Shoals to the Shores, Casie Jones
December is a time of reflection. In the midst of a changing season, fallen leaves, and approaching chills in the air, we reminisce on the past year coming to an end. In the upcoming year, we look forward to rebirth and prepare for challenges and accomplishments that await our efforts in the year 2020. We must learn from our past, live wholeheartedly in the present, and arrange proactively for the future. For Sierrans, this process of growth and renewal is essential in cultivating the social movement needed to ensure the protection for our natural world.
What events in our past have brought us here today?
In 1892, John Muir and a small group of 182 charter members founded the Sierra Club with intentions to Explore, Enjoy, and Protect the environment. They knew there would be challenges, but they knew their fight was necessary. Today, the Sierra Club is one of the most influential environmental grassroots organizations in the nation with over 3 million supporters.
In this moment, what can we do to take a small step in impacting the earth that surrounds us?
We have six groups in the Sierra Club, Alabama Chapter that are distributed from the Shoals to the Shores. Those groups include: the Cahaba, Coosa Valley, Mobile Bay, Montgomery, North Alabama, and West Alabama Groups. Go to our website today and see how you can get involved! https://www.sierraclub.org/alabama
How will we be proactive in preparing for the future?
Education and action. Why educate if you will not act? Why act without knowledge? In order to prepare for the environmental challenges that linger and lie ahead of us, we must gather in conversational settings with each other as Sierrans, while welcoming our neighbors into those conversations. As we teach each other and grow together, we will soon find meaningful and effective pathways to action.
This December, we are specifically reflecting on the lives of two of our Sierra Club, Alabama Chapter members who have passed on to the Great Wilderness. The lives of Curtis Hallman of the West Alabama Group and David Underhill of the Mobile Bay Group have made an impact on Our Club and Our Earth with their service and dedication to protecting our natural world.