Day 9: Preparing for the Big Day by Whitney Barnett

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July 8th, 2019

Preparing for the Big Day
by Whitney Barnett

I am anxiously awaiting my meeting with my representative in a few days, but today improved my self confidence and my optimism for the future of environmental advocacy. At the beginning of the program, I was less nervous than I am now, since it seemed like such a far out concept. Now that the day is approaching, I’m feeling more and more pressure to succeed, especially with all the practice we are getting. 

Today we had another meeting with a CCL member and each time we hear about CCL, the more interested I become in this monumental organization. We learned more about how to lobby and actually started to practice the roles which was very helpful as I know now that I will not be confused or lost while in a different representative’s meeting. I know how I can fully support the asker to the best of my abilities. Since I share a representative with another member of the program, we had the opportunity to practice talking parts which was very helpful so that we can feel comfortable and confident in our meeting. I am really glad that Chloe and I chose to lobby for the same bill because it makes it simpler to split the meeting between the two of us because we can both just explain our own perspectives. Although we still have quite a bit of practicing, we certainly made good progress today during practice.
An excited group of environmental lobbyists!
Later in the evening we watched a video of a CCL Conference with keynote speaker Piper Christian, which was especially inspiring to me. Seeing people who are making such strides at a young age is so inspiring because it makes me realize that my age is not a barrier, but rather an asset as I am a part of the change-making generation that potentially has the power to make a difference. Additionally, seeing inspirational content related to environmental advocacy truly instils hope in me because most of the time the tone is pessimistic when discussing climate change. However, when watching videos like we watched tonight, it reminds me to keep hope alive for the future and to remember to celebrate the small differences in our fight to solve climate change. 

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