General Election Dates Election: November 3 Deadline to register: October 5 Absentee Ballot request deadline: October 27 Early Voting: Oct. 14 – Oct. 29
There is so much at stake in this election, from global warming and energy policy, to human rights and strengthening our democracy. In addition to deciding our next president, voters will determine whether the Democrats can flip the Senate, and who will choose Supreme Court seats. It is crucial that we vote in high numbers. Make sure your registration is up-to-date and encourage unregistered voters to register ASAP! View a sample ballot here so you can check out the candidates in your district for Senate or Congress, as well as local races.
Also, take a minute to protect mail-in voting by defending the Postal Service! Join the SierraRise campaign and write to your senators here.
A better future and more livable planet is in reach if we all vote.
THRIVE agenda launched on Sept. 10. A powerful coalition of more than 200 grassroots groups — including union, racial justice, and climate justice organizations — and more than 80 congressional leaders have come together to advance the THRIVE Agenda. THRIVE is a bold economic renewal plan that puts millions of people back to work building an economy that fosters justice, not crisis. When the THRIVE Resolution was introduced on 9/10/20, we had nearly 90 members of Congress and over 250 leading grassroots groups signed on in support. To build momentum, tell your Congress member to co-sponsor the THRIVE Resolution!
The Memphis miracle: Marquita Bradshaw; U.S. Senate candidate beats odds to win the Democratic primary, but can she do the same in November? Bradshaw will face a steep uphill battle, according to pundits interviewed. Bradshaw touts "great representation" in 45 (of 95) Tennessee counties, but said she needs to raise $4 million for the fight with Republican opponent Bill Hagerty. "Her platform mirrors its national Democratic counterpart, calling for the banning of gerrymandering, voters’ rights, improving physical and mental health services to addicts, legalization of marijuana, a $15 minimum wage, the right to unionize, the environmental Green New Deal, Medicare for all and a fully-funded educational system for all.” Read full article by Michael Sangiacomo - Tennessee Lookout - Sept. 10, 2020.
Q&A with Blair Walsingham. Democrat Walsingham is running in the First Congressional District race against Republican candidate Diana Harshbarger. Walsingham explains the need for sustainable practices, more solar energy, and possibly tax breaks for switching to electronic vehicles. Walsingham says this would provide jobs, "reduce energy cost, and our dependence on fossil fuels."View video here (13 min watch) - Jeff Keeling - WJHL.com.
Wheeler seeks to paint EPA regulatory rollbacks as environmentally friendly. "Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler on Monday sought to portray some of the agency’s most significant regulatory rollbacks as environmentally friendly. During a speech at the right-wing think tank American Enterprise Institute, the country’s top environmental official touted rules governing regulation from power plants, vehicle emissions and methane emissions as actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “...the Trump administration in its first term has taken four concrete actions to reduce greenhouse gases,” Wheeler said. However, some of the rules are expected to provide significantly fewer emissions reductions than the Obama-era rules they replaced." Full article by Rachel Frazin - The Hill - Sept. 21, 2020.
During her 95-county campaign tour of Tennessee, US Senate candidate Marquita Bradshaw went skydiving in Greene County with local business JumpTN. Bradshaw says she hopes voters will take a "leap of faith" with her. Bradshaw is running against Republican candidate Bill Hagerty for retiring Senator Lamar Alexander's seat. Photo Credit: JumpTN.
Environmental Justice
Environmental justice and COVID-19: Some are living in a syndemic. "I have lived in or near Memphis, Tennessee, since I was born, and I’ve worked for the Sierra Club locally for over 20 years. A new report from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition highlights the national impact of redlining and segregation on the health of Black communities and how that equals an increased COVID-19 vulnerability. In this blog post, I will discuss how those findings relate to the history of racism and environmental justice with a focus on Memphis." Read full article by Rita Harris, National Sierra Club Board member - NCRC - Sept. 10, 2020.
Statement on the results of the Breonna Taylor case. The Sierra Club issued a statement on Sept. 23, 2020. "Today, a Kentucky grand jury indicted only Brett Hankison, one of the three officers involved in the murder of Breonna Taylor, on three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree. Justice delayed is justice denied. It has been 194 days since Kentucky police officers trespassed on Breonna Taylor’s property, illegally barged into her home, and murdered her.. Anti-Black racism and white supremacy are killing the planet and it is up to us all to be actively anti-racist and to forcefully call out racism when we see it." Read full statement.
Another widow mourns as death toll hits 50 among Kingston coal ash workers. "Both TVA and Jacobs deny any role in any of the workers’ deaths or the sicknesses hundreds of other Kingston disaster relief workers say were caused by exposure during the cleanup to coal ash, including radioactive heavy metals dangerous to breathe." According to Jacobs Engineering, TVA gave Jacobs legal protection from liability related to sickness or death of its workers. Read full story by Jamie Satterfield - Knoxville News Sentinel - Sept. 3, 2020.
National Audubon Society commits to becoming an antiracist institution. As the Sierra Club recently did, the Audubon Society is charting a new way forward. "We won’t fix 400 years of oppression overnight, but we can do far more as organizations and as individuals than we thought possible even six months ago. In order to do that, we have to own up to our pasts even while we chart a new future." Read Revealing the Past to Create the Future by David Yarnold, President and CEO of the National Audubon Society.
"Samuel Hardaway stands for a portrait on his family’s land in the Boxtown neighborhood in southwest Memphis in September 2020. Hardaway grew up in the house off to the right and played in woods surrounding their home before it was annexed by the city of Memphis in the late 60s and early 70s and subdivisions were established around it. He has been trying to get answers about the proposed Byhalia Connection pipeline that would cut through the neighborhood." Photo by Andrea Morales. Article in Southerly Mag.
Latest News
Byhalia Connection Pipeline officials tout economic impact, opposition voices concerns. "The Byhalia Connection Pipeline is currently in the permitting and easement acquisition phase of the project, according to officials... Jeff Cosola, public affairs advisor for Plains, said the company won't publicly disclose the number of landowners along the line but that they have made good progress with acquiring the right-of-way needed to construct the pipeline." Read more by Corey Davis - Memphis Business Journal - Sept. 16, 2020.
Local power companies may make plans to generate power in the Tennessee Valley. "A growing number of local power companies (LPCs) in the Tennessee Valley are preparing to build their own electricity generation or power storage capacity under new flexible power generation agreements with TVA... Several LPCs are already taking advantage of the new agreements. The Electric Power Board of Chattanooga has allocated $10 million in their annual budget to develop solar farms, battery storage systems, and other energy options that will allow the LPC to decrease its total purchased power from TVA." Read more by Dave Flessner - Times Free Press - Aug. 1, 2020.
Federally Funded Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). This federal program provides federally funded assistance in managing costs associated with home energy bills, energy crises, weatherization and energy-related minor home repairs.
Easy ways to grow, preserve and share your own food. "Remember when growing your own food was just a hobby and saving vegetable seeds was an advanced gardening move? The pandemic has spurred a rush of backyard gardening and a new interest in local food-production practices." Sierra Magazine describes how to make your own potting soil, save seeds, propagate plants, and more! Full article here.
Top 10 TN State Parks for fishing and camping. Fall is upon us, and what better way to social distance than spending time in nature. Check out Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency's list of great spots across the state.
Defending Ginsburg's Legacy
All of us who care about civil liberties, equal rights, and democracy mourn the loss of one of our greatest champions, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Justice Ginsburg was a fighter. She fought not only -- and famously -- for equal rights based on gender, race, and sexual orientation, but also for the environment.
She championed the rights of citizens to take action in court to prevent environmental harm. She defended the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and authored several of the opinions that gave EPA the power and responsibility to regulate greenhouse gases.
And now, Republicans are already mobilizing to erase her legacy. After the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February of 2016, most Republican senators rallied behind a new idea -- a new justice should not be voted on, or even given a hearing, until after a new president and Congress had been seated. This was nine months before the election and it meant that President Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, was never given consideration. We are now only a few weeks away from an election, and any rush to confirm a nominee would be the height of hypocrisy.
Important Note: Sierra Club has made the difficult decision to extend our current COVID-19 response until February 28, 2021. All in-person Sierra Club activities between now and Feb. 28th are canceled. Meetings and events will continue to be held virtually. Campfire has an official COVID-19 page with regularly updated information about the Sierra Club response for staff and volunteers. There is also an external-facing Sierra Club COVID-19 response page.
Tennessee Chapter Fall Retreat: Canceled due to extension of Sierra's COVID-19 policy through Feb. 28th.
UT Knoxville Baker Center Virtual Events Fall 2020. The Howard J. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy is a nonpartisan public center that offers a number of public lectures and programs within its three areas of focus: energy & environment, global security, and leadership & governance. Events run through November, with October events on Oct. 1, 7, 8, 9, 15, 22, 23, 30. See the calendar here.
National Drive Electric Week. Drive Electric TN will be hosting the final outdoor satellite event of the week, which will feature an electric vehicle demonstration on October 3, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm Central at Cumberland Mountain State Park in Crossville, TN.
Tennessee Valley Solar Conference + Storage. The Tennessee Solar Energy Industries Association (TenneSEIA) will host the virtual conference on October 7 from 9:00 am - 12:30 pm Central. The purpose is to bring together solar and energy storage advocates and adopters to discuss strategies, market trends, and policies that impact the Tennessee Valley solar & storage industry. Register here.
Coffee and Conversations Webinar Series. The last session in this series will be October 1 at 8 am Central on the topic of Education. Free with registration required. View recordings of past sessions or register here.
Tennessee Environmental Conference. This conference is scheduled for October 12-14 in Kingsport, TN. Find out more. Environment and Energy Virtual 2020 Conference. The Tennessee Chamber is holding the conference on October 26. It will include a morning and afternoon session and feature presentations from state and federal officials on topics like energy, air, water, solid/hazardous waste, and remediation. Register here.
Free Energy Efficiency Workshops. Chattanooga nonprofit green|spaces is offering free one hour workshops to teach simple, low cost ways to save energy and lower your monthly utility bill. They are currently held virtually. See their Facebook page for scheduled events.
Special Features
Dear Eartha: Advice from an Eco-Guru
Dear Eartha,
I've been hearing a lot about environmental justice and racial justice as core beliefs. What exactly do these terms mean and how will they inform our choices as we head into the 2020 election cycle? —Tied in a Single Garment
Dear Single Garment,
Wow! Quoting from MLK’s famous speech during the Sanitation Workers’ Strike in Memphis takes me back. Your question is profoundly important at this time. The term environmental racism emerged in the late 1980s when reports revealed “the massive disparities in the burden of environmental degradation and pollution facing minority and low-income communities” (Sierra Club, History of Environmental Justice). In 1982 toxic waste was intentionally dumped in an African American community in Warren County, NC, which was reported in a study called “Toxic Waste and Race” (1987). Before this, according to the Memphis Flyer (8/23/2018), “ecological activism” was considered pretty much “race neutral.”
Over the decades since, a movement has arisen. In Memphis, while the famous Sanitation Workers’ Strike of 1968 wasn’t linked to environmental racism, per se, it did bring national attention to the fight for justice in black and working class neighborhoods in the South. This then called attention to the many environmental and health concerns people of color suffer due to environmental degradation.
In the 1990s, again in the Bluff City, Doris Bradshaw and Frank Johnson fought environmental racism over the Department of Defense Depot on Airways Boulevard, designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a Superfund site. Superfunds are the most heavily polluted and toxic locations in the country. Bradshaw, Johnson, their families, and neighbors had lived most or all of their lives near that Depot. They fought for environmental justice as family members died from brain, bone, and uterine cancer, to name a few.
Marquita Bradshaw, the Democratic candidate for the TN Senate, has followed in her mother’s footsteps. In an article in The Chattanoogan (8/19/2020), Bradshaw said, “Environmental justice principles say that those who are closest to the pain should have a voice in solving the problem.” Living under the shadow of death has made clearer the need for the work of the EPA to remain linked to civil rights law (Executive Order 12898). “COVID-19 ripped the band aid off a wound that needed 400 years of stitches. We had a pandemic of people without healthcare, a pandemic of racism, and a pandemic of poverty already existing,” Bradshaw declared.
In a recent interview on PBS NewsHour (9/26/2020), Colette Pichon Battle of Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy seeks to clarify our “new climate reality.” As Gulf Coast residents are displaced by recent hurricanes, Pichon Battle says, “Climate change disperses people. Civic engagement and climate disasters change everything. Our democracy is at stake.” We must care about an individual's whole wellbeing. Marquita Bradshaw says the holistic approach is really at the heart of the [EJ] movement today. "It is a human-rights movement. Environmental justice is human rights."
Glad to be tied in our single garment as we march on – Yours, 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 species is: American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)
Drupes of vibrant berries are produced August - October. Pictured specimen lives in Moore County, North Carolina. Photo credit: Susan Strine, via NC State Extension. CC by 2.0
Native to the southern US, American beautyberry is a perennial, deciduous shrub with a loose, spreading habit (form and shape).
In fall, the plant produces lovely clusters of bright purple berries around its branches. The berries are enjoyed by a variety of songbirds and animals.
Native Americans used beautyberry for treating ailments like malarial fever, rheumatism, and stomach ache.
In the early 20th century, farmers used mashed beautyberry leaves to protect livestock from biting insects by rubbing it on their fur and harnesses. Since it was considered a natural insect repellant, people tried this on themselves too.
Volunteer Opportunities
Defenders Program Volunteer
The Tennessee Chapter lobbyist represents our environmental interests and our lobbying program in the Tennessee State Legislature. His salary needs to be funded. We need someone to take over fundraising for the Sierra Club Defenders of Tennessee. The work is seasonal, light, and can all be done from home. If you have some facility for writing and are interested in the position, please contact Sherry Loller for more information at sherryloller@hotmail.com or 615-889-2968.
Paperless Delivery
Are you a Sierra member who has been receiving our bi-monthly print publication, the Tennes-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.
