Guest blog: Peaceful Jeff's Leadership Summit experience

From guest blogger Jeff Cobb, a Climate Precinct Captain from Cincinnati, Ohio.

So, the 1Sky Team calls me "PeacefulJeff," because that's my email address, and I was at the Leadership Summit meeting this weekend. They asked me to describe some of my experiences, so here's my take on the summit:

I got involved in climate change after watching An Inconvenient Truth [1] in 2007. It was clear that something needed to be done, but I had no idea what to do. I learned of Step It Up 2007, which morphed into 1Sky in 2008, and became a Climate Precinct Captain (CPC) [2]. When the Leadership Summit was announced, I was in heaven! I knew I needed help recruiting people and keeping them involved.

I learned about building "intentional relationships" as part of recruiting, and different leadership styles needed once a team has been put together. All of the training involved role-playing and other active exercises, a style of learning I dread due to my introverted, shy nature, but I would not have had it any other way for this kind of training. We also got an update on how to use Web 2.0 tools like Facebook [3], Twitter [4], blogs, along with an updated version of the soon-to-be-released CPC tool by Internet Director Garth Moore. The weekend was very intense, the pace was fast and kept on time. However, leisure was not neglected; 1Sky suggested local activities for after the training, if we wanted to decompress, which I did.

1Sky scheduled me lobby visits with Rep. Driehaus, and Senator Sherrod Brown. Jason Kowalski [5], a 1Sky policy wonk who talks about climate change policy without missing a beat came with me (although really I tagged along after him, he took the discussion to a whole new level).

I would be remiss without thanking Tommi Drum and his wife Jessica for letting me stay with them during the time I was in DC. Tommi is a former 1Sky intern, and current Climate Precinct Captain. I also want to thank the trainers at Wellstone Action [6] for their wonderful training.

I don't think it [ACES passage [7]] would have happened without 1Sky, and I want to thank them for their part in this truly historic moment! These people have earned a good hangover!