Continuing the Chair Chat theme of highlighting volunteer opportunities with the Loxahatchee Group, I turn this month to outings, a catchall word that simply means getting out with others and exploring this world we are working so hard to save.
Outings Leader Volunteer Opportunities
Outings are crucial to Sierra Club. We use them to expose folks to the outdoors. We use them to invite folks to get together and enjoy each other’s company. We use them to educate. We use them to show what Sierra Club does environmentally and politically. And we use them to have fun.
To have a successful outings program we need outing leaders, and that’s where you can help us.
Even something as simple as a walk in a park can be a Sierra Club outing. A two-hour bike ride on your favorite trail can easily be turned into a Sierra Club outing. If there is something you like to do outdoors and you want some great company along make it an outing and enjoy it with some like-minded folks!
Becoming an outing leader requires a bit of training, and will include doing your first trips under the supervision of an experienced leader. Sierra Club will help you every step of the way. The number of outings you lead and the places you go are totally up to you.
This volunteer opportunity is a fun way to meet new people, share your love and knowledge of Florida's many habitats and advance the Sierra Club motto: To explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth.
If you are at all interested please have a chat with one of our active outings leaders, Ron Haines ronaldhaines@bellsouth.net or Lisa Hanley lisa.hanley@juno.com. One of them will be happy to answer any questions you have.
We’re still looking for a newsletter editor too
No one has responded to the September notice in this space that we need an editor for this newsletter, Turtle Tracks, so I want to put it out there again.
This position requires some Sierra Club supported training and a commitment of up to five hours a month at the beginning, becoming far fewer with increased experience. It is all done remotely. It is a layout position only at this time. The newsletter content will be provided by others on the newsletter team. And you will have plenty of support.
This is a vital role in the group and one that I would like you to seriously consider.
For more detailed information, please contact the person presently doing the job, Ron Haines ronaldhaines@bellsouth.net.
Invite your local nonprofits and governments to join this webinar.
Send them this link: https://bit.ly/3zzEsFn
The Sierra Club Florida Chapter and Alex Kate Halvey of the Department of Energy’s Office of Policy will present a webinar that explores how local governments and nonprofits can receive direct cash payments for clean energy investments. The Direct Pay provision of the Inflation Reduction Act/Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IRA/IIJA) allows tax-exempt entities to recoup 30% of their clean energy investments as direct cash payments, equivalent to the clean energy tax credits businesses receive.
Key Takeaways:
*Learn about an easy, streamlined way to fund your clean energy projects
*Discover the wide range of eligible investments, from clean energy generation to EV chargers
*Get insights on maximizing your financial benefits by combining credits county and city governments, school districts, hospitals, colleges, charities, Native tribal agencies, religious organizations, houses of worship, and other tax-exempt entities are encouraged to attend.
Speaker: Alex Kate Halvey from the Department of Energy’s Office of Policy. She will discuss the Direct Pay Program allowing nonprofits, governments and others who don't pay taxes to get a tax-cut equivalent in direct payments for climate-friendly improvements.
By Mary Cassell, Chair, Elaine Usherson Environmental Education Scholarship Committee
This summer, the Elaine Usherson Environmental Education Scholarship Committee sponsored four campers to attend Pine Jog Environmental Education Center’s summer camp program for one week, at a cost of $400 per camper. This year’s camp scholarship winners were Jacobo, Ffione, Nicolas, and Jada. Above is an amazing camper collage.
In addition, our committee donated $500 to the Resource Depot, Inc. in West Palm Beach to cover the Depot's Junk Camp registration fees and materials. Junk Camp is a Monday through Thursday all-day camp. Children spend the day exploring possibilities with all the discarded materials in the world around them. Be sure to check out the Depot’s TreasuRE boutique online store, plus the many events, programs and workshops for all ages throughout the year.
Committee decisions this year:
--Continue awarding full scholarships because many parents cannot afford even partial contributions.
--In lieu of Thank You Letters, request a one-page essay from each camper, “What I Learned at Pine Jog Summer Camp,” in addition to drawings. The best essays will go into our Scrapbook for community outreach events.
--Return our age criteria exclusively to 9–12-year-old (3rd-5th graders) rather than including younger age learners.
--Lastly, we agreed to create a 'Sierra Club Certificate of Participation' to present to our scholarship campers at the Loxahatchee Group's annual fundraiser.
WHAT'S HAPPENING?
Here’s what some of our Loxahatchee members and activists have been doing lately. Tap on them to read them and when you're done, let us know if you’ve done something you’d like to share with others. We’d love to read it.
So let us know what you’ve been up to. Maybe you read a book on the environment, attended a meeting, sent a letter to an elected official or to a local paper, or went on a hike? If you did something last month or this month and you want to tell others about it, send a brief description of what you did with a possible image to Linda Smithe, Destinationloop@gmail.com.
ANNUAL GALA: UNDER THE SEA
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
Join us November 9 from 6-10 pm at the Community Foundation for Palm Beach & Martin Counties.
Hot and Cold Hors d’oeuvres | Wine & Beer
Cocktail/Business Casual Attire
Silent Auction
This is our one huge fund-raising event of the year. Proceeds benefit the Inspiring Connections Outdoors program, the Elaine Usherson Scholarship Program, and the Loxahatchee Group’s conservation efforts.
Come to have fun, raise some money, meet new and old friends, and congratulate our 2024 Environmental Champion, Jenny Staletovich, Environment Editor at public radio station WLRN in Miami.
Jenny has reported on many of South Florida’s major environmental stories, including impacts from climate change, Everglades restoration, invasive pythons, diseased coral, 2018’s devastating red tide and blue-green algae blooms, and a host of other critical issues around the state.
Vote for Sierra Club endorsed candidates by November 5th.
This is the election of a lifetime.
On the ballot is hope – a chance to secure a livable climate, create green jobs in the growing clean-energy economy, protect our freedoms, our democracy, and environmental justice,. It’s time to go all out to make sure Kamala Harris and Tim Walz win in November, and win key races up and down the ballot.
What can we do?
Writing personalized letters to voters is one of the best ways to ensure Kamala Harris wins in 2024. There is quick training to help you get started right away. Go here to learn more and register.
Also on the ballot:
Vote NO on Amendment 2 on Nov. 5
By Grant Gelhardt, Sierra Club Florida Conservation Committee Chair
The right to hunt and fish has been the law of Florida (Section 379.104 F.S.), for generations. Florida law recognizes that hunting and fishing are part of Florida’s cultural heritage and traditions; albeit, in concert with the conservation and protection of those species and their habitats through science-based hunting and fishing regulations promulgated and updated as needed on an annual basis by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
The proposed Amendment 2 includes ill-conceived elements that conflict with FWC’s constitutional and statutorily mandated role to manage hunting and fishing and, threatens the conservation of Florida’s fish and wildlife and their habitats.
The Amendment:
1. Designates hunting as a preferred method of managing wildlife and appears to allow hunting at city parks, county parks, State Parks, and wildlife sanctuaries.
2. Creates a constitutional right to hunt, appears to allow hunters to trespass on private property to exercise their constitutional right to hunt.
3. Allows “all traditional methods” of hunting and appears to allow hunting bears with dogs as well as the potential for the courts to overrule the existing net ban on the use gill nets and seine nets, and the devastating impacts on the fishing resources.
For these reasons: Vote NO on Amendment 2, an ill-conceived and ambiguously worded constitutional amendment.
Get a Free Simple Will
Leave a Legacy to Our Loxahatchee Group
By Gary M. Landau, Esq.
When they draft their will, many people decide to leave some of their assets to charity. And what better charity than our Loxahatchee Group, where your money can continue defending our natural environment and environmental justice even after you're gone.
My Law Office of Gary M. Landau will draft your simple will for free if you leave a bequest to the Sierra Club Loxahatchee Group of $5,000 or more.
As a member of the Loxahatchee group’s Executive Committee and the co-chair of the political committee, I understand the importance of continually funding all the great work the group does in our community.
Our law office, located in Coral Springs, has served the residents of South Florida for more than 25 years. We specialize in wills and living trusts as well as real estate transactions and closings.
To make an appointment to discuss how your legacy can include protecting our natural world via a free simple will, contact my office at 954-979-6566. Learn more about estate planning on our website.
SIERRA CLUB BROWARD GROUP
OCTOBER GENERAL MEETING
7 PM OCTOBER 10 VIA ZOOM
Topic: The Underwater: Creative community engagement & climate action Speaker: Adam Roberti serves as executive director of the Xavier Cortada Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to use socially engaged art to create meaningful experiences that inspire people to take collective action against our climate and ecological crises.
Sunday, October 13, 8 AM – Broward Fall Migration Birding at Evergreen Cemetery in Fort Lauderdale. Easy. Register here. Leader: Jordan Holaday, jordansierraleader@gmail.com
Saturday, November 2, 9:30 AM – Walk three short trails and have a picnic lunch close to the East entrance to the Everglades National Park near Homestead. Easy. Register here. Leader: Kaatje Bernabei, kaatjebernabei@bellsouth.net
Saturday, November 16, 9 AM – 3 mile wet hike on the Florida Trail from the Oasis Visitor Center of the Big Cypress National Preserve near Ochopee. Strenuous. Register here. Leader: Jordan Holaday, jordansierraleader@gmail.com
Friday, December 6 to Sunday, December 8 – 3 day tent campground camping (near cars) in Highlands Hammock State Park near Sebring. Moderate. Register here. Leader: Jordan Holaday, jordansierraleader@gmail.com
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