May 14, 2013
by Caroline Pufalt
The Sierra Club in Missouri is organized in a state-wide chapter, and in four “groups” which cover the state but are centered around Columbia (Osage Group), Kansas City (Thomas Hart Benton Group), Springfield (White River Group) and St. Louis (E.Mo.Group). The chapter is managed by a volunteer Executive Committee (or “ExCom”), nine of whose members are elected at large - meaning chosen in an election in which members across the state can participate. The ExCom makes important decisions for the Missouri chapter about financial and conservation issues.
Please read the statements of the candidates who are running for the ExCom, and then use the ballot in this newsletter to cast your vote. Please mail it so that it arrives at our St. Louis office by the December 31st deadline.
Annual Missouri Chapter Sierra Club Ballot Executive Committee Ballot Profiles
James A. Harmon
Active in scouting (1950-1960) conservation meant environmentalism. At Indiana University, Graduate School, a Committee to Publicize Crisis Biology focused my environmentalist efforts (1968-70).
A doctoral candidate (1970’s) at Heidelberg University (Germany), I belonged to the German Environment/Nature Protection Association. As organic gardener—from my vegetable garden/fruit orchard on the Neckar River, I participated in 24-hour watch-projects protecting nesting falcons.
Returning to America (1985), I became an NMSU professor; and 1988-90 organized/hosted weekly Environmental Forum (EF) and promoted professor-initiated recycling-activism. EF hosted national-class speakers (1990) and participated in Bloomberg University’s teleconference on global warming.
Environmentalist since the 1960’s; I biked or walked to work. I chaired the petition drive (2005-06) for Hazel Creek Concerned Citizens Committee, whose activism protected Kirksville’s watershed and successfully elected environment friendly city councilors!
I participated in a 2006 weeklong Summer Institute “Integrating Environmental Stewardship Across the Curriculum” at the University of North Carolina, Ashville. My topic was Eco-House Design integrated into art classes.
Retrofitting our early 20th century home for energy efficiency culminated (2006/07) with installing solar panels. I worked (2007) with Renew Missouri getting Proposition C – “Renewable Energy Standard” on the ballot.
For “Focus the Nation,” 2008 teach-in on global warming solutions, I co-presented with Dancing Rabbit Eco-Village. Audubon Society, Greenpeace, Environmental Defense Fund, Union of Concerned Scientists, Rotary International Action Group for Population Growth and Sustainable Development (life-member), and Sierra Club are organizations I support; and would welcome an opportunity to serve Missouri on Sierra Club’s Executive Committee.
Henry Robertson
I serve as Chapter Energy Chair. The job of Vice-Chair got dumped on me. In my spare time I represent the Sierra Club and other environmental groups as an attorney with Great Rivers Environmental Law Center in St. Louis, fighting new coal and nuclear power plants and advocating for energy efficiency and renewable energy.
These are tough times. Pollsters tell us environmental issues have fallen far down the list of public concerns. Membership and income are down, and fewer members are becoming active volunteers, the people we count on to do so much of the Club’s work.
Having a Chapter director on staff is helping us rebuild, but it’s only part of what we are. The members are the rest. We always have lots of issues on our plate—pushing for clean energy, preserving wilderness areas and protecting the Current and Jacks Fork (and lobbying the legislature and endorsing political candidates as we always do). What bugs me is that, while groups like the Tea Party and more recently Occupy Wall Street are so vocal, the environmental movement is scarcely heard. We have a way of thinking about the world—in terms of sustainability—that the general public doesn’t understand. Communicating, above all, is what we need to do.
The Sierra Club is still a big, effective organization. If I didn’t think so I wouldn’t give so such of my time to it. I welcome the opportunity to continue representing you on the Chapter Executive Committee.
Deb Geno
Hi, I received the honor of being nominated to the Executive Committee of the Sierra Club Missouri Chapter. I take this honor seriously and if elected, will fulfill my responsibilities to the best of my ability. I have been an active member of the Sierra Club since 2001, and prior to that I was an avid supporter. I am active in environmental issues, writing my congressmen/women regularly and writing letters to the editor of my local newspaper and other publications. I believe making our voices heard can make a difference. I have served on the Executive Committee of the MO Chapter for two years and as chairperson of the Fundraising and Membership committee. I believe we need to recruit more young members.
I am a Missouri Master Naturalist, where I have learned much about the wildlife and environment of Missouri, as well as other environmental issues. I do volunteer work with the Missouri Department of Conservation and Shaw Nature Reserve.
I am very concerned about global warming and climate change and hope to be of some help to educate other Sierra Club members, family, friends and my church community. I have been an avid re user and recycler for years and have taught my family to do so.
I recently retired from a major corporation where I worked for 30 years, so I now have more time to devote to Sierra Club, Greenpeace and my other environmental causes. I believe education is key to our future.
I look forward to the privilege of working with the Missouri Chapter of the Executive Committee, if I am re-elected.
Thank you for your consideration.
Jim Turner
I have served continuously on Missouri Chapter Executive Committee since 2006, and am in my fourth year as Chapter Chair. In 2009 I retired after twenty-eight years of teaching business law, and ten years of teaching environmental policy, at Truman State University. I reside in Kirksville, and I am especially interested in energy policy, local food production, and regulation of confined animal feeding.
During the past two years I served as Missouri Chapter’s Delegate to the Council of Club Leaders which meets each September in San Francisco, providing input to the Board of Directors. I have been an active discussant there in support of the Club’s efforts toward increased political and cultural influence, through coalition work with labor unions, diverse parts of our communities, and other non-governmental organizations. I support an active role for the Sierra Student Coalition in advancing the Club’s mission. I actively participate in the Club’s two-year-old Activist Network, which electronically facilitates interaction by Club members across Chapter boundaries on shared interests.
In 2010, we expanded our chapter staff, and several other Missouri Chapter leaders and I participated by phone and computer in a Leadership training program conducted by the Club’s national office. We have been revising our Executive Committee procedures so that we can accomplish our tasks with quarterly one-day meetings. This makes active service feasible for more of our active members. Varied participation by Chapter Executive Committee members in our home communities can enhance our standing to lead community values toward sustainability.