March 28, 2023

Sacramento Group March 2023 Newsletter

Spring is upon us and we’re finding a lot of activities to keep us busy despite the changing weather!

In this issue:

•   Working with other environmentally focused organizations
•   The Campaign for a Sacramento Public Bank
•   Cleaning Up Our Riverbanks
•   Earth Day Celebration & Upcoming Events and Activities

Working With Our Environmentally Focused Partners!

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
- Margaret Mead

We find this well-known saying to be true as we often work with a number of other environmental organizations on shared goals, seeing each other at the dais of public meetings and collaborating on letters to the various municipalities and their staffs and elected officials, or just by supporting efforts to clean up and restore our environment together. Collaboration allows for the sharing of ideas and the completion of projects, and it also gives us the chance to meet and know like-minded people in our communities.

This issue of our newsletter features some of our partnerships and local legislative actions and activities that we hope you’ll become a part of as we represent the strength of the Sierra Club in Sacramento County and have some fun along the way!

Campaign for a Sacramento Public Bank

The Sacramento Climate Coalition and SacACT are working on a campaign for the City of Sacramento to establish a regional Public Bank. A Public Bank assumes deposits and debt of governments and public entities instead of the commonly used commercial banks that invest the interest on loans on Wall Street. In October 2019, the California legislature passed AB 857 to provide a pathway for local government agencies to charter public banks.

And since California banks are in the news, please note that Silicon Valley Bank is a state-chartered commercial bank that is in business to make profits that enrich shareholders. As mentioned, Sacramento Public Bank would be in business to leverage money to serve the needs of the people of our Sacramento County communities in the form of low-cost loans to finance civic needs.

The creation of this public bank will lead to greater local revenues to support things like climate programs, affordable housing, and a stronger, more resilient local economy. If you're interested in getting involved in this campaign, Goli Sabha, gsahba@sacclimate.org. (Article by Kate Wilkins)

River City Waterway Alliance - Cleaning Our Riverbanks

Pollution along the banks of the American River is a longstanding problem, and it got significantly worse as a result of recent river storms. The rising level forced many homeless people to abandon camps, leaving belongings that either remained in large soaked piles or washed into trees or the river itself.

A new citizen's group has formed to specifically address trash on the riverbanks. While volunteer groups such as Sacramento Picks It Up have been cleaning up the American River Parkway and other public spaces generally, River City Waterway Alliance formed to clean up on the riverbanks, said Mark Baker, a volunteer with the group.

On a recent cleanup on the parkway near CalExpo, volunteers wearing bright yellow and orange vests gathered huge piles of garbage from a single camp. The riverbanks were slippery from all the mud. Baker said it is important for citizen groups to help clean up the area because government agencies have not kept up with the need.

If you're interested in volunteering for river cleanups, please visit @rivercitywaterwayalliance on Facebook to sign up. The group has pages on Instagram and YouTube using that same address. (Article by Brad Branan)

Earth Day Celebrations!!

Sunday, April 23rd - 11:00 am - 4:00 pm at Southside Park

The theme of this year's ECOS-organized Earth Day Celebration is “Grow Native” and Sierra Club's Sacramento Group is one of the sponsors for the event. We are pleased to be joined by the Friends of Bushy Lakes – a volunteer organization that maintains native plants on the American River. The Sacramento Tree Foundation will also be there which supplies our residents with shade trees, education, and tree-planting events, along with the Sierra Club Environmental Justice In Tobacco Product Waste, working to educate young people on the negative effects of tobacco use and focusing on reducing the harm that tobacco products are causing to our environment.

Join us for a visit on this day of celebration! Our Sacramento Group leaders and volunteers will be there and look forward to meeting you, our dear members. Sierra Club merchandise will also be available.

Outdoor Activities & Environmental Group Gatherings

We support many of these groups in various ways throughout the year. Please note that these events are all sponsored by other organizations, and liability forms and information will be provided by each organization when you sign up.

Bushy Lakes Events (on the American River by Cal Expo)
Bushy Lake is located within the Cal Expo Area of the 2008 American River Parkway Plan (Sacramento County). The area is part of an ongoing eco-cultural restoration project, providing wildlife habitat, culturally significant plants, recreation and education opportunities.

Sierra Club’s Sacramento Group received a request to help with these events:

Spring 2023 Public Planting Dates
Planting native seedlings and weeding to restore the landscape on March 11th and April 8th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Sign-up to join this event at www.bushylake.com.

Bushy Lake Eco-Cultural Community Celebration on April 29th
There will be an Eco-Cultural Community Celebration from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm on April 29th on the lower American River with feature speakers, booths, and tours to educate the public about Western Pond turtles and our work at Bushy Lake. We will be meeting that morning in the parking lot of the Cal Expo RV Park at 500 Ethan Way, Sacramento CA 95815. Visit www.bushylake.com for more information and check out the event flyer.

Sacramento SPLASH
Vernal Pool Walks are planned in April with Sacramento SPLASH which includes kids' activities. Sign up at: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4aada82ca5f5c43-vernal#/

Sacramento Valley Conservancy
Saturday hikes in the Blue Oak Woodlands at Deer Creek Hills will be opening up when weather permits and all flooding risk has ceased. Learn more at: https://sacramentovalleyconservancy.org

Cleaning Up Our Environment

River City Waterway Alliance
Stay connected with the Alliance for upcoming river bank clean-ups at:
https://www.facebook.com/rivercitywaterwayalliance

Sacramento Picks It Up
Sponsoring frequent clean-up events in various locations around the county, Sacramento Picks It Up posts updates on Facebook and Instagram.

Sacramento Green Drinks
Every Second Tuesday at 5:30 pm, join Sacramento Green Drinks for a casual monthly happy hour for environmental professionals and sympathizers. A new organization is featured each month. Connect with them on Facebook or sign up for their newsletter to see the location and topic of April's event. Meet other environmentalists for a casual early evening!

Sacramento Sierra Club Outings

hiking events are updated regularly by the Club Outings Leaders and announcements for them can be found in the links below.

Important information about the Outings and some events are posted on the Mother Lode Chapter Website

All other outings are posted on Meetup

Did you know about our Environmental Justice in Tobacco Control Podcast!!

Listen in to our very first Podcast episode featuring Amanda Simpson, the projects Policy Analyst, and find out about tobacco control in California and how you can take action locally!!

Listen to the first episode here!!