Palisadian ‘Citizen’ Lobbies Congress for Climate Solutions, Returns Optimistic

By GABRIELLA BOCK | Contributing Writer

A Palisadian voice for progress was among the many heard in Washington last month when Marquez Knolls resident Sheryl Rosenbaum traveled to Capitol Hill to attend the Citizens’ Climate Lobby’s Ninth Annual Conference and Lobby Day on June 10-12.

She and a dozen other members of the organization’s Los Angeles chapter made the annual pilgrimage to the nation’s capital where they perfervidly urged members of Congress to make climate change a nonpartisan issue.

Rosenbaum, a trained data scientist who once worked to introduce renewable wind energy into  the urban marketplace, returned from the conference with good news: bipartisan support for climate change legislation is rising.

“Right now the Climate Solutions Caucus in the House has support from 84 representatives, half of whom are Republicans. And we’re expecting that number to grow,” Rosenbaum told the Palisadian-Post.

In operation since 2007, CCL is a grassroots organization that trains volunteers on how to communicate with their elected representatives in order to bring climate change into the forefront of American politics.

The organization’s main objective is to bring Democrats and Republicans together to create market-based policies to curb climate change, such as their favored approach: a carbon fee and dividend program that would place an extra tax on fossil fuels to be later returned to citizens as a monthly dividend.

Supporters of the policy claim that it would provide additional income to families in the lowest tax bracket while also incentivizing businesses to reduce their carbon footprint.

The Northwestern University alumna and mother of two told the Post that the combined conference and lobby event was energized by hundreds of Americans, many of them millennials, who were eager to discuss smart, sensible strategies to propel the United States into a carbon-free future.

“With all of the negativity occurring within our political spectrum, this is the one thing I feel really good about,” she explained.

“There are a lot of young people who have placed climate change at the top of their priority lists and because of this, there has been growing, bipartisan support among our representatives.”

Some of that support comes from California Congressman Ted Lieu, whose office met with Rosenbaum’s group during Lobby Day.

The 33rd District Representative joined the Safe Climate Caucus in 2015 before later introducing the Climate Solutions Act to the U.S. House of Representatives.

The June conference also gave stage to many major speakers, including prominent U.S. climate scientist Dr. James Hansen, Senior Fellow and Policy Director for Climate and Energy Economics at the Brookings Institute Adele Morris, Dr. Natasha DeJarnett of the American Public Health Association and Ted Halstead, founder of the Climate Leadership Council.

Back in Los Angeles, Rosenbaum remains energized by last month’s climate rally and is encouraging others to get involved, whether it be by writing to an area representative or by joining a climate advocacy group like CCL.

“At the end of the day, the damaging effects of carbon in our atmosphere affect all of us,” she said.

“The time to get active is now.”