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Citizens' Climate Lobby Founder Marshall Saunders attended his first meeting as a citizen lobbyist on Capitol Hill in 1994. He left with a better understanding of the power that a well-organized, properly trained group of citizens could wield to make the world a better place.

After learning about the urgency of climate change in 2006, he began giving talks to audiences about climate change and the personal choices people could make to reduce their carbon footprint. He started to realize, however, that those personal choices were being dwarfed by the policy choices being made by lawmakers in Washington.

During one presentation at a senior citizens center, a concerned woman asked him: "What should we do?"

“What’s needed is thousands of ordinary people organized, lobbying their members of Congress with one voice, one message, and lobbying in a relentless, unstoppable, yet friendly and respectful way.”

— Marshall Saunders,

CCL Founder

The woman asked, "Why don't you do that?" and by 2007, the first chapter of Citizens' Climate Lobby was founded.

Marshall exemplified the notion of being the change you wish to see in the world. Always kind, always generous, and leading with love, he took it a step further, empowering tens of thousands to be the change. As Marshall told CCL volunteers in 2013: