/12:45pm ET
The international conference call starts at 10:00 am PT/1:00 pm ET
The conference call part of the meeting is a little over an hour long and the groups meet for another hour after that to take and plan actions.
Call-in number: 1-866-642-1665, passcode: 440699#
Callers outside U.S. and Canada, please use Skype: 719-387-8317, passcode 440699#
Adam Browning, Vote Solar
Adam Browning is co-founder and executive director of Vote Solar, whichworks at the state, federal and local levels to implement programs and policies that allow strongsolar markets to grow — and pave the way for a transition to a renewable energy economy. On October’s call, Adam will share his insights from building support among conservatives for clean-energy policies.Prior to Vote Solar, Adam spent eight years with the EPA where he ran an award-winning pollution prevention program.
Actions
- Ask congressional offices to attend House and Senate REMI briefings in November.
- Plan activities for your group to participate in the “Tutu Much CO2 Challenge” fundraising campaign for CCL.
- Schedule an outreach event to enroll new members and generate letters to Congress.
LASER TALK
Border tax adjustments for the carbon fee
With carbon pricing, the concern is often raised that it will place American businesses at a competitive disadvantage. That’s why CCL’s Carbon Fee and Dividend proposal calls for border tax adjustments for goods imported from nations lacking an equivalent price on carbon.
This, of course, raises another question: Would the border tax adjustments comply with World Trade Organization rules?
The answer is “yes.”
First of all, under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which is still in effect under WTO, CCL’s border adjustments meet requirements under Most Favored Nation Treatment, in that it treats all nations equally. The adjustments also meet requirements under National Treatment, because they treat domestic and international goods equally. International imports are treated as if they were produced nationally.[1] [2]
Secondly, even if the adjustments failed to meet the requirements under Most Favored Nation Treatment, GATT rules allow for exceptions to protect the environment.
What about U.S. businesses that export goods to countries with no carbon-pricing mechanism? The revenue from the border tax adjustments is used to give rebates to U.S. exporters in order to maintain a level playing field.
The border tax adjustments under CCL’s proposal not only comply with WTO rules, they provide a strong incentive for other nations to follow our lead in pricing carbon.
ACTION
Ask MoC offices to attend REMI briefings
Our groundbreaking REMI study about the impact of a revenue-neutral carbon fee is turning lots of heads on Capitol Hill. On Nov. 19 and Nov. 20, there will be briefings on the REMI study, led by Scott Nystrom, in the Senate and House. This is a great opportunity, not only to educate congressional staff on the REMI findings, but also to get Republican and Democrat staffers in the room together, stimulating conversations that can lead to bipartisan legislation.
The briefing in the Senate will take place in the Small Business Committee hearing room at 10 a.m. on Nov. 19. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is the host.
On the House side, the briefing will be hosted by Rep. John Larson (D-CT) and take place on Nov. 20 at a time and room yet to be determined. The contact in the office is Scott Stephanou, and his e-mail
Both of these briefings will be closed, meaning that they will be open only to members of Congress and staff. Dear Colleague letters inviting offices to attend will be sent out later this month, and we are hoping to have both Democrats and Republicans signing those letters.
Action this month: Make requests to congressional offices to attend the Senate and House REMI briefings.
For CCL congressional liaisons: Send an email, followed up with a phone call, to the congressional aide with whom you communicate. Sample note:
Hi, NAME HERE,
This is YOUR NAME with the YOUR CITY chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby. As I may have mentioned in a previous conversation, we released a study from Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI) in June with the exciting news that a steadily-rising fee on carbon-based fuels would cut carbon emission in half within 20 years while adding 2.8 million jobs to the economy, provided all the revenue from the fee is returned to households. The author of that study, Scott Nystrom, will lead a briefing in the [HOUSE or SENATE] on [NOV. 19 or NOV. 20] at 10 a.m. We are hoping you can attend in order to learn more about this groundbreaking study and ask Scott any questions you might have. A Dear Colleague will be sent out later this month, but I wanted to give you a heads up to mark it on your calendar. Will you be able to attend?
Thanks,
NAME
CITY Citizens Climate Lobby
PHONE
For the House briefing request, if staffers have questions, they can contact Scott Stephanou in Rep. Larson’s office. When you have confirmation that a staffer will attend the briefing, send a note to Joe Robertson at .
For others in your group: Call your representative and senators to leave a short message with the receptionist asking that someone attend the REMI briefing. Sample message:
Hi,
This is YOUR NAME calling from YOUR CITY, and I’d like to leave a message Rep./Sen. NAME HERE. On Nov. [19th or 20th], there’s going to be a briefing about a new study from Regional Economic Models, Inc. about the benefits of a carbon fee that gives revenue back to households. I’m very concerned about the impact of climate change, and I would like to see someone from your office attend this briefing to learn more about this study.
Thank you.
ACTION
Join the ‘Tutu Much CO2 Challenge’ fundraising campaign for CCL
We don’t need no stinking ice buckets! This month, CCL launches our fall fundraising campaign with the “Tutu Much CO2 Challenge.” Our goal is to raise $500,000 which will be used to support our ever-expanding cadre of volunteers. We can reach that with an average of $2,500 raised by each of our 200 chapters. And when we reach this goal Mark Reynolds, our fearless leader, will wear a tutu for an entire day (whichever group has raised the most money at that time gets to give input on Mark’s Day)!
But no chapter has to do this -- it's completely voluntary. Our larger more established groups might want to set a much larger goal, our newest ones may or may not want/be able to participate
We’ve also designed a campaign that we hope will go viral and bring a whole bunch of new volunteers our way. If you’d like to help out with the viral campaign, details are below under “Social Media Campaign.”
How to proceed:
To donate and/or create an individual or team fundraising page, go here:
donate.citizensclimateeducationcorp.org/tutumuchCO2
To create an individual or team page, click on the “Become A Fundraiser” button and follow the instructions. (Note: Site can only accept horizontal, rather than vertical, oriented pictures.). If you need any technical assistance, please call Sarah at the home office: (619) 437-7142.
1) Decide if your chapter wants to participate as a team, and, if so, determine your chapter’s fundraising goal. The chapter goal might consist of the sum total of people's individual goals, or be determined some other way. Consider planning a group activity to do when you achieve your goal. This might involve tutus or not, or maybe some other outrageous outing. Set up a fundraising committee, which will create the online fundraising page for your chapter, help individuals participate, plan any closing event and keep energy high for this. Many group fundraising ideas can be found on Community, under resources, under fundraising in the “Fundraising 101 webinar”.
2) If your chapter doesn't wish to participate, individuals may still want to set a personal fundraising goal, and the chapter could discuss ways to support those individuals.
Social Media Campaign:
As part of the Tutu Much CO2 Challenge, we want to create a fun and viral social media fundraising campaign which will help us recruit, not only dollars, but also many more awesome volunteers! Any help you can lend this campaign will be GREATLY appreciated (below are the ways to help; for questions contact Sarah at the home office, 619-437-7142).
Timeline:
· To help make it go viral, we are asking everyone who wants to participate to do so on the same day so that we make a big splash on social media. We will be launching this fundraising campaign on Tuesday, October 7th
1. Make a Video:
· Of you wearing a tutu. Get creative (watch Amy Bennett’s sample video on the donation page for inspiration). You might want to create a video with others, maybe your whole CCL group. (IMPORTANT: Video will work much better if filmed with horizontal, rather than vertical, orientation)
· Identify this as part of the Tutu Much CO2 Challenge
· Say that Citizens’ Climate Lobby has a plan to solve global warming and say that you are making a donation to support Citizens’ Climate (donations will go for our educational efforts, will be tax-deductible, and applied to Citizens’ Climate Education Corp.).
o Ask friends/family to donate to Citizens’ Climate.
· If you need to make/buy a tutu on the cheap, go to CCL-Community for ideas (under fundraising resources)
2. Post it on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.)
o tag three other friends and challenge them to participate
o Include a link to make a donation -- Either on your fundraising page OR at CCL website www.citizensclimatelobby.org/donate
· Use these hashtags on Twitter and Facebook #tutumuchCO2 #tututuesday @citizensclimate
· Make a donation yourself!
3. Help recruit Leonardo DiCaprio:
· Also on Tuesday, October 7th between 3pm – 6pm Eastern we are asking everyone on Twitter to tweet at Leonardo DiCaprio to ask him to join the Tutu Much CO2 Challenge! Here is a Tweet you could post:
Hey @LeoDiCaprio take the #tutumuchCO2 challenge to support @citizensclimate work lobbying congress on #climatechange http://ow.ly/BYPDR
4. Post on Tuesdays:
· If you’re inclined, we are going to continue this fun challenge throughout the rest of the year on each Tuesday, which we are hoping will become known as #TutuTuesday!
· Each week we will have a new theme for your short Tutu Video which you should post on Tuesday. You can tag new friends or family in your video each week asking them to support Citizens’ Climate Lobby’s work and to challenge others.
· In your new videos say “We STILL have Tutu Much CO2…”
· We will announce the themes via Community, so stay tuned for new themes! (Some examples might include: multiple generations, pets, children, alternative transportation, faith, nature, etc). Don’t forget each week to use #tutumuchCO2 and #tutuTuesday
ACTION
Hold an outreach event in your community
The People’s Climate March, which attracted 400,000 participants in New York last month, has inspired people to become active on climate change, and October would be a good month to plan an outreach event to capitalize on that energy. These events could be great opportunities to enroll new members. We suggest incorporating a letter-writing activity into your event so that attendees leave feeling good about taking an action that can make a difference.
OPTIONS:
· Follow up to climate march: If your group had members who attended the People’s Climate March, arrange an evening – perhaps a potluck – to share their experiences at the march, talk about CCL, and write letters.
· Social and action event: Find a bar or restaurant that has separate rooms for groups to meet and invite people to come and share drink and food, socialize, and write a letter to a member of Congress. Some places provide rooms at no charge because you’re bringing customers in the door for them. This event should be designed to give people the chance to spend relaxed time together, get to know one another and meet new people. The Atlanta group recently started a monthly event called CCL TGIF Social and Action at Manuel’s Tavern. Write to to learn more about the Atlanta event.
· Years of Living Dangerously screening: Hold a screening of an episode from Years of Living Dangerously (available now on Amazon). After the episode, lead a discussion and then write letters to members of Congress.
Need a sign-up sheet or intro call flyer for your outreach event? Find these and other handouts at CCL Community/Resources in the Printables section.
1. [1]Pauwelyn, Joost. “Carbon Leakage Measures and Border Tax Adjustments Under WTO Law”. March 21, 2012. Excepted chapter from “Research Handbook On The WTO Agriculture Agreement”. Available at SSRN:http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2026879
1. [2]Jennifer Hillman. Changing Climate for Carbon Taxes: Who’s Afraid of the WTO? July 25, 2013. The German Marshall Fund of the United States. URL:http://www.gmfus.org/archives/changing-climate-for-carbon-taxes-whos-afraid-of-the-wto/