For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100
Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, announced his retirement today. Jeff will have served as the NJSC Director for 23 years when he retires on May 1, 2021. He has been involved in every major environmental legislation passing in New Jersey for close to two decades. Just some of his legislative and regulatory lobbying achievements include passage of the California Car Law, the Highlands Act, New Jersey’s Global Warming Response Act, New Jersey’s Fertilizer Law, and NJ’s Electronic Waste Recycling Law. He also worked to pass New Jersey’s Plastic Bag Ban last year, which is one of the most comprehensive in the country, and helped get the Delaware River Basin Commission to pass a fracking ban. Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, released the following statement:
“It has been a privilege and one of the greatest opportunities of my life to work for the Sierra Club for 23 years. I have fought tirelessly to protect New Jersey’s natural resources, such as the Highlands and Pinelands. Over the decades I have helped write and lobby for most major environmental legislation, from the passage of the Highlands Act to the Global Warming Response Act. Through my environmental activism, I hope that I made New Jersey a better place for all of us.
“Over the years, I worked to help pass the private well testing law and the bear feeding ban, and acquired funding from Governor Whitman to acquire Sterling Forest. I also worked to pass New Jersey’s Fertilizer Law, the Electronic Waste Recycling Law, and helped write and design the Category 1 Surface Water Rules. More recently, I helped pass the Plastic Bag Ban and to get the DRBC to ban fracking in the Delaware River Basin.
“This has been a tough decision for me. I have so many close friends that are part of my Sierra Club family and the environmental movement. However, after being an activist for most of my life, having COVID and being home for over a year, I think that I need to move on to the next phase. I was originally going to retire next February when I was 65, but I was able to take advantage of Sierra Club’s voluntary leave program this year. This has given me the opportunity to spend more time with my spouse Barbara and my family, especially my grandchildren. Now I will have time to travel, spend more time outdoors, and focus on other parts of my life.
“I come from a family of activists. My first sit-in was when I was four. A few years later I went to the 1963 March on Washington with my family, and I have attended hundreds more marches since then. Growing up on the Newark Hillside border, I learned about the meaning of Environmental Justice and the importance of activism from an early age. When you threw matches at the stream it would flare up. There was a foundry down the street that left soot on the cars so that you could write on them. My family also helped run Camp Midvale in Ringwood, which was the first inerracial camp in New Jersey for trade unionists and environmentalists.
“This year will be my 51st Earth Day. For the first Earth Day, I organized the clean up of the Elizabeth River in Hillside when I was in Junior High. I have been involved as an activist for social justice, civil rights, peace, women’s rights, labor rights, immigrant rights, and the environment for my entire life. Although I am taking a break and stepping down to figure out my next steps, I will always be some type of activist. It’s in my DNA.”
Jeff received the Outstanding Achievement award by the Sierra Club in 2004, the highest honor given to an employee. He has worked on transition teams for Governors McGreevey and Corzine. President Obama also appointed Jeff to the NJ Sandy HUD Task Force Advisory Committee and he was also on the FEMA Sandy Natural Resources Committee. He was named by the Star-Ledger as Most Influential People in New Jersey and also was listed on the New Jersey Politics Power List, the only environmentalist to do so.