Shade Grown Coffee on Valentine's Day

February 18, 2021

By Kent Abernethy - Chapter Executive Committee, Chair Headwaters/Sierra Club

For Valentine’s Day I thought about how can we show some love for the Earth?

As I awoke and made coffee, I pondered about how the emphasis on shade grown and bird friendly coffees fell out of the public’s radar, while fair trade remained. Perhaps the concept of fair trade was easier for people to grasp. The truth is, that all three go together and they all lack awareness by the coffee consumer.

Did you know that coffee grows in the understory of a forest? The trees form the canopy providing shade and habitat for a myriad of species both plant and animal. Altered and shrinking habitat in both North and Latin America, has resulted in coffee plantations becoming critical refuges protecting forest species where there is no longer any forest. Migratory birds and other species have found a sanctuary in the forest-like environment of traditional coffee plantations.

Coffee is also commonly grown using indigenous agroforestry techniques, originally developed for growing cacao. This involves planting a mixture of nitrogen-fixing trees with other useful species to provide shade.

Some 30 years ago someone got the idea that coffee beans grown in full sun might be easier to harvest and may produce more beans per acre. Fertilizers, insecticides and fungicides need to be applied. Coffee plants die off sooner and need to be replaced at a faster rate. Conversion to sun grown coffee appears to lead to greater soil erosion, acidification, and higher amounts of toxic run-off. In addition, conversion to sun coffee results in a loss of trees, which both provide "insurance" crops to the grower in the form of fuel wood, timber, citrus, and other fruit trees planted in the canopy. Yet, agribusiness focused only on producing more coffee per unit area, pressed ahead. Albeit, the yield would only be a temporary. Regardless, changes in coffee production and marketing took off. In the past 25 years, coffee has begun to be grown with no shade canopy at all and now shade coffee plantations are a threatened habitat.

Small family owned coffee farms and cooperatives felt the impact of industrialized agriculture as sustainably grown beans became less competitive on a cost per unit basis. Free markets are not usually fair markets and tend to reward mass production. Good land stewardship does not provide a competitive edge in our consumer driven market. Indigenous and sustainable practices often goes unnoticed, unappreciated and under valued.

The Chiapas region in Mexico was one of the first areas to highlight the plight of indigenous people and the forces working against fair trade, both within their home country of Mexico and the United States consumer market.

The Zapatista uprising in 1994 did help gain some land rights and better prices for coffee. For a time, the Zapatista movement helped propel shade grown, bird friendly and fair trade awareness, creating new standards and marketing opportunities. Sadly, this awareness was fleeting.

Today, Chiapas remains the poorest state in Mexico and has the greatest population of indigenous peoples.

Fairness is not part of the history of coffee in the Chiapas region. Instead it is one of colonization and genocide. In 1883, the Mexican government officially stole the land of the indigenous peoples there and began to parcel it off to individual land owners in order to finalize the border with Guatemala. German and Italian coffee producers came to start using the land to cultivate coffee using the indigenous people to provide the labor on what was their own land, essentially working as indentured servants.

In eastern Chiapas, Mexico, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center biologists found that traditionally-managed coffee and cacao (chocolate) plantations support over 150 species of birds; a greater number than is found in other agricultural habitats, and exceeded only in undisturbed tropical forest.

As is often the case, the world’s agribusiness operations while providing some of us with an abundance of cheap consumables is degrading our earth and all species that live upon it. If fair treatment of people, respect for the land and biodiversity don’t cut it what will drive a change in practice? What if coffee was under threat from global warming?

It turns out that coffee is one of many crops under threat from climate change. An extensive study published in January found that 60% of wild coffee species — or 75 of 124 plants — are at risk of extinction. Factors include changes in temperature, longer droughts, and increased invasion of pests.

Well, my cup of coffee is freshly poured. Ready to add a dash of milk, I notice the plastic spout on the carton. When did someone decide that we couldn’t fold open a milk carton and pour it out like I did as an elementary kid? A fully recyclable, decomposable, plastic free carton had to be ‘improved’ with a plastic spout.

I hope you had a happy Valentine’s Day. Whether it is coffee, cocoa, or dairy think about your choices as a consumer and your connection to the world community. Show the earth some love. As I enjoy my first sip, a Cedar Waxwing outside my window emits a high, sibilant see, e-e-e. Its voice is often the only means of detecting the birds presence.

Further information:
The Smithsonian Bird-Friendly biodiversity criteria are well-developed and targeted, and since their certification also requires organic certification, their environmental standards are the strongest.

Kent Abernethy
Chapter Executive Committee
Chair Headwaters/Sierra Club

 

Blog Index

OPINION: Wolves Are Indigenous to Colorado

By Tom Rodgers by Special to the Post | Sep 30, 2020 | Environment/Recreation, Opinion/Letters

It happened after dark on April 14, 1860. An Arapaho village was stood near Blake Street, where the South Platte looped to feed Cherry Creek. The Arapaho had returned to what had so recently been a part of their homeland to trade with the illegal immigrants who had streamed into what was then Denver and Auraria, drawn by the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush. Most of the Arapaho men were absent in a hunting party, so when a mob suddenly descended on the camp there were none but a handful of old men and boys to defend the women and girls. It did not take long for them to be overwhelmed.

“Age was not respected,” wrote frontiersman Jim Beckwourth in a letter to the Rocky Mountain News. It was an episode in the tragedy that culminated at Sand Creek.

The rape of the Arapaho women and children, on April 14, 1860, communicated to the Arapaho men in the most brutally explicit manner that what the Pike’s Peakers were doing to Arapaho land, they could and would do to Arapaho women. It was an act designed to emphasize the superiority and dominance of the colonizers. They would defile our Mother, the Earth, at will — and us with her. They would degrade all we held sacred. And they would kill to remake our world in their image.

The Arapaho and Cheyenne are ancient relatives of my people, the Blackfeet. At the dawn of time we emerged as the matter out of which an ancestral tribe and then nations would arise. My people suffered and survived heinous acts like that inflicted upon the Arapaho in Denver on what to some may now seem like a distant April day. Indeed, Mount Doane in Yellowstone National Park is named after a war criminal, Lieutenant Gustavus Cheney Doane, who led the slaughter of Blackfeet women and children on the Marias (Grizzly Bear) River on January 23, 1870. We have been asking for that name to be changed for almost as long as the wolf has again roamed there.

My people were visitors — but not strangers — to what most now call Rocky Mountain National Park, that the Arapaho and Cheyenne called home. The Arapaho named those mountains as we do relatives, and there they were sustained and nourished physically and spiritually. Day-trippers and vacationers no longer see us there. Our songs were silenced… as were those of one of our teachers, the wolf. The wolf, the grizzly, the buffalo, and us, we were a quaternity to be exterminated in the cause of Manifest Destiny.

Three wolves standing in the snow

In Blackfeet culture, we revere the wolf as the one who gave us life by teaching our first people how to sustain themselves. When the wolves leave us in the spring we stand in awe of their eternal pathway, the Milky Way, which we call the Wolf Trail. The wolf taught our women, the life-givers, and now we have the opportunity to offer the wolf new life, making our voices theirs at the ballot box this November, so that with our friends and allies we may call the wolves back to where they belong, to this sacred landscape in Colorado.

Chairman Harold Frazier (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe) and Chairman Gerald Gray (Little Shell) are among some of the most prominent tribal leaders in North America who support returning the wolf to Colorado. Tribal organizations, including the Global Indigenous Council, the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, and the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association, have also backed the initiative. The latter two represent every tribe in Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Colorado’s neighbors, Nebraska and Wyoming. Each identifies Colorado is a vital linkage zone for wolf recovery.

The Global Indigenous Council initiated The Wolf Treaty, which not only honors our ancient relationship with the wolf but is also a blueprint for recovering the wolf and future management and stewardship practices. Tribal leaders from California to Connecticut, and from Alberta to Arizona, have signed the treaty.

My grandfather was a cattle rancher near Babb, Montana, and so I understand some of those concerns about wolf reintroduction, but there are mitigation strategies that can be adopted, so this does not have to be a binary choice, nor one that needs to pit tribe against tribe, or neighbor against neighbor, to satisfy the political or financial motivations of invested interest groups. Peer reviewed studies have demonstrated that non-lethal techniques are highly effective in reducing wolf-livestock conflicts, and they extend beyond guard dogs, fladry, radio-activated guard boxes, and spotlights. But for these techniques to work it requires cooperation, not intransigence, from all parties.

Research in the field has found that most wolf-livestock conflicts in the Rocky Mountain states occur in open-range grazing environments that cover large tracts of leased public lands. It is a fact that some 60% of sheep lost in livestock conflicts are taken by coyotes, compared to approximately 4% by wolves. The coyote, however, does not carry the medieval stigma attached to wolf, nor the European folktale mythology that was transposed to religious dogma and eventually carried to the frontier where wolves in the New World were still seen as evil incarnate from the Old.

Pre-contact, the Biomass in what is now called North America was at its apex. In the wake of Manifest Destiny, take a moment to pause and see what is happening to the Earth. Take that moment now, before it is too late. If you don’t think the Earth is in peril, that climate change and environmental catastrophe isn’t going to impact what you consider to be your part of the world, then you should take more than a moment to think as California, Oregon, and Washington burn.

When you look at cattle, do you recognize that domestic livestock make up the largest proportion of the 14% of all greenhouse gas emissions related to human activity? It’s not just dirty-fuels and extraction eviscerating the ozone layer and drawing those flames higher. What some term wilderness but we call home was never intended to become cattle pasture alone. There is no balance.

The Biomass is now on life-support. We have an opportunity to come together to begin a healing process. Returning the wolf to these lands is part of that. We must return the balance.

Tom Rodgers (Blackfeet) is the President of the Global Indigenous Council.

Wolves Are Indigenous to Colorado

Worried about Earth's future? Well, the outlook is worse than even scientists can grasp

January 13, 2021

Anyone with even a passing interest in the global environment knows all is not well. But just how bad is the situation? Our new paper shows the outlook for life on Earth is more dire than is generally understood. The research published today reviews more than 150 studies to produce a stark summary of the state of the natural world. We outline the likely future trends in biodiversity decline, mass extinction, climate disruption and planetary toxification. We clarify the gravity of the human predicament and provide a timely snapshot of the crises that must be addressed now. The problems, all tied to human consumption and population growth, will almost certainly worsen over coming decades. The damage will be felt for centuries and threatens the survival of all species, including our own. Our paper was authored by 17 leading scientists, including those from Flinders University, Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles. Our message might not be popular, and indeed is frightening. But scientists must be candid and accurate if humanity is to understand the enormity of the challenges we face.

Getting to grips with the problem

First, we reviewed the extent to which experts grasp the scale of the threats to the biosphere and its lifeforms, including humanity. Alarmingly, the research shows future environmental conditions will be far more dangerous than experts currently believe. This is largely because academics tend to specialize in one discipline, which means they're in many cases unfamiliar with the complex system in which planetary-scale problems—and their potential solutions—exist. What's more, positive change can be impeded by governments rejecting or ignoring scientific advice, and ignorance of human behavior by both technical experts and policymakers. More broadly, the human optimism bias – thinking bad things are more likely to befall others than yourself—means many people underestimate the environmental crisis.

Numbers don't lie

Our research also reviewed the current state of the global environment. While the problems are too numerous to cover in full here, they include:

  • A halving of vegetation biomass since the agricultural revolution around 11,000 years ago. Overall, humans have altered almost two-thirds of Earth's land surface
  • About 1,300 documented species extinctions over the past 500 years, with many more unrecorded. More broadly, population sizes of animal species have declined by more than two-thirds over the last 50 years, suggesting more extinctions are imminent
  • About 1 million plant and animal species globally threatened with extinction. The combined mass of wild mammals today is less than one-quarter the mass before humans started colonizing the planet. Insects are also disappearing rapidly in many regions
  • 85% of the global wetland area lost in 300 years, and more than 65% of the oceans compromised to some extent by humans
  • A halving of live coral cover on reefs in less than 200 years and a decrease in seagrass extent by 10% per decade over the last century. About 40% of kelp forests have declined in abundance, and the number of large predatory fishes is fewer than 30% of that a century ago.

A bad situation only getting worse

The human population has reached 7.8 billion – double what it was in 1970—and is set to reach about 10 billion by 2050. More people equals more food insecurity, soil degradation, plastic pollution and biodiversity loss. High population densities make pandemics more likely. They also drive overcrowding, unemployment, housing shortages and deteriorating infrastructure, and can spark conflicts leading to insurrections, terrorism, and war. Essentially, humans have created an ecological Ponzi scheme. Consumption, as a percentage of Earth's capacity to regenerate itself, has grown from 73% in 1960 to more than 170% today. High-consuming countries like Australia, Canada and the US use multiple units of fossil-fuel energy to produce one energy unit of food. Energy consumption will therefore increase in the near future, especially as the global middle class grows. Then there's climate change. Humanity has already exceeded global warming of 1°C this century, and will almost assuredly exceed 1.5 °C between 2030 and 2052. Even if all nations party to the Paris Agreement ratify their commitments, warming would still reach between 2.6°C and 3.1°C by 2100.

The danger of political impotence

Our paper found global policymaking falls far short of addressing these existential threats. Securing Earth's future requires prudent, long-term decisions. However this is impeded by short-term interests, and an economic system that concentrates wealth among a few individuals. Right-wing populist leaders with anti-environment agendas are on the rise, and in many countries, environmental protest groups have been labeled "terrorists." Environmentalism has become weaponised as a political ideology, rather than properly viewed as a universal mode of self-preservation. Financed disinformation campaigns against climate action and forest protection, for example, protect short-term profits and claim meaningful environmental action is too costly—while ignoring the broader cost of not acting. By and large, it appears unlikely business investments will shift at sufficient scale to avoid environmental catastrophe.

Changing course

Fundamental change is required to avoid this ghastly future. Specifically, we and many others suggest:

  • Abolishing the goal of perpetual economic growth
  • Revealing the true cost of products and activities by forcing those who damage the environment to pay for its restoration, such as through carbon pricing
  • Rapidly eliminating fossil fuels
  • Regulating markets by curtailing monopolisation and limiting undue corporate influence on policy
  • Reining in corporate lobbying of political representatives
  • Educating and empowering women around the globe, including giving them control over family planning.

Don't look away

Many organizations and individuals are devoted to achieving these aims. However their messages have not sufficiently penetrated the policy, economic, political and academic realms to make much difference. Failing to acknowledge the magnitude and gravity of problems facing humanity is not just naïve, it's dangerous. And science has a big role to play here. Scientists must not sugarcoat the overwhelming challenges ahead. Instead, they should tell it like it is. Anything else is at best misleading, and at worst potentially lethal for the human enterprise.

by Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Daniel T. Blumstein and Paul Ehrlich, The Conversation
phys.org

Friday Note from a misanthrope

March 14, 2020

I'm not sure if I can convey what I'm feeling right now in a manner that doesn't come off as overly dramatic, maudlin or nostalgic, but I am going to give it a go. It's Friday, late afternoon. Annie and I have just relocated ourselves to work from home for an indeterminate stretch. Dinner is done, the dog is fed, and a few shots of smoky mescal are seeping slowly past the blood-brain barrier.

Here's what I know: We'll make it through this, friends. It is my sincere hope that each of you come out the other side with nothing more traumatic than stories of toilet paper shortages. If you need something in these uncertain times, ask. Ask me. Ask Annie. Ask your cranky neighbor. Wash your hands. Shave. Learn how to cook some crazy shit from scratch, something that would make your grandma wink and say, "You've got this, sweetie."

Here's what I hope: I hope that we all learn how important our elders are. I hope that our children learn how fantastically weird and adorable we are. I hope that my troubadour friends hunker down, weather the storm and write frigging amazing songs that help buoy them up. I know that this damned pandemic is going to hit their plans for touring hard, and that saddens me terribly.

In the days ahead, everything will feel eerie. Everything will challenge our sense of normal. Everything will make us ask, "what's next," and we won't be able to answer with certainty. Against all of that swirling uncertainty, pull your collar up snug and lean into the prevailing winds. The crocuses are beginning to bloom. The chickadees are returning. Somewhere in the snowfields of Irish Canyon in northwest Colorado, a few brave wolves are on the hunt. The world keeps turning. Be amazed.

Rob Edward, President
Rocky Mountain Wolf Action Fund
wolfactionfund.com

Generation

February 17, 2019

by George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 15th February 2019

The Youth Strike 4 Climate gives me more hope than I have felt in 30 years of campaigning. Before this week, I believed it was all over. I thought, given the indifference and hostility of those who govern us, and the passivity of most of my generation, that climate breakdown and ecological collapse were inevitable. Now, for the first time in years, I think we can turn them around.

My generation and the generations that went before have failed you. We failed to grasp the basic premise of intergenerational justice: that you cannot apply discount rates to human life. In other words, the life of someone who has not been born will be of no less value than the life of someone who already exists. We have lived as if your lives had no importance, as if any resource we encountered was ours and ours alone to use as we wished, regardless of the impact on future generations. In doing so, we created a cannibal economy: we ate your future to satisfy our greed.

It is true that the people of my generation are not equally to blame. Broadly speaking, ours is a society of altruists governed by psychopaths. We have allowed a tiny number of phenomenally rich people, and the destructive politicians they fund, to trash our life support systems. While some carry more blame than others, our failure to challenge the oligarchs who are sacking the Earth and to overthrow their illegitimate power, is a collective failure. Together, we have bequeathed you a world that – without drastic and decisive action – may soon become uninhabitable.

Every day at home, we tell you that if you make a mess you should clear it up. We tell you that you should take responsibility for your own lives. But we have failed to apply these principles to ourselves. We walk away from the mess we have made, in the hope that you might clear it up.

Some of us did try. We sought to inspire our own generations to do what you are doing. But on the whole we were met with frowns and shrugs. For years, many people of my age denied there was a problem. They denied that climate breakdown was happening. They denied that extinction was happening. They denied that the world’s living systems were collapsing.

They denied all this because accepting it meant questioning everything they believed to be good. If the science was right, their car could not be right. If the science was right, their foreign holiday could not be right. Economic growth, rising consumption, the entire system they had been brought up to believe was right had to be wrong. It was easier to pretend that the science was wrong and their lives were right than to accept that the science was right and their lives were wrong.

A few years ago, something shifted. Instead of denying the science, I heard the same people say “OK, it’s real. But now it’s too late to do anything about it.” Between their denial and their despair, there was not one moment at which they said “It is real, so we must act.” Their despair was another form of denial; another way of persuading themselves that they could carry on as before. If there was no point in acting, they had no need to challenge their deepest beliefs. Because of the denial, the selfishness, the short-termism of my generation, this is now the last chance we have.

The disasters I feared my grandchildren would see in their old age are happening already: insect populations collapsing, mass extinction, wildfires, droughts, heat waves, floods. This is the world we have bequeathed to you. Yours is among the first of the unborn generations we failed to consider as our consumption rocketed.

But those of us who have long been engaged in this struggle will not abandon you. You have issued a challenge to which we must rise, and we will stand in solidarity with you. Though we are old and you are young, we will be led by you. We owe you that, at least.

By combining your determination and our experience, we can build a movement big enough to overthrow the life-denying system that has brought us to the brink of disaster – and beyond. Together, we must demand a different way, a life-giving system that defends the natural world on which we all depend. A system that honours you, our children, and values equally the lives of those who are not born. Together, we will build a movement that must – and will – become irresistible.

July 20, 2017

Starting an ExCom

It helps to have some continuity. While I never knew my predecessor, Rick Warren, I did know his predecessor. New to the community I saw a that a candidate for County Commissioner put in her bio that she had been a longtime member and past Chair of the local Sierra Club Group. I followed up with Karn in support of her successful campaign and seven years later she referred me to Kirby as a possible candidate for Chairing what had become a defunct group.

Karn also reached out to long time Sierra Club Activist, Nancy Hassinger to interest her in a supporting role if the group was to get going. Nurture succession planning. Connections within your community and other non-profit organizations. Many of your potential volunteers are busy donating their time to other organizations because they have been engaged to do so. None of my volunteers have given up on their involvement in other organizations. Rather, they have been provided a new outlet through the unique opportunities that the Sierra Club offers. Partnering with other organizations is key to building capacity. Contacting Members and Potential Volunteers.

Kirby ran our initial list of active members. Around 300 folks. The list had many bad phone numbers and emails. The list had not been kept up. Nancy H. and I met at a Summit Dems event and introduced ourselves. Nancy was skeptical but willing to call half of the members on the list and invite them to a meeting to discuss re-starting the group. Due to the bad data and the reluctance to take a call from an unknown number, we didn’t obtain a single commitment to attend our meeting using this method. We also sent out an email notification and maybe got one or two people to attend. We were surprised by the response of “I’ve been a member for years and never knew we had a local group.” What we did notice on the list was that we knew some of these people and could talk to them without cold calling. Between Karn, Nancy and myself we were able to get 15 people to our first meeting. A bit more than half were “active” members. The rest had not yet joined the Club. We had a mixture of community leaders, retirees, real estate agents, daycare providers, business owners.

Initial Meeting

We went around the room and introduced ourselves and stated who had invited us to the meeting. Next, I told a story of how I got interested in the Sierra Club and how our local group could really be successful in improving our environment locally and supporting National’s broader efforts. I added a bit about the resources that National had available to us to help us succeed. Then we went around the room again. This time everyone told their story of how they got interested in environmentalism and what motivated them to come to the meeting. During this period I learned that some people had been working on issues for the Club for over 30 years! Some of the battles that people had fought were inspirational and I thought I saw mutual admiration, surprise, and a flicker of enthusiasm generating in the room. At the conclusion of the meeting, we discussed what people would like to see the group do if it became revitalized. A brainstorm of ideas and suggestions came forth. Also, skepticism was expressed for our future as well as the reasons the group failed in the first place. At the close of the hour, I asked who would commit to meeting again next month. Nine or ten said they would and the other four or five bowed out, citing time constraints or other commitments.

Staff Involvement and ExCom Formulation

I disappointedly informed Kirby of our low turnout. To my surprise, he told me that the turnout was great! Kirby encouraged me to contact, Joshua our Chapter Director. Kirby also emphasized to Joshua the importance of supporting our group. Joshua and I talked by phone and he gave me a bit of an overview of the Chapter and National, mostly organizational. That was when I got my first inclination of the bureaucracy I was delving into. I had a University of Colorado, Denver (UCD) event to attend in Denver. Joshua would meet with me before hand, review Clubhouse with me and helped me set up my Mac for quick access to the abundance of materials available. He also outlined what tasks I had ahead of me to revitalize this group. He would continue to implement HELEN on my behalf until I had completed the training. We hit it off and he went to the Natural Resources event at UCD with me. Joshua promised he would be at my next meeting.

At our next meeting Joshua did show up and we had a very informal discussion about the Chapter and National. We had about the same amount of people in attendance. Some were very knowledgeable about the Sierra Club and asked tough and insightful questions. For my part, I outlined what positions we needed to fill and printed out job descriptions for each. Joshua’s presence, primarily conveyed that this group’s re-organization was important to the Chapter and the Club. To a lessor extent, it also conveyed the resources the Sierra Club brings in support of groups. At the end of the hour, I said we need to have a commitment from folks on what they can do. ExCom position, lead volunteer or something. If we didn’t have five key folks willing to take a Chair position then I didn’t see the sense in having another meeting. To my surprise we got an Outings Chair, Membership Chair, a re-committed Treasurer, Vice Chair, and lastly I committed to the Chair position. We understood that we would hold these positions until we could hold an election, in 12-15 months. Several folks committed to coming to meetings and supporting the revitalization efforts but declined the formal ExCom role. More than one ExCom was thinking “oh boy what the heck did I get myself into now.” But the groundwork had been laid.

Misery loves company

What do you do when you feel coerced into joining a cause that you feel is likely to fail and you have little confidence in the leader? Well, you invite your friends of course! Our third meeting was our largest yet. All of the new ExCom showed up and brought friends, relatives, and spouses. Our core volunteers showed up too. The focus of this meeting was about defining our priorities. Once I threw out a few ideas, more and more came forth. Some were dismissed as “oh we tried that before and it went nowhere” but we kept it positive. We wrote down over 15 - 20 suggestions. One volunteer said bees. I thought to myself, that really wasn’t gonna grab people when our world had more pressing issues. But I wrote it down. The bee idea sparked other people’s interest. At the end of the meeting we had Wilderness, Wildlife, Water, and Weeds. Bees come under the weed category.

Now we got our priorities, now what?

I called Joshua, we reviewed our four W”s. He put me in touch with Rebecca Dickenson and Angela Medbary. At our fourth meeting, I put forth the idea of having an educational event featuring bees. It was March, just before planting season and herbicide applications. Again, a mixture of excitement and skepticism. This was a pivotal moment. Were we going be a do nothing group or were we gonna work toward educating our community on issues that matter to us? We moved forward outlining the tasks and assigning responsibilities.

A month later Rebecca Dickinson from IPG did not disappoint. Proud of our accomplishment together, our group’s confidence grew. Our following meeting folks wanted to know what we should do next. Fortunately, I had one ready to go. Kirby had encouraged me to go to the Chapter meetings to get a broader perspective of what was going on. I attended a Chapter ExCom face to face meeting. A volatile meeting but there was one voice that rose above the din, speaking of conservation values and above all, wolf re-introduction. Delia made an appeal for groups to host a wolf presentation that she had developed and had been well received. Again, I had lucked out with another valuable resource. But others in our group had their presentations and action items ready to go as well. So after the Bees, we had a Water Conservation presentation, adopted a section of Hwy 9 ( education is fine but the rationale was that we wanted to have something more tangible as well as a sign with our name on it). We held our first Outing. Delia’s Wolf Presentation drew the biggest attendance yet. We were set. A snowball rolling down a hill. There was no stopping us. We trusted each other, believed in what we were doing and making a positive impact. We were building up membership, entering in attendees at events and following up with them, and cleaning up our data base. I felt confident enough in the group’s stability and with their blessing, stepped up to try and help the Chapter out who hadn’t had a staff person for three months. This opportunity helped me learn more about the Club and a made me a better Group Chair.

Bumps in the Road

When I took over the one thing we had was a nice website. A few months later I was informed that I had to learn a new system as our website was going away. No one knew Drupal and you were committed to learning by video, or lose your presence on the web. There was no one else, so I took this on.

Note: Since then, I have spent much time trying to get a volunteer to take over the task of maintaining the website but have been unsuccessful. When it becomes a poor use of your time, then you must commit to doing some tasks yourself. Perhaps someday… but know when to quit trying.

  • Next I was informed we had no bylaws and were out of compliance. I found a model from other groups and adopted them.
  • I was asked to support the Chapter’s Browns Canyon dedication, which conflicted with our first outing and nobody wanted to get on that bus, literally.
  • I was asked to host the ExCom in July and provide free housing/ reasonable accommodations. The Chair had resigned and there was no Director. I had no idea what was expected of me as the host.
  • Next, we were due to have an election. It’s going to cost us a fortune in postage. We gotta get some money coming in. Who’s going to run it? How do we run it?

Inspirations and Volunteer Management.

When approving a project, always secure buy in. If your volunteers all raised their hands to adopt a highway. Then they must commit to being there to do it. Hold people responsible to their commitments. I got all the swag I could from national and membership brochures from the Chapter. I gave out letters of Appreciation for Outstanding Service. The first one had suggested the Bee Presentation and worked hard on promoting the event. I also bought SC caps and handed them out to the ExCom. Some of these folks wear that hat on all their travels. They have their Christmas cards taken on a mountain with their caps on, or they are rafting down the Grand Canyon. They know they are an integral part of a team and they know they are appreciated and valued by their Chair. I’ve only had to review meeting norms twice. Expecting people to act appropriately and treat others with respect goes along way in having them do just that. Partner with other organizations. I volunteer and serve on other Boards and we work together on events and activities supporting each other. We don’t steal volunteers we build everyones capacity through cooperation.

At our Chapter ExCom July Meeting in Frisco, 2015 nothing was ready. Poor communication and coordination. I observed Will Walters, Chapter Chair, coming in and quietly and calmly adjusting to the chaos and assembling the meeting into order. Other folks stepped up as well, cheerfully. I was impressed. Will, although busy as the new Chair, helped me navigate the bureaucracy in making a name change. We became the Headwaters Group to be more inclusive and representative of our entire region.

The community conveyed enthusiasm for our priorities and appreciation of a Sierra Club presence. Donations and more community support followed along with free and discounted facilities. This has allowed us to take on additional priorities. Specially the RF100 campaign, as well as provide the Chapter with volunteer support. At our first event, I quoted Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” I dedicated the successful turnout of the event to our core volunteers with the audience. Everyone of our group members in attendance walked away that night knowing that they had made a difference. You could have 100 people show up to your event, but it won’t matter unless your team feels that shared sense of accomplishment.

13 Key Takeaways.

  1. Decide, agree upon and own your group’s priorities.
  2. Hold yourself and your teammates responsible.
  3. Foster an environment of trust and respect.
  4. Operate as a team. Collaborate.
  5. Demonstrate organizational knowledge and administrative competence (as Chair).
  6. Structure. Regular set meetings and agendas.
  7. Clear communications. Check for understanding and buy-in.
  8. Don’t ask someone to volunteer to do something you wouldn’t do yourself.
  9. Empower each other and challenge one another to do their best.
  10. Recognition and appreciation.
  11. Enthusiasm is contagious.
  12. Celebrate successes and have fun.
  13. Nurture resiliency and connections, both locally and with the Chapter.

Entropy rules and is inevitable. Guard against it. In 2011, Michael Brune became our Executive Director, emphasizing a return to grassroots organizing. The Sierra Club is the Nation’s largest grassroots, environmental organization. As such, it is only as strong as the Chapters, who are only as strong as their Groups. Admittedly, it is large and unwieldy. We have a peculiarly unique configuration. But it is our configuration and it is worth fighting to maintain our unique grassroots structure that strives to Explore, Enjoy, and Preserve our planet.

See Ya Out There,

Kent Abernethy
Chair, Headwaters Group Sierra Club.

November 30, 2016

A New Coalition - After the Election of Trump

I've been thinking that the Sierra Club should unite under a common platform with like minded organizations. On the scale of the Climate March but more, much, more.

"Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance."
   - Sun Tzu (Art of War).

Maybe Trump’s ego will be his downfall but it is unlikely he will change course to become the planet’s savior even if he had a change in heart and it appealed to his ego. For now, it is clear that only exploitation for short sighted gains is what constitutes success for the Trump Presidency. Regardless of how you voted, nobody voted for dirty air or unsafe water. These are things we must restore and keep the safeguards and gains we have made. Moreover we must engage in respectful and civil discourse. Our very democracy is at stake and the world is watching.

Many citizens of many groups, Progressives, Democrats and Environmentalists, are reeling from the results of the Presidential Election. As if cannon balls and flack have been fired into our ranks with devastating results. There is no time to mourn the devastation. They are marching on us as we lay bleeding.

What to do? What not to do?

First the “nots” we don’t have time for what went wrong or placing blame. Further analysis isn’t useful. Moreover, we haven’t got the time for you to move past the acceptance stage in the grieving process. Trump is the elected President. Drop your “Not my president signs”. The battle is over.

The War for the environment begins anew and our ranks are broken and bloodied. Our foes have the high ground and are ready to finish us off.

What to do? We must regroup. We must join forces as we did for the Climate March, only now it must be much more encompassing. I am proposing that our political organizations, which includes most democrats, join forces with all like minded environmental organizations. This country is not as divided as certain people in Government would have us believe. Clean air and water are essential and important to Republican and Democrat alike. To all of you I say, stay vigilant. The great Martin Luther King, Jr. knew that even as a minority, there was strength in numbers in fighting tyranny. Holding hands and marching forward, raising your voice above the din of complacency, can move mountains. And in this case, I believe there is a vast majority who wants to see this nation continue in tolerance and freedom. New organizations like Our Revolution, The Working Families Party, and 350.org. and older organizations;The Green Party, Sierra Club, and Natural Resource Defense Council are all against the moneyed plutocracy.

We need a charter that encompasses our common values and missions of our various organizations. Elements of the charter may include a sign off of a declaration of fossil fuel independence, and protection and respect for all people. Values that millions of Americans stand up for. A declaration of the battle against global warming and for a government by the people not “buy”corporations is a document that needs to be created to unify our strength in numbers and provide our myriad of organizations a guide to act in concert.

We must act quickly. Our foes grant us no quarter. Learn from this failure and know that we are stronger together and we will need every bit of that strength for the many fights to come. It doesn’t matter who leads this organization but that we all support the common cause and initiate the proposal. Standing Rock, may very well serve as the chosen ground and focal point for this effort at unification.We need to fight like our Country, our people, and our Earth’s climate depend on it, because they do!  Let’s not let the Trump Presidency complete our free fall into the Anthropocene.Accept the situation for what it is. Re-assess, Unite, Resist. We must hold the gains and the ground we have secured, then go on the offensive. To change everything, we need everyone. Forward,

Kent Abernethy
Headwaters Group/ Rocky Mountain Chapter

October 2014

Headwaters Group - Our Story

In the Fall of 2014, Karn Stiegelmeier, Nancy Hassinger and Kent Abernethy started discussing the revitalization of what was then known as the Blue River Group, which only had only one Officer - the Treasurer, Frank Lilly. The three of us assembled a group of members and new recruits to assess interests, commitment levels and priorities. By March we had an Executive Committee and selected four focus areas: Wilderness, Wildlife, Water and Weeds. Fall of 2015 we held our election of officers and changed our name to the Headwaters Group, to be more inclusive and representative of our entire region which includes Summit, Eagle and Grand counties. Our membership has grown to over 600 members.

2017 promises to be a year of continued growth for the Headwaters Group.

SIERRA CLUB- EXPLORE, ENJOY, AND PROTECT THE PLANET

To practice and promote the responsible use of the earth and ecosystems and resources to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment. Combatting Climate Change is the Number One Priority!

The Sierra Club is the nation's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization with over 2.4 Million Members & Supporters.

Colorado Chapter’s Main Campaigns:

  • Ready For 100: Moving Colorado communities toward 100% renewable energy by 2030.
  • Restore the Wolf to Colorado
  • Our Headwaters Group is becoming increasingly effective in our support for both the National and Chapter level priorities. Our Story continues . . .
"Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds."
   - Theodore Rosevelt