Sierra Club Helps Launch Service Initiative

Photo by Kris Connor, Getty Images

On Veteran's Day, the Sierra Club joined First Lady Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden, and hundreds of active-duty service members, military families, and more than 50 service organizations in launching Mission Serve, an initiative to bond service to country with community service.

That's Sierra Club President Allison Chin, above right, seated behind Obama and Biden at the November 11 event at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Below, First Lady Obama addresses the gathering.

Photo by Jackie Ostfield

"The Sierra Club is proud to serve veterans and military families who are making the greatest sacrifices for our country," says Chin. "We're working to connect a new generation of American veterans and military families with the mental and physical benefits of being outdoors."

Over the last two years the Club's Military Families Outdoors (MFO) program has connected more than 25,000 veterans and military family members with outdoor experiences. MFO has partnered with the Armed Services YMCA, the National Military Family Association, and Outward Bound to provide a free week of summer camp for children of deployed service members, weekend retreats for military families in the national parks, and wilderness adventure courses to help veterans readjust after returning from combat duty.

"We want to ensure that the people who are protecting our country get to enjoy the benefits of its natural wonders," says Chin, pictured below with Jim Garrett of Outward Bound, Joyce Raezer of the National Military Family Association, and Rhonda Geyer of the Armed Forces YMCA.

Photo by Jackie Ostfield

The event also honored Alma J. Powell, chair of America's Promise Alliance and wife of General Colin Powell, with the first annual ServiceNation Award for Excellence in Military Civilian Service.

Learn more about Military Families Outdoors.

Club EJ Director Speaks Out on National Public Radio

Sierra Club Environmental Justice and Community Partnerships Director Leslie Fields was interviewed on NPR's "News & Notes" program on February 20, speaking about "The Obama Effect" on the environment and energy. Fields is pictured above at left with Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison and EJ Program organizer Karen Monahan.

Appearing with Fields on the program were Grist staff writer David Roberts and Apollo Alliance President Jerome Ringo. Fields told moderator Tony Cox she expects President Obama's stimulus package will jump-start green investment in low-income communities and communities of color. "And these investments aren't just a special package for environmentalists," she stresses. "These projects will help all Americans and the whole economy. I believe the benefits of shovel-ready projects in the stimulus package will be felt very soon."

Asked to weigh the benefits of "clean energy" versus "cheap energy," Fields says the true health costs for people living nearest to polluting facilities are externalized and not really not taken into account. "When asthma rates in children and respiratory problems have skyrocketed, and there's overall poor health attributed to living near polluting facilities or working in them, we all end up footing the bill."

Fields also popped up in the March issue of Ebony magazine, in an article by Kevin Chappell, "Obama and the Black Agenda: 5 Issues the New President Must Tackle." In a section on Energy & the Environment, Fields urged passage of legislation to clean up hazardous waste sites in black neighborhoods and better enforcement of clean air and water restrictions that are often lax in those communities.