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October 13, 2014

New National Monument Sweet Victory for Sierra Club Board Member

Among those taking the greatest pride when President Obama formally designated the 346,000-acre San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in Southern California on October 10 was Susana Reyes, a member of the Sierra Club's Board of Directors since 2012. That's Reyes, above, speaking at the community celebration held immediately after the signing ceremony.

Formerly the Director of Human Resources with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, last year Reyes joined Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's Sustainability Team, where she is a senior analyst.

The Planet spoke with Reyes just hours before President Obama dedicated the nation's newest national monument.

Planet: You've been championing a San Gabriel Mountains National Monument for years. What does today's designation mean to you?

Reyes: Greater visibility for these mountains has a real power to affect the lives of people in the community. Studies show that it's a de-stressor to connect with the outdoors. We're protecting these mountains forever so that future generations will be able to enjoy them.

I'm a local; I've lived in Glendale, right up against the San Gabriels, for more than 20 years, and I've been a Sierra Club activist since 1999. I think one of the most gratifying things about the new San Gabriel Mountains National Monument is what it will mean to the diverse communities who will now have greater awareness and access to this amazing resource. These are communities that have traditionally been underserved in terms of access to the outdoors.

The San Gabriels contain about 70 percent of the open space in Los Angeles County and provide a third of its drinking water. The mountain range receives about 3.5 million visitors a year, many of them from L.A.'s Latino community. But the visitor experience has been lacking due to inadequate maintenance and services. The San Gabriels are a majestic backdrop to Los Angeles, but they have long been neglected. Even though some 17 million people live nearby, many low income communities and communities of color haven't been fully aware of the incredible resourse these mountains provide.

Planet: Why do you think this is?

Reyes: Recreational and wilderness resources in the San Gabriels have been poorly maintained because the U.S. Forest Service has lacked an adequate budget. Now the National Park Service and the Forest Service will be co-managing the national monument. Public access will be improved, as will the visitor experience. Many of the communities closest to the San Gabriels are socio-economically underserved, and haven't felt they had a real decision-making stake in the San Gabriels. Many of them use the San Gabriels for recreation, but until recently they haven't been organized in making their experience there a better one. But that has been changing, in large part due to the Sierra Club.

Planet: Tell us about the Sierra Club's role in helping bring about this change.

Reyes: The Sierra Club's role in this has been hugely important. We've been involved for more than a decade -- for the last several years as a member of the San Gabriel Mountains Forever Coalition, which formed when President Obama began designating national monuments and Congresswoman Hilda Solis was championing greater protections for the San Gabriels. Once Solis became the U.S. Secretary of Labor, her successor Judy Chu took the lead in Congress for enhancements and national monument status for the San Gabriels.

Sierra Club volunteer John Monsen, Congresswoman Judy Chu, and Reyes at the community celebration following the national monument signing ceremony. Reyes was among the featured speakers at the community celebration.

The Sierra Club hosted or co-hosted many, many community meetings to promote the national monument and recruit local champions from the community. The Club paid many times for buses to pick people up and get them to the meetings. We've worked closely from the get-go with the Latino community, faith, groups, and environmental justice groups. Sierra Club volunteers and staff translated campaign materials into Spanish. Organizers like Juana Torres, Fabiola Lao, Bill Corcoran, Sarah Matsumoto, Hop Hopkins, Eva Hernandez-Simmons, and Nidia Erceg really connected with the Latino community and helped bring them into the coalition.

Planet: What has your own involvement been?

Reyes: When the Sierra Club or the San Gabriel Mountains Forever Coalition gave presentations, I would be there to support the team. I've been a liaison with Congresswomen Solis and Chu. I was in contact with them whenever there were efforts to write letters of support, I had input into those letters, and I wrote many of them in person. I also helped with fundraising, although that effort was mostly led by Juana Torres. As a member of the Sierra Club's Board of Directors, I was the most visible volunteer, but I wanted to make sure that local volunteers got most of the credit, as they deserve.

Planet: Tell us how Club volunteers have been critical to the campaign's success.

Reyes: Volunteers have been huge in this effort. They have the skills, the passion, and they've long organized for this campaign, helping us pack rooms with people and channel support for the national monument. Three who have been key to our efforts are Don Bremner and John Monsen of the Angeles Chapter's forest committee, and Joyce Burk of the San Gorgonio Chapter's forest committee -- and I would be remiss not to mention Joan Licari, Joan Holtz, David Czamanske, Bob Cates, Judy Anderson, Jeff Yann, Lizz Pomeroy, Joanne Sarachman, and Jennifer Robinson, who have all made important contributions to this campaign over the years.

Sierra Club/San Gabriel Mountains Forever Coalition meeting in 2013.

All the capacities of the Sierra Club were pulled together by our volunteers to help build momentum toward national monument designation. Through this campaign, the Sierra Club has really connected with the Latino community in L.A. and gotten them involved. We don't just enter the community unprepared; we listen and learn first. The Club's campaign was very inclusive, a demonstration of our diversity, and it exemplifies the way we communicate and incorporate the social and cultural beliefs of the community into our work. It's been a huge success so far as movement-building and the diversity of the Club.

This wasn't just the Sierra Club standing alone, but the Sierra Club standing with diverse communities. In order to make this happen, we needed to push all of our goals to explore, enjoy, and protect the planet, but we also needed to work with the people who are going to use this mountain range and bring them into the process. National monument status will enhance their awareness of the San Gabriels, their experience enjoying the mountains and rivers, and their sense of ownership of this incredible resource. And of course, it will ensure that the things we love about the San Gabriels will remain to be enjoyed by others.

Photo by Ricraider, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Posted at 03:40 PM in Diversity, Environmental Justice, Our Wild America | Permalink | Comments (0)

Why Latinos Were So Crucial in the San Gabriels Designation

By Guest Blogger Rod Torrez

After the long campaign to protect the region, last Friday's designation of the San Gabriel Mountains as a National Monument is a victory for Latinos to celebrate. The monument's designation represents a significant moment in which we can see how effectively our community can engage in protecting public lands —as well as the ways we enjoy them.

The numbers clearly show that the Latino community supports this designation. Reflecting outcomes of other recent polls addressing Latino attitudes towards environmental conservation and land preservation, a recent poll of Los Angeles voters revealed that an overwhelming majority (88 percent) of Latinos supported protecting the San Gabriel Mountains and rivers. In addition to a wide coalition of conservationists, a number of Latino organizations backed the effort to protect the San Gabriels, including, to name just a few, California LULAC, Mujeres de la Tierra, Latino Coalition for a Healthy California and the faith-based alliance Por la Creación.

The San Gabriel Mountains National Monument is the third of three large areas of public land that has been granted National Monument status by the Obama administration in the last two years, thanks in large part to support from Latino communities that surround them. The other two are Rio Grande del Norte National Monument and Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, both in New Mexico. This trend of course raises the question: why is protecting these places so important to Latinos?

Latinos in the Southwest have witnessed extractive industries such as oil, gas and mineral development, as well as urban growth, mar the landscapes, pollute watersheds and affect the wildlife that have sustained us for generations. These lands are part of our heritage and are as treasured to us as are the Grand Tetons in Wyoming or the Florida Everglades.

Yet Latinos, especially Latino hunters and anglers, would argue that protecting the land by setting it aside and cutting off our recreational and traditional uses would be unsatisfactory to the community. We support these new monuments largely because they not only protect the land and waterways, but also respect continued access for hunting, fishing, camping and hiking —activities that our communities throughout the Southwest have pursued for generations.

The San Gabriel Mountains in particular have always been a welcome reprieve from the city for Latinos, especially for hunting and fishing, and have been increasingly valuable as a destination for outdoor education programs, with private organizations and public agencies using the area to connect many Latino urban youth to the outdoors. Moreover, the San Gabriel Mountains watershed provides a significant portion of the region's clean water supply; protecting the health of the resource is paramount to the health of communities downstream.

There are many good reasons to celebrate the new national monument. But it is important to note that the San Gabriel Mountains, along with the Rio Grande del Norte, and the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monuments represent a new approach by protecting the land we love and respecting how we have enjoyed the land for generations. It's encouraging to know that we can continue to enjoy these places for generations to come. It's also satisfying to know that Latinos have played a significant role in protecting them.

Rod Torrez is director of Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting and Outdoors (HECHO)

Posted at 02:27 PM in Diversity, Our Wild America | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 10, 2014

Hands Across the Sand in Waukegan

More than 120 residents and community leaders who live near coal-fired power plants in Waukegan, Romeoville, and Pekin, Illinois, gathered at Waukegan's Municipal Beach on Lake Michigan in view of NRG Energy's 60-year-old Waukegan Generating Station for an event called Hands Across the Sand: Solidarity for Clean Water and Clean Power.

The event, organized by the Sierra Club's Clean Power Lake County campaign, began with a beach cleanup of several acres and ended with a program that included speakers from all three communities, each of which is home to an NRG coal plant.

"This was the largest beach sweep in Waukegan history," says Christine Nannicelli, an organizer with the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Illinois campaign. "We had a fantastic turnout from the Latino community, and we concluded the program holding hands along the lakefront in the shadow of the Waukegan coal plant."

Community members took photo petitions such as the one at left, demanding that New Jersey-based NRG transition from coal to clean energy. (David Crane is the president and CEO of NRG.)

"We've gathered almost 500 photo petitions, and they've been a very effective campaign tool," Nannicelli says. "People are ready to begin a new chapter and really turn up the pressure on NRG."

The Waukegan Generating Station is the largest source of water pollution in Lake County, which also has the highest ozone smog levels in Illinois. Asthma rates among children in Waukegan are more than three times the national average. However, NRG announced in August that it would continue to burn coal at the Waukegan plant.

All of NRG's coal plants in Illinois damage local waterways with mercury emissions and toxic coal ash waste. The Waukegan plant's coal ash ponds sit right next to the Lake Michigan shoreline.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency issued violation notices to the Waukegan, Romeoville, and Pekin power plants in 2012 for high levels of contaminants in groundwater near their coal ash ponds.

Sierra Club volunteer David Villalobos, a leader in the Clean Power Lake County campaign, emceed the Hands Across the Sands event. Other speakers included Dulce Ortiz from Coalitión Latinos Unidos de Lake County; Ellen Rendulich from Citizens Against Ruining the Environment (CARE); Tracy Fox from Peoria Families Against Toxic Waste; Faith Bugel from the Environmental Law & Policy Center; and Antonio Lopez of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization.

Below, Lopez presents Ortiz with a bandana from the People's Climate Justice Summit, held in New York City following the People's Climate March and concurrent with the UN Climate Summit, in recognition of their shared goals of environmental and economic justice.

"We also had prayers from our two church partners in the campaign," Nannicelli says. "This was the first time residents of Waukegan, Romeoville, and Pekin have gathered in solidarity to share their vision of a clean-energy future and call on NRG to commit to retirement dates for their coal fleet in Illinois. Folks are fired up."

All photos except photo petition by Karen Long MacLeod, courtesy of Clean Power Lake County.

Posted at 04:58 PM in Beyond Coal, Clean Energy Solutions, Diversity, Environmental Justice | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 01, 2014

Climate Pilgrimage in New Mexico

Albuquerque

The huge People's Climate March in New York City on September 21 dominated the headlines -- and rightly so, as some 400,000 people marched through the streets of Midtown Manhattan. But the New York march was just one of 2,646 solidarity events in 162 countries around the globe. From Sydney to Santa Fe, Rio de Janeiro to the Rio Grande, everyday citizens turned out to tell world leaders that the time for climate action is now.

Santa Fe

In New Mexico, volunteers and staff with the Sierra Club's Rio Grande Chapter partnered with New Mexico Interfaith Power & Light, 350.org, Environment New Mexico, and other faith and justice groups to host a People's Climate Pilgrimage.

Santa Fe

"We wanted our events in Albuquerque and Santa Fe to be journeys -- pilgrimages -- with stops along the way where people could learn about climate disruption, solutions to the challenges we face, and how they can get involved," says Rio Grande Chapter director Camilla Feibelman.

That's Feibelman, below, firing up the crowd in Santa Fe, where around 700 people participated.

Santa Fe

"We had speakers at each stop, and everyone who signed our petition supporting strong EPA carbon rules got a sticker," Feibleman says. "We called on Governor Susana Martinez to retract her opposition to cleaning up coal-fired power plants and urged utilities and state government to invest in renewable energy. By the end of the day, we'd collected about 1,000 names of new potential activists."

Santa Fe

Albuquerque-based Sierra Club organizer Dustin Chavez-Davis says the theme of the pilgrimage was to connect the dots about how the climate crisis is related to other issues, including immigration, labor, food systems, and energy production. Some 400 people participated in the Albuquerque pilgrimage.

Albuquerque

"Hundreds of people signed our petition and learned about the intersection of various issues affecting our community," Chavez-Davis says. "The event not only raised awareness about climate disruption, it gave people the opportunity to take action supporting investments in clean, renewable energy."

Albuquerque

"The pilgrimage brought in lots of folks from outside the typical climate activist mold," Chavez-Davis says. "It was a great opportunity to tie into issues that the Sierra Club and the broader environmental community don't connect to on a daily basis."

Albuquerque

"Leaders from all the organizations participating in the event stressed the intersection of the various issues affecting the community and how they're related to the climate movement, not separate from it. It was powerful to come together and hear stories from immigrant justice workers, faith leaders, environmental activists, and people who work with underserved members of our community."

Albuquerque

Alququerque photos by Tom Solomon. Santa Fe photos courtesy of Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter.

Posted at 04:37 PM in Beyond Coal, Beyond Natural Gas, Beyond Oil, Clean Energy Solutions, Diversity, Environmental Justice | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 22, 2014

People's Climate March Draws Over 400,000

"Coursing through Midtown, from Columbus Circle to Times Square and the Far West Side, the People's Climate March was a spectacle even for a city known for doing things big."

So said the New York Times in its front-page coverage of the People's Climate March in Manhattan.

More than 400,000 citizen activists, including more than 25,000 Sierra Club members, joined in what is being called the largest climate march in history.

It was also the largest-ever gathering of Sierra Club members and supporters in the history of the organization. More than 100 buses from 35 states were organized and funded by the Club, which also ran Climate Caravan trains from Washington, D.C., the Midwest, and as far away as California.

Indigenous groups, labor, youth, scientists, food justice and clean water activists, religious groups, and civil rights organizations joined environmental groups in calling on world leaders attending the UN Climate Summit in New York this Tuesday to start taking real action to halt climate disruption.

Among those marching were United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon, former vice president Al Gore, and New York mayor Bill de Blasio, who just announced that the city was committing to an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The march's official starting point was on 59th Street at Columbus Circle, on the southwest corner of Central Park. But from the early morning hours, the crowd stretched for miles up Central Park West to 86^th St. and beyond, swelling in numbers and energy with each passing hour.

Banners were raised, speakers, drummers, and musicians fired up the crowd, and marchers swapped stories as helicopters beat the air overhead.

At the Sierra Club stage at 75^th St., Club president David Scott, Beyond Coal director Mary Anne Hitt, national program director Sarah Hodgdon, former president Allison Chin, and Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota were among the speakers, and members of the Sierra Student Coalition fired up the crowd with call-and-response cheers like, "What do we want?" "Clean energy!" "When do we want it?" "Now!"

"This was an opportunity to show the world that the climate movement can and should involve us all," said Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune. "I’m proud of the fact that the Sierra Club was able to harness the energy and commitment of so many people to join together with so many different organizations who have the same goal –- to take action on climate disruption and advance the new, clean, just, clean energy prosperity."

Years from now, if world leaders listen to the alarm being sounded by citizens to take meaningful action, future generations may look back at the People's Climate March as the watershed moment when the tide turned in the fight against climate disruption.

Check out this photo gallery of the People's Climate March.

Posted at 10:11 AM in Beyond Coal, Beyond Natural Gas, Beyond Oil, Clean Energy Solutions, Diversity, Environmental Justice | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 09, 2014

Diversity in Environmental Organizations

"The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations", which was published by Dorceta E. Taylor, Ph.D, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, highlights the racial, gender, class and cultural disparities among environmental organizations throughout the nation. The report examines the discrepancies within 293 environmental organizations nationwide, and is comprised of data from 191 conservation and preservation organizations, 74 government environmental agencies and 28 environmental organizations.

The report, which was prepared for Green 2.0, an establishment dedicated to the diversification of environmental organizations, was made, coordinated and supported by the Green 2.0 Working Group. The Sierra Club and Earthjustice donated funding. Leslie Fields, director of the Sierra Club's Environmental Justice and Community Partnerships program, and EarthJustice director Micheal Dorsey were members of the Green 2.0 Working Group with the Raben Group (a majority-minority progressive policy and law lobbying firm.)

Continue reading "Diversity in Environmental Organizations" »

Posted at 07:54 AM in Diversity, Environmental Justice | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 05, 2014

Our Shared Responsibility -- A Journey Against Coal and Oil

2,500-mile totem pole trip unites tribal and non-tribal communities across two countries

By Robin Everett, Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign

With the rallying cry of, "Warrior Up!" members of the Lummi Nation embarked in late August on a totem pole journey which they called Our Shared Responsibility: The Land, The Waters, The People, to oppose the proposed shipment of an unprecedented volume of coal and oil from the American heartland to the Pacific Coast.

That's Lummi elder and House of Tears master carver Jewell James, speaking above at the journey's kick-off ceremony in Bellingham, Washington, and below with the totem pole he helped create for the journey.

The mining, transport and burning of coal and oil threaten the lands, waters, resources and human health of all of us who live in the Northwest, but none more so than the indigenous people who sit right in the path of destruction. The proposed Cherry Point coal terminal would sit right on the ancestral lands of the Lummi Nation known as Xwe'chi'eXen, below.

The mining of that coal would also destroy Northern Cheyenne lands in Montana, and all along the way fossil fuel transport would harm the fishing and treaty rights of Native Americans. This is only one of several ill-conceived coal and oil shipment proposals for our region.

A 19-foot red cedar totem pole, carved by the Lummi Nation House of Tears carvers was at the heart of the journey as a reminder of our place within nature, our responsibility to future generations, and our connections to each other and to our communities. Totem poles are one of the oldest forms of North American storytelling.

The journey commenced just one week after Oregon Department of State Lands denied a crucial permit for Ambre Energy's proposed coal export facility in Boardman, Oregon. Ambre's dirty coal project would have sent hundreds of coal trains through the region, thousands of coal barges down the Columbia River, and further disrupted our climate with dangerous carbon pollution.

The historic decision deals a severe blow to all coal export proposals in the Northwest and marks the first time a Pacific Northwest state agency has formally rejected a permit for one of the proposed coal export terminals. The Sierra Club has been working for years as a member of the Power Past Coal coalition to rally public support against the terminals.

In its decision, the Department of State Lands cited impacts to "a small but important and long-standing" Columbia River tribal fishery.

"The state of Oregon recognized that tribal sovereignty and treaty fishing rights must be considered in coal export decisions," said Jewell James. "We expect the Washington State Department of Ecology to make the same considerations for Xwe'chi'eXen. Coal exports would devastate our fishery and threaten non-tribal fisheries, as well as damage one of our most important cultural sites."

After the kick-off event in Bellingham, below, where over 200 people came out to wish the travelers well, the totem pole journey began in earnest on August 22 in South Dakota, and then traveled through Montana and Washington before making its way up to Canada. At every stop along the way, hundreds of supporters including religious leaders, elected leaders, local tribal members, and environmentalists stood up with the Lummi Nation to oppose dirty and dangerous fossil fuel projects.

In South Dakota, below, we met with the Yankton Sioux and Nebraska and South Dakota ranchers fighting the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline who call themselves the Cowboy Indian Alliance. We were reminded that tribes and communities across North America are threatened by dangerous, polluting fossil fuel projects.

In Billings, Montana, below, 150 people including ranchers, environmentalists, and members of the Northern Cheyenne held a beautiful blessing ceremony at Riverfront Park.

In Spokane, below, 200 people gathered at the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist Spokane, including City Council president Ben Stuckart, who offered strong words of support for the Lummi Nation in its opposition to the proposed coal and oil projects. Tribal leaders from the Spokane, Nez Perce, and Colville tribes also spoke in support of the Lummi Nation's efforts. (Read this account of the event by Spokane-based Sierra Club organizer Jace Bylenga.)

Jewell James ended the ceremony with a moving speech, flute playing, drumming, and laughing to explain the importance of the fight against fossil fuels and for the earth along with other members of the House of Tears Carvers. (Hear some of what James had to say in this video, which also includes remarks by Jace Bylenga.)

In Yakama, we celebrated the recent victory against coal exports, won in large part due to the efforts of the Yakama Tribe. In Olympia, there was a small but moving ceremony honoring the life of environmental leader and treaty rights activist Billy Frank, Jr.

In closing the American leg of the totem pole journey, nearly 500 people packed the St Mark's Cathedral in Seattle, below, where leaders from 10 northwest religious communities, including the bishops of Episcopal, Evangelical Lutheran, and United Methodist dioceses in Washington, presented a letter that formally supports the stance of Northwest tribes against coal exports and other fossil fuel megaprojects.

Photo by Alex Garland

Dow Constantine, King County Executive and leader of the Safe Energy Leadership Alliance, stated, " It is really foolish, bordering on madness, to dig up a big chunk of North America, tie up traffic on the way through, and then ship it off to another country so they can bury us economically. I stand with the Lummi Nation and all those in the Pacific Northwest who are working to protect our air, our water, and our fisheries." That's Constantine speaking, below.

Photo by Alex Garland

The journey then continued into Canada, making several stops before raising the totem on September 7 at the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, which has been devastated by pollution from Canada's tar sands. To learn more about the journey visit totempolejourney.org

Photos by James Leder except where noted.

Posted at 12:48 PM in Beyond Coal, Beyond Oil, Clean Energy Solutions, Diversity, Environmental Justice, Protecting America's Waters | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 07, 2014

Communities call for strong EPA pollution standards near oil refineries

Hundreds of concerned residents from port communities along the Gulf Coast packed an Environmental Protection Agency hearing in Houston this week to call for stronger pollution controls near oil refineries.

"In Louisiana and Texas, communities around refineries have for too long lived with exposure without knowing what was in the air," said Darryl Malek-Wiley, a Sierra Club environmental justice organizer in Louisiana.

The EPA is proposing additional pollution control requirements for storage tanks, flares, and coking units at petroleum refineries. The EPA is also proposing to require monitoring of air concentrations at the fenceline of refinery facilities to ensure proposed standards are being met and that neighboring communities are not being exposed to unintended emissions.

Exposure to toxic air pollutants can cause respiratory problems and other serious health issues, and can increase the risk of developing cancer.

The Sierra Club, EarthJustice and coalition partners helped bus in residents from neighborhoods near refineries in Louisiana to speak at the Houston hearing. Affected residents from around the U.S. were also at the hearing to testity. From the AP story:

Theresa Landrum traveled to Texas from Detroit to testify about the "toxic soup" she said she and her neighbors are exposed to from living alongside a refinery. A cancer survivor, Landrum said she lost her mother, father and brother to cancer she believes was caused by refinery emissions.

"The fenceline monitoring will help us determine what is coming out of those stacks," she said.

Adan Vazquez said that in winter, "snow flurries look like ash" because of a refinery near the Houston Ship Channel less than a mile from his Pasadena, Texas, home.

Leslie Fields, director of the Environmental Justice and Community Partnerships program for the Sierra Club, testified at the hearing as well, calling on EPA to create the strongest standard possible and enforce it. This EPA standard at refineries would reduce toxic emissions, improving air quality and protecting public health in communities surrounding these facilities.

"We support the proposed standard -- it's long overdue for these affected communities," said Fields. "We also are advocating for real time fenceline monitoring and more hearings in the Midwest and along the East Coast on this standard," said Fields. "The EPA also needs to create an environmental justice analysis for this rule."

But Fields and Malek-Wiley also think the standard could go even farther.

"The EPA needs to look at more chemicals from these refineries, require more monitoring, and we also want to make sure that all that information is easily accessible to communities," said Malek-Wiley.

"Also, some have said it's too expensive for industry. Well, for one example, I looked at the first quarter of 2014, and Marathon Oil made $540 million. If they don't have enough money now, when will they ever have enough money to do comprehensive real-time monitoring of their pollution?"

(L to R) Mary Willams of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Jane Williams of Sierra Club California, Monique Harden of Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, Jesse Marquez of the Coalition for Safe Environment, Lisa Garcia of Earthjustice, Hilton Kelley, Leslie Fields, Margie Richard, Dr. Robert Bullard.

Also testifying at this week's hearing in Houston were 2011 Goldman Environmental Prize winner and long-time Port Arthur environmental justice activist Hilton Kelley and Dr. Robert Bullard, the winner of the 2013 Sierra Club John Muir Award and known as the father of environmental justice. Dr. Bullard is the dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland Public Policy School at Texas Southern University.

Powerful testimony also came from Dr. Beverly Wright, director Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Dillard University in New Orleans, Willy Fontenot, the conservation chair of the Delta Chapter Sierra Club in Baton Rouge, Neil Carman, Clean Air Director of the Lone Star chapter, Jane Williams, chair of the Sierra Club Toxics Committee, 2004 Goldman Environmental Prize winner Margie Richard, and Dorothy Felix of Mossville Environmental Action Now in Louisiana.

TAKE ACTION: Tell the EPA you want strong pollution standards and enforcement for oil refineries!

Posted at 01:05 PM in Beyond Oil, Diversity, Environmental Justice | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 05, 2014

Sierra Club names new Environmental Justice Award after Dr. Robert Bullard

The Sierra Club's newest award is getting some great attention because of the namesake of our newest Environmental Justice Award. Last week we announced a new national award that bears the name of Dr. Robert Bullard, one of the founders of the environmental justice movement.

The new award will be given annually to an individual or group that has done outstanding work in the area of environmental justice. The first Robert Bullard Environmental Justice Award will be presented Nov. 21 along with the Sierra Club’s other 2014 awards.

Bullard said he was delighted to have the new award named after him. "I must say that I am humbled, honored, and at the same time excited to a have the Sierra Club name its Environmental Justice Award after me," said Bullard. "For someone who has spent most of his adult life teaching, writing and lecturing, I am speechless."

In 2013, Bullard received the Sierra Club's top award, the John Muir Award. The award recognizes individuals with a distinguished record of achievement in national or international conservation causes.

"His expertise and media savvy has garnered much needed attention and remedies for communities burdened with environmental hazards," said Leslie Fields, director of the Sierra Club Environmental Justice and Community Partnerships program, when Bullard received the award in 2013.

Continue reading "Sierra Club names new Environmental Justice Award after Dr. Robert Bullard" »

Posted at 10:55 AM in Diversity, Environmental Justice | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 04, 2014

The fight for voting rights in Delaware

"It's impossible to protect our environment if we don't defend our democracy." Stephanie Herron, volunteer and outreach coordinator for Sierra Club Delaware, says those words confidently after a fight for voting rights that's lasted for more than a year now in the state.

Sierra Club Delaware is working with a broad state coalition to pass same-day voter registration legislation, engaging thousands of residents in a movement crucial to participatory democracy.

"It shouldn't be hard to participate in the system," says Courtney Hight, director of the Sierra Club's Democracy Program. "Same-day voter registration is one way of removing a barrier that often affects young people and communities of color. This makes it easier to vote -- we thought Delaware's legislation on this issue was a good way to be proactive and encourage participation in voting."

The Sierra Club is a member of the Democracy Initiative, a coalition of groups that seeks to restore the core principal of political equality. Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune has written extensively on the importance of the Sierra Club and a coalition of groups in building "a movement to halt the corrupting influence of corporate money in politics, prevent the systemic manipulation and suppression of voters, and address other obstacles to significant reform."

Herron says the Delaware chapter first started engaging on same day voter registration (SDR) in early 2013 during the state's legislative session. The movement picked up momentum in the state in early 2014, when more and more diverse groups -- from unions to local community groups -- joined the coalition and voting rights in Delaware started getting more and more attention. The diverse coalition members were able to work their different legislative contacts and respective members to help bring the bill to a vote in the state House of Representatives--no easy feat as we saw in 2013 when the bill languished for almost a year without a floor vote.

The coalition fought bad amendments to the bill - and growing opposition from the Delaware Republican Party, who made fighting SDR a top priority in 2014. Herron says the opposition was well-funded and powerful, but that didn't stop thousands from contacting their state legislators to pass same-day voter registration.

In the weeks leading up to the final vote in the state senate, Sierra Club Delaware sent out action alerts to more than 5,000 members and generated more than 100 calls to state senators. Delaware Sierrans also joined other coalition members at a June 17 rally calling on Senators to bring SDR to a vote.

In the end, with time running out before the June 30th close of session, unfortunately the bill never made it to a floor vote in the Senate. Herron says she and the coalition were disappointed but hope the push for same-day voter registration in the next session will be successful.

"The Sierra Club offered a unique voice in the coalition - we were the only environmental group," she says. "We have to continue pushing these voting rights and good government issues. If we continue to let undemocratic things happen, we won't be able to bring about meaningful change."

The Sierra Club's Hight echoed that sentiment. "If you're going to change the country, you have to find ways to increase participation and make it less complicated to vote."

-- Heather Moyer, Sierra Club

Posted at 06:58 AM in Diversity, Environmental Justice | Permalink | Comments (0)

All posts tagged "Diversity"

October 13, 2014

New National Monument Sweet Victory for Sierra Club Board Member

Why Latinos Were So Crucial in the San Gabriels Designation

October 10, 2014

Hands Across the Sand in Waukegan

October 01, 2014

Climate Pilgrimage in New Mexico

September 22, 2014

People's Climate March Draws Over 400,000

September 09, 2014

Diversity in Environmental Organizations

September 05, 2014

Our Shared Responsibility -- A Journey Against Coal and Oil

August 07, 2014

Communities call for strong EPA pollution standards near oil refineries

August 05, 2014

Sierra Club names new Environmental Justice Award after Dr. Robert Bullard

August 04, 2014

The fight for voting rights in Delaware

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