SierraScape September 2013 - February 2014
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CANDIDATE STATEMENTS

Executive Committee (ExCom) members meet once per month to authorize club actions and assist activities of other Eastern Missouri Group (EMG) members.

There are seven voting members on the ExCom. Three persons will be elected, each to fill a two-year term. Voting instructions are given on the ballot (see page 9).

The following are statements by candidates for the ExCom, listed in alphabetical order.

     Toni Armstrong

I have been active in the Eastern Missouri Group of the Sierra Club for about 30 years. I have served various roles within the club: Outings co-chair for 10 years, Chair of the Alaska Lands committee, Operation Clean Stream coordinator, Outings leader plus I have served on the Executive Committee for the past 4 years.

The EMG has been an effective leader in protecting the environment from stopping the Meramec Dam to the passage of Prop C (clean energy bill) in 2008 and our work on Beyond Coal. To continue this important work we need to recruit and activate new members. I want to reach out to young potential members. I believe there is an interest in environmental issues in our college students, youth and families. I want to tap into that interest and enthusiasm. I want to explore how we can modify our monthly meetings to intrigue and involve more people. I would like to explore holding our general meeting on local college campuses and having joint meetings with other groups interested in environmental issues. I believe our outings program is a good outreach tool and I would like to strengthen the Outings program.

     Rob Polzin

My name is Rob Polzin, I am 23 years old, and a student at Webster University studying for a degree in Biology. I have served on the EMG Executive Committee for the last two years, and would love the chance to serve another term. I have preciously acted as the treasurer for the Outdoors Club while attending St. Louis Community College-Meramec, and helped to plan and manage club camping trips and fundraisers. While in high school I was a member of Envirothon, an ecology-based volunteering and competitive group. I have also participated in Missouri Stream Team cleanup projects on the Meramec and Missouri Rivers. I enjoy hiking the trails and forests in the St. Louis and Central Missouri region, as well as canoeing or kayaking on the rivers of this area. My idea of a good time is to explore the shoreline and streambeds of nearby lakes, rivers and streams. Ask anyone in my family or circle of friends and they will tell you I have always had a passion for the outdoors and for nature. From this position with the Sierra Club, I would hope to energize, excite and inspire a wider circle of people in my age group to engage and participate in the protection and enjoyment of the nature that surrounds us.

     Ken Schechtman

I am a lifelong activist committed to the notion that change does not happen unless ordinary people join together and demand it. Environmentalists have been doing so for decades, and anyone who considers the clean air bill or our many reborn streams and lakes must marvel at the successes, even as we battle for all that is yet to be won and for all that is currently being stolen.

I have been a member of the Executive Committee for the last ten years and have been active with the Political Committee for much of that time period. I am also a Washington University Professor who brings to the Club a dedication to environmental ideals, a scientist's measured analysis of issues and, most importantly, an abiding commitment to an effective results-oriented Club that lets no one forget that we did not stand by and watch.

As a hiker with a reverence for nature, I have an obligation to Missouri's forests and to our wild and special places. As an advocate and analyst of issues, I have authored dozens of published op-ed articles over many years. As a citizen, I have been a long-time activist in numerous progressive causes. And as a parent, I can do nothing less than fight for the planet I will one day leave behind. I hope you will again offer that opportunity.