Each month, LCV shares five stories about the impact of our work. This month, we’re focusing on the No Kings peaceful protests, holding congressional Republicans accountable for rising energy prices, state clean energy progress, celebrating 10 years of Chispa, and our innovative work with content creators on public lands.

This Month’s Stories

1. No Kings: Nationwide Peaceful Protests Draw Millions

LCV was a steering committee convener of No Kings, the nationwide day of nonviolent protests that mobilized 7 million people to defend democracy on October 18.

Why It Matters

• President Trump has repeatedly defied the courts, disregarded the Constitution, and acted like a wanna-be king.
• Actions by his administration, and its allies in Congress, are eroding our democracy and making our lives riskier and costlier.
• Anyone who wants clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, safe communities, a healthy climate, an end to government corruption, and a free and fair democracy has a stake in this movement.

A Growing Movement

• As a leader in the environmental and democracy movements, LCV is part of a broad coalition working to mobilize the public through nonviolent protest — a fundamental right and a cornerstone of our democracy.
• Over 7 million people turned out for October’s No Kings peaceful protests, one of the largest single-day protests in our nation’s history.
• This is millions more than the 5 million people who joined the first No Kings event in June, and more than twice as many who attended Hands Off! rallies in April — a clear indication that our movement is growing.
• The movement reflects the diversity of the country, with more than 2,700 events attended by people of all ages in towns and cities in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Dig Deeper: 5 things to know About No Kings (and our ideas for protest signs) 

2. We Can’t Afford This: Holding Congressional Republicans Accountable for Rising Energy Prices

As energy costs soar across the country, LCV showed up in the home districts of members of Congress who voted for Trump’s Big Ugly Bill to deliver a powerful message: We can’t afford this. Our work is helping to shape a national narrative on high costs and affordable clean energy.

Why It Matters

• Republicans in Congress voted to gut investments in clean energy, healthcare, and other vital programs when they passed Trump’s ‘Big Ugly’ budget bill in July.
• Their votes, along with other actions by the Trump administration and Congress, are causing already soaring electricity costs to be even higher.
• Meanwhile, power-hungry data centers are putting new demands on the grid, with a typical AI data center using as much energy as 100,000 homes.
• The public is concerned about rising costs.

What We’re Doing

Since launching our campaign in August, we’ve been blanketing the airwaves and taking to the streets in 10 congressional districts to hold Republicans publicly accountable for their votes. LCV and our state affiliates recently wrapped up a six-week field program to drive action and visibility in nine states.

Together, we sent a message that constituents want congressional Republicans to lower costs and invest in clean energy, by:

• Organizing more than 190 events to rally constituents in their districts.
• Delivering more than 10,600 signed petitions to 10 congressional Republican offices.
• Making 33,400 phone calls to constituents to drive calls to lawmakers and attendance at in-state events.
• Generating more than 40 media stories to help drive the national narrative on costs and clean energy.

Here’s a video from Pennsylvania, where constituents attempted to drop off 1,600 petitions at the Harrisburg office of U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (PA-10), in partnership with content creator Jess Britvich:

Feeling the Heat

• These efforts are mobilizing community members and showcasing how Republicans who voted for the Big Ugly Bill are increasing costs for families across the country.
• Our communications are having an impact. A national narrative on affordable clean energy is taking hold, and elected leaders, the media, and candidates are increasingly talking about its importance.

Dig Deeper: 5 reasons why your electric bill is so high.

3. LCV State Affiliates Advance Clean Energy Amid Federal Rollbacks

While the federal government aggressively rolls back clean energy, the Conservation Voters Movement is having great success rallying the public and pushing state and local leaders to take action. A new memo outlines our movement’s progress in 13 states so far this year.

New Wins This Year

Here are just a few examples of progress our state affiliates pushed for and won this year:

Dig Deeper: Read the full memo here.

Why It Matters

• As Trump and congressional Republicans continue rolling back federal clean energy investments, utility bills are rising for people nationwide. Clean energy is more affordable — and better for our health and planet — than fossil fuels.
• Even without federal tax incentives, wind and solar energy projects are now less expensive to bring online than nearly all fossil fuel projects.
• State-level action is critical not only to hold the line against federal attacks, but to keep the country moving forward on climate.

Lowering Climate Emissions & Boosting the Economy

Last month, the U.S. Climate Alliance, a coalition of 24 governors supporting climate action, released new data showing that, collectively, their states have reduced greenhouse gas emissions 24% below 2005 levels, while increasing their GDP by 34%.

Alliance states are lowering emissions faster than the rest of the U.S. — and they’re continuing to employ more clean energy workers, reduce air pollution, and execute more planning for fossil-fueled climate disasters than other states.

Related: Our state affiliates are also winning important victories defending and advancing voting rights. Read our new memo on democracy wins by LCV state partners in 2025.

4. Chispa Turns Ten!

Latine Heritage Month ran from September 15 to October 15, and we celebrated a decade of community-driven environmental justice advocacy by LCV’s Chispa program.

A Decade of Organizing for Climate Justice

Chispa is LCV’s organizing program that engages Latine communities on issues that directly impact them, develops local leaders, and advocates for climate and environmental justice.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Chispa released a new bilingual video, “Por Nuestro Futuro: A Decade of Chispa Organizing for Climate Justice.” The video features Chispa activists and tells inspiring stories of the program’s history and impact, such as:

Watch Chispa’s 10-year anniversary video below:

“As our Latine communities face growing threats and attacks, it’s important that we acknowledge our work so far, and our commitment to the future and fight ahead,” said former LCV Chispa Senior Director Estefany Carrasco-González.

Related: Local TV news: Chispa Nevada Rekindles ‘Spark’ for the Environment During Latino Conservation Week.

5. LCV’s Innovative Content Creator Program Drives 9+ Million Views for Public Lands

As the Trump administration tries to sell off public lands all over the country, LCV partnered with content creators to call public attention to the issue — and reached millions of people who we might not otherwise engage.

Why It Matters

• According to Pew, 1 in 5 Americans — and more than 1 in 3 Americans under 30 — report regularly getting their news from content creators on social media.
• As the traditional media environment continues to fracture, LCV is committed to informing a wide audience through innovative tactics, including working with content creators and social media influencers.

Driving Engagement on Public Lands

• As a part of our campaign to stop the sell-off of public lands, LCV partnered with dozens of creators nationwide to create over 100 individual posts in English and Spanish across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube.
• We focused on working with creators who could reach a broad, bipartisan audience — not just those speaking to the left.
• With more than 9 million views and 735k likes, shares, and comments to date, the program is outperforming industry standards. This underscores LCV’s commitment to engaging in innovative tactics that can help shape public discourse, and our effectiveness at reaching a diverse audience.

What’s Next

• In the coming months, we’ll be facilitating events with creators in multiple cities across the country to support collaboration on lands-focused content. 
• We’re also in the midst of a similar project focused on accountability for lawmakers who voted to raise costs by passing Trump’s budget, aka the Big Ugly Bill. 
• In 2026, we hope to expand both programs, plus develop similar creator programs in other advocacy areas.

Related: On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we shared a message from artist Steph Littlebird of Oregon’s Grande Ronde Confederated Tribes about the need to protect public lands.