Join us for a relaxing evening of fun and friends!
An excellent opportunity to bring your friends and learn about Sierra Club. (And you’re invited to bring your favorite dessert, if you like!)
********** New World Brewery 810 E. Skagway Ave., Tampa 33604 Just east of Hwy 275, 1 block south of Busch Blvd. Convenient free parking across the street from restaurant. ****************
You must register for this event so that we can get a count of how many people are coming and keep you up to date on the status of the event.
Elections Matter—We’re About to Discover How Much They Really Matter!
The votes have been counted, and, sadly, the biggest loser in the election is our Environment.
On the Federal level, we can expect that any climate change regulations and Executive Orders issued by President Biden will be countermanded shortly after January 20. We can also expect threats from expanded fossil fuel mining to affect our National Parks and National Monuments. Agency heads will likely be selected from the ranks of the companies who have opposed environmental regulations and will seek to weaken them.
On the State level, the Republican Party continues to maintain a supermajority in both the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate. Once again, it will be extremely difficult to derail “problematic legislation” that the Governor and the Republican Party want to pass, and we can expect to see more pre-emption of local governments’ ability to regulate things locally.
During 2024, our Tampa Bay Sierra Club Political Committee spent countless hours researching, interviewing, and vetting candidates in several local races. We endorsed the following 10 candidates:
Pat Kemp, U. S. Congress District 15
Kathy Castor, U.S. Congress District 14
Fentrice Driskell, State House
Dianne Hart, State House
Susan Valdes, State House
Michele Rayner, State House
Sean Shaw, Hillsborough County Commission
Nadia Combs, Hillsborough County School Board
Jessica Vaughn, Hillsborough County School Board
Lynn Gray, Hillsborough County School Board
Of our endorsed candidates, only Pat Kemp and Sean Shaw were not elected. We were pleased that all of our other endorsed candidates were elected to office!
This was the first time that our political committee had made endorsements in School Board races. Those races have become increasingly politicized, even though they are supposed to be non-partisan elected offices. The voters of Florida agreed that school board races should continue to be non-partisan, by defeating a constitutional amendment that would have transformed those races to partisan ones.
Our Tampa Bay Group Political Committee is comprised solely of volunteers, and we need your help! If you are interested in joining the committee for future election cycles, please contact the chair of the committee, Gary Gibbons, at garygibbons@tampabaysierraclub.org .
Donate to the Tampa Bay Group
t’s that time of year when our members consider giving a gift to Sierra Club of Tampa Bay. Did you know that if you donate through our website, it will go to national, and NOT to our local group? We will be working to fix this; meanwhile here’s how to ensure it goes to our local group.
The easiest way to donate is to mail a check directly to Sierra Club Tampa Bay c/o our treasurer Andy Harris 4127 Rocky Shore Dr., Tampa 33634. Or you can contribute through the donation link below.
To get our newsletter, you need to get emails from the Florida Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Tampa Bay Group. For multiple reasons, many people do not get our official emails.
Sierra Club members can fix this online, but legally, we cannot do it for you.
To set up your My Account access, go to myaccount.sierraclub.org and click on “Create your account.” Fill in the form on the next page with your information. It is important that you use the email address that the Sierra Club has on file for you, because this is how the system will confirm that you are a valid member. When you submit the form, you’ll receive an email at that address with instructions for setting up a password to log into your account. If you have multiple email addresses and don’t remember which one you used for Sierra Club, call Member Care at (415) 977 5653 to verify which address the Club has on file for you.
Needless to say, don't use "Unsubscribe" - either use your account or call Member Support.
