This TN state park is named after KKK leader - sign the petition to change the name!
As people across the country protest in defense of Black lives, the Sierra Club recognizes the need to dismantle systemic racism in the United States and within our own organization. We must reckon with how white supremacy -- both past and present -- has shaped our institutions and do the critical anti-racism work necessary to repair the harm done. The environmental movement does not exist in a vacuum, and it is our responsibility to use our power to help abolish systemic racism which is destroying lives, communities, and the planet.
July Newsletter
A Note from Tennessee Chapter Chair, Mac Post: As Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune recently pointed out, “The companies that have profited from fossil fuels and accelerated the climate crisis are the same ones who have benefited from environmental injustice, colonialism, and racism.” Environmental issues cannot be separated from racial and social justice—we can’t fulfill our mission to enlist humanity to protect the planet while racism continues to divide us. I have much to learn in my personal journey towards antiracism and championing antiracist ideas and policies. I invite you to join me. Together we must confront inequality embedded in our society and continue to fight for the dignity of all people. Read Mac's full article on the TN Chapter Blog.
Take Action!
Here are 3 actions you can take from home:
1. Thank your LPC if they have suspended shutoffs, and urge them to 'Round It Up'
The TN Chapter joined Appalachian Voices in surveying the state’s local power companies (LPCs) and discovered that only 57 of 82 had suspended shutoffs for non-payment during the COVID-19 pandemic. As new unemployment claims surpass 500,000 statewide, some families are forced to choose between putting food on the table or paying their power bill.
To see if your power company suspended shutoffs, look them up on this chart and contact them to say thank you or ask them to suspend shutoffs. Also urge them to develop an opt-out “Round It Up” program before a new state law restricts their ability to do so at the end of 2020. By allowing customers to round up their electric bill to the next dollar, thousands of dollars can be raised to support disadvantaged communities. It would cost customers less than $12 per year.
Sample script for call: “This is [your name] calling as your customer to thank you for suspending shutoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic. I appreciate you putting customers first in this emergency, and encourage you also to adopt an opt-out Round It Up program before the end of the year in order to continue helping your most vulnerable customers.”
2. Sign the Petition to Rename Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park
Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park in Benton County was named after a Confederate General notorious for being the first Grand Wizard of the KKK. "He used violence and intimidation to maintain white control over formerly enslaved persons and to impede them from voting in the 1868 elections. During the Civil War, his leadership led to the massacre of over 300 Union soldiers, mostly Black, who had surrendered at the Battle of Fort Pillow. He is not a man to be honored in the name of a state park."
"Tennessee State Parks are supposed to be places of respite and recreation for all to enjoy. And indeed, the state park in question offers many wonderful things, including camping, historical exhibits, a folklife interpretive center, and 20 miles of hiking trails. However, naming the park in honor of a man who caused so much harm to the Black community means that the park, however inadvertently, excludes many of our TN residents from safely and peacefully enjoying it. We ask that this state park be renamed immediately." Sign the petition here.
3. Advocate Locally
Contact your local councilpersons, representatives, and decision-makers in support of transforming city budgets to fund Black and Brown communities, rather than fund violent, ineffective policing tactics. Read about the demands, supported by Sierra Club and countless other organizations. Take time to educate yourself about the past and present of systemic racism so you can learn how to be a better ally or activist. Make sure you're registered to vote. You may find this article by Rebecca Ruiz helpful: 6 ways to be antiracist, because being 'not racist' isn't enough. The organization Showing Up for Racial Justice also has great educational resources.
Photographer and filmmaker Daniel “Dusty” Albanese has spent almost a decade documenting street art and eco-art around the world. The above mural was painted by NYC artist LMNOPI. Read full interview with Albanese & view more photos here. Follow Albanese at @dustyrebel or @queerstreetart.
Racism & Environmental Justice
'Let's hold this space of dissonance.' By Marquita Bradshaw, Tennessee Chapter Environmental Justice Chair. "My childhood South Memphis community is within walking distance of a National Priority List Superfund Site. The pollution contaminates the air, soil, surface water, groundwater, and aquifers still today. The chemicals are mutagenic in the decommissioned military landfill... I have organized around police accountability and seeking justice in environmental laws at the same time. As a black woman, I can’t afford to be sick and don’t have time to be tired because lives are at stake." Read full article on the TN Chapter Blog.
Sierra Club supports SixNineteen Action. Last weekend, Sierra Club joined with Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) to mobilize for SixNineteen action in support of 3 demands: Defund the Police, Invest in Black Communities, Call for Trump’s Resignation. M4BL states: "The millions of us are here to remind lawmakers that we are bigger than monied interests, including police unions and right-wing think tanks. We know the path away from this disaster. After years of anti-Black violence and animosity for Black life, we demand the defunding of police and an investment in Black communities. We also call for the resignation of Donald Trump, who met our calls for justice with a brutal wave of repression that has added fuel to the fire of racism and systemic inequity." Read more about the demands.
Racism is killing the planet. "The ideology of white supremacy leads the way toward disposable people and a disposable natural world. Structural racism continues 150 years after the abolition of slavery, only in new forms. How does this all connect to today’s environmental crises? It’s all part of the same story of dehumanization. The pollution-spewing global mega-corporations that created Cancer Alley are just the latest evolution of the extractive white-settler mindset that cleared the forests and plowed the prairies..." Read full article by Hop Hopkins for Sierra Magazine - June 8, 2020.
Confederate statues are pollution. Sierra Club's associate director for the Outdoors for All campaign, Joel Pannell, is quoted in this Gizmodo article by Yessenia Funes. Pannell noted that "white supremacy is 'deeply intertwined' in this country’s public lands history." John Muir was actually racist, but today, Sierra Club stands "in solidarity with frontline communities who are taking down these monuments to racism, and leading the ever-important work to create more just and equitable outdoor spaces for everyone.” Keep reading article by Yessenia Funes - June 12, 2020.
Why do we need Juneteenth? "Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. On June 19,1865, Union soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War had ended and that the enslaved had been freed. Those who know history will recognize that this was two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation – which became official January 1, 1863. Let it sink in... fortwo and a half years legally free people in Texas continued to toil in slavery, intentionally uninformed of their freedom."Read full article on Nooga.com by James McKissik, president of ArtsBuild in Chattanooga - June 19, 2020.
Patagonia, REI join Facebook boycott, following The North Face. For the month of July, companies are pulling their advertising from Facebook using the hashtag #StopHateforProfit. Civil rights groups including the NAACP and the Anti-Defamation League are organizing the boycott, which criticizes Facebook and Mark Zuckerburg for allowing disinformation and hate speech to run rampant on the platform. Read more about the campaign.
As the sun sets behind Lookout Mountain, marchers head south across the Walnut Street Bridge in Chattanooga to celebrate Juneteenth on June 19, 2020. Photo credit: Rev. Jay Banasiak. The Pan-African flag was designed by Marcus Garvey and adopted in 1920 by the Universal Negro Improvement Association. According to Garvey, the people of the African diaspora needed a flag to represent black liberation and political maturity. What do the 3 colors represent? Read or listen to the history of the flag on NPR's Code Switch series (30 min listen).
COVID-19 News
Black Americans 2.6 times more likely to die from COVID-19: A public health debacle that can only be solved by addressing racism. "When I saw the Washington Post headline “The coronavirus is infecting and killing black Americans at an alarmingly high rate ,” I had to take a few hours off from work just to catch my breath. It’s not like I was surprised. Black folks saw this outcome a mile away—we live every day with the knowledge that our lives are devalued. Elevated mortality rates for black people from COVID-19 lay bare the long-term systemic racism in our country. Structural racism also impedes our efforts towards environmental justice, and reparations to our black community members are crucial for a just transition to a cleaner energy economy and environment." Keep reading article by Hop Hopkins for Sierra Magazine - May 25, 2020.
Unions blast TVA for outsourcing IT jobs during pandemic. "After outsourcing 120 information technology jobs over the past year, one of the biggest labor unions at the Tennessee Valley Authority says TVA may cut another 100 IT jobs from its staff and turn such work over to contract programmers and data support specialists operating outside of the Tennessee Valley. During a protest Wednesday by labor leaders against TVA's outsourcing plans, leaders of the Engineers Association said the potential loss of up to 220 jobs from TVA's payroll could drain over $88 million from the region's economy over the next five years." Keep reading article by Dave Flessner - Times Free Press - June 17, 2020.
Protesting? Here's how to keep your family safe from COVID-19 when you go home. "Protesting during a pandemic likely leaves participants with at least two questions: Did I get infected? And might I be putting others at risk? Given that COVID-19 has an incubation time of up to two weeks, experts say it will take a couple of weeks before the impact of the protests on community transmission is known. But in the meantime, there are critical steps you can take to minimize the risks to yourself and those you live with." Read full article by Maria Godoy - NPR - June 10, 2020.
Photographer Daniel “Dusty” Albanese took this photo of a mural in NYC by LMNOPI depicting Greta Thunberg. Read full interview & view more photos here. Follow Albanese at @dustyrebel or @queerstreetart.
Environmental Updates
Great American Outdoors Act passes in Senate. The public lands bill will set aside $900 million for conservation efforts, benefitting the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It will also provide $6.5 billion for maintenance upgrades in national parks. The bill is a bipartisan effort that heads to the House next for approval. Read more by Rachel Frazin, June 17, 2020.
U.S. consumed more renewables than coal for the first time in 134 years. There was a 15% decrease in coal consumption from 2018 to 2019, and a 1% increase in renewable-energy consumption, according to the Environmental Information Administration. Many power producers have reduced coal consumption as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, due to a drop in electricity demand. This demonstrates "coal’s struggle to compete with other electricity sources." Read full article (subscription needed) by Katherine Blunt - Wall Street Journal - May 28, 2020.
Doe Mountain Recreation Authority (DMRA) receives Governors Environmental Stewardship Award. The DMRA was established by the Tennessee General Assembly in 2012 to conserve the land, waters and wildlife on Doe Mountain. Sierra Club Watauga Conservation Committee members have served the DMRA Board in various volunteer positions to help shepherd this project along since its inception. DMRA won the award in the "Natural Resources" category, from a pool of 82 nominations and 9 categories. Full press release here. Info courtesy of Gloria Griffith.
National Park Service proposes four transportation projects for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. "The TN Chapter has submitted comments on these proposals. In brief, we support the development of a bike trail along the Foothills Parkway corridor between Wears Valley and Pigeon Forge; we support reasonable safety improvements to the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Spur; we support the development of a greenway along the Spur between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge as long as impacts to the riparian zone along the West Prong Little Pigeon River are minimized; and we strongly oppose opening a new park entrance road from Wears Valley into the park at Metcalf Bottoms." Info courtesy of Axel Ringe.
Get a bird's eye view of all 50 states. Smithsonian Magazine released 68 free episodes of Aerial America. Each 45-50-minute episode surveys natural wonders, gives overviews of cultural landmarks and tourist attractions and details sites’ histories. Find out more here.
TVA Meeting: Submit comments on July 23. With TVA’s withdrawal of plans for a new coal ash landfill at its Bull Run coal plant, the community and their government have won a great victory. Anderson County Commissioner Catherine Denenberg urges us to turn out in force with comments and questions at a meeting in Oak Ridge on July 23, likely after 4 pm, at the Doubletree Inn, at which TVA will publicly present its proposals.
Conservation Conversations is Harpeth Conservancy’s new virtual outreach series. Events occur regularly on the 4th Wednesday of each month from 6-7 pm Central and explore a range of topics related to local rivers. Experts will present about the topic, and Harpeth Conservancy representatives will explain how the topic is relevant to our work. Upcoming topics include: June 24- Ensuring Environmental Equity: Public Participation in Governmental Decision-Making in the Pandemic Era; July 22- Water Quality and Harmful Algae Blooms- An Increasing Risk during the Summer; August 26- Fertilizers and Soil/Yard Preparations and Nutrient Pollution. Register here.
Citizen’s Climate Lobby’s Southeast Climate Conference: The conference has been rescheduled for August 22-23, 2020 in Knoxville.
Save the Dates:
Tennessee Chapter Fall Retreat: Please join us October 23-25, 2020 at Pickett CCC Memorial State Park. This will be a fun filled retreat with hikes, youth activities, and outings leader trainings at a great time to enjoy autumn in the Cumberland Mountains!
Tennessee Environmental Conference: This conference has been rescheduled for October 12-14 in Kingsport, TN.
Will your vote count?
By Bill Moll, TN Chapter Political Co-Chair [Edited]
Have you ensured that your voter registration is up-to-date? When you verify your registration status, it will show whether your registration is current, and lists your voting site, TN House & Senate districts, US House district, & county district. Please make sure you're registered and check your status:
If you haven't yet, register to vote. Encourage and assist folks in getting registered.
People who are already registered need to check their registration status to make sure it is correct. (Officials can accidentally delete registrations of people with similar names who have died or moved.)
The Environmental Voter Project, founded in Boston by Nathaniel Stinnett, determined that in the 2016 presidential election, about 68% of registered voters turned out to vote nationally—but only 50% of environmentalists turned out to vote. And in the 2014 midterms, only 21% of environmentalists voted.
The TN Chapter now has access to the Voter Activation Network (VAN), which enables us to compute the turnout of environmentalists in Tennessee which we’ll be calculating for 2016 and 2018. We need to make sure that environmental supporters vote in higher percentages - not lower - in the upcoming elections.
I encourage you to take these steps above now to get ready for the State/Federal Primary and State/County General Election on Thursday, August 6, 2020 (the voter registration deadline for that election is Tuesday, July 7, 2020). The State/Federal General Election is Tuesday, November 3, 2020 (the voter registration deadline is Monday, October 5, 2020).
Last Call for Nominations: Chapter At-Large Excom
Submit nominations by July 31
This year, 3 out of 7 members of the Chapter’s At Large Executive Committee (ExCom) reach the end of their term. The Chapter's Nomination Committee is seeking candidates to self-nominate or suggest nominees. Any Chapter member in good standing is eligible for nomination.
The ExCom's duties include: Chapter budget and strategic direction, deciding conservation positions, raising money, appointing officers and committee chairs, event planning, & approving political or legal endorsements. The ExCom meets bi-monthly, or 6 times a year (4 electronic meetings, 2 in-person meetings).
TN Sierra members will vote on candidates in the November/December edition of the Tennes-Sierran bi-monthly newspaper. Candidates receiving the top votes will start their 2-year terms in January 2021.
Any Sierra Club member wishing to be considered as a Nomination Committee candidate should indicate their intent by July 31, 2020. Email Charlie High at cahigh1722@aol.com or snail mail at 1722 Sweetbriar Avenue, Nashville, TN 37212.
Special Features
Dear Eartha: Advice from an Eco-Guru
Dear Eartha,
I'm a college student who is glad the Sierra Club is being explicitly anti-racist. I was wondering if the way the Civil Rights movement felt at the time is the way things feel today. Did people understand that environmentalism and racism are related injustices, the way we do now? —One Young Member of the Beloved Community
Thank you for your letter, Beloved. I’m not sure that we all understand how environmentalism and racism are related. But most know to follow the money. The Sierra Club isn’t just being anti-racist, they are being strategically anti-racist. The leaders of the Sierra Club, like those who crafted the Civil Rights movement in the middle of the last century, perceive acutely the need now for a deeper commitment to ending the systemic racism of inequity and injustice. Police brutality is the tip of that iceberg. So is loosening EPA regulations, because who is harmed first by pollution and pandemics?
Youth are leading the way, as they did during the Civil Rights, Women’s Liberation, and Red Power Movements in earlier decades where nationwide protests lead to change. Now, perhaps more than at any other time in history—look at the global Black Lives Matter protests—the economic powerbrokers are getting on board. And this will make all the difference. Have you noticed all the companies who feed you information in your emails, on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, who are sending out letters of solidarity with BLM? And how few people actually showed up to President Trump’s rally a few blocks away from Tulsa’s Black Wall Street?
Hop Hopkins advocated in his article in Sierra (5/25/2020) that “people of power and privilege should follow the lead of the communities in the front lines of this [pandemic] crisis.” Well, it appears those privileged people are beginning to see the economic advantage in stepping up. Is it a coincidence that, right now, more of us are people of color, biracial, LGBTQIA, and outspoken? Or that the Supreme Court just made it illegal to fire us based upon our sex?
Let’s remember, Beloved, that along with protesting we can also vote and that, still and always, sends a message. Let’s make sure we do.
With fist raised and on one knee, Eartha
Dear Eartha is penned by Rita Bullinger. Got an environmental query for Eartha? Submit your question to "Dear Eartha" via Enews.SierraTN@gmail.com
Species Spotlight
This month's featured genus is
Zinnia (Zinniasp.)
This blooming Zinnia is a strain called Benary's Giant, named after Ernst Benary, one of the oldest German seed companies (founded in 1843).Photo credit: Allie Stafford.
Native to Central America, the Zinnia genus comprises 22 species, some perennial and some annual.
Zinnias have been grown since 1520 by Aztecs. Due to their vibrant color, the Aztecs originally called them "plants that are hard on the eyes."
Zinnias make a lovely bouquet thanks to their large blooms and strong stems.
In 2013, Robert Wilson debuted his opera called "Zinnias: The Life of Clementine Hunter.” The one-act opera is about the life of Hunter, a Louisiana folk painter who was a plantation worker and the granddaughter of a slave. Zinnias were one of her favorite floral subjects.
Volunteer Opportunities
Lobby Program Fundraiser
The Sierra Club TN Chapter needs someone to take over fundraising for the Sierra Club Defenders of Tennessee, our lobbying program for the Tennessee State Legislature. We have a lobbyist who represents us, and his salary needs to be funded. The work can all be done from home. If you are interested in the position, please contact Sherry Loller at sherryloller@hotmail.com or 615-889-2968.
Paperless Delivery
Are you a Sierra member who has been receiving our bi-monthly print publication, TheTennes-Sierran? You can now opt out of getting a paper copy of the newspaper and instead receive it digitally as an email attachment. To request paperless delivery, open this form to make your request.
Contact Us
Do you have a program or speaker idea for your Group? An issue you're particularly passionate about? Do you have a story idea for the Tennes-Sierran or the e-newsletter? Let us know! Look through our past programs for inspiration.
We are the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club, the world’s oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization. With over 3.8 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.
The COVID-19 crisis has not passed and continues to disproportionately harm Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people and other communities of color. The pandemic has revealed how the communities hardest hit are often the same communities that suffer from high levels of pollution and poor access to healthcare. The fight for environmental justice cannot be separated from the fight for racial justice.
Thank you for supporting Sierra Club Tennessee Chapter!
