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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
November 7th
"Members of Congress who may feel that the results of the election somehow constitute a mandate for abandoning their environmental commitments need to realize, now, not next month, that the American people won't accept dirtier air, more polluted water or more devastated landscapes." - Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope, 11/06/2002
(1)POLITICAL: Post-Election Wrap-Up
(2)POLITICAL: Illinois is a Winner
(3)SPRAWL: We've Got Spirit!
(4)TAKE ACTION: Write a Letter to the Editor
1. Post-Election Wrap-Up
"Tens of thousands of Sierra Club activists, staff and volunteers, reached out to tens of millions of Americans with the message that if we care about America we must care for America. You [Activists] walked precincts, held rallies, raised money, bird-dogged candidates, conducted interviews, appeared at press conferences, hung posters and banners, made tough endorsement decisions, wrote letters to the editor, registered voters, called in to radio talk shows, held candidate forums in your living room, licked envelopes, attended and raised questions in candidate debates, pounded lawn signs into rocky median strips, prepared and distributed voter guides, ran phone banks, drove your friends and neighbors to the polls, poured coffee and provided the human life blood that keeps democracy alive."
Read the rest of Sierra Club President Carl Pope's reaction to the election as well as comments from Sierra Club President Jennifer Ferenstein at https://www.sierraclub.org/currents/midterm_response.asp
2. Illinois is a Winner
This year was the first year the Illinois Sierra Club endorsed a candidate for Governor. Rod Blagojevich received the endorsement and went on to win on election day. This year was also the first year the Illinois Sierra Club endorsed a candidate for state Attorney General, and like the Governor, she won, making the Illinois Sierra Club two for two. Lisa Madigan won the seat with a campaign proposal for a new state environmental enforcement statute.
In Illinois, overall 66 of 69 Sierra Club endorsements won their election, including all the candidates for the General Assembly. Democrats also made an impressive showing by taking over the state Senate and adding to their control of the House. Way to go Illinois!
Learn more about Illinois' election at https://illinois.sierraclub.org/
3. We've Got Spirit!
Yes, we do! The Virginia Chapter built a coalition and a campaign to defeat a sales tax in the state. The approximately $5 billion to be raised from the tax over 20 years would have mostly funded outer beltways and highway expansions in Northern Virginia -- contributing to even more sprawl, traffic and air pollution.
In this "David and Goliath" campaign, the Sierra Club coalition had less than one tenth of the money and resources the opposition held in their pot. What won the election was spirit -- everyday a volunteer phonebanked, flyered, debated, sent action alerts and also once fought off a verbally aggressive Governor.
Read about the tax reject by voters in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10828-2002Nov5.html
4. Take Action: Write a Letter to the Editor
This is not a time to sit around and mope about the elections. It's a time to get up off the couch and organize! Pick yourself up and mobilize your friends and your friends' friends! Go ahead and start by using these frameworks to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.
To the editor:
Some of my friends are moping around after this election, angry at the results. I'm unhappy, too, and I'm scared that the Bush Administration will do even more to weaken our environmental safeguards. But I'm not going to sit around complaining. Instead, we've all got to speak out and tell them we want cleaner air and safer drinking water.
Around the country and here in our area, we've never had so many people get elected by claiming to care deeply about the air we breathe and the water we drink. In the Senate alone, the Republicans elected from Colorado, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Minnesota and Oregon all won by saying they'll protect the environment. The big question is, How many of those people were lying?
I'll be watching our Senators and Representatives like a hawk to make sure they're fighting for sensible plans to clean up pollution that burns our lungs, poisons our water and destroys our land. I'm going to make sure their actions in Congress match their campaign rhetoric. If they pass the test, I'll pour my heart out to support them in the next election - but if they flunk that test, watch out!
Signed,
To the editor:
Congress has a few new faces, and the leadership in the Senate has changed (again), but I hope President Bush doesn't think Tuesday's elections gave a green light to his anti-environmental agenda. Whatever people think about the Bush Administration's other policies, few people other than Enron executives agree with them on air pollution, water pollution or toxic waste.
My friends have kids suffering from asthma, and they're angry that the Bush Administration wants to let power plants spew more pollution. I enjoy taking my kids fishing and hiking, so I don't like the President's plan to allow more logging in the last unspoiled areas of our National Forests. When I turn the tap for a glass of water, I don't want to worry whether it's safe to drink, and when I grow tomatoes, I don't want to be afraid that pollution lurks in my soil. Finally, I'm furious that the Bush Administration won't hold polluters responsible for funding Superfund toxic waste cleanups, and instead is making taxpayers foot the bill.
I love our country, and I think the best way to love America is to take care of it for our kids. We've worked hard to pass sensible laws that keep our air clean and our water pure. Our kids are reaping the benefits - the air's cleaner today, and more lakes are safe for swimming. Let's make sure our Senators and Representatives know that we want to keep making progress on protecting America's air, our water, and the land that we love.
"Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble." - Macbeth, William Shakespeare
(1)SPRAWL: Bats' Eye View
(2)CAFO: Stinky Invention
(3)WILDLANDS: Trick or Treat Senator!
(4)TAKE ACTION: Vote on November 5th
1. Bats' Eye View
Ken Adelman is building a real 'treat' for environmentalists. He has developed a webpage that will include 7,000 pictures of the California Coast. The goal of the project, which will make some developers look like a ghost in a graveyard, is to help environmentalists fight illegal development on the coast. The Sierra Club has already used the site to show the Coastal Commission how a golf coarse put granite boulders on a public beach without permission. "This is the most fun you can have with a computer," said Mark Massara, Sierra Club's California Coastal Director, "We're pleased as a punch."
The California coast is a vital, yet fragile, habitat that supports endangered species. Unfortunately, the coast is threatened by a constant barrage of proposals to build mansions, subdivisions, golf courses, seawalls and giant commercial venues. The Sierra Club, with the help from people like Ken Adelman, is trying to save what's left and wants the Coastal Commission to set aside and permanently protect California's undeveloped coastal places.
Check out the Records Project webpage, https://external.californiacoastline.org/
2. Stinky Invention
Hmm, what's that smell? Spoiled liquorice? No, it's almost 2.5 million hogs in the state of Oklahoma, 25,000 of which are at Dorman Farms. The state Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry has come up with a new gadget to remove the smell from the air. The gadget supposedly filters the air-borne particles from the air and then disperses the "clean" air. The Sierra Club is not convinced: "According to a Sierra Club member who lives and farms adjacent, the facility still produces a rank smell, and if the wind comes from that direction, it is putrid," reported The Oklahoman.
Dorman Farms needs a viable solution to the air it is producing from its hog farm. Several studies have found that odors from large hog operations can affect neighbors' health. Studies have found that neighbors of such facilities are more prone to upper respiratory and gastrointestinal ailments. For these reasons, the Sierra Club believes concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), like this one, need to ban open-air manure lagoons and aerial spraying of the waste, be treated as stationary air pollution sources as outlined in the Clean Air Act, and should have standards for air compounds released into the air.
Read more about the Sierra Club's CAFO campaign: https://www.sierraclub.org/factoryfarms/factsheets/air.asp
3. Trick or Treat Senator!
Senator Feinstein received 20,000 treats today. The treats were actually postcards, to thank her for support of wilderness projects of the past and to encourage her to build on her legacy promoting California's unprotected land to wilderness. The Sierra Club and CALPIRG held postcard signing events in LA, San Diego and San Francisco.
Over 675,000 acres of unprotected wilderness on public lands in California have been lost in the past decade due to logging, roadbuilding, abuse by off-road vehicles, and other human-caused destruction. And only one percent of California's rivers are protected from dam building and other harmful actions. The strongest and highest level of protection is wilderness protection, and with the help of Senator Feinstein, the Sierra Club wants to save what's left of California wildlands.
To learn more about the Sierra Club's California Wilderness protection go to https://www.sierraclub.org/ca/wilderness/
4. Take Action: Vote on November 5th
On Tuesday, the Inspector General of the EPA unburied a scary ghoul: There are 32 Superfund sites that have still received no funding for clean up. By not cleaning up places where toxic waste is known to be polluting water and risking families health, the Bush Administration is leaving our communities at risk. There is only one way to curb this trend, VOTE.
By voting and electing a pro-environmental Congress, a message will be sent to the Bush Administration. America supports clean water and safe communities. VOTE November 5th!
"We're going to keep on fighting, and keep on marching, and keep on fighting, and keep on marching, for women, for workers, for the environment!" - Late Senator Paul Wellstone rallying labor union members and environmentalists at the World Trade Organization protests, Seattle 1999
(1)POLITICS: Sierra Club Loses A Friend
(2)AIR: Students Say Dirty Diesel should sit in the Corner
(3)WILDLANDS: Definition Grassroots
(4)TAKE ACTION: Vote on November 5th
1. Sierra Club Loses A Friend
On Friday, October 25th, the Sierra Club lost a dear friend and environmental champion, Senator Paul Wellstone. Sierra Club members are mourning in Minnesota and throughout the rest of the country.
Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director, had these kind words to say of Paul, "He was a wonderful human being, a dear friend to me and to the Sierra Club. He was also an inspiring and effective leader for the entire progressive community."
To read Carl Pope's complete statement, see https://www.sierraclub.org/currents/wellstone.asp
2. Students Say Dirty Diesel should sit in the Corner
What did you learn in high school? Algebra? Polynomial equations? In Minnesota, high school students are learning about diesel and they're learning it pollutes their air. Students from the Sierra Club's North Star Group held a press conference with the state's Office of Environmental Assistance to raise awareness of diesel buses' hazards. There is a new law in Minnesota and the students want it implemented. The law restricts school buses from idling and requires schools to post signs and notify parents about the hazards of diesel emissions. The ultimate goal is to phase diesel out completely in favor of cleaner fuels and advanced emission control technology.
There is no denying diesel is dirty. In fact, it emits more than 40 substances considered toxic by the EPA, including arsenic, benzene and formaldehyde. Diesel engines make up half the soot particles polluting our urban areas. Like the students, you may be asking yourself, "What is the hazard of soot?" Soot is breathed deep into the lungs and may cause pneumonia, asthma, and other lung-damaging diseases. Diesel engines are also a contributor to smog.
What's smog? Check the Dirty Diesel Factsheet: https://www.sierraclub.org/cleanair/factsheets/diesel.asp
Read the AP story and see the TV coverage at https://kstp.com/article/view/51508/
3. Definition Grassroots
October has been a busy month in Anchorage, AK for the Sierra Club. The locals have been garnering up signatures for the Chugach National Forest Citizen's Appeal in response to the Forest Service's decision to limit protection and wilderness designation in the Chugach National Forest Land Management Plan. Letter writing, a video presentation, sign painting, and phonebanking all led to the October 24th rally and press conference.
The Chugach National Forest is the second largest national forest in America and its part of the largest remaining temperate rainforest on Earth. It is home to salmon, wolves, bald eagles, and Alaskan brown bear. By not securing unspoiled forest areas that the public wants protected, the Bush Administration will subject the Chugach to pollution and habitat destruction.
Here's a link to the Sierra Club's national forest factsheet: https://www.sierraclub.org/logging/factsheet.asp
4. Take Action: Vote on November 5th
Why Vote? One reason is because our local and national wildlands depend on it. Our wildlands are in jeopardy like never before and the most at-risk for oil development is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Arctic Refuge is a unique and unparalleled wilderness, home to 130 species of birds, grizzlies, rare musk oxen, polar bears, and dozens of other wildlife species. The 1.5 million acre coastal plain of the Refuge -- the area where drilling would occur -- is the birthing and nursery grounds for the 130,000 member Porcupine Caribou herd, one of the hemisphere's largest caribou herds.
The National Energy bill is in conference right now. Currently, half of Congress and the President support drilling. By voting, we can ensure the vitality of the Arctic by keeping Congress from drilling our wildlands. So, VOTE!
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