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Organizing Your Local Cool Cities Campaign

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Title: Organizing Your Local Cool Cities Campaign


1
Organizing Your Local Cool Cities Campaign
  • Sierra Clubs
  • Global Warming Energy Team
  • www.coolcities.us

2
Goals of the Cool Cities Campaign
  • Assist volunteer activists in bringing positive,
    visionary energy solutions to their communities
  • Get cities to take real actions to reduce energy
    waste and heat-trapping global warming pollution
  • Build the strength and capacity of local Sierra
    Club groups and chapters

3
(No Transcript)
4
The U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement
  • Initiated by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels in
    February 2005, the agreement has been signed by
    232 mayors representing 45 million Americans in
    41 states (as of 5/16/06)
  • Mayors pledge to reduce CO2 pollution in their
    cities to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012
    (the same reductions and target date called for
    the U.S. under the Kyoto Protocol Global Warming
    Treaty)

5
  • More information on the Mayors agreement,
    including an updated list of the cities is
    available online at www.seattle.gov/mayor/climate/
  • The Cool Cities Activist Toolkit (online at
    coolcities.us) includes the text of the agreement
    and the U.S. Conference of Mayors supporting
    resolution

6
Walking the Talk
  • Many of these Cool City leaders are moving
    forward with innovative energy solutions that cut
    our dependence on oil, benefit public health, and
    save taxpayer dollars.
  • Most of these cities, however, do not yet have a
    real action plan to meet their reduction targets
    by 2012.

7
Thats where you come in
  • The Cool Cities campaign is about getting mayors
    around the country to sign the US Mayors Climate
    Protection Agreement and then put real solutions
    in place that will cut heat-trapping greenhouse
    gases.

8
Cool Cities Conservation Objectives
  • Get your mayor to sign on to the U.S. Mayors
    Climate Protection Agreement
  • Implement a citywide plan to put smart energy
    solutions - Green Vehicle Fleets, Energy
    Efficiency and Renewable Energy in place to
    curb global warming.

9
Primary Organizational Goals
  • Attract, engage and empower more local long-term
    volunteer activists
  • Form stronger partnerships across your community
  • Build political power and influence for your
    local group.

10
Increasing Your Groups Power Through Partnerships
  • Establishing and deepening a positive working
    relationship with your mayor and local government
  • Through coalition work with traditional and
    non-traditional partner organizations
    (environmental, labor, faith, business), your
    local Cool Cities campaign will build power and
    influence for your group.

11
Campaign Impacts
  • Build public demand for clean energy solutions
  • Turn mayors and other local officials into clean
    energy advocates.

12
Leading to State and Federal Action
  • More cool cities in your state means greater
    public support for statewide action (e.g. climate
    protection plan, renewable portfolio, clean car,
    and appliance efficiency standards, etc)
  • And as more states move forward, the federal
    government will be forced to act more responsibly
    to curb global warming.

13
Cool Cities Supporting Materials
  • Sierra Clubs Guide to Local Global Warming
    Solutions
  • Cool Cities fact sheet
  • Website www.coolcities.us
  • Register on website and create a profile for your
    city
  • Download the Cool Cities Activist Toolkit

14
Sample Written Models in Toolkit
  • News Conference
  • --Media Advisory and News Release
  • --Volunteer Statement
  • Letters to the Editor
  • --Recognizing the Mayor for Signing on
  • --Calling for the Mayor to Sign on
  • OP-ED
  • Sierra Club newsletter article

15
Supporting Materials for Mayor Outreach in Toolkit
  • Letters to Mayors
  • --Asking to sign agreement
  • --Inviting mayor to news conference
  • Sample Postcard Texts
  • --To Mayor Who Has Signed On
  • --To Urge Mayor to Sign the Mayors Agreement

16
Getting Your Campaign Started
  • Form a local Cool City campaign organizing
    committee
  • Brainstorm which community partners you will
    invite to the next gathering
  • Researching your citys current energy policies
    and actions
  • How best to persuade your mayor?

17
Prepare for First Meeting
  • Sign up on the Cool Cities website
    www.coolcities.us, create a profile for your
    city, and order the basic Cool Cities materials.
  • Review the Sierra Clubs Grassroots Campaign
    Planning Matrix, online at http//clubhouse.sierra
    club.org/leaders/activism/planning.asp.

18
Engage the Community
  • Invite the participation of community partners
    from faith, business, environmental, labor, green
    builders, architects, colleges, students, etc)
    to help plan and participate in the campaign.
  • Faith Outreach (theregenerationproject.org/index.h
    tml) and (christiansandclimate.org/signatories).
  • Local U.S. Green Building Council chapter (see
    usgbc.org)

19
Effective, Enduring Partnerships
  • Shared decision-making builds shared investment,
    and shared credit and publicity builds trust.
  • Your partnerships will need to be strong and
    durable to make your city Cool for the long
    haul.

20
What is Your City Doing?
  • Research your citys energy actions and plans
  • Check if your city is participating in the
    Cities for Climate Protection program run by
    the International Council for Local Environmental
    Initiatives (iclei.org). 
  • If so, then it may already have an emissions
    inventory completed and hopefully part of a
    climate protection plan in place. 

21
Analyze your mayor and other key decision makers
  • Whom does the mayor listen to, and who is a
    credible messenger in the eyes of the mayor?
  • More partners demonstrate broad support for
    action.
  • Highlight the taxpayer savings benefits of
    reduced energy costs.

22
Finalize Campaign Plan with Your Partners
  • Complete the campaign plan
  • Finalize the letter to the mayor and determine
    who will send it (see model letter in Toolkit)
  • Discuss which specific solutions your campaign
    will be advocating for. See Local Smart Energy
    SolutionsWhat to Advocate For in Toolkit

23
Make the Ask and Follow up with a Meeting
  • Formal letter should ask the mayor to sign,
    recognize what the city is currently doing to
    save energy, offer to participate in the
    formulation of the citys climate action plan,
    and request a meeting.
  • Make the initial ask, in writing and/or in
    person, with one or two of your Cool City
    partners.

24
Cool City Citizens Advisory Committee
  • If the city has an existing citizens
    sustainability, environmental or similar
    committee, ask to be appointed to it.
  • If the city is just starting on a climate action
    plan, then recommend that the mayor form a Cool
    City Citizens Advisory Committee with
    representatives from a broad spectrum of the
    community.

25
A WORD OF CAUTION ABOUT CLIMATE ACTION PLANS
  • Your campaign is about action and solutions, not
    meetings!!
  • We are interested in energy solutions on the
    ground, rather than committees and plans.
  • City should be strongly encouraged to take
    actions now while the plan is being discussed and
    finalized.

26
Celebrate the Mayors Signing!
  • Organize a Cool City news conference
  • (Practical Tips in Toolkit)
  • Request the mayors participation in a news
    conference to announce the signing and to thank
    the mayor publicly.

27
Your Successful News Conference
  • Creates an initial expectation that the mayor is
    committed to action
  • Elevates the issue for the local media
  • Strengthens relationships with the mayor
  • Provides meaningful and fun activity for
    volunteers

28
Follow up the News Conference
  • Letters-to-the-editor and an op-ed about the
    mayor signing on.
  • These efforts are very important in order to set
    up accountability down the road.
  • Celebrate with a Cool City House Party and have
    folks write LTEs thanking the mayor and giving
    the message of the campaign.

29
Tactics to Pressure the Reluctant Mayor
  • Send and/or present an organizational sign-on
    letter representing a broad coalition of the
    community to the mayor.
  • Collect signatures from the public on post cards
    or petitions, and present a large number of them
    to the mayor in person (and perhaps in front of
    the media).

30
More Tactics
  • Meet with local church, business groups, school
    board, etc and ask them to support a call for
    the mayor to sign the agreement.
  • Organize a public event (such as a hybrid car
    ride or drive in a park) and ask people who
    attend to contact the mayor.

31
More Tactics
  • Conduct a letter-to-the-editor campaign to the
    local paper and submit an Op-Ed.
  • Ask a supportive local leader, such as a council
    member, to talk to the mayor about signing the
    Mayors Agreement.
  • Ask another mayor in your state who has signed
    the agreement to contact your mayor.

32
More Tactics
  • If your mayor follows the lead of the city
    manager or purchasing manager on these issues,
    seek their support ahead of time.
  • See Planning Cool City Events in Toolkit for
    more practical organizing tips

33
MOVING YOUR MAYOR FROM TALK TO ACTION
  • Hold your mayor accountable to his/her pledge
  • Use tactics for pressuring reluctant mayor but
    use strong accountability language (walk the
    talk, keeping his word, etc) in all of your
    public and media messaging.

34
Focus on Specific Energy Solution
  • Lower hanging fruit such as replacing
    energy-wasting light bulbs with CFLs in city
    buildings, or a regulation requiring the city to
    purchase Energy Star electronics and appliances.
  • Or work for more visible, higher profile
    solutions (hybrid taxis or building a town wind
    turbine) to attract attention to the Mayors
    pledge.

35
More Accountability Tactics
  • Ask mayor to support a smart energy solution
    (energy efficiency building standards) and also
    oppose a bad energy project (new dirty coal-fired
    power plant).
  • Make case that bad energy project will make it
    much more difficult, if not impossible, for the
    city to meet its global warming reduction
    target/goals to which the Mayor agreed.

36
Moving Your Campaign Forward
  • Keep momentum going by staying involved in your
    citys energy solution decision-making process,
    and communicating regularly with fellow
    volunteers and partners.
  • Distributing progress reports of specific
    successes and celebrating successes keep people
    motivated.

37
Keeping People Involved
  • Organize presentations on local energy solutions
    and issues by local energy experts, business
    owners and government officials
  • Give Cool City presentations to community groups
  • Show short energy solution films such as
    Kilowatt Ours (kilowattOurs.org) and/or hold a
    book discussion group
  • Send out energy solution stories via an email
    listserv
  • Mailing a Cool City newsletter

38
Keeping People Involved
  • Tabling at energy-related events
  • Organize events such as a hybrid ride and drive,
    and group tours to noteworthy local energy
    efficient buildings and renewable energy projects
  • Ask local community newspaper for a regular
    column about energy issues
  • Meet with your papers editor or editorial board
    to discuss the citys progress and/or
    implementation of a solution

39
Enlist Your Mayor to Advocate
  • Ask your mayor to write a letter that urges other
    mayors to sign on the Mayors agreement and to
    adopt the money and energy-saving solutions that
    are proving successful in your city.
  • Success breeds success!

40
Smart Energy City Solutions
  • Advocate For
  • Green Vehicles
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Renewable Energy
  • Success stories from cities in the Cool Cities
    Solutions Guide

41
Specific Success Stories
  • When discussing solutions with your mayor, give
    specific examples of another city doing what you
    are advocating that your city do.
  • For example, Salt Lake City taxpayers are saving
    over 60,000 per year on energy costs by
    installing energy efficient light bulbs in
    traffic signals and interior lighting in
    government buildings.

42
GREEN VEHICLES
  • Replace existing city vehicle fleet with hybrids
    and other cleaner vehicles
  • Provide for hybrid car incentives such as free
    parking, lower registration fees
  • Promote public transit options

43
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
  • Require Green Building energy efficient standards
    for new and rehabbed city buildings
  • Replace all conventional light bulbs with CFLs
    and all city street lights with LEDs
  • Encourage the use of efficient combined heat and
    power facilities

44
Renewable Energy Solutions
  • Require of the citys electricity to come from
    renewable energy through citywide renewable
    energy standards or through the citys utility
    contract
  • Have your city purchase green power
  • Get your city to invest in solar panels or wind
    turbines

45
GOOD GOVERNMENT
  • Convene a Cool City Citizens Advisory Board to
    help formulate a city climate action plan

46
More Cool City Solution Resources
  • Rocky Mountain Chapters report, Sustainable
    Cities Best Practices in Renewable Energy
    Energy Efficiency (Austin, Chicago, Fort Collins
    Portland)
  • Massachusetts Climate Action Network Early
    Action Items
  • Apollo Alliance and ICLEIs High Performance
    Cities A Guide to Energy-Saving Policies for
    Urban Areas
  • Selected Best Practices for Successful City
    Energy Initiatives, U.S. Mayors Conference
  • Links to above in Toolkit

47
City Climate Action Plans
  • City Climate Action Plans outline the timetable
    and specific energy solutions to reduce citywide
    energy use, global warming and air pollution, and
    energy costs.
  • Most plans begin with an inventory and analysis
    of city energy sources, uses, costs, and C02
    emissions, before laying out particular energy
    strategies and solutions and their projected
    costs, savings, and global warming pollution
    reduction impacts.

48
Sample Climate Protection Plans
  • Massachusetts Climate Actions guide to writing
    climate action plans in online at
    massclimateaction.org/plans.htm
  • See Toolkit for links to many city climate
    solution plans including Seattle, Keene (NH),
    Fort Collins, Austin, Charleston, Los Angeles,
    Portland (OR), San Francisco, Somerville (MA),
    and San Diego.

49
Cool Counties too!
  • King County, WA
  • Sonoma County, CA
  • Dade County, FL
  • Mecklenburg County, NC

50
Planning Cool City Events
  • Cool City events (the news conference, community
    events like Earth Day, rallies, picnics, etc...)
    are a great opportunity for generating local
    media to highlight visionary local solutions.
  • Step-by-step media event planning guide at
    http//mitchell.sierraclub.org/go/communication/ho
    wto/hold_media_event.html.

51
Planning Media Events
  • Hybrid cars make good visuals
  • Good press event locations
  • Have your volunteers ready
  • Greet media
  • Effective Speakers
  • Follow-up with the no-show media outlets
  • Follow up with speakers and volunteers after the
    event.

52
Concerning Compliance
  • Funds for the Cool Cities campaign come from
    education-only, non-political, non-legislative
    monies (501c3)
  • Sample media materials included in Toolkit are
    approved by Sierra Club compliance, but it is
    still mandatory that all publicly released
    materials be approved by Club compliance
    officers.
  • Please email all media materials to
    compliance.review_at_sierraclub.org at least 72
    hours before they are sent to the media.

53
For More Support and Materials
  • For materials, contact Pete Connolly at
    pete.connolly_at_sierraclub.org
  • For organizing and website support, contact
    Colleen Sarna at colleen.sarna_at_sierraclub.org
  • For other questions and needs, contact Glen Brand
    at glen.brand_at_sierraclub.org

54
Make Your City a Cool City
  • City cleaner cars, energy efficiency and
    renewable energy protect our health and
    environment, create good jobs, and save taxpayer
    dollars.
  • Cities are leading our country into a new energy
    future. And that's cool. Now it's your city's
    turn.
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