Hawai'i Chapter: Don't Forget Your Bag

The 50th state might become the very first state in the country to bag the bag if an idea the legislature is currently weighing becomes law. Last week, the Sierra Club's Hawai'i Chapter joined a coalition outside Honolulu's capitol building and covered the outside lawn with plastic bags, giving state legislators a visual sense of our country's massive bag problem.

"A plastic bag is almost like the modern day tumble weed," says Robert Harris, Chapter Director. "Being a marine state, we have to be more vigilant about eliminating them before they get into the ecosystem."

The bill being considered would target all bags -- paper and plastic -- and tack on a fee of 10 cents that would go toward restoring and protecting watersheds and rainforest areas that get trampled by invasive animals -- goats, sheep, deer, pigs. Supporters believe a state-wide bag fee could raise about $20 million a year.

Don't like the idea of a fee? No problem. Bring your own bag.

"Bags are the low hanging fruit in terms of our waste stream," Harris said.

Last week's rally received a big boost from Diana Sellner, a local Girl Scout who mobilized help as part of her bid to earn the Gold Award, the scouting program's top award. Soon after she began, environmental groups, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, and retailers hopped on board. 

Club Mobilizes Public to Block Bryce Boondoggle

Photo by Niles Urry, courtesy of EnviroNews

The last Friday in January, the Sierra Club held a rally and press conference outside the Bureau of Land Management's office in Salt Lake City and hand-delivered sample copies of 210,126 email comments to the BLM state director's office. That's Club organizer Tim Wagner, below, delivering the comments.

The comments were in opposition to a proposal by Alton Coal Development to expand its operations by leasing and strip-mining more than 3,500 acres of federal land a mere 10 miles from Bryce Canyon National Park, below, which many consider to be among the U.S. Park Service's crown jewels.

Photo by Jean-Christophe Benoist

"The mine expansion would effectively turn this region—arguably the prettiest part of Utah—into an industrial zone," Wagner says. "Bryce Canyon is one of America's great beauty icons, and a strip mine right outside the park is not what Utahns or the rest of the nation wants to see."

Dan Mayhew, conservation chair for the Sierra Club's Utah Chapter, points to the heavy truck traffic the mine expansion would bring—more than 300 trucks a day when round-trips are factored in.

The Club's Resilient Habitats and Water Sentinels programs have trained local activists to test streams in the area to expose the coal industry's assertion that strip mining won't affect water quality.

"We want to see the U.S. move away from coal," Wagner says. "Allowing a 20-to-35-year strip mine to occur is a huge displacement of clean energy opportunities."

Home Solar Project Generates a Buzz

Eric Deyerl describes himself as "an environmental guy," so he was predisposed to like the idea of generating his own electricity. What held him back was the price tag of installing a home solar system. But thanks to generous local rebates and federal tax credits, he was able to make the leap and install solar panels on his roof in Los Angeles.

"The rebate from the L.A. Department of Water and Power and the federal credit paid for nearly three-quarters of the project," he says. "That made it go from exotic to practical. And with our energy savings the system will pay for itself in 6-7 years." The family's monthly energy bill is now about $70.

The Inner City Outings Kids Are Alright

"This trail is so … naturey. There's so much going on all around us!" says a middle schooler.

"This is the most fun day I've ever had outside," says another.

"When I grow up I'm going to make a forest," says a first grader.

These are among the things often heard by Liz Wheelan, chair of Inner City Outings in Dallas, while leading trips for kids who never experience the outdoors. For years she has written down quotes as she's heard them.

"The kids say it better than I do," she says.

Inner City Outings encompasses 50 volunteer-run groups across the country that lead more than 800 trips and affect the lives of 14,000 kids each year. These kids commonly live in high-crime areas and rarely see the outdoors beyond their neighborhoods. Whether it's backpacking, whitewater rafting, or camping at a place they'd never heard of before, kids who experience ICO trips learn of a whole other world. And they take the memories with them.

"One of them actually mentioned ICO in his valedictorian speech and how that had helped him become more self confident and see things outside of Dallas," Liz says. "It still makes me teary. I can't imagine kids not having the outdoors. That's why making it possible for them is the best use of the time I have."

Liz grew up in Northwest Illinois in Rock Island, next to the Mississippi River. Her town sat adjacent to a state park, where she would visit frequently as a respite.

NY Natural Gas Activists Rally for Better Drilling Safeguards

Rally go-ers at in Albany, NY. Photo by Jessica Riehl.

On January 23, 2012, more than 800 New Yorkers descended on the New York State Capitol for the 2012 Hydro-Fracking Day of Action organized by the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club.

The event was organized to call on elected officials to safeguard vital water resources, air quality, public health, and the environment from industrial gas drilling by means of high volume hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." Fracking uses high-pressure injection of water, sand, and unknown chemicals to free natural gas from shale deposits.

"Sierra Club's Atlantic Chapter joined many other folks from across the state last week in standing up for New York's clean water and clean air,” said Deb Nardone, Sierra Club Natural Gas Reform Campaign Director. "Right now, the natural gas industry is fracking across the country with few safeguards in place to protect the communities living with it."

For the rally, the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter garnered the support of nearly 50 other grass roots organizations, and more than 200 members of the Atlantic Chapter attended the rally as well.  Activists from every quarter of the State blanketed the Capital in Albany and spoke to nearly all members of the Legislature. 

The rally landed multiple media hits, and here’s video of some of the rally’s attendees telling why it was important for them to be there.

 
"New York is determined to not become the next fracking victim, and they showed that at the rally,” said Nardone.

Congrats to the following Sierra Club staffers and volunteers for their hard work organizing the rally: Chapter Conservation Organizer Roger Down; Chapter Conservation Associate Caitlin Pixley; Chapter Conservation Associate and volunteers Gusti Swartz and Kate Bartholomew; Arthur Kuypers, Assistant Conservation Chair; Chris Burger, Zero Waste Chair; Executive Committee members Hal Bauer, Jane Fasullo, Susan Leifer, Art Kline; and many more.

You can learn more about the natural gas fight in New York in this column by Sierra Club Conservation Director Sarah Hodgdon.

-- Cross-posted on Sierra Club's Compass blog.

Overwhelming Public Support for New Clean Car Standards

At a series of EPA clean car hearings held in late January in Detroit, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, more than 500 citizens turned out to testify in support of stronger fuel economy standards proposed by the Obama administration.

Under the new EPA and National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration standards, new cars would average 54.5 miles-per-gallon by 2025 and emit 35 percent less carbon pollution than 2016 models.

That's Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune, above at a lunchtime rally during the San Francisco hearing, and testifying, below.

"Every day we send nearly $1 billion overseas for foreign oil, wasting money that should be fueling American innovation and investment in growing industries like clean energy," Brune said in his testimony. "President Obama's proposal to double the efficiency of America's cars and light trucks is the biggest single step we've ever taken to move America beyond oil."

Listen to Brune's testimony here.

Sierra Club activists were key in turning out citizens to testify at all three hearings, and Club activists wrote op-eds in local newspapers in all three cities and held press events prior to each hearing. Citizens who couldn't attend a hearing but still want to speak up in support of clean cars can submit comments to the EPA by February 15.

San Diego Chapter's Legal Eagles Watch Polluters Like a Hawk

By Richard Miller, Development and Membership Coordinator, and Pamela Epstein, Legal Eagles Environmental Law & Policy Clinic Program Manager, Carolyn Chase, 2011 Chapter Chair, San Diego Chapter.

The San Diego Chapter Environmental Law and Policy Clinic –- "Legal Eagles" employs strategic action and regulatory advocacy to ensure the protection of San Diego and Imperial Counties' natural resources, and challenge those who seek to pollute and/or violate our federal, state, and local environmental laws, including the California Environmental Quality Act and the National Environmental Quality Act. The Legal Eagles work toward honest governmental decision-making and respect for environmental laws.

The Legal Eagles oppose development projects that threaten clean water, wetlands, endangered species, environmental justice, "smart growth" and clean air in San Diego and Imperial counties. The Legal Eagles also build relationships by collaborating with others in the local, state, and national environmental and legal communities, including environmental organizations, community groups, and public officials. In assembling a network of groups who share our values and by engaging our existing grassroots supporters and recruiting new ones, we strive to maximize participation in program events, attend and participate in public hearings and other administrative advocacy.

The Chapter has increased the number of our comment letter responses by 500 percent and the Clinic has provided thousands of hours of technical support to Chapter Issues Chairs and our community partners. We filled a charter bus with concerned citizens to attend an administrative hearing and inspired more than 50 activists to send commentary letters. We have successfully obtained extensions to comment periods and were able to get a public release of previously undisclosed private property intended to be taken for the expansion of a freeway and have filed lawsuits where administrative advocacy was not enough.

This is an ongoing project and through monthly meetings of the legal committee, we are constantly reviewing, revising, and retooling the Clinic so that the Chapter can be most effective.   

Have a success story to share? We'd like to hear about it. Go to the Success Stories project on the Sierra Club's Activist Network and let others learn from your experience.

Minnesotans Say 'Thanks!' to EPA

Minnesotans gathered outside of the Environmental Protection Agency office in Duluth today to thank the agency for issuing strong new mercury pollution safeguards. They presented a large thank you card signed by local Duluthians and a banner made by Girl Scout Troop 12965. In December, the EPA finalized strong public health safeguards to limit mercury and other toxic pollution from coal power plants.

“The Sierra Club, and parents like me across Minnesota, applaud the President and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson for their courage and resolve in protecting Minnesota families – particularly women and children – from this dangerous toxin and for standing up to polluters’ attempts to weaken this life-saving protection,” said John Doberstein (pictured above), local dad and Sierra Club member.

Mercury is a dangerous brain poison that poses a particular threat to prenatal babies and young children. Exposure in the bloodstreams of pregnant and nursing women can result in birth defects like learning disabilities, lowered IQ, deafness, blindness and cerebral palsy.

“There are many coal plants across Minnesota that release dangerous levels of mercury,” said Kate Mensing (pictured above), University of Minnesota-Duluth student. “We thank President Obama and the EPA for the peace of mind that now these plants will not polluting our water and air with this dangerous poison anymore.”

How Sierra Club Activism Re-Established Itself on the Olympic Peninsula

By Ben Greuel, Public Lands Organizer, and Bob Lynette, North Olympic Group Executive Committee

Historically there had been an active group on the Olympic Peninsula. But it had long fizzled out in the late 80s and early 90s, despite the fact that there had been more than 1,200 Sierra Club members on the Peninsula and more than 800 in the two northern counties (Clallam and Jefferson) alone.

That has all recently changed with the creation of the Washington Chapter's North Olympic Group. Based on campaign strategy, the early tactics the Wild Olympics Campaign utilized were mostly if not exclusively internal and non-public. We began outreach in the forms of member meetings, presentations, and outings, where interpersonal communication between members was both a possibility and a goal.

The result of the outreach was the creation of the North Olympic Group –- the newest Sierra Club group in the state of Washington. Over the course of the effort, more than 250 people participated in these events. It has greatly benefited the Washington Chapter by building volunteer leadership in a geographical location we were absent prior.

This couldn't have happened without volunteer leadership. We were lucky to work with seasoned and savvy volunteer leaders who had been involved in the past. Without the engagement and hard work from those volunteer leaders, creation of the Group would not have taken place.

The key to creating a new group is finding leaders who are interested in not only conservation work, but the nuts and bolts of administrative work that comes with ensuring a group that is viable and organized in the long-term. It was a challenge finding local leaders to take responsibility for managing the group. Another challenge was the large geographical area and sparse population in the area. This was primarily solved by recruitment of ExComm members representing each of the three largest population centers.

One key lesson was that recruitment of key leaders must be done carefully by first investigating and identifying them, and then having one-on-one meetings to gain their interest.

The Group received formal approval from the National Sierra Club in 2010, and it now represents the largest grassroots organization that is part of the Wild Olympics Coalition of environmental organizations. Four members participate in strategic meetings with the tribes and other stakeholders associated with the campaign. Since its formation, the North Olympic Group has rapidly become the most respected voice on the Peninsula for a range of environmental issues.

Have a success story to share? We'd like to hear about it. Go to the Success Stories project on the Sierra Club's Activist Network and let others learn from your experience.

Volunteers Clean Up Park for MLK Day

Sierra Club and a coalition of groups are reporting that Monday's 6th Annual MLK Day Clean-Up of Pope Branch Park in the Ward 7 neighborhood of Washington, DC, was a great success.

Irv Sheffey, Sierra Club Environmental Justice Associate Field Organizer in DC, (pictured below in the center) says more than 80 volunteers turned out to remove trash and debris from the park and surrounding neighborhood - and they removed more than 6,000 pounds of trash. He's pleased with how popular and effective the clean-up has become.

"Each year we see more and more improvement in the cleanliness of the park and I attribute it to the quality of care demonstrated at (the MLK Day event) and one we hold in the spring," Irv says. "The community and the river are the direct beneficiaries of that effort." The Pope Branch Creek near the park is a tributary of the Anacostia River.

Irv says he's also happy at how many more volunteers turn out at every clean-up event, despite cold weather or distance for them to the neighborhood.

"These were 82 volunteers from all around the neighborhood, city, and region. I'm always amazed at the volunteers who come out to help in polishing this little gem of a park in southeast (DC). These are people, some coming from afar, who could have chosen to be home, spending time with their families, watching TV, and generally keeping warm. They chose to be out in our community making a difference in the spirit of Dr. King, proving his legacy lives on."

Photos by Dolly Davis