Build Back Better August Recess Town Hall Meeting Toolkit

Thank you so much for signing up to join the NRDC Action Fund for upcoming congressional town hall meetings in your local community. We’re looking forward to seeing you! Some town hall meetings will be virtual, using tools like Zoom, but others will be in person. Here are quick tips for three different formats to help you prepare.

August Recess Town Hall Best Practices

  • If possible, wear something—a T-shirt or hat—with a message about climate action.
  • Arrive early! Be there at least 30 minutes beforehand so you can meet with an organizer and be up front for the event, which will increase your chances of being able to ask a question.
  • Wear a mask and practice social distancing, maintaining at least six feet from others, and follow local health and safety guidelines.
  • Swag. When you arrive, look for an event organizer who will have swag (e.g., stickers, signs) and information about how to submit your question for the event.
  • Prep a question. This is a great opportunity to ask your member of Congress about how they’re fighting for climate change. See sample questions below.
  • Take a picture and tweet at your member of Congress, either thanking them or holding them accountable for their actions on climate. See sample tweets below.
  • Afterward, call your member of Congress and thank them for holding the town hall, and again, follow up with your asks.

August Recess Virtual Town Hall, Video Conference

  • Log in early! We recommend joining at least five minutes before the event starts.
  • Include your support for climate action in your displayed name. For example: “Jane Doe Supports Clean Energy Jobs”
  • Prepare to submit your question using a Q&A feature, chat feature, or comments section, depending on the virtual platform. See sample questions below.
  • Take a picture—even if it’s just a screenshot of your video conference screen—and tweet it at your member of Congress, either thanking them or holding them accountable for their actions on climate change. See sample tweets below.
  • Afterward, call your member of Congress and thank them for holding the town hall, and again, follow up with your asks.

August Recess Virtual Town Hall, Facebook

  • Follow your member of Congress on Facebook and select “going” to their Facebook town hall event page.
    • Once the event begins, you’ll receive a notification on Facebook.
    • Make sure your notifications are turned on, so you don’t miss out.
  • Submit questions in the comments of the event and include a quick introduction of yourself before asking your question, mentioning that you care about climate and clean energy. See sample questions below.
  • Take a picture and tweet it at your member of Congress, either thanking them or holding them accountable for their actions on climate change. See sample tweets below.
  • Afterward, call your member of Congress and thank them for holding the town hall, and again, follow up with your asks.

Sample Town Hall Questions

Remember, always introduce yourself before asking your question; this helps your representative get to know you and the issues that matter to you. You can include your name, pronouns, town, and one to two sentences about why climate, clean energy jobs, or environmental justice matters to you. For example: “I’m here today because I’m a mother of three, and I want my children to grow up in a world with clean air and clean water.”

  1. General climate action: The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on climate change stressed how urgent the climate crisis is. And we’re seeing it everyday here in the United States with each new record-shattering heat wave, wildfire, storm, or flood. What is Congress doing to tackle climate change and expand clean energy?
  2. Budget reconciliation: Congress is expected to vote on budget reconciliation legislation to fully fund action on climate change, clean energy, safe drinking water, and more. Do you support a strong budget reconciliation bill that addresses these challenges? And if so, what can we do to ensure it passes?
  3. Clean energy jobs: Thank you, Congressman/Congresswoman, for being a leader on clean energy. Can you talk more about what Congress needs to do to create more clean energy jobs and what benefits those would bring to our community?
  4. Environmental justice: Could you talk about what you think Congress needs to do to advance environmental justice? How do we make sure President Biden’s Justice40 commitments are met and ensure that at least 40 percent of environmental benefits head directly into low-income communities and communities of color?
  5. Clean energy: How do you see clean energy benefitting our community and helping us create a more equitable economy?
  6. Transportation: Right now, transportation is the number one source of climate-busting greenhouse gases in America. What are you doing to fully fund clean and affordable transportation options for all, and expand access to clean electric vehicles?
  7. Safe drinking water: Everyone deserves access to safe drinking water, but right now, far too many communities—particularly communities of color—have unreliable access to safe drinking water. What are you doing to make sure that Congress fully funds the $45 billion necessary to make sure all of our kids are drinking safe, lead-free water?
  8. Oil and gas wells: There are up to three million abandoned oil wells across the country that are leaking greenhouse gases and contributing to toxic air and water pollution. What are you doing to ensure there is necessary funding to clean up these dangerous oil and gas wells?
  9. Climate-resilient infrastructure: Given the impacts we’ve seen from floods, storms, wildfires, and other extreme weather events all across the country, how do we ensure we build more climate-resilient infrastructure going forward?

Sample Tweets

Twitter can be a helpful tool in directly reaching your member of Congress and their office. When using these tweets, you should tag your representatives’ account where it says @RepExample and add in their pronouns.

Upcoming Town Hall

Looking forward to @RepExample’s town hall! I’ll be asking how [she/he/they] are fighting for bold climate action in Congress alongside the @NRDC_AF.

Thanking Them for Their work:

.@RepExample, thank you for taking time to talk to us during your town hall today and your continued work with @NRDC_AF! I appreciated hearing about your effort to protect our climate and community and ensure Congress passes the #BuildBackBetter agenda.

Demanding Action

The science is clearer than ever on climate change and it’s time for action.

When I asked @RepExample’s about how [she/he/they] is going to protect our planet and community at today’s town hall, [she/he/they] didn’t go far enough. The first step should be passing the #BuildBackBetter agenda.

Resources

For more information about our campaign to push Congress to take climate action: