Newsletter- September 2021 update from Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter
September 16, 2021
Happy Self-Care September!
Hi Supporter,
We have another packed newsletter for you! Read on for Self-Care September resources and ideas, details of our Climate Grief workshops, info on two actions you can take right now for our forests and for climate, and how to join our executive committee... plus of course, our usual features of recommendations and readers' photos!
Self-Care September- a note from the editor
Did you know September is self-care month? I don’t know about you, but I don’t even remember hearing the term “self-care” when I was a child in the 1980s. It’s definitely something we hear more about these days, and it’s something I’ve tried to encourage my own child, who is nine years old, to be aware of.
I asked his thoughts, and he said that self-care is about balance. About balancing school with Minecraft, and time with his friends and family, time outside in nature, and about eating a good balance of things too.
Of course, during the past 18 months, it’s been harder for many of us to achieve this in our lives. The pressure of a pandemic has upended the balance that we worked hard to create. So maybe, Self-Care September has come at the right time- the changing of the seasons gives us a chance to consider anew some small changes we could make in our lives, to try and regain some of that balance. What do you think?
We asked our social media followers and Sierra Club colleagues their self-care tips:
“Spend time outside looking at nature! Not only does forest bathing help your mood, blood pressure, and energy - observing nature helps us understand it better and when you share those observations with scientists, you not only feel good - you’re doing good!” - AJ Weddle, Indiana Phenology.
“A short weekend road trip sometimes allows me to truly unwind. Getting away from any spaces where I could be tempted to be “productive” and spend the weekend remembering I am much more than productivity feels like real self-care to me. Might I even suggest the short drive to Kentucky. And of course you're invited to join in on an outing while you're here!” - Sarah Reeves, Sierra Club Kentucky Chapter.
“Pet my cat, just full attention on his needs. Take my dog for a walk he’s ALWAYS in the mood, maybe pick up trash along the way. Help restore bikes at my area bike co-op.” - Nina, Ventura Group of the Sierra Club Los Padres Chapter board member, and admin for their Instagram.
We would love to hear your self-care tips. You can email me at rebecca.dien-johns@sierraclub.org and we may share them (with your permission) in our next newsletter.
Part of self-care is looking after our mental health. In our May newsletter, for mental health awareness month, we talked about how getting outside can benefit us emotionally. Here are some further timely articles and resources around mental health, the environment, and the climate crisis:
The truth is, it's very reasonable to be angry and sad right now. Allowing ourselves to feel our emotions can be the first step in processing them. Our Chapter Director, Amanda Shepherd, knows what it's like to have anxiety around the climate crisis. You can read about the series of workshops she's leading, Climate Grief: From Anxiety to Action, below. And, if you find yourself struggling with your mental health and needing support, the National Alliance on Mental Illness has some links and resources.
Rebecca Dien-Johns Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter.
Join Amanda Shepherd, Chapter Director, on September 27, for the first gathering of a 10-week course. This meeting will take place online. We will work to build resilience and empowerment and cultivate support and love focused on our collective grief and anxiety over the ongoing climate crisis.
In this 10 weeks we will work with acceptance, awareness, biases, gratitude, and much more.
(Note that we are hopeful that this will be a diverse space but we also know that climate grief/anxiety spaces are often dominated by those who are white even though climate anxiety is experienced even more keenly by people of color. Please read more here and come to this space with an open heart and mind that is ready to hear the experiences and feelings of all, but especially those who are most impacted)
About the Good Grief Network:
Good Grief Network is a nonprofit organization that brings people together to metabolize collective grief, eco-anxiety, and other heavy emotions that arise in response to daunting planetary crises.
Using a 10-Step approach inspired by the Alcoholics Anonymous model, they run peer-to-peer support groups that help folks recognize, feel, and process their heavy emotions, so that these feelings may be transformed into meaningful action.
The first Climate Grief: From Anxiety to Action event is on Monday, 27 September from 7.30-8.30 P.M Eastern Time. You will be emailed a link to this online event after registering.
Take action: Tell the OUCC: No new gas plants in Posey County!
CenterPoint, the electric utility in Southwest Indiana, wants to build two new gas turbines (and a pipeline) in Posey County. Formerly Vectren, CenterPoint’s Indiana service territory sits in the epicenter of Super Polluter coal plants. Southwest Indiana is already overburdened with toxic pollution and the Ohio River is one of the most polluted rivers in the country.
That’s why, in 2015, the Beyond Coal campaign launched our efforts to move CenterPoint beyond coal to clean energy. In 2016, CenterPoint announced that they plan to retire all but one of their coal units. The downside was a proposed 850 MW combined cycle gas plant in Posey County. We got to work organizing opposition to this proposal and in April 2019 the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission denied CenterPoint’s giant gas project.
Back to the drawing board, CenterPoint proposed a different plan last year that will build a substantial amount of solar and wind energy. The downside this time: two smaller, less efficient gas turbines could be added to CenterPoint’s power generation fleet.
In their 2019 energy planning process, CenterPoint found that they could build a “Renewables By 2030” plan with new wind, solar and storage for essentially the same cost as building these risky gas plants but with an 80% reduction in carbon emissions.
CenterPoint’s argument for building these fracked gas plants is weak and the risks associated with building them are high. They will begin a new 20-year energy planning process in a matter of months. In the meantime, the IURC should deny their request.
Matt Skuya-Boss Indiana Beyond Coal
Photos by Matt Skuya-Boss. Top and middle: Indiana Beyond Coal rally in 2018 after Vectren announced their first giant gas plant proposal. Bottom: Tristate Creation Care Rally, April 2019.
TAKE ACTION!
Our public comments are due to the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor by October 8, 2021.
You can join us in calling on the OUCC to oppose CenterPoint’s proposed gas turbines in Posey County by visiting sc.org/centerpoint.
Could you be on our Executive Committee?
A few days ago, we sent out an email detailing our call for new folks to join our Executive Committee. If you missed it, you can read about the opportunity on our website here.
If you have a passion for the environment and our communities, and a commitment to equity and justice, we want to hear from you!
Contact Steve Aaholm, Executive Committee member, at steveaaholm1@gmail.com for more information. The deadline to apply is September 24, 2021.
Take action for our forests- deadline approaching!
The proposal to make the Back Country Area of Morgan-Monroe and Yellowwood State Forests into a High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF) is now open for public comment.
We have some beautiful readers' photos to share with you this month- all of our friends, those insects that help the world go around, the pollinator!
First, the elusive hummingbird moth, just sneaking into shot to be photographed by Karen Randolph: "I recently redid my landscaping at home to include a mix of salvia, lavender, and pentas. One day I found out that something had chewed up my flowers… hornworm caterpillars. I accepted it as part of nature’s lifecycle and let them munch. Not long after, I was rewarded with this snap of the fully-fledged adult moth, the snowberry clearwing, in flight. Today the flowers have bounced back from their pruning and I get to enjoy a second wave of blooms, thanks to this intriguing native pollinator!"
The second is a beautiful bee, taken by Jennifer Mills in her yard in Broad Ripple in June of this year. She says, "the colors of nature fascinate me! I love how this bee perfectly matches the yellow of the sundrop flower.”
Lastly, a gorgeous eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly on a patch of coneflowers, from Cathleen Alexander.
Thank you so much to Karen, Jennifer, and Cathleen for sending these photos in!
Do you have a photograph of nature that you would like to share?
We'd love to see it and perhaps feature it in a future newsletter!
That's all for this month! As ever, we appreciate your readership and support. Please don't hesitate to get in contact with us if you have questions about our work - we love to hear from you!
