ACTION PLAYBOOK

Contact Congress

Urge your members of Congress to act on a climate solution.

1. Send a personalized email to your members of Congress

Click each button below to send personalized messages – yes, you’ll be customizing! – to your members of Congress about the featured policy priority, then return to this playbook. Keep this page open!

These buttons link to Climate Changemakers current featured advocacy campaign.
You can find email templates for all climate policies here.

It might be tempting to sign your name to the bottom of a completely prewritten email, but personalized emails are much more attention-grabbing. They also get processed individually, whereas mass-produced letters are batched. Our Slack #wins-shoutouts channel is packed with celebratory posts from changemakers who sent personalized emails to elected officials and received awesome personal responses. It’s always worth it!

  • One great way to make a bigger impact in your climate advocacy is to understand exactly who represents you and whether they’re climate champs. We have a resource for that.

2. Make a call

Using your email from Step 1 as a rough call script, call the congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your member of Congress. You’re their constituent; it’s their job to listen to you! You’ll want to start by identifying your constituent status (hi, my name is ___, and I’m your constituent in ___, then just be concise, specific, and authentic.

If they don’t pick up, don’t worry—your voicemail will be documented. And if you prefer to leave a voicemail rather than talk to a real person, call after hours.

3. Tag your members of Congress on social media

Public amplification can grab the attention of policymakers and elicit a response. Turn your personalized message into a social post, being sure to preserve the specific ask. Remember to tag their handles!

Need ideas for your post? Check the blog post or Issue Briefing for this week’s Action Plan.

4. Report back

If you receive a response from your members of Congress, please share it with advocacy@climatechangemakers.org or send a message to a staff member in the Climate Changemakers Slack. You can simply forward email responses or send a screenshot. This enables us to more accurately track our collective impact. If their response was positive, consider sharing it publicly in the Climate Changemakers Slack #wins-shoutouts channel—other changemakers may find it motivating and inspiring. We’re normalizing civic action on climate, and it starts with talking about it.

5. Invite others to take action (don’t skip this!)

Now that you’ve taken action, maximize your impact by talking about it! Network effects are powerful. Talking about civic engagement and climate solutions with friends, family, or followers is a crucial step toward changing cultural norms and making real progress.

📲 Easy option: simply share this LinkedIn post.

(PS. Climate Changemakers is @theclimatevote on all platforms and is active on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Threads).

“The most important thing you can do to fight climate change is to talk about it.”
– Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, climate scientist and communicator

  • Now that you’ve tagged your elected officials on social media, scale your impact by tagging friends in your network as well.

    Top tip: You can borrow facts from the blog post/Issue Briefing, but the most important thing to communicate is why you care and what you want to protect. Share your climate “why!” Share why your network might care.

    Always include a call to action: Whatever you share, end your post with a concrete call to action, such as “Please tweet at your member of Congress” or “check out this playbook.” Then send it!

    Below is sample language you can adapt and customize:

    Just contacted my members of Congress about [POLICY ISSUE]. Tagging fellow [CITY] friends! [TAG HANDLES] Contacting your elected officials really makes a difference, and it’s really empowering (& easier than I expected!) Here's the step-by-step playbook (from @theclimatevote): https://www.climatechangemakers.org/preview-congress

  • A smart way to take this step to the next level is by considering which members of Congress you’d want to target. If there’s a state that seems especially influential in leading on climate or if there’s an important vote coming up on a big climate bill, research which lawmakers might stil be on the fence. Then, find a friend who might be their constituent and invite them to take action!

    Looking for tips and tools for more effective climate convos? We got you.

And that’s it, playbook complete! Feel accomplished.
Thank you for taking action.

🎉 CUE CONFETTI by clicking COMPLETE! 🎉

Want more action?
Go to the current Action Plan

© 2023 Climate Changemakers