Thank you for this opportunity Brett, thanks you to my fellow panelists for your
participation, but most importantly thank you for listeners for your work with CCL and
your interest this Faith Lever of Political Will.
I’m BB, a ruler elder of the WCPC and a retired EM Eng/Exec. Europe…found CCL and
CFD. I also wanted to work more with my Presbyterian Church and they were grappling
with the Divestment movement. Our response to divestment was to propose Faith
Alternatives to Divestment and this was a perfect opening to propose a CFD Overture.
So, in 2016, I went to the PCUSA GA (our National Congress) as the Overture Advocate
for an Overture titled Support for Carbon pricing was approved in Committee, 53-1. But
in the plenary session it got tied up with divestment and never got voted on. Proper
procedure was not followed and it was extremely frustrating.
We came back at the next opportunity in 2018 with 2 overtures and 3 Overture
Advocates. It was approved in Committee and at the Plenary Session by over 80% of
Commissioners.
So the take a ways are ask and stick with it. This was our story but there are always asks
to make at the National, Regional or local level to move our solution forward.
This PCUSA Carbon Pricing Overture supported Carbon Fee & Dividend, very specifically.
It highlighted that the Dividend as a very important element from a Faith and Social
Justice perspective to protect the least of us from the impact of the Fee. The overture
didn’t say just CFD was a good thing, it said Presbyterians, Congregations and all PCUSA
organizations should “ Work with citizens/voters, legislators, other decision-makers, and
other organizations that have parallel goals[1] to” enact this kind of legislation.
After our Overture was passed, we ramped up our Presbyterian Action Team within CCL
to try and take advantage of this Lever. Our PAT is up to 50 members, is working at
spreading this word, and is growing.
We give presentations to congregations or Church groups across the country. So far,
we’ve talked to churches, Sunday Schools, Seminaries, Retirement communities, and
Presbytery meetings in Tx, Minn, Calif, Ohio, Mich, Alaska, NM, Va and Pa, so far.
We’re spreading the word within our denomination in every way we can think of. We’re
working with various groups like Presbyterians for Earth Care, Fossil PCUSA (Divestment
advocates), and Faithful Alternatives (to Divestment). Sr Staff members of PCUSA have
joined CCL and we connecting the new local CCL chapter with Louisville HQ. We’re
trying to connect our 9000+ Presbyterian congregations with our 400+ CCL Chapters
across the country, but that applies to all faiths.
We’re also using every media avenue we can think of; blogs, articles in various pubs,
information and links on websites, links to presentations, etc. And we’re working to do
this at the National, Regional and local level.
We’re also starting a parallel group - Presbyterians for Carbon Dividends Now to have an
identity within PCUSA. We talked to Ben in our DC office and he advise that if we can get
a separate Presbyterian group telling congress to support HR763, that’s more effective
than additional CCL letters and voices. We even have an idea for a Presbyterian Grand
Canyon type project.
Next April we’ll be participating in Ecumenical Advocacy days, an annual interfaith
lobbying effort in DC. The 2020 theme explores the intersection of climate change and
economic injustice. We’re proposing CPricing presentations or panels, proposing Dr
Hayhoe as the Keynote speaker and will be tabling.
Another lever is with Presbyterian MOCs – 31 Members self-identify as Presbyterians in
a Pew survey, including 12 Senators and 9 R Senators – a critical group. Not all are
PCUSA so we have less clout there, but it’s a lever that may open a few doors. We’ve
written letters to them all from our AT and are looking for Pres Constituents to develop
the relationship and pull the lever. So Presbyterians are 5% of Congress and
Episcopalians another 5%, both have basically endorsed CF&D and Catholics represent
another 30% support C Pricing and Ludato Ci. Other denominations and faiths have
more MOCs - so let’s work on these levers. Each of us in faith groups can/should work
with our denominations and their opportunities but all CCLers can reach out to those
congregations in their Districts and Chapters and site the support that those
denominations have given and have the discussion offer presentations/information.
Our bill has over 1000 endorser, with 91 Faith endorsers, and 8 Presbyterian
Churches/Presbyteries. But very Church, temple, synagogue and mosque could also
endorse it. This is another lever waiting to be pulled.
We saw that Former Congressman Bob Inglis, was listed as a Presbyterian so called to
share what we were doing and see if there were any synergies. Turns out he hasn’t
worshipped with Presbyterians for some time but he is a devote and practicing
Christian. We had a great talk about how to use this lever of political will and how to
use it with Presbyterians who were not PCUSA (one of our questions going in). He also
talked about recent work in Utah where public opinion on the need for action on cc is
changing rapidly. He attributes the rapid and deep change to due to the driver for their
change coming from their Faith and their heart, not just their head. Bob will join one of
our 2 monthly Presbyterian Action Team calls in January and share more about his
experiences in Utah. All CCLers, especially from Faith Teams are invited to join us. The
is 2 Jan 2 CT on Zoom 723-722-8489. Please join us for this call.
Thank you for your interest and I’d love to try and answer any questions you have.
Event Details: https://community.citizensclimate.org/groups/events/item/997/2129/2189
https://citizensclimatelobby.org/presbyterians-to-consider-cfd-at-general-assembly-in-june/