Wilbur Li is a junior at MIT studying computer science and mechanical engineering who hopes to make his future career in clean energy. Growing up in Sugar Land, Texas, Wilbur heard alarmist, doomsday messages on climate change in the media in middle school, but he learned more about the science in high school and college. When he heard about the Put a Price On It campaign led by Our Climate, he decided it was time to take action. He co-founded the Climate Action Team at MIT with fellow MIT student Claire Halloran.

Regina Pistilli is a published poet and a member of the CCL Salt Lake City Chapter. For 10 years, she served as the Vice President of Information Technology for MP Associates in Boulder, CO. Now, she devotes herself to writing and volunteering. Her work with Citizens’ Climate Lobby takes up almost all her free time. In just a little over a year of being involved with CCL, she has published four op-eds in prominent newspapers across her state, including The Salt Lake Tribune. She co-coordinated the 2018 Wild West regional conference and helped organize over 6,000 screenings of the film “Saving Snow” across the country during Earth Week 2018.

Natalie Desmaris had her hands in a lot of exciting climate work. She’s been at it since high school, when she joined clubs and took environmental studies. In college, she founded a chapter of CCL on her campus, and she studied abroad in Tanzania, which brought the threat of climate change into focus. In this Q&A, Natalie shares what she’s learned during those efforts and her time as CCL’s Higher Education Outreach Intern.

Last May, the CCL community met air pollution scientist, Dr. Shahir Masri and educator Athina Simolaris as they planned their cross-country climate outreach journey. Having returned now from their 12,000-mile tour through 36 states, during which they organized over 30 climate events, 35 video interviews, and surveyed more than 300 people, I sat down with Dr. Masri to hear his reflections and lessons learned from this ambitious project.

Jonathan realized there was a lack of conversation about climate change among students on campus, so he founded the Princeton Student Climate Initiative. After initial grassroots outreach at school using CCL’s own constituent engagement kit, the group wanted to go to the state level. NJ State Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker asked them to write a white paper on how a carbon pricing policy for the state could look.

A former seasonal park ranger at Crater Lake National Park and Everglades National Park, Brian Ettling recently completed a tour across his home state of Missouri where he spoke to hundreds of faculty, students, and community members to promote CCL and climate action.

Nairobi is CCL’s fall Diversity Fellow in our Washington, D.C., office. Before joining CCL, she served as Director of Operations for a Wisconsin member of Congress—go Packers! Despite being pulled in a lot of directions, Nairobi was in charge of the office’s climate change portfolio, which is how she became aware of CCL.

Jeremy Clark and Charlie Abrams are not your average high school freshmen. As members of the Portland, Oregon chapter of CCL, they’ve already lobbied their members of Congress in Washington, D.C., been featured on local news, and testified in support of clean energy legislation. Last year they were nominated for the Children’s Climate Prize, and they flew to Sweden to be recognized, and just last month, they received the 2018 International Young Eco-Hero Award.

A sophomore at Oberlin College, Jess is majoring in political science and environmental studies. She is also a musician, equestrian, and poet and has been involved with ecology clubs since her childhood. This year, Jess started a CCL chapter at Oberlin College and worked with the local CCL chapter to get the Oberlin City Council to pass a resolution endorsing Carbon Fee and Dividend. 

Hogan is a student at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, majoring in Environmental Studies and Philosophy, with a minor in Outdoor Studies. Between his school work and his time spent running cross country and track and field, he works with several student environmental groups: DivestSLU, Seed-to-Table, and Environmental Action Organization. Hogan also interned with the university’s Office of Sustainability and was a Summer and Fall fellow with Our Climate last year.