A New Generation in Florida

By Andy Quinn, Outings Chair for Ancient Islands Group serving Polk, Highlands, Hrdee, Desoto and Sumter Counties, Sierra Club Florida

In an effort to bring in new energy to the Sierra Club and pass the torch on to another generation, we're pushing to have more young people join the Sierra Club through youth engagement. We've done this by setting up trips, getting parents involved, and setting up a partnership with Lakeland Montessori School, a nearby charter school.

We have up to 14 kids join us for each trip. Ages range from six to 14-years of age. We've gone to Alexander Springs, Fisheating Creek, Wekiva Springs, Withlacoochee River, and Weeki Wachee Springs, to name a few. All of these trips comprise a goal of attracting young people into the Conservation Movement. Each trip includes nature lectures and conservation lessons on you name it....habitat, water, clean energy, pollution. One hot issue in Florida right now is fertilizer. The kids and adults are consistently engaged with the lectures and want to get involved.

Activities includes kayaking, camping, and swimming. We felt swimming with the kids would always be a winner. We consistently have trips that are full or close to full and we have now involved about 40 parents. These efforts have all been effective in bringing in a new generation and new members to the Sierra Club.

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.

Newcomer/Member 'Welcome' Events Spur Activism, Help Retain Members

Donna Sprecht arriving at a newcomer event at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center, near Pasadena.

By Donna Sprecht, Angeles Chapter Membership Chair

We've organized about seven Chapter-wide Newcomer/Member "Welcome to the Sierra Club" events every year for the past ten years. We plan these events to include all areas of the Angeles Chapter and Orange County. We invite Groups and Activity Sections, Committees, and Task Forces to come and table at the event. We send invitations out to members by mail, post the events on websites and advertise them in newsletters, in our chapter schedule of activities, in newspapers, e-mail invitations, and flyers.

In addition to bringing in new members and engaging those who are already members, the events also teach Groups/Sections and Committees how to recruit new members. The tabling entities make a huge impression on those attending, like the Political Committee, Mule Pack Section, Natural Science Section, Hundred Peaks Section, Wilderness Travel, Wilderness Adventure Section, Easy Hikers, Little Hikers, Singles Sections, Global Warming Committee, Water Committee, and many more.

About 50 percent of those who show up are already members. These people always say they have been longtime members but have never come to an event. The results? I think the Angeles Chapter recruits more new members than any other U.S. Chapter.

We believe the personal invitation helps us to retain our members. The presentations by the entities offer many opportunities to newcomers and members. We have had stunning results in engaging our membership and maintaining our membership above 40,000 members.

Donna Sprect in the Sierra Nevada, with the Minarets in the background.

LightsOut Ohio Sheds Light on Unnecessary Energy Use

By Rich Fein, Portage Trail Group Conservation Chair

[That's Fein, above at right, with (l to r) fellow Portage Group leaders Laurel Gress, Paul Feezel, Neal Broida, and Dan Nelson.]

LightsOut Ohio engages schools, workplaces, and religious institutions throughout all of Summit County, Ohio, to turn off non-essential lights during the day, relying on natural light, in order to become more aware of how we use energy unnecessarily and to change our behaviors.

Activists with the Portage Trail Group (Akron-Canton area) sent letters and follow-up phone calls to public school curriculum directors and private/parochial school directors, informing them of the program and asking for their participation.

We included summaries of the full package of services we offered, including tools for communicating the program throughout the school system, handouts, a website with grade-specific, energy-related lessons selected from key environmental educational organizations, and endorsements from political leaders and an advisory board of science educators. Fourteen of 17 public schools agreed to participate.

For businesses, we reached out through the use of viral emails, encouraging Sierra Club members and others to initiate the program at their places of work. The Mayor of Akron, Summit County's major city, and the County Executive both agreed to encourage workers to turn off lights in their offices. We also partnered with the major local newspaper to issue a multiple-run, full-page guide with energy conservation tips for both homes and workplaces.

Using Custom Comments to Deepen Activist Pool

By Flavia de la Fuente, Beyond Coal Campaign Organizer

[That's Flavia, above at left; at right, a Chicago Sierra Club phonebank.]

Last week, we sent out an email blast asking folks in the Austin area to sign a petition to Mayor Lee Leffingwell, asking him to work on retiring Austin's share of the Fayette coal plant. We also wanted to build a prospect pool of potential volunteers.

We got a huge response, so to cut through the list I decided to prioritize people who had added their own comments to the petition, a feature on these petitions that we generally include but of which we haven't really taken advantage.

My ask was a letter-to-the-editor (LTE), but the New Thing was the fact that I directly referenced their comments as my reason for calling them, and asked them to expand on the comments they made and turn it into a letter-to-the-editor.

The script went like this: "Hi, my name is Flavia and I work for your local Sierra Club in Austin. I'm calling because I read the comment you made on an online petition you signed to the Mayor asking him to retire the Fayette coal plant. I was wondering if you would be able to expand your thoughts on _________ and write a letter-to-the-editor." 

The comments ranged from personal health concerns, to concerns about small children, to pitches for geothermal energy investment. For each person, I adjusted the pitch.

I phone-banked the list myself, and the preliminary results were excellent. In just an hour, five people said yes, they would write an LTE, two said they were interested in having a one-on-one meeting with me, and one person who declined to write an LTE said they wanted to get involved in the future. Plus three people for whom I left messages called back saying yes, they'd write an LTE. So eight people total agreed to write a letter-to-the-editor—pretty good for an hour's work by one person.

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.

Recruiting Newsletter Advertisers in Planet Kansas

By Lynate Pettengill, Kansas Chapter Development Director.

We promoted the opportunity to advertise in our Planet Kansas chapter newsletter to owners of small businesses, explaining that their ad would benefit our c4 programs and would be tax-deductible for their business since it was an advertising expense. Seven businesses participated, bringing in $4,350 in new revenue for the chapter.

We had previous relationships with almost all the business owners, and I had been meeting and communicating with them. But I'd been unsuccessful in securing donations—that is, until I presented the advertising option. Sometimes a donor just isn't willing to make a c4 donation without some kind of tax advantage. The newsletter advertising option provides just such an advantage.

It was a little tricky keeping track of which company should appear in which newsletter issue—you need to carefully track the advertisers and what issues of the newsletter their ad should appear in. So eventually we developed a spreadsheet that made this a little less complicated—two spreadsheets, actually; one showing rates for advertising and one detailing the size of the ad and the issues in which it will appear.

Even so, we still missed on advertiser in one edition! Thankfully they were very understanding.

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.

It's Time for the Conference on Wheels in Minnesota

By Joshua Houdek, Conservation Program Manager for the North Star Chapter.

Every September we host the Annual Conference on Wheels, a fun, unique, and educational bicycle tour outing with expert speakers at rest stops discussing land use, transportation, and other local environmental issues. The Conference allows us to engage the community in a unique way by combining an outing with a workshop. It's about 20 miles long at a relaxed speed with many rest stops. We invite and engage community members and leaders, decision makers, ally organizations, and other stakeholder groups. We include at least one action component in the event that all participants can take.

This year's Conference will take place September 17. Join us!

There are several benefits to the annual event. Besides gaining media attention, we engage members and attract new ones; we highlight issues for community members and decision makers; we enhance our local Outings program; and we generate hundreds of individual actions on an issue.

Formerly called the "Tour de Sprawl," the Conference on Wheels is in its 16th year! It regularly draws between 150 to 250 people, depending on the weather and the event's location.

Every year we change the route, which presents to us some logistical challenges. We prepare by finding a safe loop ride that integrates the important issues that we can talk about during each stop. We prepare by planning the event early and engaging local bike shops, bicycling groups, local law enforcement (if necessary), and community members.

This year's Conference on Wheels' theme is the Tour de Minneapolis. We plan to explore the No. 1 Bicycling City in America (Minneapolis, according to Bicycling Magazine). Educational rest stops will feature guest speakers discussing "Complete Streets" -– roads designed to be safe and accessible for all users, regardless of age or ability, including people walking, bicycling, using transit, or driving.

Because we are the Sierra Club, we frame the highlights of the ride by matching them with the Sierra Club's traditional motto:

• Explore on-street bicycle facilities and bike/pedestrian trails
• Enjoy local food, music, and zero waste
• Protect our existing parks and learn more about how to promote "Complete Streets" in your community

If you'd like to join us, click here to register!

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.

Keeping a Watchful Eye in Hawaii

 

By Anthony Aalto, the Oahu Group of the Hawaii Chapter

One of our success stories is the The Capitol Watch, a team of volunteers who monitor, report, and advocate on statewide environmental legislation. It encourages greater grassroots involvement in the legislative process and helps volunteers develop leadership skills. As a result, we've further cemented the Sierra Club's reputation as the most effective environmental lobbying organization in the state.

Before the start of the most recent legislative session, we organized a "Forces for Good" symposium as a recruiting venue at which experts briefed participants on the top statewide environmental issues and taught the rudiments of lobbying at the Capitol. The Chapter Director then examined every piece of proposed legislation and posted all relevant bills on an online spreadsheet that was available to the public and updated in real time.

Volunteers recruited at the symposium were handed the title of "Captain" and given responsibility for a specific area of expertise, whether it was energy, agriculture, marine, etc. Captains monitored the progress of bills in their area and compiled reports twice a week on the ones they considered top priorities. These reports were then assembled into a bi-weekly newsletter, called The Capitol Watch Insider, and emailed to subscribers.

Connecting Clean-Energy Business with Virginia Policy

J.R. Tolbert, Virginia Chapter, addressing the First Annual Clean Energy Business Lobby Day.

By J.R. Tolbert, Assistant Director of Legislation & Development of the Virginia Chapter

One of the many success stories this year for the Virginia Chapter was the first ever Clean Energy Business Lobby Day, which will be an annual event. The goal of Lobby Day was to elevate the voice of Virginia's renewable energy industry inside the General Assembly building in Richmond. For too long, Virginia's utilities have dominated the debate and direction of the Commonwealth's energy future.

Terry McAuliffe, former DNC Chair, with Sierra Club Field Organizer Trieste Lockwood.

Beginning in October 2010, the Chapter began recruiting representatives from clean-energy businesses to attend a lobby day in January. In total, more than 40 businesses attended and held more than 85 meetings with members of the legislature. We structured the day by developing solar, wind, and biomass platforms for participants to lobby on particular legislation. Additionally, we held a press event in the middle of the day to highlight some of the strongest stories of clean energy in Virginia.

Miami Sierrans Get Kids Involved with Creative Recycling Project

 

By Debbie Matthews, Miami Group Chair

[That's Matthews, pictured above at left.]

As a member of the Florida Sierra Club's Waste Minimization Committee, I wanted to see if the Miami Group could come up with a way to raise awareness in our community about the importance of recycling, and to not use plastic bags. The Miami Group Executive Committee came up with an idea for a general meeting with a "Make & Take" hands-on reusable bag decorating activity. We invited the general public as well as all our members. The idea was to get the community involved in reducing the amount of plastic bags that are used in Miami, and to make the public aware of the harmful effects that plastic bags have on the environment.

We had free bags, decorating materials and guidance provided for kids and adults of all ages. We spoke about how plastic bags can be harmful to animals and to the environment. We also had a PowerPoint presentation running for the entire meeting, providing facts about plastic bags and highlighting the hazards of their use. A great time was had by all and many bags were decorated proudly and taken home.