If you are an active member of the Alabama Sierra Club, you should receive a ballot for voting that includes bios and instructions on voting. Below are the bios submitted by candidates.
ExCom Election: It is time to elect new leaders for the Alabama Chapter of the Sierra Club. Every Chapter of the Sierra Club has an Executive Committee to provide guidance and leadership. The Alabama Chapter Executive Committee consists of 8 elected members (4 of whom are elected each year for a 2-year term), plus a delegate from each of our 6 Groups.
As an active member of the Chapter, you are eligible to vote in this election. Ballots are due by December 25.
Check out the Alabama Sierra Club ExCom Ballot to submit your choices.
Casie Jones - I’ve been a member of the Sierra Club for almost ten years and have served this past year on the state Executive Committee. I have been impressed with the actions taken by members of the ExComm and their corresponding groups around the state. I am prepared to exercise my own talents as a part of the ExComm through involvement in education, public outreach, and “growing roots” within those realms. As an educator in a public high school, I see the future of the Sierra Club in the hands of evolving generations. I teach Biology and Environmental science on the weekdays. I spend my weekends enjoying the outdoors, traveling, gaining new experiences, and cultivating knowledge. I spend every day thinking of ways to “explore, enjoy, and protect” our incredible earth.
Jonathon Meeks - Hi, I’m Jonathon Meeks. I’m from Sand Mountain in North Alabama, where I live on the remnants of my great great grandparent’s farm. I enjoy gardening, hiking and I’m an avid paddler. I’ve served in various roles at the group and chapter level. I have been on the Alabama Chapter Executive Committee since 2012. The Executive Committee elected me to be your Chapter Chair in January of this year after having served as Vice Chair for a year.
During this year I have lobbied the legislature, testified at committee hearings, tabled at events across the state, participated in coalitions, represented the Alabama Chapter at conferences, recruited new members, written letters to various state and federal agencies, and built mutually beneficial relationships with other organizations. I have also been very privileged to travel to Washington D.C. to represent Alabama at the Chapter Assembly where I took every opportunity to advocate for our chapter. As a result we have been able to upgrade our digital database capabilities. We are now able to send out newsletter to 24,000 addresses versus 1,200 before the change. I have been trained on and implemented the Addup.org petition system. One petition gained over 200 signatures in 48 hours. At the Chapter Assembly I also secured a grant to hold a volunteer lobbyist training in order to revitalize our political program. The training was a great success, with 31 people attending despite Hurricane Irma. Under my leadership we have also printed and distributed our first print newsletter in several years. My goal as your chair is to build the Alabama Chapter into the most powerful force for conservation in the state, feared and respected by polluters and politicians alike. It has been an honor and a privilege to be your representative. If elected, I intend to keep driving the Alabama Chapter forward.
Alexis Murphy - Bio: attended sprog (Sierra Club Summer Program) in 2011, became a cook for two different sprogs afterwards. Was involved with environmental work at the University of Alabama’s environmental council from 2011-2013. Arranged a carpool to the People’s Climate March in 2014 with UAEco. Involved with Southerners on New Ground, a multigenerational and multiracial organization that fights for LGBT rights in the south, around the same time I was being introduced to the environmental movement at SPROG. Has been organizing around grassroots organizations since 2011.
Candidate statement: As a potential Sierra Club Executive Committee member I would like to bring about change through recruiting more young people who want to see change in Alabama through action and policy. Being a black queer person in the south has taught me a lot about adversity and how to overcome such obstacles through some form of action whether it be to write to detainees or listening to their stories as they navigate our justice system with little or no help at all.
Laura Quattrochi - Laura Quattrochi has a B.S. in Psychology and Social Work from the University of Montevallo. After graduation, Laura realized that her passion was for the environment and decided to utilize her degree in a different way. Laura then became Alabama Environmental Council’s 2015-2017 YWCA AmeriCorps Service Member. Continuing to build on her Community Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator roles, she recently transitioned to being a part of AEC’s staff as their Program Coordinator. Quattrochi also is a major advocate for environmental and social justice issues. She has been a member of the Cahaba Group of Sierra Club and the Beyond Coal Committee since the beginning of 2016. As of September 2016, Laura has been a part of the Dynamite Hill-Smithfield Community Land Trust (DH-SCLT), as well as Friends of Dynamite Hill (F of DH). In hopes of serving on the Sierra Club Executive Committee, Laura will continue to form alliances and network with folks. She is excited to see Sierra Club grow!
Roger Tanner - Roger L. Tanner is a retired atmospheric chemist with 40+ years of experience in national air quality issues, with special expertise in airborne particulate matter, its origin and fate. He directed studies at the Look Rock air quality site in Great Smokey Mountains National Park from 2001 to 2013, in collaboration with the National Park Service and the Environmental Protection Agency.
He has been a member of the Sierra Club since 2012 and although not an active member until recently, he has been a moderate voice for responsible environ¬mental regulations and an ardent foe of profit-driven deregulation efforts. Since retirement, he has recognized the need to take a more active role in Sierra Club activities in the Alabama chapter given the current political, particularly in the areas of air quality and habitat preservation.
He has been a member of the Shoals Environmental Alliance since 2001, and was active in efforts to save the TVA trails (a National Trails site) from development, thus retaining this ecologically important habitat on the Tennessee River. He has supported several other environmental groups through the years, including the National Wildlife Federation, Nature Conservancy, and the World Wildlife Fund. He has also canoed local streams and rivers, and has been an active hiker, especially in the Sierra Nevada, where he has hiked more than half the Tahoe Rim trail.