I’m a retired air traffic controller. I was born, raised and worked in South Florida. After I retired, I moved to Baldwin County, Alabama, to be closer to my elderly mother. It is here that I became active in the Mobile Bay Group of the Sierra Club.
The Mobile Bay Group of the Sierra Club sponsors the Earth Day Mobile Bay event in Fairhope, Alabama. After watching the film, “America’s Amazon,” by Ben Raines, about the Mobile and Tensaw River Delta, I became even more aware of the environmental issues affecting us here locally. I became actively involved in Citizens’ Climate Lobby, after a presentation at one of our monthly Sierra Club educational programs. I have learned about so many issues affecting our area (the unlined coal ash pond at Power Plant Barry north of Mobile on the Mobile River; the Enviva Wood Pellet plant in Lucedale, MS; Cancer Alley in LA and the problems caused by the petrochemical industry, etc.). I have learned so much about our state from the Southern Exposure Films that have been shown at our meetings and the many educational and informative speakers we have had from various organizations (i.e., Mobile Baykeeper, Mobile Environmental Justice Action Coalition, GASP, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers re: dredging and the need for sand for Dauphin Island as a barrier island, etc.).
Pictured: Riva, her mom and her brother (Riva, Eva and David Shark Fralick) taken in October 2021 at the Fairhope South Beach Park. We love to come down to where the land meets the water and sky and watch the sunset, walk my dog, watch the pelicans, gulls and great blue herons fly, and just enjoy the beauty of our world, Planet Earth. Sure, it is beautiful to look at but I know what lies above and beneath and how we are slowly killing our only home by polluting our land, air and water. I am a climate activist because I am a part of the problem and I want to be part of the solution. Once I learned about what we are doing, and like Greta Thunberg, feeling that no one is doing anything about it, I decided to step up and do whatever I could do as one person and a member of the Sierra Club.
Our group president, Carol Adams-Davis, encouraged me to run for the Executive Committee. I admire her very much and respect the hard work she has done for our Group and state Chapter. I have much to learn from her about Southern Hospitality and interpersonal relations! You ask what is it about SC that makes you willing to give of your time and energy? It is people like her: wonderful role models who believe in and encourage others to learn and grow and act as they become more knowledgeable and comfortable with the subject matter.
One of my favorite memories associated with being outside in nature is when, as a native Floridian, I learned how to ski at Heavenly Ski Resort in Lake Tahoe, CA/NV, in the early 90’s. As a member of the Miami Ski Club, I went on many ski trips and just loved the change of scenery and the many national parks in which the various ski areas were in: from Canada, UT, WY, ID, CA, CO, VT, and MT. I wish everyone had the opportunity to have these kinds of adventures and experiences.
My specific environmental interest and concern is the Climate Crisis. We need to talk about it and governments and corporations need to take immediate action to get us to Zero Carbon emissions before 2050! Time is of the essence and we can help by educating people about the crisis and ringing the alarm bell. We can have a clean, renewable energy grid and transportation system that weans us off fossil fuels and will also bring economic growth and prosperity while doing so! One action I would like to see more of from the Alabama SC is RECRUITMENT! We need to chat up the Sierra Club and all that we have done and are doing to preserve and protect our environment for future generations! One easy way to do that is by giving gift subscriptions of the Sierra Club magazine to the ones we love!