Speaking to Politicians About Climate Change or Any Other Issue

I’ve mentioned in other posts that I am a volunteer for a non-partisan organization called Citizen Climate Lobby, CCL for short. The name is maybe misleading insofar as we are not “normal” lobbyists, just volunteers, without money, who are trying to get politicians interested in climate change related legislation. We do many things, but one thing we do is meeting with congressmen, house representatives as well as senators, state legislators, including state representatives and state senators, and mayors and city council members, as well as corporations, organizations, and grass roots, that’s regular folks. Naturally we discuss different things with a US senator compared to a city council member. We discuss national legislation with a US Senator and local pollution issues with a city council member.

The photo is of a dial which can be used to decrease or increase CO2 emissions
CO2 emissions dial. Shutter stock Photo ID: 1928699927 by NicoElNino

CCL has been successful

Overall, I think CCL has been quite successful. We are well known in congress, we have a good reputation, and people tend to want to meet with us. We have been instrumental in passing legislation and in 2016 a Climate Solutions Caucus was created in the house by one Republican congressman and one Democrat congressman. It was CCL that was behind this and who brought the two congressmen together. The first two years the caucus had an equal number of Democrats and Republicans. Before the election in 2018 there were 40 Democrats and 40 Republicans on the caucus. After the election many of the typically moderate Republicans in the climate caucus lost and the numbers are no longer equal. I can add that I am the CCL liaison for Senator Ted Cruz office.

40 people with Senator Ted Cruz
Senator Ted Cruz TXJR with Citizens Climate Lobby in 2017. The senator is standing immediately to the right of the American flag, and I am standing immediately to the left of the American flag. My wife and daughter are also there.

Be Organized and Polite

I think the reason that CCL has been successful is that the CCL volunteers are trained to be polite, to listen and ask questions. Politicians and their staff are flooded by angry, rude and toxic messages from opiniated people on both sides of an issue, and they have delete-buttons and trashcans for that. Protesting, screaming, insulting, threatening, showing your feelings, is not as effective as some people think. When you push people, they will push back or ignore you. You need to win people over, not alienate them.

We’ve had a few accidents when some volunteers lost their temper but otherwise, when someone acts dismissive or hostile to your message you still try to find common ground, or you can ask if you can get back to them with research articles or other information from reliable sources. You don’t argue and you definitely do not get angry. In addition, you need to listen, ask them why they believe what they believe, and write it down for future purposes. You also need to be well informed. If you don’t know something, promise to get back them, research it, and then give them the information by email once you have it. Keep all communication to the point and easy to understand. Don’t ramble. Respect their time. You have one issue. They have a hundred and one.

Seven CCL volunteers with Senator Ted Cruz
This photo is from the CCL meeting with Ted Cruz office June 2023. I set up the meeting, but I was not there because my son was getting married at the same time.

How to Set Up a Meeting

To set up meetings with congress, call/write to the scheduler the first time around about 2-4 weeks ahead of when you want to meet with them. If you already have the emails or phone numbers of a staff member then use that. Don’t just walk in and don’t try to schedule too far ahead. Keep the request simple, short and humble but clear, and don’t expect an immediate response. Suggest a time but be open to other times. Don’t start spamming them if they don’t reply. Give it a few days and then email them again or call them. Refer to / include your previous email to remind them that you have already tried to request a meeting. It is a little easier to get a meeting with a council member than a US senator.

A woman on a phone with a laptop
Photo by Ivan Samkov on Pexels.com

The Meeting

The most common is that you will meet with one or more staff members. Don’t expect to meet the congressman, not the first time. If you are meeting with a state representative or a city council member you have a better chance of getting to speak to your representative. Don’t bring too few and not too many people. Five or six people is a recommended group size. Try to have at least one constituent in the group. A constituent is someone who lives in the congressman’s district or the city council member’s district. Ask how much time you have. At a congressional office you typically have half an hour. Respect that time. It is best to ask for two things. First, what you really want. That’s the “primary ask”. Then an easier version of the “primary ask” or an alternative. That’s called the “secondary ask”. The reason is that psychology has shown that if they are against the “primary ask” and have to say no, they’ll try to please you by saying yes to the secondary ask. Thank them for meeting with you before and after the meeting.

Six people in a meeting room
Photo by Christina Morillo on Pexels.com

Avoid Asking for More Tax

Be aware that requests that require the politician to spend money or raise taxes are more difficult for them to accept. The climate legislation that Senator Ted Cruz voted yes on, the Growing Climate Solutions Act, which was about supporting farmers and forest landowners doing things sustainably, required very little government assistance. Once when I sent an email to my Dallas city council member (a libertarian), whom I already knew, I asked him to replace diesel buses with EV buses. It was a Sunday. His immediate reply (within 5 minutes) to me was along the lines: Hi Thomas. The EV buses cost money and since I promised not to raise taxes, I’ve got to cut something else. I am at city hall right now working on the budget. Could you please come down to city hall and help me find which item to cut. I am having a really hard time with this. I thought that once you find the item to cut for me maybe you could volunteer to take the blame for cutting it.

A bit snarky maybe, but I got his sarcastic tone, and I dropped the subject. I told him “Never mind”. I should mention that he voted yes on another issue that we had asked of him, despite him at first telling us no. However, that issue required no tax money. I can also add that a few years later Dallas got EV buses.

A line of buses
Photo by Jan van der Wolf on Pexels.com

I hope this advice will be helpful to you when you want to talk to your representatives about your issue(s). Ask me any questions.

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Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

29 thoughts on “Speaking to Politicians About Climate Change or Any Other Issue”

  1. This was fantastic advice and I really love what you’re doing to help our planet. And I think you’re right about being polite. Politicians constantly get a lot of hate and as humans we get defensive when someone is rude or pushy. Instead, it’s better to talk to them in a calm way and explain the importance of protecting the planet.

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    1. Thank you so much Pooja. You are right. We’ve spent a lot of time with staffers in political offices and they make jokes about disrespectful people, they don’t listen to them. It isn’t worth it. Giving them good information they may have missed, explaining the benefits of a resolution to them, 100 written contituent letters, representing a big group of people, those things work.

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    1. Thank you so much Denise and you are right. The staff in political offices make jokes about disrespectful people. Nobody listen to them. But they are always grateful for useful information. They really don’t know a lot of stuff. And representing a big group of people or bringing 100 letters always impress.

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    1. Thank you so much Dawn. Yes you are right. A group of 5-7 people representing an even bigger group and you have assigned yourself a name will be taken a lot more seriously than someone stomping into an office and letting them know. It makes a big difference if you are coordinated. It is best to divide up the tasks. Each person gets a thing to say or do. One blabber mouth talking non-stop can ruin a meeting. It is good to select a meeting lead who helps people to know when it is their turn. It is OK if someone does not want to say something. If he is a contituent his presence is a worthwhile message in itself. What to avoid is anger and blabber mouths. This is what we do.

      • We say thank you for meeting with us and ask how much time we have and then we go around introducing ourselves. The introduction must be short. No more than one minute per person.
      • The last person introducing himself also say thank you for something we like that the representative has done, and asks him or the staffer to introduce themselves.
      • Then we explain why we are there and explain the primary ask
      • Unless the person totally agrees we move onto the secondary ask, a less demanding version of the primary or another ask alltogether. Prepare primary ask and secondary ask ahead of time.
      • Then we ask questions and answer questions, try to get the representative or the staffer to talk and we listen. Have a list of prepared questions that you try to remember. You may not have time for many but if you ask a few that’s good. A good question if they reject primary ask is “what kind of information would you like to see that potentially could make you change your mind on primary ask?”
      • A note taker writes down eveything essential so you know what follow up information to email them.
      • One person keep track of time and when it is five minutes left gives a signal or just say so. The People in the office will see that we respect their time.

      I should say that CCL has former congressional staffers working for them and they helped create this process.

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  6. I am so impressed, Thomas. Those who yell and act out usually don’t know what they are talking about and haven’t done their homework. In contrast, the CCL is an effective bridge for many people — because they care enough to gather the facts and listen/speak. Bravo!

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    1. Thank you so much Gwen and you are right. The ones who act out are often poorly informed. It is easy to be extreme when you only see one side of an issue. I also think CCL has been acting like a bridge between the two parties because they try to find practical solutions and things they can agree on.

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      1. You are right. Anything that involves money is complicated. One of our favorite proposals is a carbon fee, kind of like a tax, but the money is returned to people on an equal basis. Basically, the fee/tax result in the price going up on carbon intensive products. Let say some people lose $200.00, others (high emitters) $1,000.00, and a corporation lose $100,000.00. That’s a problem, but then you return $500.00 to every citizens (monthly checks or direct deposit). It turns out that 2/3 of the population will come out ahead economically, corporations on average do not lose out, but the wealthier 1/3 will lose. On the other hand they can more easily adjust to emitting less emissions. Basically, you are paid for causing less than average emissions, and penalized for causing more than average emissions.

        Studies and computer simulations and experience from places where similar schemes have been tried show that this actually stimulates the economy because lower income individuals spend their money more effectively. It also reduces emissions more efficiently than any other known proposal, so much that we can reach net-zero by 2050, just by that policy. Since it also redduces other kinds of pollution it is estimated to save more than 200,000 lives in 20 years in the US. But it was defeated last time by one vote, because most republicans (moderates liked it) and the progressive/left wing of the democratic party did not like it. The fee/tax thing was the main turn off, which is why we don’t push it too hard, even though we like it. But the proposal is back in congress now and we’ll see how it goes this time.

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  9. Hi Thomas, I found your post absolutely captivating! The work you and CCL are doing is truly outstanding.

    Your insightful tips for engaging with politicians are not only well-considered but also incredibly valuable. I believe this meeting plan can be applied in various situations, such as community organizing, business negotiations, or even personal interactions where diplomacy is required. Your emphasis on being well organized and polite underscores the importance of these qualities in navigating any situation with grace and effectiveness.

    Keep up the fantastic work!

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    1. Thank you so much Patricia for your very kind words. You are right, the meeting plan above, I assume you mean what I replied to Dawn, can be applied to any meeting with any representative for any issue. I think it is good advice because CCL has good advisors. The woman in charge of the liaison program is a former staffer for a Republican congressman. George P. Schultz, former President Ronald Reagans secretary of state, was on CCL’s board while he was still alive and he gave advice. It is a “how to be taken seriously and be invited back” kind of plan.

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