Sierra Club Conservation Policies

Global Warming and Ozone Depletion

Prevention of Excessive Greenhouse Effect

The danger posed to the environment by the current and projected release of pollutants that are affecting the thermal balance of the atmosphere, the so-called "greenhouse effect gases," is so great that mitigation measures must be taken now. The pollutants include carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and various halocarbons, particularly the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). So that significant global climate damage will not occur, the Sierra Club urges that, consistent with other Club policies, such steps as the following be taken and promoted worldwide:

prevent deforestation; encourage reforestation and soil restoration;
reduce the burning of fossil fuels through conservation and energy efficiency; and
reduce substantially the current use of the various halocarbons that affect global climate change.

The United States must demonstrate leadership through

legislated emission reductions;
economic and trade incentives and disincentives;
international negotiations; and
targeted foreign assistance to substantially reduce emission of greenhouse-effect gases, with the goal of stabilizing current atmospheric concentrations and preventing further excessive global warming.

In addition, a vigorous research program should be pursued through national and international agencies. The research should include study of:

the greenhouse-effect gas problem, including the nature of the global geosphere/biosphere system and the natural storage and transport of carbon (global carbon budget);
substitutes for industrial compounds or processes that produce greenhouse-effect gases;
energy alternatives; and
climate change and sea-level rise.

The greenhouse effect must be considered as a critical factor in planning and decision making regarding energy policy, land-use choices, and transportation alternatives, and as an integral part of the environmental assessment process.

Adopted by the Board of Directors, May 7-8, 1988

Stratospheric Ozone Protection

The Sierra Club supports such limitations on human activities as may be necessary to protect the stratospheric ozone layer, which shields life on the surface of the Earth from excessive solar ultraviolet radiation. The Sierra Club supports basic atmospheric research and continued assessment of relevant human activities in order to determine whether those activities will change the ozone concentration in the upper atmosphere. The Sierra Club supports a moratorium on the deployment of new technologies which could damage the stratospheric ozone layer (e.g., the SST).

The Sierra Club supports a phase-out of those existing technologies which are known or are likely to affect adversely the stratospheric ozone layer.

With respect to the use of chlorofluoromethanes (chlorofluorocarbons, commonly called freons or CFCs), non-essential uses, such as in aerosol spray cans, should be phased out expeditiously within a two-year minimum period unless the preponderance of scientific evidence shows that these substances pose no significant present or future risk to public health and safety or to the environment. More essential uses, such as for refrigeration purposes, should be phased out as soon as environmentally acceptable substitutes become available, unless the preponderance of scientific evidence demonstrates that these pose no significant present or future risk to public health and safety or to the environment.

Adopted by the Board of Directors, August 30-September 1, 1975