Emily Wirzba, from Friends National Committee on Legislation, and her colleague Jose Aguto, accompanied members of Miami Friends Meeting and other participants from last Sunday's lobbying workshop to meetings with staff at the offices of Rep. Mario Diaz Balart and Rep. Carlos Curbelo yesterday (6-15-16). Emily was "really impressed" in the tone and manner in which we conveyed our personal concerns and related to the staffers. Positive and strong connections were made, specially in Rep. Curbelo's office. Persistence, Emily reminded us in the workshop, is the name of the game. Please consider coming with us when we visit again. Although we did not accomplish our specific objective in our visit to Diaz-Balart's office, we ended the meeting by calling for a moment of silence and an end to the blockage of politics and bureaucracy that has impeded significant Congressional legislation for mitigation and adaptation to sea level rise and global warming.

article by Kathy Hersh and photos by Emily Wirzba