NEWS FROM THE LAST WEEK

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

BLACK LIVES MATTER- Here is the Sierra Club Breonna Taylor statement released after the results of the grand jury.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO BE AN ALLY? White folks, how are you working to be an anti-racist ally this week (and every week)? Here are two links to some resources.

YOU BET YOUR TONGASS WE’LL FIGHT THIS- On Friday the US Forest Service announced a final environmental impact statement advancing its proposal to eliminate the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest, opening vast swaths of irreplaceable old-growth temperate rainforest to clearcut logging. 

ROCKY TOP IN THE HILL- Mary Anne Hitt, Sierra Club national campaigns director, has a new op-ed in The Hill. Be sure to also check out her excellent blog post on Trump’s smog standard rollback and attacks on the US Postal Service.

OH HELL NO- Trump nominated a possible Supreme Court judge, and the Sierra Club is calling for no Supreme Court justice nominations until a new president is installed.

When someone tells me to smile more. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.

TAKE A STAND- A. Tianna Scozzaro, director of the Sierra Club's Gender Equity and Environment Program, has a new column up about the terrible news from ICE detention camps: Forced sterilization is both a staggering human rights violation and an act of state-sanctioned violence.

LAND STAND- Sierra Club press secretary Courtney Bourgoin has a new blog post out in time for National Public Lands day about how lands protection has never been more urgent.

SOME GOOD NEWS- Last week California governor Gavin Newsom released an executive order designed to accelerate state action to cut climate pollution and respond to the climate crisis.

MORE GOOD NEWS- Congrats to all the Sierra Club staff and volunteers who helped make Puerto Rico’s Integrated Resource Plan so good for clean energy! They helped stop two liquefied natural gas import terminals, won the ratification of the end of coal generation by 2027, and stopped 400 megawatts of new gas peakers. What’s more the regulator approved 1,400 MW of battery storage and 3,500 MW of solar power!

IT’S ELECTRIC! Last week was the 10th annual National Drive Electric Week, and the Clean Transportation For All team did a great job getting the word out about all sorts of electric-vehicle issues. Be sure to watch the recording of their livestream kickoff video -- which included Bill Nye the Science Guy, NPR’s Peter Sagal, hip hop artist Warren Dickson, and more!

COALITION POWER- A new podcast features coalition work to ban toxic skin-lightening creams. It covers colorism, sexism, mercury poisoning caused by skin-lightening creams, and features the work being led by Amira Adawe to fight the cultural and environmental problems associated with this practice.

We thought you may need to see these cute mountain goat kids today. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.

ANOTHER NEW PODCAST- The latest episode of the Sierra Club’s The Land I Trust podcast is now out. It follows high school junior Lucia Urreta, who is organizing all kinds of awesome climate action work in Houston.

ELECTION FLEXIN’- Sierra Club political program strategist Alex Cohen says a recent week of action helped hit some major goals in reaching out to voters! They passed their goal of 250,000 calls and 50,000 letters sent -- with 532,520 calls made and 131,000 letters claimed. This means they’ve now hit their Election Day goal of making two million calls to voters! High five to the political team and all of the amazing thousands of Sierra Club volunteers who’ve helped get this done!

ARCTIC CHAT- On a recent Friday afternoon, Arctic organizer Michelle Piñon held an Instagram Live chat with Bernadette Demientieff of the Gwich'in Steering Committee. You can watch the full recording here.

OUTDOORS FOR ALL- Joel Pannell, associate director of the Outdoors For All campaign, wrote a great blog post on how a fully funded Land and Water Conservation Fund can increase equity in outdoors access. Joel also appeared in an article in DCist about Washington, DC, residents turning to the outdoors for refuge and respite during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

COALITION POWER- The Sierra Club Beyond Coal campaign in Charlotte, North Carolina, helped fund supplies for a powerful mural in a historically black city neighborhood. Read more about it here.

ON THE WILDFIRES- Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune has a new column out about the devastating wildfires in the West. Javier Sierra, associate director of communications for Latino media, also has a new column about wildfires, hurricanes, and more.

RBG 4-EVER- Sierra Club Environmental Law Program director Pat Gallagher wrote about environmental decisions by the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

AWARDS SEASON- Check out the amazing list of winners of the 2020 National Sierra Club Awards.

TRANSITIONS- While Our Wild America director Lena Moffitt is out on parental leave, Chris Hill will be acting director, and Gabe Gonzalez will take on the role of interim deputy campaigns director.

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