[hitched] Aug 17) "Pipe(line) Dream"...[more]


Rincon Group / Our Blogs / Sierra Club's "Hitched" Newsletter. . .


 

As people across the country protest in defense of Black lives, the Sierra Club recognizes the need to dismantle systemic racism in the United States and within our own organization. We must reckon with how white supremacy -- both past and present -- has shaped our institutions and do the critical anti-racism work necessary to repair the harm done. The environmental movement does not exist in a vacuum, and it is our responsibility to use our power to help abolish systemic racism, which is destroying lives, communities, and the planet.

Want your successes highlighted in Hitched? Email hitched@sierraclub.org 

NEWS FROM THE LAST WEEK

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE- Campfire has an official COVID-19 page with regularly updated information about the Sierra Club’s response for staff and volunteers. There is also an external-facing Sierra Club COVID-19 response page.

RACISM IS KILLING THE PLANET- Watch Hop Hopkins, director of strategic partnerships for the Sierra Club, in this powerful video about racism and the planet from The YEARS Project.

A-LIST- High five to Melissa Sun, director of entertainment partnerships, and all those who helped these recent celebrity successes happen. Indie pop group ALY & AJ included the Sierra Club in their "Up All Night" 12-hour fundraiser event, which raised $30,000 and will be split among several groups. Last week actress Natalie Portman shared our "Plan to Win" graphic in her Instagram stories -- she’s got 7.1 million followers!

Also last week model Cara Delevingne shared our "Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act" petition and asked her followers for 28,000 signatures for her 28th birthday. Cara has 44.2 million followers! She also shared this excellent "No More Disposable People" video (produced by The YEARS Project featuring the Sierra Club’s Hop Hopkins) in her Instagram stories. 

GET OUT- In a major victory for public lands lovers everywhere, Trump announced this weekend that he’s withdrawing his nomination of William Pendley to lead the Bureau of Land Management. 

GOOD NEWS- If you need some uplifting news, check out this news report profiling a teenager who hiked more than 200 miles and raised nearly $8,000 through a Team Sierra campaign. 

EVEN MORE GOOD NEWS- Last week the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality announced its rejection of the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s efforts to extend into North Carolina. 

OIL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELLS- Last week Culver City, California council members took the first necessary steps to phase out oil extraction in the city’s 78-acre portion of the Inglewood Oil Field. Congrats to all the Beyond Dirty Fuels folks who helped make this happen!

SUPERFRIENDS- Leaders of the Moapa Band of Paiutes and the Las Vegas Band of Paiutes recently published two powerful op-eds calling for the protection of their sacred homelands. Sierra Club staffers Christian Gerlach and Courtney Bourgoin worked with the tribes to get those op-eds placed.

ENDORSEMENT- In case you missed it, the Sierra Club endorsed the Joe Biden – Kamala Harris presidential ticket last week.

COME ON AND RAISE UP- Roxboro, North Carolina, residents can breathe a little easier after the announcement that the CPI coal plant will be closed.

BLACK IN NATIONAL PARKS WEEK- The Sierra Club's Outdoors for All campaign is pleased to support a new initiative to celebrate Black joy in the outdoors. Black in National Parks Week (August 24 – 29) aims to "celebrate Black excellence" in national parks and in the outdoors more generally. This initiative is being led by our partner James Edward Mills of The Joy Trip Project in collaboration with Nicole Jackson, co-organizer of #BlackBirdersWeek. 

GEN-OFF- High five to Maryland Beyond Coal! GenOn announced last week that it will shutter its coal plant in Prince George’s County.

PAIN IN THE GAS- The Trump administration just finalized two rules that eliminate common-sense Clean Air Act safeguards against methane and other harmful pollution from the oil and gas industry.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN WITH DIAMONDS ON THE SOLES OF HER SHOES- High five to press secretary Gabby Brown for helping get this op-ed from Willie Nelson and Paul Simon about saving Texas hill country from the Permian Highway pipeline.

TRANSITION- Cherelle Blazer is now the senior campaign director for international climate and policy.

 

THE END


The COVID-19 crisis has not passed and continues to disproportionately harm Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people and other communities of color. The pandemic has revealed how the communities hardest hit are often the same communities that suffer from high levels of pollution and poor access to healthcare. The fight for environmental justice cannot be separated from the fight for racial justice.
 

Rincon Group / Our Blogs / Sierra Club's "Hitched" Newsletter. . .



Related content: