Hello members of the Kiwanis Club. Thank you for having us. I am the chair of the executive committee of the Napa Sierra Club group. I am one of five people who make up the committee. We are just volunteers from our community from various backgrounds doing what we can to deal with several environmental issues that face our county. Our small Excom is part of a larger group of about 2200 members and supporters. Half of them are card-caring members who have joined the club annually, (currently it's only $15 to join for a year). And the Napa Sierra Club group is one of dozens of groups that are basically countywide, under the umbrella of a Chapter. In our case, we and other northern Bay Area groups, are under the Redwood Chapter. Then there are dozens of chapters within CA and throughout the nation, which in turn are under the umbrella the National Sierra Club organization. (Photo: the author, age 11, on a burro.)

I just wanted to share a little bit about how I got involved with this organization. It all started when I was about nine years old. I was a Sierra Club member since that age because my mother would take my sister and a couple of cousins on Sierra Club outing trips, into the High Sierras on Family Burro trips. And we would hike locally with the Chapter outings as well. These trips into the wilderness were amazing. We would all help out with cooking and packing up each day. We would learn about responsibility, and the need to not only appreciate Nature, but also the need to take care of her as well.

And later, in my teens, I went on other Sierra Club outings called Trail Maintenance trips, where we would go into the wilderness and repair or make new trails throughout the whole of the Sierra Nevadas. Those trips would last up to 7 days. Beautiful times we had. I later helped build and maintain trails in Skyline Park with a fellow Sierra Clubber named Ken Thatcher.

That was all part of the initial philosophy of John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club. He wanted to bring people into the wilderness and let them enjoy the experience of the wilderness, who like me, found to be fabulous and wonderful. Muir thought that by being in the wilderness, one would be more likely to advocate for the preservation of the wilderness. Hence the creation of national and state parks, like Yosemite, as well as the questioning of and seeking policy change on the effects of “human progress”. (Photo: Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir in Yosemite.)

In those days, I didn't really care to get into the politics much. I knew that there were Sierra Club lobbyists in every state capitol, and in Washington DC, pushing for environmental reform. I'd pay the dues, and vote for pro-environment politicians, but that was pretty much it.

When I became a Middle School teacher, I tried to teach climate change to my 6th grade science class. Trying to teach an important topic like climate change to 11- and 12-year-olds was very difficult. I had to learn a lot about it in order to teach it. It took me a few years to do a decent job of it, especially since our textbooks were so outdated that the only mention of climate change was a couple paragraphs on page 357. I reallized that it had to be a daily effort, essencially teaching my students how to be citizen scientists.

When I retired, I knew I wanted to do something as an environmental activist, but I didn't know what. I was approached by Chris Benz, a member of the Napa Sierra Club ExCom. She invited me to a meeting, and then asked if I wanted to join the executive committee. Because my mother was such an avid supporter of the club, and I had appreciated those amazing trips into the wilderness so much (many of which I had also done with my own son), I said heck yes, it would be an honor. And if my mother was alive, she would have been so proud of me.

However, it became very clear right away that I was ignorant of the issues that faced us in Napa County. I was ignorant of the politics involved, such as which politician was an ally, which politician perhaps needed further pressure to try to get policy changed. It was even a huge learning curve to understand how the local government worked; there are city councils and then there are agencies within city councils. And then there are county governments and county agencies. Just trying to put that all together was - and still is - a very steep learning curve. Oy.

But as a teacher, I had to do that kind of constant learning in order to survive. So it fit in well with the career I happen to have just retired from. Needless to say, I have to rely quite a bit on my fellow members, who bring a ton of knowledge to important issues such as water and land use, Skyline Park, and many others. I joined several of these subcommittees so as to just try to learn about them.

But I was able to bring a few skills of my own into the group. One thing I was able to bring was my skill at communications. As a teacher, I often put together newsletters for my students’ parents. So, I took it upon myself to learn how to publish our newsletters, in which we have members write articles about the important issues that are facing us. And I also took over the website that nobody had touched in years. All of which was a steep learning curve.

Another thing that I brought with me was the creation our student internship program. Since I'm also an advisor to Schools for Climate Action, a group of several teachers and students committed to climate action, I had access to interested and committed students.

So that is where I'm at now. In closing, I wanted to just say that the thing that really keeps me going with this effort, is the realization that I'm trying to create a legacy for my grandchildren. I'm going to be able to look them in the eye when they're young adults (they’re just babies right now), and when they ask me what did I do to help with the climate emergency, I'm going to be able to say that I tried to make some change.

So that's what I wanted to share with you: maybe you're in the same boat, where you’re feeling kind of the same: you know that the great issue of our time is climate change, and you want to do something about it. Well, I invite you to email me, or we'll talk by phone, or have coffee, or whatever, and maybe you can help out in some way. Thank you so much.

Nick Cheranich: napavalleysierraclub@gmail.com