Dear Supporter,

News from the Chair
by Nick Cheranich

Recently, two of our Executive Committee members, Chris Benz and Scott Thomason (pictured), took part in a three-hour field trip in the American Canyon Wetlands. It was part of the Watershed Explorers Program put on by the American Canyon Community and Parks Foundation. They designed and taught a hands-on (and tasty) learning experience for several 4th graders from the area about the natural environment of the wetlands and the importance of protecting it. See below for more information on this rewarding project.

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At a recent dinner event, we said goodbye to Chris Benz, a 10-year veteran of the Napa Group’s ExCom. Chris will be sorely missed. Read about her amazing tenure, below. (Pictured, from L to R, back row: Nick Cheranich, Scott Thomason, David Campbell, Chris Benz. Front row: Kate Bit, Liliana Karesh, and Paulina Zambrano.)

We also said goodbye to our three student interns. Well sort of. Paulina is heading off to college. However, it looks like Kate and Liliana will be returning next year for another volunteering experience. On top of that, they will both try to find another student volunteer with whom they can mentor and collaborate on future projects throughout the year.

As a reminder, when you donate to us, you are helping to sponsor these young environmental activists, because the stipend they receive comes from your donations. Please consider clicking on the "Click Here to Donate" link below.

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But please say Hello to our new ExCom member, Elayna Trucker. Elayna has been quite active in the local environmental activism arena, and has agreed to join us. See her biography and her article regarding Highway 37, below. (Photo credit: Josh Cohen)

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We will soon have an update on the Napa County Board of Supervisors race. In the coming weeks, we will be sending most of you our endorsement for the District 4 seat. Also, at some point look for it as an LTE in the Napa Register.

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And finally, SC member Samantha Smith has been doing a lot of hiking recently. See Sam's article below, in which she recently partook in an all-women’s Sierra Club outings trip in Utah. Yeehaw!

Please let us know about your SC outings trip you've attended by sending us an email.

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Our next Conservation Committee meeting will be March 19, 2024 at 6:00PM. If you would like to attend, just click on the RSVP button below and I'll send you a Zoom invite in the near future. Thank you.

- Nick Cheranich, ExCom Chair
napavalleysierraclub@gmail.com
 

A Fond Farewell...
Story and photo by Chris Benz

This December I will finish my fifth (and final) term on the Napa Group’s Executive Committee, completing 10 years of service. In looking back at the experience, I can sum it up in three words: WELL WORTH IT! Not just for the environmental victories (and defeats), but for pushing me out of my comfort zone, teaching me new skills, and introducing me to many remarkable people in our community.

The biggest environmental “battles” I was a part of were the efforts to prevent the Walt Ranch vineyard development and to pass 2018’s Measure C initiative. I remember Charlie Toledo of the Suscol Inter-Tribe Council telling me “You fight and lose and fight and lose and just keep fighting.” The Sierra Club’s litigation against Walt Ranch seemed to run that course with very little to show when the final tree removal mitigation was decided by the court.  But a miracle occurred with the purchase of Walt Ranch by the Land Trust of Napa County and the permanent protection of 2300 acres of wildland. Article continues here.

Let’s talk about marsh, a type of wetland where the dominant plant species are herbaceous, like grasses and sedges, and water usually covers the ground. Marshes are biodiversity hotspots, but they also serve important ecological roles. Marshes slow storm surges and soil erosion, and, crucially, are a fantastic carbon sink.

Trees and forests capture carbon from our atmosphere, but seasalt wetlands sequester carbon ten times faster than tropical forest, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A damaged marsh cannot capture carbon at this rate, and can release its stored carbon into the atmosphere. Nor can a damaged wetland mitigate the effects of flooding as it should, providing a buffer between the ocean and our cities. A balanced marshland is a tremendous resource for us all.

We have a lot of marsh here in the North Bay, a good chunk of which is currently bisected by State Route 37, a perennially congested stretch of highway connecting Vallejo to Sonoma and Marin, the shortest route between one of the most expensive places to live in the U.S. and the much cheaper counties where many of its workers reside. This traffic is one issue of concern to residents, but another problem facing SR 37 is sea level rise. Article continues here.

A sense of legacy might be defined as the impulse to care for those who come after us.

As you know, the Napa Sierra Club Group has a mission to conserve natural ecosystems and work for sustainability in land and water usage, and to reduce the carbon release into the air. We take on projects that we think are significant to Napa that may be helped by local action.

We are trying to take care of our environment for those who come after us.

We are still looking for people to join our Executive Committee team who have knowledge and experience relevant to our mission and skills in research, presenting, organizing, and/or educating our neighbors. People who are willing to learn.

Is that you? Or do you know someone? We have openings on our team. Looking for motivated volunteers. Prepare for your legacy now.

Join us at our next meeting to ask questions and/or see how we roll. Email us, in care of Nick Cheranich, at napavalleysierraclub@gmail.com. Thank you!

[I've been reading Sapolsky's new book on free will--rather, the lack of it--and I thought this article was an interesting take on how it may effect climate action-NC]

Many articles on environmental topics are secular homilies, bristling with shoulds and shouldn’ts. Don’t use a gasoline-powered leaf blower. Buy an electric car instead of a gas-powered car. Eat organically grown food. Use less water. Put solar panels on your roof. Recycle your old stuff, and be sure to put it in the right bin. If you don’t behave right, we will all go to climate hell.

But what if we humans actually don’t have free will—the ability to act without constraints of circumstances, necessity, or fate? Is it possible to organize mass behavioral change in its absence? Those are the questions I’m asking myself as I read Robert Sapolsky’s new book, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will.

Sapolsky is a professor of biology, neurology, and neurosurgery at Stanford University. You may know him as the author of the bestselling Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, which summarizes what science has revealed about why people do what they do.

In Determined, Sapolsky takes on possibly the thorniest question in philosophy, psychology, and behavioral science: does free will exist? Having spent decades thinking about this question in the light of evidence from the relevant disciplines, Sapolsky has landed firmly in the “no” camp. And his book makes the case with thoroughness and style. Article continues here.