A Message from Our Chapter Chair

As I come to the end of a year serving as the chairperson of your chapter, I think it’s an appropriate time to take stock. If there is one thing that my experience in sustainability and advocacy work has taught me, it’s that our climate crisis must be addressed at every level, and it’s not work that any single group, let alone any single person, can possibly do alone.  

From the larger world view, we’ve seen major steps in the right direction like the passage of California SB 253, requiring corporations operating in California with annual gross revenues of more than $1 billion to disclose their scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions — an initiative our chapter endorsed and worked hard to push over the finish line. Our international parent Climate Reality Project did trainings in Asia, Africa, and an extended US training on the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, as well as attending COP 28 in Dubai which included a marathon 24 Hours of Reality session with our founder and chairperson, Al Gore. There is a growing understanding and acceptance of the importance for urgent climate action around the world.  Even with that progress, there is much work to be done. For all the value in having a COP 28 United Nations Climate Summit, fossil fuel interests continue to have a disproportionate and destructive influence. In our country as we start to focus on an upcoming presidential election, one of the major political parties continues to embrace climate denialism, with the leading candidate regularly chanting, “drill, drill, drill!”  The other major political party talks a lot about climate but often moves too slowly and too cautiously. Regardless of your political persuasions, as advocates we must continue to push our representatives at all levels of government to move our society to a place of sustainability for the health and prosperity of all life on our planet.

From the chapter perspective, it’s been an exciting year of lessons, growth, challenges, forming new relationships, and adapting to change. We’ve had a strong influx of new members, and I’m proud to say that as I write this, our chapter membership, around 1500, makes us the largest chapter of Climate Reality Project in the world (at least, that’s my understanding of things). I would have been lost without the tremendous work of our leadership team—they have rocked it. Our Marketing team has revamped our web presence to become a centerpiece not just of our chapter, but for many other organizations tracking environmental events through our calendar. Our Legislative team, working hand-in-hand with colleagues in the San Fernando Valley chapter, are engaged in critical work to shape climate-related lawmaking at every level of government. The Biodiversity Committee has weighed in on state regulations, provided local DEIR comments, and is helping to bring greenscape to schools. The Food Committee has been an important partner on regenerative agriculture work, the Climate Curricula Committee is expanding its mission under new leadership to engage youth, and the Water Committee has raised awareness on water issues and water policy advocacy. I’m really just scratching the surface. Many of you have heard me say the most important work of our chapter is done in our committees. The coming new year is a great time to join one of our committees and make the most of your volunteer time. I think I can speak for all the committees in saying that there is room for you regardless of your experience level and available time.  We’re launching a new Membership Relations team for 2024 to help new and existing members make introductions and connections within the chapter so you can get the most out of your participation.

We've also had exciting chapter meetings in 2023! Our in-person meetings this year included a beach cleanup we did with our friends from Surfrider Foundation, a biodiversity panel and native plant giveaway with the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance, and a weeding day and watershed restoration tour at Westwood Greenway. On the virtual front, we started our Climate Movers and Shakers series of in-depth interviews with people who are out there doing important work in sustainability and climate change mitigation. We ended the year on a high note with our best attended event with Hollywood celebrity environmentalist, Ed Begley Jr. If you miss an interview you can stream previous interviews.

I also want to take a quick moment to ask you to consider supporting our chapter financially if you are in a position to do any end of the year giving. I know when I joined our local chapter, I assumed that it was being funded by the national Climate Reality Project. Nope. While we get a lot of organizational assistance from above, financially we are pretty much on our own. That means our chapter website services, zoom account, administrative costs, and expenses connected to in-person events all come from donations. We do not charge any membership dues or fees for our events (a policy I support), but as we grow and attempt to provide more and better services to you, this does mean that a handful of people on your leadership team are shouldering a significant share of costs to keep the lights on. If you can do so, please consider making a tax deductible donation to our chapter.  We route everything through Climate Reality Project national so we can take advantage of the 501(c)(3) status, but all funds designated for the chapter will go to support chapter expenses.

Lastly, I want to thank all of you for your volunteer efforts and for allowing me the opportunity to work with you. I encourage all of you to choose a climate crisis work lane where you can find the self-empowerment of making a difference. Sometimes that means making meaningful behavioral change in our daily lives. Sometimes it means fighting the entrenched elements of a system that perpetuates the problems we face. There’s room for everyone, young and old, rich and poor, and introvert to extrovert, working at the hyper-local level to the international. We need every bit of the work being done and even more.  To that end, our different perspectives on how we want to affect positive change are all welcome and needed.  I believe we grow stronger with each person added to the mix. Accordingly, I invite you to dig in on what our chapter does in 2024 and find a fit for yourself. And if you don’t see a fit, help us create one for you.

Charles Miller

Chair, Los Angeles Chapter

Climate Reality Project