The local chapter of an international climate change initiative with some 530 chapters returns to Immanuel Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie on Saturday, April 13, for its monthly meeting. April is Earth Month.
The MN West Suburbs chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) urges legislators in St. Paul and Washington, D.C., to act more quickly to address the earth’s warming.
Immanuel Lutheran parishioner Pat Middeke has been working for and leading the local CCL for about a decade. These days, she serves as an activist and church host for the nonprofit, nonpartisan posse of citizen lobbyists. Its mission is one with Minnesota’s 12 other chapters.
Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN) attended the local CCL’s meeting in December 2023 and discovered its members to be amiable, open-minded, and motivated to persuade elected officials to act boldly and swiftly.
Here’s what EPLN learned and heard during a group chat.
Group co-leader Nicola Philpott shared a confession, a not uncommon one: “I have a 12- and a 13-year-old, and I worry about their mental health. I have to worry about how I am putting climate to them. And I focus on solutions all the time. I do not want to talk about the gloom of it, because it paralyzes people.”
Winnie Lindstam responded to Philpott’s comment: “Yeah, you’re right. If they can be part of the solution, what an exciting thought.”
Group co-leader Scot Adams has lived in Eden Prairie since 1997.
“I see legislative action and lobbying as a primary mover of change,” he said. “We need a lot more engagement with our legislators.”
Edina’s Paul Thompson refers to those within his white-haired age set who remain uncomfortable sharing their thoughts publicly.
“For Minnesotans who are shy (speaking out), this is what we need to do,” he said. “And as we get older, what do have to lose?” Echoing the trumpeting for reform at countless global warming conferences, Thompson said, “We need to show up, stand up and speak up.”
Lindstam, a retired reinsurance broker familiar with homeowner insurance companies during times of violent weather, said, “I tell people if you want to move to Florida, move to Orlando because that’s where the coast will be.”
Lindstam is the group’s liaison to U.S. Rep. Dean Phillip’s office.
Dr. Dave Homans is a retired cardiologist who lives in St. Louis Park.
“One of the things I really like about CCL is the way we do our work, which is when we meet with lobbyists,” Homans said. “We get to know them as people. We develop personal relationships which are as important, if not more important, than anything we could say.”
Eden Prairie’s Claude Buettner shared his thoughts on exponential population growth.
“We have 8.1 billion people,” he said. “When I was born, we had 2.5 billion. It’s possible that in 75 years, there will (again) only be 2.5 billion people on the planet.”
He feels that future population growth can not be sustained. He says politicians don’t have to do anything unless people in the streets force the issue.
Peace Corps veteran Becky Jasper served in Zaire from 1989 to 1991. These days, she works with a nonprofit that awards grants to promising women entrepreneurs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire).
Jasper told EPLN, “We need to take care of our home and not just move to Mars. Right?” She is also in concert with most other CCL members who find it important to put a price on carbon emissions.
Terry Degner has retired from driving Eden Prairie School District buses and misses the primary school kids. Degner has been a video producer, self-published author, and Vietnam veteran.
He commanded the gathered that Saturday morning with urgent, preacherly gravitas. He talked about the sign that hangs in his office that says, “For those who believe in the Kingdom of God, what does it matter if everything earthly crashes.”
Population growth and materialism, he figures, are destroying the planet. He’s worried for his children and grandchildren.
Like Degner and Buettner, Eden Prairie’s David Thomsen considers himself a partial “doomer,” a term for people who believe it’s too late to halt the effects of global warming, including rising temperatures, ice melt, and increasingly severe weather events.
Despite their concerns, he and others continue to attend these meetings.
Thomsen reminded the group that, in fact, progress is being made. The technology and the means to produce and use cleaner energy already exist.
In December, Greg Jason reported on the statewide goals of CCL at the Minnesota Legislature, which would be open for deliberation from Feb. 12 through May 30. The retired environmental engineer serves as the statewide team leader of CCL MN. He seemed practical, tactical and optimistic.
During a phone chat with EPLN and a follow-up email letter on Wednesday, April 3, Jason reported that Senate File 4784, the Minnesota Energy Infrastructure Permitting Act, had garnered bipartisan support. The bill has yet to receive bipartisan support in the House, but he anticipates, or maybe hopes, that it will happen during this session.
If passed, this highly technical reform legislation would increase the energy supply, protect the environment, and “allow community voices to be heard,” Jason said. He added that it would reduce carbon emissions at the speed and scale required for clean energy.
Similar bills are being considered in other states and Washington, D.C.
Editors note: Writer Jeff Strate is a founding board member of Eden Prairie Local News.
• Follow Citizens’ Climate Lobby MN West Suburbs Chapter on Instagram.
• Greg Jason says the Instagram CCL MN West Linktree is the best link to connect with the local chapter.
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