By David Holmquist

The big news this month is the commitment made by CCL staff and 1,000 assembled volunteers at the International Conference: to have a Carbon Fee & Dividend bill introduced in Congress in 2017, and to secure its passage. This is a new chapter for CCL, so come to the meeting to hear a report on the conference and the beginnings of a new legislative strategy. Our guest speaker this month on the national conference call will be Matthew Anderson, director of the National Audubon Society's Climate Initiative. In 2014, Audubon released a report, Birds and Climate Change, which found that 314 bird species — nearly half of all North American birds — are severely threatened by global warming.

We will meet in the main floor meeting room in the Dole Branch of the Oak Park Public Library, 255 Augusta Avenue in Oak Park, 11:30am.

Coffee will be served at 11:30, and we will listen to the live international conference call beginning at noon. Discussions and planning will follow, and we will adjourn at 2 o'clock. There is a newly installed Divvy bike station at Dole, so pick up a bike and try it out!