A fast-growing organization composed of 155 volunteers in The Woodlands is taking a grassroots approach to lessen the effects of climate change. It is doing so through community outreach and working with members of Congress.
Formed in March 2015, The Woodlands chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby is one of eight groups in the Greater Houston area and one of two in Montgomery County alone. The organization gives area residents a new mechanism to become proactive about climate change through advocating in favor of a carbon fee and dividend approach, member Larry Kremer said.
“This organization is laser-focused on a specific policy to affect climate change,” he said.
The carbon fee and dividend strategy is a market-based approach that is considered revenue-neutral, Kremer said.
“It starts small with a fee on fossil fuels, whether it’s coal or oil and gas,” he said. “Each year, it goes up a little bit.”
The money that is collected is then dispersed to households, and residents can decide how they want to spend it. However, CCL fully expects that energy companies will pass along the fees and gradually increase the cost of fossil-based products, Kremer said.
The CCL has several approaches to building awareness, one of which is community outreach. The organization has set up tables or given presentations for other organizations in The Woodlands, such as the Grogan’s Mill Farmers Market, Lone Star College-Montgomery, and The Woodlands GREEN.
The group also focuses on lobbying elected officials, specifically U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands.
“We have good relationships with the local Brady office in Conroe, and we also lobby the office in D.C.,” Kremer said.
In the Greater Houston area, members of various CCL groups come from all backgrounds and ages. Additionally, many members work or are retired from oil producers and suppliers, member Carolyn Newman said.
“The major oil companies, they understand the science … more and more, the companies are viewing themselves as energy companies, not oil and gas companies,” she said.
