by Cheryl Hammond, Ozark excom member
Have you joined the world of online discussion forums? The Ozark Chapter has four active Groups which provide many opportunities for fellowship and environmental activism. Online discussion forums provide another way for members to keep in touch with environmental issues in an interactive way.
The Sierra Club maintains many online discussion forums which are frequently referred to as “listservs”. The name, LISTSERV ®, is a registered trademark licensed to L-Soft International, Inc. However, this name has become as generic as Kleenex ® The Sierra Club discussion forums do, in fact, use the LISTSERV ® product and you will get confirmation notices from L-Soft when you join.
You can get a list of available Sierra Club discussion forums at www.lsoft.com/scripts/wl.exe?XH=LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG. These forums are issue related, location related, or even function related. For example, you can join a forum to discuss desert conservation, to discuss environmental justice, or even to discuss clean water in Indiana. You can join a group that focuses on a club function, such as local club finances.
Some forums are limited in membership. For example there is a forum for conservation leaders who belong to either of the two Sierra Club Illinois Groups or one Missouri Group geographically near to St. Louis. This forum requires that the forum leader approve new memberships. Many Sierra Club forums automatically register anyone who applies.
The Eastern Missouri Group currently has two forums established, a conservation issues forum and a smart growth forum. The discussions include topics which may be of interest to all Missouri Sierrans. Recent discussion threads have discussed the Missouri Department of Conservation and where to buy fair trade coffee. You can join either of these forums by filling out the join form on http://missouri.sierraclub.org/emg/.
Online discussion forums are easy to use. When any member sends an email to the forum email address, the message is rebroadcast to each member of the forum. You can also reply to any forum message and your reply will be broadcast to all the members.
You can start a forum. Does your email list of contacts sometimes lose contacts as email discussion goes back and forth? Consider starting a forum. When you send a message to the forum, everyone interested in the topic will automatically get the message and be able to contribute. The forum allows you to find other Sierrans who want to discuss this topic and to continue to include them in every message. You don't have to worry about synchronizing contact lists with others on your list. For help on starting a Sierra Club list, contact Cheryl Hammond at info@todaydata.com.
Discussion forums are democratic and interactive. Committee chairs can involve members more fully by online discussions between meetings. Online forums keep everyone involved.
Other Missouri organizations also maintain online forums. The Missouri Audubon Society has a forum for Missouri bird watchers, but be prepared for discussions of rare bird sightings. The St. Louis Bicycle Federation advocates bicycle transit and Critical Mass of St. Louis discusses car-free ways to get around St. Louis. You can find these two at Topica on the web at www.topica.com. In fact, a search of Topica provides a list of many discussion forums related to bicycles in Missouri. Topica provides free list hosting for any person or group wishing to start a list. But setting up your list with the Sierra Club enables you to reach the most Sierra Club members.
You can reach Cheryl Hammond at info@todaydata.com or (314) 291-5907.