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2009 Election Candidate Forum:
The Questions

A lot has changed in the last 6 months—President-elect Obama's victory, the unprecedented economic crises, the number of people energized by the election. How should the Sierra Club view its role in this changed environment?

Boldman, Lane

This is important. These last several years have been difficult. Our long-time activists and staff have overtaxed themselves, going above and beyond in order to win important victories during a period where political pressure was not in their favor. While the victories have been exciting and inspiring, the wear-and-tear on our volunteers and staff has been brutal.  Even as we move forward, we must also recoup. Our focus needs to be on finding the financial support for our volunteers and staff that will enable them to deliver on their groundwork and take the pressure off of overtaxed resources. As for our role on a larger scale, we have come out stronger. Sierra Club is by far the most respected of all the environmental organization the area of climate change. It is our opportunity to draw more people and resources to us and we must use that opportunity now.

Gibson, Laurence

We should be able to move quickly and confidently now that we have a “green light” from the electorate. Our challenge is to maintain focus and energy as folks tend to relax now that the country is in more environmentally friendly hands. One of the great ironies is that our membership and gifts tend to grow with the election of environmentally insensitive leaders and wane as folks’ confidence grows with good change.

Mann, Robin

We have a tremendous opportunity to engage with allies and help build broad public support for the Obama agenda on green energy and climate change mitigation and adaptation.  Our demands should be ambitious and prioritized, but we need to make them achievable by building the essential broad public support.  We must achieve a vastly greater engagement of our own members, enabling us to maximize our influence as a strong, progressive voice. We should build and maintain our influence with Obama administration officials by using it strategically and in a focused way, recognizing the importance of prioritizing our demands on the administration and the Congress, and preserving our influence by maintaining our focus.  Building relationships with labor and justice advocates in support of shared goals in advancing a Green Economy and Green Jobs agenda is a key contribution we will make to the achievement of our environmental objectives.

Morris, Frank

With the election of Barack Obama, Sierra Club should seize the opportunity and ask the new president to appoint a Sierra Club insider to act as the President’s liaison on environmental issues.  Sierra Club should tirelessly champion “green jobs” in energy efficiency and renewable energy as a means to put Americans to work.  Sierra Club should also be willing to hold the president publicly accountable if his environmental actions don’t meet up to his rhetoric.

Reyes, Rafael

The most significant difference with the election is that the Sierra Club must move on a national level from playing defense to offense.  This is structurally significant.  To play defense it is necessary to be broad and generally focused on rapid response to unexpected challenges.  Playing offense requires being much more focused and selective to drive an agenda forward.  We will see an increased emphasis on work at the federal level given the important opportunities over the next 4 years.  The Sierra Club has made significant strides to improve our effectiveness in preparation for this shift.  

Also, while the political climate is substantially improved, we need to recognize that we have an enormous challenge to achieve the critical progress we need.  It is essential to sustain our political impact – though now in many cases with a more solutions-oriented approach.

Scott, David

We must seize this opportunity to press a pro-environment agenda with the President and Congress and start undoing eight years of Bush. We must help President Obama make his promise of comprehensive climate legislation a reality, and help get a strong international climate treaty negotiated and then ratified by the Senate.  That means using grassroots advocacy like we've  never used it before, and I'm taking the lead in planning that campaign.  

Stimulus spending must go towards energy efficiency, renewable resources and other environmental needs.  We must press to protect and restore forests and wetlands and reverse eight years of damage -- damage not only to our environment, but to our institutions and laws.

Chairing the Obama Administration Task Force has helped me get the thoughts of volunteer leaders and staff about what needs to be done.   The list is long.  I will use that collective wisdom in pressing our agenda.

Warshaw, Chris

The Sierra Club has a vital role to push the pace of environmental change in the months ahead.  Specifically, we need to make sure that the economic stimulus plan that Obama passes in 2009 includes sustainable green energy policies.  It should include programs to build a new high-speed rail network, subsidies for renewable energy, mandates for energy efficiency, and training programs to train the green workers of tomorrow.  

We need to pursue multiple strategies to push this green agenda. First, we should mobilize Sierra Club members to run targeted campaigns in the districts of wavering members of Congress.  Second, we should finance national media outreach programs to show Americans how green jobs can help rebuild our nation’s economy.  Third, we should accelerate our efforts to use the Internet to leverage the excitement of the election and recruit the next generation of Sierra Club members.

Wheeler, Phil

Barack Obama’s election was excellent news for all who care about our environment, the economy and social justice. But our Club cannot be complacent and simply assume all we hope for will occur: Remember the Clinton administration and NAFTA. We must work hard to ensure that our promising new federal administration fulfills its commitment to give the environment and our movement the necessary priority to combat global warming and protect our endangered places and species. We should have new opportunities to work with immeasurably more receptive government officials and agencies in pursuing our objectives – and with that opportunity we can adopt a more collegial style where we find that to be effective. There will still be situations – state and local governments, entrenched federal officials – where we will need a more assertive approach. And we can learn from Obama’s successful campaign, adopting his techniques to energize and expand our constituencies.