with members of the Sierra Club’s board of directors
By Rhea Jezer
The Atlantic Chapter - especially the Iroquois Group - should take great pride in the recent election of Schenectady resident Aaron Mair as President of the National Sierra Club. An epidemiological-spatial analyst with the New York State Department of Health, Mair brings more than three decades of environmental activism and over 25 years as a Sierra Club volunteer leader to his position as the Sierra Club's first African American president.
Nearly twenty years ago, when I was elected chair of the Atlantic Chapter, which is comprised of eleven groups from across the state, the four obligatory meetings of the Chapter’s Board of Directors were held in New York City (3) and Albany (1). In a move for more inclusiveness, the Chapter decided to include all of the Groups as possible hosts. We held the first ever Chapter meeting outside of New York City or the Capital region right here in Cazenovia. At that meeting, a tall, young African American man requested to give a presentation. His name was Aaron Mair.
At the time, Mair was involved in fighting the Albany New York Solid Waste to Energy Recovery (ANSWERS) plant, which provided steam to heat and cool Albany's Empire State Plaza. The emissions from the plant were visibly polluting the inner-city neighborhood of Arbor Hill. Several residents, including Mair and his family, developed health issues from the airborne pollutants, which included arsenic, lead and mercury.
At the meeting, Mair spoke on behalf of the Environmental Justice (E.J.) Movement, which champions the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies that are fair to all people, regardless of their race, color, ethnicity or income. While racial minority and low-income populations have traditionally been subject to a higher environmental risk burden than the general population, these populations have also been excluded from meaningful participation in decision making.
Mair asked to speak to our Chapter’s Executive Committee on behalf of the E.J. Movement, hoping we would get involved in the issue. He gave a compelling presentation, and I invited him to become the chair of a new committee calledthe E.J. Committee. The E.J. Movement was in its infancy, and Sierra Club at that point had not dealt with diverse populations. History now shows that this was the very first E.J. Committee in all of Sierra Club.
Mair was involved in many Atlantic Chapter issues, and eventually became Chair of the Chapter. He was then elected to the National Board of the Sierra Club. Recognized as a leader in forcing General Electric to clean up the Hudson River, he was presented with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Quality Award in 2000. He also became an internationally known leader in the environmental movement. Mair has been active in the Friends of a Clean Hudson and served on the Board of Directors of the New York League of Conservation Voters. He has visited our region many times, assisting us in several local issues.
The Iroquois Group congratulates Mair on this prestigious election. We look forward to his leadership, and we are confident that the skills and insights he developed while a member of our Chapter will help him lead the Sierra Club’s two million members and supporters.