The Citizens’ Climate Lobby hosted a climate action event Sunday at the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute in Moscow. Speakers talked about steps people can make to contact their congressial representatives about climate change.

The CCL Palouse Chapter includes members throughout the entire Palouse region. The purpose of the climate action event was to introduce families with children on how to address climate change, said Mary DuPree, co-leader of CCL Palouse Chapter. 

The event included a presentation educating attendees about the mission of CCL and how to take action against climate change. Supervised plant potting, coloring and craft activities were provided for children while parents attended the presentation. 

DuPree said she wants families to feel optimistic that there are things they can do about climate change. 

“What you see here is a bunch of people who think, ‘we can do this,’” DuPree said. “We need to keep on pushing the government to create policies that will have a major impact on climate change.”

During the event, volunteers passed out business cards that had a scannable QR code listing steps on how to contact government officials. 

“The purpose of this organization is to help citizens reach out to their congresspeople and get systemic changes. We need legislation. You have real power when people reach out to their representatives and get legislative changes,” said CCL volunteer Simon Smith. 

One of the CCL’s priorities for 2022 is growing their community and inviting families to join. Outreach events like this one help give community members an opportunity to take action against climate change, said CCL volunteer Margaret Davis. 

Keith Vandegrift, CCL member, and his family attended the climate action event. Vandegrift said he brought his family because it was a family-friendly event.

“The downside of climate disasters is scary and people should be concerned,” Vandegrift said.

The CCL’s main priority is getting community members to call congress once a month to demonstrate concern about climate change. Calling representatives shows people want to take action and make a change, according to the CCL website.

“There’s an old saying, it’s better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness,” Davis said. “A lot of the members of this group are optimists and they’re just willing to keep going. I think that’s very worthwhile.”