COVID-19 Update: Based on feedback from employees and in consultation with our safety staff, we have decided to extend the Sierra Club’s current Covid response plans through Feb. 28, 2022. We will continue on the path we launched in July--slowly reopening our offices, methodically ramping up events & in-person activities, and being cautious in travel planning. Doing so patiently allows our mission-critical work in these areas to continue. Click here for full statement on Campfire.
Tennessee News
UPDATE: Fall Retreat canceled. The Tennessee Chapter Fall retreat has been cancelled, which had been planned for the end of October at Booker T. Washington State Park. Hopefully we will be able to gather for the Spring 2022 retreat!
'I find that hard to believe': Memphis City Council dissatisfied with TVA's answers on coal ash. “When the Tennessee Valley Authority said it was pausing plans for the remediation of coal ash at the Allen Fossil Plant, it raised hope for some that the ash would not be buried at a Memphis landfill southeast of Memphis International Airport.“ The company's actions since then have likely demonstrated that the pause was not much more than a public relations maneuver, at least according to a few members of the city council. And, on Tuesday, it essentially told the Memphis City Council that it plans to bury the coal ash at the South Shelby landfill as planned.” Read more by Samuel Hardiman - Memphis Commercial Appeal - Oct. 5, 2021.
'It's not good for Bristol': Tennessee lawmaker is looking for landfill solution. "A Tennessee lawmaker is putting the pressure on the city of Bristol, Virginia to fix the landfill which is plaguing residents on both sides of the city." Read more by Kristen Quon - Oct. 6, 2021.
Congress should act to allow TVA competition, regulator says, but stops short of allowing utilities to use transmission lines. “The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission denied the request of three Tennessee local power companies to use TVA's transmission lines if those utilities were to exit TVA… “That transmission issue was of particular interest to Memphis, Light, Gas and Water, which is considering leaving TVA. The decision from FERC means that MLGW would have to build its own transmission lines in order to leave TVA.” Read more by Samuel Hardiman - Memphis Commercial Appeal - Oct. 21, 2021.
John G. Stewart, TVA manager and Democrat who helped craft Civil Rights legislation, dies. John Stewart in 2019 established the Kingston Worker Assistance Fund through the East Tennessee Foundation, which pays for medical screening for any Kingston coal ash cleanup worker at UT Hospital. The article includes a video interview with Nashville Tennessean Opinion Editor David Playas. Article by Tyler Whetstone - Knoxville News Sentinel - Sept. 30, 2021.
Sierra Club pushes against the possibility of Memphis natural gas plants. “Local environmental advocates want to make sure Memphis Light, Gas and Water is considering the potentially existential threat of climate change while the city-owned utility is bidding out its power supply... If Memphis were to leave the Tennessee Valley Authority and be on its own for its electricity supply, MLGW would rely on what could be several natural gas plants for much of the city's power and much of the reliability... That planned reliance on natural gas is not what the Sierra Club would like to see.” Read more by Samuel Hardiman - Memphis Commercial Appeal - Oct. 5, 2021.
John Stewart. Photo credit: Todd Waterman.
Environmental Updates
Take Action! Let's get a historic climate bill passed! Thanks to months of organizing and advocacy, we now have a fighting chance to get once-in-a-generation climate action across the finish line. But the margin for error is small and we need as many Congress members as possible to support this. Even if you've already reached out, please do so again: Send a message to Congress here!
A world burning up and under water must finally act on climate change | Opinion. " Reps. Burchett and Fleischmann deserve credit. Now Sens. Blackburn and Hagerty should go big and support the indispensable tool of carbon pricing." Citizens’ Climate Lobby Tennessee State Co-Coordinator Jan Berry and CCL’s executive director, Mark Reynolds, contextualize this year’s climate chaos in the United States and present a political solution: carbon pricing. “To ensure that the indispensable tool of carbon pricing is included in upcoming legislation, we ask U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty to support a price on carbon as part of the budget reconciliation negotiations. U.S. Reps. Tim Burchett and Chuck Fleischmann have both joined the Conservative Climate Caucus and support action on climate. Burchett introduced the Carbon Capture Improvement Act, H.R. 3861, while Fleischmann is a strong proponent of energy efficiency and nuclear power.” Read more by Jan Berry & Mark Reynolds - Knox News - Oct. 5, 2021.
Biden officials finalize a rule making it harder to kill birds, reversing Trump. "The move restores protections under the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which imposes penalties for unintentionally causing bird deaths through drilling, construction and other activities." Read more by Maxine Joselow - Washington Post - Sept. 29, 2021.
Federal Climate Bill Would Clean Tennessee’s Air. “Under this program, utilities would need to increase their renewable energy capacity by 4% each year to receive Department of Energy grants, which would be used on customer-focused programs like bill assistance, energy efficiency and worker retention. Otherwise, utilities would have to submit a payment — $40 for each megawatt-hour that the utility falls short of the 4% target... This would force utilities to replace fossil fuel capacity with renewable energy, which would deliver immediate and substantial health benefits due to lower emissions of fine particulate matter and ozone pollution.” Read more by Caroline Eggers - WPLN News - Sept. 30, 2021.
Public comment opportunity: Foothills Parkway Extension. The National Park Service (NPS) is seeking public input concerning the proposed construction of the next section of the Foothills Parkway and access improvements between Wears Valley and the Metcalf Bottoms area in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A virtual public meeting was held October 14 and comments may be submitted from through October 31. Preferred method is online here . Select “Open for Comment” on the left menu, open the Foothills Parkway Section 8D/Metcalf Bottoms Newsletter folder, and click on the green “Comment Now” button to open the comment form.
The recent edition of the Tennes-Sierran (Nov/Dec) contains ballots and candidate bios for this year's Chapter and Group ExCom elections. Unfortunately, online voting was not possible for this year, so you'll need to cut out and mail in the ballots, to be received by December 15. Alternatively, the ballots are available as PDFs on the Chapter website to print off and mail in. Voting is important, so get your votes in by Dec. 15th!
Health & Justice
Black children were jailed for a crime that doesn't exist. Almost nothing happened to the adults in charge. In April 2016, police officers were sent to Hobgood Elementary School in Murfreesboro, TN to arrest several children. In all, they arrested 11. The youngest was an 8 year old girl in pigtails. One fourth grade girl was so afraid that she threw up on the floor. What were the children charged with? After researching the Tennessee code to try to find something that fit, officials found the phrase “criminal responsibility for conduct of another” and decided to use it. The problem is this does not exist as a crime. Lawsuits have ensued, yet there hasn't been accountability. Rutherford County's Juvenile court judge Donna Scott Davenport has occupied this position since 2000 with a clear strategy of increasing juvenile incarceration. Compared to the state average, Rutherford County's rates are staggering: "Among cases referred to juvenile court, the statewide average for how often children were locked up was 5%. In Rutherford County, it was 48%." Read more by Meribah Knight & Ken Armstrong - ProPublica - Oct. 8, 2021.
Waverly officials identified ways to reduce flooding a decade ago. None were completed. "Local leaders in 2011 identified a dozen hazard mitigation projects that could have helped lower the town's high possibility of flooding... None were completed by 2019, records show. Officials have installed flood doors at local schools, created storm shelters and enlarged several bridges and culverts in recent years. But the bulk of the work remains unfinished." Read more by Yue Stella Yu - Nashville Tennessean - Oct. 5, 2021.
The myths of the Thanksgiving story and the lasting damage they imbue. In this interview with David Silverman, author of This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving, Silverman explains how the "Thanksgiving myth" is deeply flawed. Read more by Claire Bugos - Smithsonian Magazine - Nov. 26, 2019.
There are no real climate leaders yet - who will step up at Cop26? With the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference approaching, Greta Thunberg calls for a bold, honest world leader to help turn the tide. "...All it would really take is one – one world leader or one high-income nation or one major TV station or leading newspaper who decides to be honest, to truly treat the climate crisis as the crisis that it is. One leader who counts all the numbers – and then takes brave action to reduce emissions at the pace and scale the science demands. Then everything could be set in motion towards action, hope, purpose and meaning. The clock is ticking. Summits keep happening. Emissions keep growing. Who will that leader be?" Read more by Greta Thunberg - The Guardian - Oct. 21, 2021.
The SSE Hydro arena is one of the venues for the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, held Oct. 13- Nov. 12, 2021. Photo credit: Viv Lynch, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Events
Listed in order of occurrence:
An Afternoon with Robert Bullard, known as 'The Father of Environmental Justice.' " Climate change is the defining global environmental justice, human rights, and public health issue of the 21st century. The most vulnerable populations will suffer the earliest and most damaging setbacks because of where they live, their limited income and economic means, and their lack of access to health care. Professor Bullard’s presentation will focus primarily on the US and the need for empowering vulnerable populations, identifying environmental justice and climate change “hot-spot” zones, and designing fair, just, and effective strategies for adaptation, mitigation, emergency management, and community resilience and disaster recovery. He will offer a framework for dismantling systemic racism and policies and practices that create, exacerbate and perpetuate inequality and vulnerability."Hosted by UT Humanities Center on Mon. Nov. 1 at 3:30 pm ET via Zoom. Registration required here.
HBG Virtual Program: Volunteers Maintain the Benton MacKaye Trail and Tellico District Trails of the Cherokee National Forest by Richard Harris, Tellico Volunteer Trail Crew Coordinator. Join us for this HBG Program when Richard Harris, trail volunteer maintainer coordinator for the Tellico Ranger District will give us details about this important work on Tues. Nov. 9 at 7:00-8:30 PM EST. Please RSVP through this Campfire event link. You will receive information on how to connect to this program and be notified via email if there are any changes.
Tennessee Smart Yard Workshop (virtual). "Do you have a creek or stream nearby? If so, you need this gardening workshop! Let's keep Tennessee's land and water healthy - one yard at a time - by Smart Gardening with Tennessee Smart Yards." Wed. Nov. 10th 12:00-12:45pm CT. Visit Nashville.gov for more info about this and many more events throughout the month!
Keep Knoxville Beautiful Summit: Cleaner, Greener, Connected. The 3rd annual KKB Summit will showcase the environmental and sustainable efforts in Knoxville working to improve our mobility. The summit will focus on how electric vehicles, public transportation, and outdoor places improve our community's health and mobility. The event is free with reserved seating. Fri. Nov. 12th at 8am-12:00pm at UT Conference Center. Reserve your seat here.
Project Green Fork's Reharvest Memphis. Join Project Green Fork and Clean Memphis to raise awareness of sustainability efforts in the restaurant industry and highlight the importance of repurposing surplus food. This unique, immersive experience will highlight local chefs and industry partners who will discuss and serve hors d’ oeuvres using surplus food. Attendees will also enjoy wine, local beers, and a specialty cocktail from Blue Note Bourbon. Get tickets here ($75 each) for the event Tues. Nov. 16 at 5:30-8:30 CST.
Special Features
Dear Eartha: Advice from an Eco-Guru
Dear Eartha, I've noticed that the Sierra Club’s Hop Hopkins has begun talking about environmental sustainability in the context of “addressing white support for white supremacy.” I'm all for an end to white supremacy, but what’s the connection with climate change action? —Another tree hugging white guy in Tennessee
Dear White Guy,
Your question makes so much sense – and good to hear you want to end white supremacy. I, too, have been following Hop Hopkins as Director of Organizational Transformation. So, I signed up for the Sierra Club webinar: “A Teach-In: Save the Planet by Ending White Supremacy.” Very evocative! Here’s what I learned:
Deciphering white supremacy is necessary to understand (and fix) the climate crisis.
Majority white organizations (like the Sierra Club, the US Congress, Silicon Valley, most legislatures, etc.) harbor the notion that white people’s thoughts, beliefs, ideas, and actions are superior to those of people of color.
If we want more just and inclusive organizations and policies, we need to examine (and change) privilege and generational wealth.
Structures of dominance have caused environmental injustice and generational trauma to BIPOC peoples (Black and Indigenous People of Color) as well as immigrants, refugees, and poor people.
So here are some questions to ask ourselves. Where do we see environment play a role in racist policies? Are we protecting the environment primarily to benefit white people? What’s my stake in maintaining systems of white supremacy? How do we support those structures of dominance that cause injustice and trauma? And how do we devalue BIPOC people’s lives (an old and continuing practice) to build white wealth?
As you can see, dear White Guy, these “circulating dynamics” between capitalist’s environmental destruction and white supremacist practices have exploited the lands of the people repeatedly, not just in the US but throughout the globe. One of the panelists from Puerto Rico spoke about the deregulated laws and zoning rules of “disaster capital” to enable greed and development post-Hurricane Maria. The common people of that island nation still suffer after three years of “recovery.”
Other panelists mentioned these circular dynamics to benefit white communities but harm indigenous lands such as: the Keystone XL Pipeline running through native tribe’s water supply; missing and murdered—and underreported—indigenous people, mostly women; bison herds targeted as part of the US colonization; Portland, OR redlining black neighborhoods; and, closer to home, dividing historic North Nashville’s Jefferson Street by bulldozing it to make way for I- 40 and Knoxville’s demolition of 15 African American churches and displacement of 2,500 families during that city’s decades-long Urban Renewal of North Knoxville.
Of course, Tennessee’s cities are not unique. This practice of “urban renewal” (read “racial injustice”) occurred in thousands of cities across our nation and reveals a blueprint of the racist practices and white supremacy most of us accept as the norm. What can we do? Hop Hopkins and Allison Chin, who led the “Teach-In,” suggested first contacting Congress to pass the For the People Act andto replace 100% of America’s toxic lead pipes.
I'm inspired by the SC’s “Teach-In” and continuing commitment to fight to end white supremacy and save the planet. They are connected.
Glad to be with you in the fight – which we, BTW, are winning!
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 plant is: Broccoli (brassica oleracea)
"Bee on Yellow Broccoli Flowers" by Lynn Greyling. If unharvested, broccoli florets will bloom into small yellow flowers. Photo credit: Lynn Greyling, CC0 Public Domain.
Broccoli is a cool-season annual, taking 55-85 days to mature after planting. In warm climates, it's best planted as a fall crop, but it can be grown in spring as well.
The name broccoli is derived from the Latin "brachium" which means arm. This refers to the many branches the broccoli plant produces. Broccoli has been popular in Italy since the days of the Roman Empire. When the English were first introduced to broccoli in the mid-1700s, they nicknamed it "Italian asparagus."
The broccoli "trees" which are usually eaten are actually the flower buds. The plant is rich in vitamin A, C, K, folic acid, potassium, iron, and fiber. Broccoli stems are perfectly edible too! Try cutting them into matchsticks or coins and adding to a stir fry.
Records show that Thomas Jefferson experimented with growing broccoli from imported Italian seeds in the late 1700s. But the vegetable didn't catch on here until after Southern Italian immigrants brought it to the U.S. in the 1920s. In the past 30 years, worldwide consumption of broccoli has almost tripled!
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. Submit your suggestion here!
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.
