Paris will set the stage for long-term international cooperation on climate disruption, but it's the actions we take at the local, regional, and national level that will ultimately move us beyond fossil fuels and toward climate stability.

 

Local and national momentum on key issues like transportation, energy efficiency, dirty fuels, and protecting our forests and wild lands helped put the United States on the path to make a strong and meaningful climate commitment. And the U.S. is in a better position to seek an ambitious climate outcome because of the countless local climate campaigns lead by Sierra Club and grassroots movement leaders across the country.

 

As world leaders make their final plans for Paris, we can show our commitment to climate action with a drumbeat of local climate commitments. That's why we're launching Local to Global (L2G), which will highlight the bold and ambitious local climate victories from across the Sierra Club. By showing that communities across the U.S. are not only ready to act, but already doing so, we can continue to demonstrate momentum and strong commitment for this international climate package. And we can do this all while building a stronger Sierra Club. The buzz around Paris provides an exciting organizing moment to build chapter and group capacity, including new and deeper relationships with partner organizations, engagement with local officials, and recruiting new members and developing new leaders.

 

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Paris is a key moment for us to push for a new climate victory and to highlight the existing commitments that local governments have already made. One great way to do this is to work with your mayor to send a letter to President Obama. This letter can highlight new and existing commitments and show your mayor's support for a strong agreement in Paris. If you mayor does agree to send a letter to President Obama, please let the L2G delivery team know and we'll feature it on actinparis.org as well as deliver it to the White House in November.

 

You can find a sample letter here that can be adapted for your local campaign.

 

We're also launching the #ActInParis campaign to showcase all of the amazing work across the Sierra Club in the lead up to Pairs -- and we need your help! We'll be using the hashtag #ActInParis from now through December to highlight when chapters take local action, when there are exciting new climate commitments from other countries, when the Pope comes to the U.S. in September, and when we head to Paris this winter. You can join the conversation by using #ActInParis on social media and by taking a climate selfie to show President Obama you support strong climate action in Paris! We'll be collecting the photos and taking them with us to Paris to display at the negotiations.  

 

The Compact of Mayors is a global coalition of mayors and city officials committing to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions, enhance resilience to climate change, and track their progress publicly. It was launched in 2014 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg under the leadership of the world's global city networks. Your city or twon can join this global movement by signing on to the Compact. A mayor may register on either the Compact's partner reporting platforms -- Carbonn Climate Registry (carbonn.org/join/) or CDP (compactofmayors.cdp.net/join-the-compact-of-mayors). For more information, check out the Compact of Mayors FAQ.

 

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The L2G delivery team will keep volunteers appraised of the developments leading up to the Paris climate negotiations thorugh regular calls so that they can share this information with others. These calls can also be linked to existing training programs, such as a media or HELEN training, for new volunteers recruited thorugh the Paris outreach process.

 

If you have any questions, please reach out to Jameka Hodnett at jameka.hodnett@sierraclub.org.