by Jim Turner
TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline through our Midwest would speed climate disruption. So Sierra Club, 350.org, and others organized the Forward on Climate rally on Presidents’ Day. Over forty thousand rallied beside the Washington Monument despite a cold blustery wind. Thirty Chapters organized trips to this rally. Some Missouri Chapter members chartered a bus, and forty-four of us (Sierrans and others, from Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois) rode it day and night, both coming and going. A snowstorm in the Appalachians slowed us but we arrived in time. Our riders are resolved to “Stay on the Bus” – to stay connected and tame the oil industry’s greed!
Plenty of challenges loom. Enbridge wants to complete a pipeline through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma which would match the Keystone XL’s capacity. Tar sands product (diluted bitumen) is abrasive and toxic; Missouri’s waters will be at risk. Missouri Chapter staff and activists are attentive to developments and are organizing for ongoing action.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Club’s national staff is intent upon working more effectively with Chapters. I just returned from a first Chairs Assembly in San Francisco. In September our Delegate John Feldmann will attend the annual Council of Club Leaders there. Our Chapter Director John Hickey is one of six representatives actively communicating on behalf of the entire range of Chapter staffs. And all of this helps our Chapters work together increasingly well.