The Southeast PA Sierra Club chapter has been busy trying to figure out what kinds of regular meetings and education events local members find meaningful and engaging.
With threats to the environment coming fast and furious for the past year, there are often many events, lectures or actions related to the environment in the 5-county region, and attendance at the Sierra Club traditional monthly lecture series had trailed off. Some said they were having to make choices.
Attendance at the weekly volunteer conference call had drifted lower as well. Organizers agreed the call was pretty dry – mostly announcements and updates about various campaigns and projects -- so in fall of 2017, Jim Wylie, chair of the SE PA ExCom, came up with the idea of adding mini education programs to the weekly call.
As he tells the story, he came up with a bunch of possible topics, then started looking for people who could talk about them. Mini programs have now been going strong for 6+ months, either every week or every other week, on a broad range of topics. Attendance at the weekly conference calls is now typically a dozen or more. In 2017 we have heard from Richard Freeh, City Energy Project Manager with the Philly Office of Sustainability, about the city’s Clean Energy Vision report; and Robyn Weaver, our PA Sierra Club Equity Chair. We have also had guest speakers talk about Globally Responsible Eating, Community Solar, Regional Biking Infrastructure and Choosing a Clean Electricity Supplier. Two State Representatives have also joined as guest speakers.
The calls begin at 7:00 p.m. with a half hour for routine business and updates. The guest speaker joins the call by 7:30 and presents their topic for about 15 minutes, followed by Q&A and discussion. The brief presentations require minimal preparation, so potential speakers are usually glad for the easy opportunity to get their message out to a group of active Sierra Club volunteers.
Jerome Shabazz, Executive Director of the Overbrook Environmental Education Center talks to the SE PA ExCom and local members about the journey to transform a hazardous brownfield into a treasured community resource. The Center is an active member of Philadelphia's Environmental Justice and Sustainability community.
The next area to tackle in the search for engagement is finding ways of making the monthly ExCom meetings accessible to more Sierra Club members in the region, and to make them more interesting to attend. These meetings primarily consist of routine business and committee updates, at least some of which could be managed via email. For 2018, the ExCom decided to hold half of the meetings in the counties surrounding Philadelphia, using venues such as libraries and colleges, and to add an education component to some of those meetings.
In February the Executive Director of Overbrook Environmental Education Center spoke during the second half of the ExCom meeting about how the Center was created through sheer determination out of a brownfield in an environmental justice neighborhood.
The April meeting was held at Swarthmore College in Delaware County, with a shortened business segment followed by three student presentations on work they are doing related to biofuels, green allies, and carbon pricing. The June meeting is planned in Bucks County with a presentation from the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. The jury is still out on whether this approach to ExCom meetings will meet with the success of weekly mini education programs.
And last but not least, what to do about the monthly lecture series? Fewer than ten attended two of the sessions in late 2017. We are experimenting with guided tours and events, instead of sit down lectures. Attendance has been mixed at early events including tours of the Science History Institute and the Philadelphia Water Works. Once again, the jury is still out as to whether such events will succeed in drawing our members back.
Karen Melton is the Education Co-chair of the Sierra Club Southeastern Group, as well as a member of the PA Chapters newsletter team. Karen invites you to share your ideas, suggestions and local education stories with her so she can compile them for future newsletter articles. Karen.melton59@gmail.com This part of our Summer 2018 Sylvanian Newsletter. To read other articles from this issue, please click here.