The Sierra Club is proud to support the #ClimateStrike,which was initially inspired by the leadership of 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. For the past year, Thunberg has been initiating strikes in Europe calling for climate action. Fridays for Future, the international coalition of leaders organizing these strikes, has for the first time called for adults to join youth in striking the week of September 20th—right before the UN Climate Week in New York City.
We are anticipating the size of the strikes to be unprecedented. These strikes have the potential to be the largest mass mobilization on climate in world history. We invite you to join us in supporting the vision, leadership, and courage young people are bringing to the climate movement. Read the official call to action from Fridays for Future here.
What you can do:
Share about the Climate Strike on social media using the hashtag #climatestrike. Take a photo or video explaining why you support the Climate Strike and encourage others to join you! Here’s a social media toolkit for sample posts.
For chapters: Fill out this engagement form to let us know if you’re supporting a local climate strike, or to request funds. Make sure to contact Youth Climate Strike organizers near you, and offer ways you could potentially support (e.g. funds, sign-making materials, megaphones, etc.)
Attend a webinar for Sierra Club staff and volunteer leaders about the best ways to work in solidarity with the youth-led movement. Click here to register.
Sierra Club members address TVA Board and CEO in Knoxville
By JoAnn McIntosh
On August 21, TVA offered the public a final opportunity to address their 2019 Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) before the Board vote the following day. Sierra Club members arrived from all over the state to speak to the Board and new CEO Jeffrey Lyash about the short-sightedness of the plan, citing its failure to address the recommendations made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for a 45% reduction in current greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Sierra Club National’s official statement can be viewed here.
TN Chapter Sierra Club also stood in solidarity with Interfaith Worker Justice as several people shared heart-wrenching stories of how the Kingston coal ash cleanup has impacted their families. More than 40 cleanup workers have died from their exposure to the toxic chemicals in coal ash, with an additional 400 workers seriously ill. Speakers asked the Board to “do the right thing” and provide assistance to those workers, many of whom are now unable to provide for their families. The Board offered an expression of sympathy and explained that current litigation prevented further action at this time.
The 2019 IRP includes coal as 20% of their energy mix going forward. The Board approved the IRP on August 22.
Supporters stand in solidarity as Janie Clark shows the pen that Jacobs Engineering gave her husband during the Kingston cleanup. It was a TVA pen with a safety slogan on it.
After the Listening Session, Sierra Club commenters sat down with TVA CEO Jeff Lyash.
Why are other southern states installing more solar than TN?
By David Cook, published in Times Free Press, August 18, 2019 (edited)
Tuesday evening, on the hottest day of the year, the parking lot thermometer read 102 degrees in St. Elmo.
Inside the West 40th Street rec center, a group of 30, maybe 40, had gathered to discuss, of all things, energy. It was the fifth stop on a southern city tour for Tennessee Valley Energy Democracy, a coalition of 20 or so diverse environmental, faith and conservationist groups — such as Interfaith Power and Light, the Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices.
The purpose? To look at the past, present and future of energy in our region. To examine the role of the Tennessee Valley Authority, or TVA. To promote a democratic, sustainable vision of energy in the future.
Because our energy today and tomorrow is not democratic. Nor sustainable.
[In Tennessee,] solar and wind only account for three percent of TVA power. Cross state lines and things change. North Carolina generates enough solar energy to power 660,000 homes, making it the second-best solar-producing state, only behind California, according to a recent report from Solar Energy Industries Association.
Florida powers 380,000 homes from solar power, making it fifth out of all 50 states. Texas, at sixth, solar powers 352,000 homes. Georgia is near the top 10. South Carolina's not far behind.
But Tennessee? According to a 2017 report, we rank 25th. "How can Tennessee be so far behind states like Florida, who installed more solar in one quarter this year (860 MW) than TVA claims it is capable of building in any single year between now and 2038 (500 MW)?" asks Maggie Shober, director of Power Market Analytics for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, or SACE.
Where does it go? What happens to it when it gets there? Does recycling have a future?
By Alex Greene, published in the Memphis Flyer, August 22, 2019
(Note: Sierra Club - Chickasaw Group volunteers put together an incredibly well attended workshop that informed this cover story in the Memphis Flyer. Thanks in particular go to Ramie Bell and Nancy Chung.)
It was one of those disconcerting moments where the reality you've accepted for years seems to evaporate in the blink of an eye. In the first week of June, after tending to my weekly routine of setting out waste bins for collection, I saw a garbage truck pull up, two workers roll my recycling and standard waste carts to the truck, then dump them both in. I was dumbfounded.
Most of us expect that by following the correct protocols, our waste and recycling will seamlessly feed into a system that takes it from there. Now the system was apparently broken. The variety of responses to what I'd witnessed revealed what a black box the process is to most of us. Some friends I talked to shrugged and claimed that all recycling was bogus; others expressed outrage mixed with impotency — that familiar feeling of the disempowered citizen trying to do the right thing. Very few friends and colleagues, however, could explain the recycling process in any detail.
As it turned out, there had been a fire that week at the main materials recovery facility (MRF) that processes recyclables for the city of Memphis and other municipalities. Located near American Way and Lamar Avenue and operated by Republic Services, the facility is the country's second-most profitable waste-processing outfit.
"The fire occurred on a Friday afternoon," Memphis' solid waste deputy director Philip Davis tells me. "The facility was back and running the next Thursday. At that time, we had to divert materials to the landfill because there wasn't storage capacity for the recyclables. So that was unfortunate, but the silver lining was that it wasn't a catastrophic fire that shut the facility down for an extended period of time."
Solid waste director Albert Lamar agrees. "The cause of the fire was undetermined," he says, adding that, due to the fire, "about 235 tons of recyclables ended up in the landfill" that week. This roughly lines up with last year's annual total of 15,600 tons, or 300 tons per week, delivered to the MRF by the city. Yet even when fire does not shut down the MRF, more than 20 percent of what is delivered there — 60 tons per week — will not be recycled.
Bearing that in mind, phenomena such as the 1.6-million-square-kilometer expanse of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean, aka The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, make more sense. "Well, I'm doing my part," you might think when reading such news, not knowing how much of your recycled plastic and other waste simply goes to a landfill, despite your best efforts.
The waste-management system wasn't always so marked by inefficiency. But it is today, due to a perfect storm of events. And they're just the tip of the garbage patch...
Mark your calendar for the fifth annual Tennessee Sustainable Transportation Forum & Expo (STF&E) to be held on October 1-2 at the UT Conference Center in Knoxville. The goal of this yearly event is to improve transportation efficiency, reduce vehicle emissions, and address the mobility needs of all. To learn more, check out the website here or view the preliminary schedule here. Students may attend at a discounted rate. Registration is now open at http://stfe.eventbrite.com.
The event is sponsored by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), and Tennessee Clean Fuels (TNCleanFuels).
Where: University of Tennessee College of Law, 1505 Cumberland Ave, Knoxville, TN 37996
Sponsored by UTK College of Law, Sierra Club, United Mountain Defense (UMD), and others, APIEL is unique in our region as an informal and lay-friendly opportunity to learn from and connect with environmental lawyers, leaders, and activists from all over the country - and it’s open to all. Two days of workshops are scheduled generally two at a time.
The conference features a series of workshops with the goal of exchanging information, sharing skills, and fostering collaboration between grassroots organizations, the bar, and future lawyers and policy-makers.
Register to attend, apply to present, and find more info at APIEL.org. Send questions and ideas about the conference to apiel.info@gmail.com
When: October 25 - 27, 2019 Where: Pickett State Park - Jamestown, TN What: socializing, campfires, stargazing, hikes, youth activities, silent auction to benefit the Chapter Defender Fund, live music, Outdoor Leader training, & more! Register here by Oct. 18th for discounted rate.
The TN Chapter is in need of a Vice-Treasurer, who will step up to Treasurer in 2021. Plenty of hands-on training can be provided. Major reports are taken care of by the bookleeper. For more information, contact Treasurer Alice Demetreon at Demetreon1981@gmail.com or call/text (660) 247-2288.
Call for Nominations for Chapter At Large Executive Committee
The Executive Committee (ExCom) is an important leadership group in the Tennessee Chapter. It sets strategic direction and budget, reaches consensus on conservation positions, raises money, appoints officers and committee chairs, and approves litigation and electoral endorsements.
This year, four of the seven members of the Chapter’s ExCom reach the end of their term. The Sierra Club democratically holds itself accountable to its membership, so we need good candidates to represent our members’ interests. The Chapter’s Nomination Committee is seeking candidates to run, so we’re looking to you to self-nominate or suggest nominees!
Candidates will provide a statement under 200 words to appear on the ballot. Winning candidates will begin their 2-year terms in January 2020. Please submit nominations by Sunday Sept. 15, 2019 to the Nominations Committee Chair at ramie.bell@gmail.com. Candidates will be considered for the ballot, which is published in the Nov/Dec edition of the Tennes-Sierran, our bi-monthly newspaper. Candidates may also get on the ballot by petition. More detail can be found on our website.
The Sierra Club publishes Sierra magazine, a bi-monthly collection of award-winning journalism and cutting-edge photography, art, and video dedicated to protecting the natural world. Sierra combines features on green living and outdoor adventure with reporting about threats to the environment. Leading journalists, photographers, and filmmakers convey the ideals at the heart of the Sierra Club’s mission. Available in print or digital, Sierra magazine is free with your Sierra Club membership!
Pictured: Most recent July/Aug 2019 edition of Sierra
We are the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club, the world’s oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization. With over 3.5 million members and supporters, the Sierra Club has the resources to empower people and to influence public policy through community activism, public education, lobbying, and litigation.
Our mission is to Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet.
