Loma Prieta Chapter's eNewsletter: December, Volume 2
December 30, 2023
YOU Can Make a Difference; Read How in This eNewsletter
► Become a local environmental changemaker through our annual $15,000 match challenge.
► Learn why one of our Executive Committee members fights the fight, and then volunteer and join us.
► Read our joint letter regarding concerns for the Millbrae and Burlingame Shoreline Area Enhancement Project.
► Attend our Artificial Turf webinar on January 10th.
► Take a hike! See the comprehensive list of activities available with your chapter into early January.
Our Annual $15,000 Match Challenge is Back!
Only once a year, your Chapter sends a unique postal packet inviting you to become a local environmental changemaker. If you are able, we hope you have already explored its contents! Again a generous donor has offered a dollar-for-dollar match, so your gift can go twice as far for our local environment. Learn more.
Deadline: January 1st, 2024
Join Our Team as Chapter Coordinator
The Chapter Coordinator is integral to the continuing success of the chapter’s conservation campaigns, educational efforts, and fundraising programs. The Chapter Coordinator facilitates the daily administrative operations of the Chapter office, acting as an information center for the chapter members, chapter volunteers and the public. This role maintains the Chapter’s records, purchases, supplies and equipment to the best advantage of the Chapter; and provides support to the chapter director and all other staff, as well as volunteer leaders, including the chapter treasurer, Executive Committee, Conservation Committee, and regional groups' education programs.
"Why I Fight" - Lisa Barboza
When I was eight, I loved to embroider pictures of trees on my t-shirts. By 12, I had made my own tipi from duck canvas that I sewed together, found fallen pine saplings for poles, and erected my tipi in a special place in the worshipping woods, off trail. This explains a lot. I moved on to being a birder, and getting trained in Wildlife Biology. Read more.
Lisa Barboza Chapter Executive Committee member, Guadalupe Region Group Chair, Chapter Outings Chair, Peak Climbing Section Chair, Sierra Club Military Outdoors Chair
Joint Comment Letter: Notice of Preparation of an Environmental Impact Report for the Millbrae and Burlingame Shoreline Area Enhancement Project
The Bay Alive Campaign joined Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge, Center for Biological Diversity, Sequoia Audubon Society, Green Foothills, and SF Baykeeper in objecting to a proposal by OneShoreline to create a 2.65 mile offshore flood protection barrier off the Millbrae/Burlingame Bay coast. Our joint letter highlights serious flaws in the selection process for a preferred project, raises major feasibility concerns due to inadequate consultation with regulatory agencies and stakeholders, and highlights problematic water quality issues and potential harm to wildlife and recreation opportunities.
Our Chapter Bay Alive team also submitted detailed comments about the necessary scope of environmental review for this project to move forward.
Point Molate’s Victory in Court Puts a Regional Park in Sight
Two years ago, our Bay Advocacy Program showcased Point Molate, Richmond, as a successful model of community and environmental collaboration. Now, a significant legal victory positions Point Molate closer to becoming a regional park, overturning the City of Richmond's project approvals due to deficiencies in the environmental impact report for a luxury housing development. Despite a minor challenge from a previous settlement agreement, this court decision boosts the East Bay Regional Park District's chances of acquiring the site. It signifies a pivotal step towards realizing a vision of community green space, biodiversity protection, and resilience for Richmond. Read more.
Sea Level Rise Webinar Series
How can local cities and residents use nature-basedadaptations to sea level rise? Watch recordings of our webinar series with SF Bay experts and please share with your local elected officials.
Water Committee Needs a Chairperson (or Chairpeople)!
The Water Committee (which is actually a subcommittee of the Conservation Committee) needs a new chairperson as our long-time chair Katja Irvin moves on to serve as Conservation Chair for the Guadalupe Regional Group. Co-chair Carol Steinfeld will stay on to help the new chair. Duties involve facilitating the monthly meeting and compiling the agenda as well as speaking at water agency meetings as appropriate. But all of this is negotiable! Join our next meeting in January to learn more or contact Carol at water@lomaprieta.sierraclub.org.
Breeze of Innovation Light Tower Survey
Most of you know that our bird populations are in deep trouble. Recent reports indicate that more than 30% of USA bird populations have been lost since 1970. One cause is urban lighting. Urban light has a strongly negative effect on the migrations of birds and insects; a few weeks ago, in Chicago, more than 1000 birds were killed in a single evening, as reported in the Atlantic and New York Times.
This is your town. Here’s what you can do to stop this senseless destruction of our bird population: Please respond to the San Jose Light Tower Corp survey. Read more.
Artificial Turf vs. Natural Grass Webinar
Artificial Turf: Bad for the Fish, Bad for our Kids, Bad for the Environment
Wednesday, January 10th
7:00 - 8:00 pm
This Zoom presentation will focus on an egregious and under-emphasized source of plastic pollution which has a singularly simple solution. The Sierra Club Loma Prieta, Environmental Steward Ship Program, Plastics Pollution Committee, PPP, together with the recently formed community group Community for Natural Playing Fields, supported the successful grassroots effort to keep a natural grass athletic field in Sunnyvale’s Lakewood Park. Learn more and register.
Comment Letter: Santa Clara County Fairgrounds Athletic Fields
While applauding adding a sports complex in southeast San Jose, I would like our California San Francisco Bay Area leaders to be known for leading the nation away from plastics based athletic fields. I am also concerned about the potential of powerful sports field lighting to add significant nightly light pollution. Read the full letter.
Susan Hinton Chair, Plastic Pollution Prevention Team
Environmental Stewardship Program
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter
Comment Letter: Public Health Risks of Artificial Turf
Recently the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter received a copy of a letter dated November 9, 2023, addressed to the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors. It was from the County of Santa Clara Public Health Department on the Public Health Risks of Artificial Turf.
The Sierra Club is interested in environmentally related public health impacts of artificial turf. However, reading this letter left us quite concerned as it does not reflect the most current findings regarding artificial turf. Read the full letter.
On November 30th, your Loma Prieta Chapter in collaboration with residents and environmental organizations including Green Foothills and Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, spoke in opposition of the Heritage Oaks Memorial Park Project which is proposed in Coyote Valley. This project could fragment wildlife habitat and impede the vulnerable wildlife corridor between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range.
Comment Letter: Valley Water Community Outreach Plan
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter and Sierra Club California have been submitting comments to and meeting with Santa Clara Valley Water District regarding the Valley Water Community Outreach Plan since April 2023. We recently submitted a comment letter with general recommendations, as well as recommendations for the Water Supply Master Plan and Delta Conveyance Plan.
One of the best ways to safeguard a thriving and just future is by ensuring that your Loma Prieta Chapter remains a champion for the environment of Santa Clara, San Mateo, and San Benito Counties. Naming us as a beneficiary in your bequest will provide meaningful and enduring resources that will allow continued local and powerful environmental activism.
Please contact our Chapter Development Coordinator Justyna Guterman for the specific language for your estate planning and/or read more here. For additional information about planning a bequest please contact Julia Curtis, (800) 932-4270.
Your connection: Newsom’s California Public Utilities Commission once more sides with PG&E against the climate, as expected. You can take action by volunteering with Climate Action Leadership Team and/or Environmental Legislative Action.
"Under the new rules, “schools will not be permitted to generate their own power any longer. Instead, they’ll be forced to buy their own solar back from utilities at full price,” said Sasha Horwitz, a legislative advocate at the Los Angeles Unified School District. He said the changes would make it harder for the school district to achieve its 100% clean energy goal, “hurting our ability to reduce emissions, electrify our schools and invest in safe, healthy learning environments for our children.”"
Photographers, see the great images in our Chapter Annual Summaries and help protect local nature with your images! Share with us your high-resolution photos of local nature, with or without people, to inspire local residents to support Loma Prieta Chapter work. Please contact Chapter Development Coordinator Justyna Guterman.
2020.05.03: Director's hike in Grant County Park, with views of Loma Prieta (left) and Mt Umunhum
"Destroying species is like tearing pages out of an unread book, written in a language humans hardly know how to read, about the place where they live."
