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February 12, 2013

Beating the Drums Against Coal in Montana

When the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) tried to mute public opposition to the proposed Otter Creek coal mine in southeastern Montana, the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation, and members of the Northern Cheyenne Nation called them on their tactics and made their voices heard.

The Otter Creek coal tracts, below, contain approximately 1.3 billion tons of coal that, once strip-mined and burned, would emit roughly 2.4 billion tons of climate-disrupting pollution into the atmosphere. Otter Creek Coal, a subsidiary of Arch Coal, has leased 616 million tons of that coal from the State of Montana.

Photo by Kestrel Aerial Services, courtesy of the Montana Environmental Information Center

The DEQ set up a "scoping hearing" in Lame Deer, Montana—home of the Northern Cheyenne tribal headquarters—to accept public comments on the Otter Creek project. But instead of allowing people to stand up and speak in public, DEQ set up an "open house" which provided information but effectively kept public comments off the record.

"The open house format features a lot of different tables where people can mill around," says Montana-based Sierra Club organizer Mike Scott. "But if people want to comment they have to go sit down with someone from DEQ instead of being heard by the public. When people get up and speak in public, it's a totally different dynamic—it can make others think about the situation differently. The open house format was a way for DEQ to make sure they were controlling all the information."

That's Scott, below at left, with Northern Cheyenne activists Martin Braided Hair and Tom Mexican Cheyenne.

The scoping hearing in Lame Deer was one of several on the Otter Creek project, all held in communities near the proposed mine, so the Sierra Club, NWF, and Northern Cheyenne knew about DEQ's open house tactic in advance. "We were able to organize the group together pretty quickly and develop a plan," Scott says.

We'll let Scott describe what ensured:

Continue reading "Beating the Drums Against Coal in Montana" »

Posted at 03:37 PM in Beyond Coal, Clean Energy Solutions, Environmental Justice, Healthy Communities, Partnerships | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

December 12, 2012

L.A. Commits to Solar

On December 6, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed a landmark agreement to purchase power from a solar project to be built on the Moapa River Indian Reservation in Nevada—the first-ever commercial solar project on Native American lands. The project will provide power to more than 110,000 L.A. homes.

"Today, we're signing the largest solar contract in the history of the L.A. Department of Water & Power," Villaraigosa said. "Our contract with the K Road Moapa Solar Project will provide 250 megawatts of solar power. That's enough energy to power over 113,000 homes." Below, Villaraigosa with Sierra Club leaders and Moapa Paiute President William Anderson at the ceremony. Sierra Club President Allison Chin is next to the mayor.

The Sierra Club has been actively promoting the agreement between the City of Los Angeles and the Moapa Band of Paiutes, and partnering with the tribe to retire the dirty Reid Gardner coal plant, which sits immediately adjacent to the Moapa reservation about an hour northeast of Las Vegas.

"This groundbreaking agreement is great news for everyone involved," said Mary Anne Hitt, director of the Club's Beyond Coal campaign. "From the Moapa Band of Paiutes, who are building the solar farm on their land; to the residents of Los Angeles, who will reap the benefits of cleaner electricity; and to all Americans demanding a transition to clean energy; we salute the grassroots organizing by local citizens and strong leadership from city officials that brought this project to fruition."

Chin, above with Villaraigosa, spoke at the event. Sierra Club Communications Director Bob Sipchen, below, an L.A-area native and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist formerly with the Los Angeles Times, was also on hand for the ceremony.

"The Moapa Solar Project will be a boost to the Paiutes and the Sierra Club's ongoing efforts to replace coal with clean energy in southern Nevada," Chin said. "Paiute families are suffering from high numbers of asthma attacks, heart conditions and even cancer that's associated with coal pollution from the Reid Gardner plant."

Below, Chin with educator & Angeles Chapter volunteer Wendy Legacki, and Club organizers Jasmin Vargas and Aisha Farley.

Continue reading "L.A. Commits to Solar" »

Posted at 06:48 PM in Beyond Coal, Beyond Oil, Clean Energy Solutions, Environmental Justice, Healthy Communities, Partnerships | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

November 20, 2012

Get Those Butts Off the Beach (A Yeoman Effort in New Jersey Before the Storm)

Earlier this fall—well before Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on the New Jersey coast and changed the conversation about climate disruption and its consequences—the Sierra Club's New Jersey Chapter and recycling pioneer TerraCycle teamed up to do a beach cleanup in the coastal community of Belmar.

[Editor's note: Sandy destroyed half of Belmar's newly completed 1.2-mile boardwalk, and left neighborhoods near the beach under three to four feet of water. Find out how you can aid relief and recovery efforts in Belmar at the bottom of this post.]

The Belmar beach cleanup was organized in conjunction with the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup Day, which the conservancy has mobilized for the last 25 years. More than 52 million cigarette butts have been collected from beaches on cleanup days over that span.

"Eighty-five volunteers collected over 4,300 cigarette butts, 700 bottle caps, 600 wrappers, and 330 straws off the beach," says New Jersey Chapter organizer Nicole Dallara. "The discarded cigarette butts were then sent to TerraCycle, which 'upcycles' them into new products like shipping products, plastic lumber, railroad ties, and other items after the waste gets converted into plastic pellets."

Continue reading "Get Those Butts Off the Beach (A Yeoman Effort in New Jersey Before the Storm)" »

Posted at 03:41 PM in Healthy Communities, Partnerships | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 26, 2012

Sierra Club, Anglers Prevail in Fight to Protect Legendary Trout Stream

Au-Sable-River-Mason-Tract
Creative Commons photo courtesy of Pretty Emmy

After a nearly decade-long battle, the Sierra Club and Anglers of the Au Sable won a huge victory when Savoy Energy, a Michigan-based oil-and-gas exploration company, withdrew a permit request to drill for gas underneath the Mason Tract near northern Michigan's Au Sable River. The Mason Tract and the Au Sable are hallowed ground for anglers, sportsmen, outdoor recreationists, and conservationists.

Photo courtesy of Anglers of the Au Sable

"This is a victory for everyone—the environment, the state of Michigan, and the people who enjoy and appreciate the beauty of the Au Sable River," says Anne Woiwode, director of the Sierra Club's Michigan Chapter.

Featured in the book Fifty Places to Fly Fish Before you Die, the Au Sable is a Wild & Scenic River, a designated blue ribbon trout stream, and is widely considered to be one of the premier brown trout fisheries east of the Rockies—many would say in the entire Lower 48. Anglers, who come from all over the world to fish the Au Sable, refer to one especially renowned stretch of the river as "the Holy Water" (pictured below).

Photo by Adolph Greenberg

Among the many heroes in the fight to protect the Au Sable and the Mason Tract are Sierra Club forest ecologist Marvin Roberson, chapter volunteer Nancy Shiffler, Sierra Club attorney Marianne Dugan, and Calvin "Rusty" Gates, who founded Anglers of the Au Sable in 1987 with five other Michigan anglers. A former "Angler of the Year" in Fly Rod & Reel magazine, Gates served as president of Anglers of the Au Sable from its founding until 2009, when he died at age 54 after a year-long battle with lung cancer.

"Rusty was a quiet guy, but when he spoke, people listened," says Bruce Pregler, the current president of Anglers of the Au Sable. "He knew how to find the right players and get them involved. We met with Marvin in 2003 and developed a battle plan, and the Sierra Club brought key people to the table for us, like Marianne Dugan, who was just phenomenal. Once we got in the trenches it was a total team effort. This victory is a tribute to the perseverance of the Sierra Club and Anglers of the Au Sable."

Savoy Energy's proposal to drill in a renowned angler's paradise helped cement the alliance between sportsmen and conservationists in Michigan. "Anglers are up in arms over this," Gates said in 2006, when the area was still very much under threat. "We'll be darned if they're going to ruin once of the most special places we've got left."

Two years earlier in the town of Grayling, the closest town of any size to the Mason Tract, 500 of the town's 2,000 residents showed up to speak out against drilling at a public hearing. Roberson says Savoy's drilling proposal elicited more public comments than any project in Michigan's history. And the Sierra Club and Anglers of the Au Sable were the catalysts for this outpouring.

"The combination of the Sierra Club's policy expertise coupled with the extensive on-the-ground knowledge of Anglers of the Au Sable made for a terrific partnership," says Roberson, pictured below in the Mason Tract. "The Mason Tract is safe for now, but we have to stay vigilant and hope this sets a precedent so other companies won't try to foolishly drill near our few remaining precious pieces of wilderness."

Continue reading "Sierra Club, Anglers Prevail in Fight to Protect Legendary Trout Stream" »

Posted at 07:21 PM in Partnerships, Resilient Habitats, Water Sentinels | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 01, 2012

Climbing for Unity on 9/11

On September 11, four groups of veterans made mountaineering summit attempts to commemorate 9/11, in Washington's North Cascades, Wyoming's Tetons, Colorado's San Juans, and New Hampshire's White Mountains.

Above, the Washington group near the summit of 9,131-foot Mt. Shuksan in the North Cascades. From left to right, Marine Corps vets Shenandoah Sanchez and Daniel Sidles, KAF Adventures guide Trevor Ellsworth, and Air Force Reserve vet Jason Wheeler. (Lead KAF guide Jason Wheeler took the photo.) The Semper Fi Fund is a non-profit organization that provides immediate financial support for injured or critically ill members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families.

Below, the Mt. Shuksan team ascending steep snow fields near the summit.

The four climbs were sponsored and guided by the Sierra Club's Mission Outdoors program in conjunction with Veteran's Expeditions, Paradox Sports, Big City Mountaineers, Sportainability, and Telluride Adaptive Sports.

Mission Outdoors Director Stacy Bare, a decorated veteran of the Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iraq conflicts, and fellow vet Nick Watson launched the first 9/11 commemorative climb up Longs Peak in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park in 2010 with eight other veterans. Last year, Bare helped train and lead eight more vets in a successful ascent of Wyoming's Grand Teton to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Tommy Carroll, who has a prosthetic left leg below the knee, was among the veterans who climbed New Hampshire's Mt. Washington this year. Below left, Carroll leads the way up Tuckerman Ravine on the mountain's eastern flank, with fellow vets Nick Watson and Steve Arsenault close behind; below right, Carroll atop the summit.

What follows is a first-person account by Shenandoah Sanchez (at far left in photo below) of his group's ascent of Mt. Shuksan.

Continue reading "Climbing for Unity on 9/11" »

Posted at 05:18 PM in Partnerships, Resilient Habitats, Success Stories | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 30, 2012

Big Turnout at Key Meeting Proves Pivotal to Puerto Rico Victory

The Club's Puerto Rico Chapter won a huge victory the last week of June when Governor Luis Fortuño signed a law protecting 1,950 acres of the island's Northeast Ecological Corridor (NEC) as a nature reserve, sparing the Corridor from massive proposed resort development in one of the most important nesting grounds on earth for the endangered Leatherback sea turtle.

Victories like this don't happen overnight. The Puerto Rico Chapter has been working to protect the NEC since the chapter's inception in 2005—in fact, Sierra Club activists on the Isle of Enchantment have been working to protect the Corridor for more than 15 years, ever since two megaresorts were proposed by Marriott International and Four Seasons Resorts in 1996.

Over this time, Puerto Rico Sierra Club activists collected thousands of petition signatures, put on the Festival del Tinglar (Leatherback Turtle Festival) six years in a row, led tours of the Corridor, lobbied the state legislature, and turned out citizens in big numbers for rallies and public hearings.

Key to the eventual victory was the ability of the Sierra Club and its coalition partners to turn out more than 500 citizens to a critical public hearing on the fate of the NEC in February 2011. (The Sierra Club was a founding member of the Northeast Ecological Corridor Coalition.)

We'll let Puerto Rico Chapter organizer Camilla Feibelman, above at right, tell the story:

On Saturday, February 5, 2011, the Sierra Club of Puerto Rico, together with our coalition partners, got 533 people to turn out to the state government's public hearings on the proposed fragmentation of the Northeast Ecological Corridor. Our goal was to turn out 500 citizens, and we exceeded that by 33 people.

From our database of 25,000 people we pulled names from the towns of Luquillo and Fajardo, two communities near the Corridor, and called as many of them as we could over the course of five or six call nights. We also called people who had received our kids' presentation on Leatherback sea turtles and the NEC, or who had gone on an excursion in the Corridor. We invited all of the artisans, businesspeople, and schools that have participated in our Leatherback Turtle Festival.

In order to populate our call nights with volunteers, we put each of our teams in charge of one particular night. One night was the kids' presentation team, another night our membership committee, another night was our Sierra Student Coalition group, another night the excursions committee, etc. Then on the final day we called all the "yeses."

We then held a series of lead-up events to the hearing, including a community breakfast on the street, and excursions to the Corridor with upwards of 80 people. We conducted a morning phone-calling campaign to our local talk radio shows and supplemented them with a couple of purchased radio spots. We paid for a week of announcements on what's called a "tumbacoco" (so loud it knocks the coconuts of the tree)—a car with speakers on top to announce the event. We also handed out flyers and put up posters in several neighborhoods.

The day of the hearing was amazing. We organized a demonstration of fifty people at the base of the building. At 10 o'clock we marched up seven flights of stairs, chanting together. We then walked into the hearing room together silently, with our placards raised. The room was packed and we had to rent an additional one hundred chairs to accommodate the crowd. An amazing array of people testified, and we generated a significant amount of earned media.

Much more work remained to be done, but this show of support at this particular juncture was critical. The following spring, the Puerto Rico House and Senate both unanimously passed a bill protecting the Corridor, with both local parties joining in their entirety as co-authors. And on June 25, 2012, the governor, recognizing the depth and breadth of public support for protecting the Corridor, signed the bill into law, protecting 1,950 public acres of the NEC as a nature reserve.

This victory is proof that when people participate in government they can make true change. The people spoke and the governor had to listen.

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.

Posted at 04:48 PM in Healthy Communities, Partnerships, Resilient Habitats, Success Stories, Water Sentinels | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 19, 2012

Maryland Sierra Club Organizer Garners Kudos in Essence Magazine

Maryland Sierra Club organizer Christine Hill was featured in Essence magazine's "Young, Black, and Amazing!" package in its August issue (p. 50).

[The feature appears in the print, but not the online edition of the magazine.]

"Armed with a law degree, this conservation representative works with the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club to demand a safe and healthy environment," Essence writes. "Hill is known for rallying members and leading town hall meetings petitioning for clean water and air and renewable clean energy."

Essence, a monthly magazine targeted at African-American women between the ages of 18 and 49, has a monthly circulation of 1,050,000 and an estimated readership of 8.5 million.

"To be featured in Essence is truly an honor," Hill says. "I've been reading this magazine for as long as I can remember. I even remember being a little girl, sitting on my momma's lap as she read it."

Hill says black environmentalists have been historically overlooked. "I hope this feature can be a catalyst for other young women of color to get involved and become the leaders of this and coming generations."

Born and raised in the Washington, D.C., area, Hill earned a Bachelor's of Art in Broadcast Communications and Electronic Media from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, and then went on to earn a Juris Doctor from Vermont Law School (currently ranked #1 in Environmental Law by U.S. News and World Report) in South Royalton, Vermont.

As the Conservation and Policy Associate with the Sierra Club's Maryland Chapter and Beyond Coal campaign, Hill has been working to promote clean energy—and particularly offshore wind—to members of the Maryland state legislature. When she's not in Annapolis working on clean energy policy, she is collaborating with other Sierra Club and community organizers in Prince George's County, Maryland—per capita the wealthiest black-majority county in the nation—on effective grassroots strategies in communities of color.

Hill has led, organized, or co-organized rallies, press conferences, town hall meetings and lobby day events, written newspaper articles, and given speeches on various topics. She recently introduced Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act at the 2012 Maryland Legislative Session's Environmental Summit.

Above, Hill discusses the bill with citizens in Annapolis; below, local residents sign up to be Sierra Club members at a town hall meeting on offshore wind power that Hill helped organize in Prince George's County.

Continue reading "Maryland Sierra Club Organizer Garners Kudos in Essence Magazine" »

Posted at 04:57 PM in Beyond Coal, Clean Energy Solutions, Diversity, Environmental Justice, Healthy Communities, Partnerships | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 17, 2012

Bronze Star Recipient Stacy Bare New Mission Outdoors Director

Photo by Chris Kassar

On July 16, former U.S. Army Captain and Bronze Star recipient Stacy Bare was named director of the Sierra Club's Mission Outdoors program. Formerly a representative for the Club's Military Families & Veterans Initiative, Bare served in Bosnia and Iraq and spent time as a civilian explosive ordnance disposal technician in Angola and the Republic of Georgia.

That's Bare in the blue parka atop 14,411-foor Mt. Rainier—highest peak in the Cascade Range—the week before he officially took the reins of Mission Outdoors. From left to right: Luis Benitez, Bare, Nick Watson, and Chad Butrick. (Watson and Butrick are fellow veterans.) Last fall, Bare helped train eight veterans in mountaineering and accompanied them on a September 11 ascent of the Grand Teton in Wyoming to commemorate 9/11.

After receiving the Bronze Star for meritorious service in Baghdad during the Iraq War, Bare returned to the States and completed his Masters in City Planning and Urban Design at the University of Pennsylvania.

It was during this time that he first began to struggle with the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To combat the affliction, he turned to rock-climbing and the outdoors, which he credits with allowing him to rebuild his life.

"Life experience has left me believing in the healing power of time spent in nature," he says. "Access to our nation's outdoors spaces and wild places—around the corner and across the country—ought not to be exclusive. I look forward to leading Mission Outdoors and ensuring that access to nature is available to anyone who wants and needs it."

Mission Outdoors is comprised of four Sierra Club programs: Building Bridges to the Outdoors; Inner City Outings; Local Outings; and the Military Families & Veterans Initiative. "Taken together, these programs embody the heritage and spirit of John Muir's vision to connect America to the great outdoors," Bare says.

Continue reading "Bronze Star Recipient Stacy Bare New Mission Outdoors Director" »

Posted at 12:44 PM in Diversity, Environmental Justice, Inner City Outings, Partnerships, Resilient Habitats | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 13, 2012

Big Rally Against Proposed New Coal Plant in Chicago

On July 10, more than 200 Chicagoans rallied outside the State of Illinois' offices in downtown Chicago to protest a proposed new coal plant to be built within the city limits. Despite public opposition, in June the Illinois legislature passed a bill, now sitting on Governor Pat Quinn's desk, which would OK the construction of a new coal gasification plant on the city's Southeast Side.

That's Southeast Side activist Gustavo Mota at the microphone, above. "Today is my 16th birthday, and there is nowhere I would rather spend it than standing up with you all to defend our community!" he told the cheering crowd.

"Governor Quinn, here's a solution: Bring us jobs that don't bring pollution!" was one of the many rallying cries, delivered in both English and Spanish, at the demonstration, which was organized by the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign and the Environmental Justice Alliance of Greater Southeast Chicago. The Sierra Club is a founding member of the Alliance.

"We had a great day voicing our opposition to bringing a new coal plant into the city after we just nailed down the retirement of our two existing coal plants," said Chicago-based Sierra Club organizer Kady McFadden.

Continue reading "Big Rally Against Proposed New Coal Plant in Chicago" »

Posted at 10:59 AM in Beyond Coal, Environmental Justice, Healthy Communities, Partnerships | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

July 05, 2012

Preserving a Special Piece of La Isla del Encanto

Photo by Luis Villanueve-Cubero

The Sierra Club's newest chapter won a huge victory—for the second time—the last week of June when Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño signed a law protecting nearly 2,000 acres of the island's Northeast Ecological Corridor from development.

For years, the Corridor—also known as the NEC—has been threatened by two proposed megaresorts that included 4,900 new residential and tourist units and three golf courses.

"We did hundreds of presentations to children about sea turtles and the Corridor; we collected thousands and thousands of petitions; we put on the Festival del Tinglar (sea turtle festival) for six years running; we did cleanups in anticipation of turtle nesting season, we led tours of the Corridor; and we involved thousands of people in our grassroots effort," says Puerto Rico Sierra Club organizer Camilla Feibelman, at left.

(Feibleman was the 2012 recipient of the Sierra Club's Special Achievement award, in large part for her leadership in protecting the Northeast Ecological Corridor. She was also instrumental in fighting a proposed pipeline and incinerator, and she spearheaded the effort to involve the Sierra Club in New York City's Puerto Rico Day parade, the largest parade in the U.S.)

Above, the 2011 Puerto Rico Day parade; below, the 2010 Festival del Tinglar.

Encompassing palm-fringed beaches, wetlands, forests, coral reefs, mangrove swamps, and a bioluminescent lagoon, the Northeast Ecological Corridor is one of the most important nesting grounds on earth for the endangered leatherback sea turtle, below—the largest of all sea turtles.

The NEC is home to more than 50 rare, endemic, and threatened species, including the Snowy Plover, Brown Pelican, Puerto Rican Boa, Hawksbill Sea Turtle, and West Indian Manatee. The El Yunque National Forest, adjacent to the Corridor, is the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. Forest Service jurisdiction.

Photo courtesy of Coalition for the Northeast Ecological Corridor

"This place is better than Avatar," Feibelman says.

Continue reading "Preserving a Special Piece of La Isla del Encanto" »

Posted at 07:12 PM in Partnerships, Resilient Habitats | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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