COVID-19 Update: Sierra Club has decided to extend the Sierra Club’s current Covid response plans through Feb. 28, 2022. See Sierra Club COVID Info Hub (requires Campfire login).
Tennessee News
Take Action!Stop Cumberland & Kingston Pipelines! TVA is exploring replacing coal plants with gas plants & pipelines. TVA's Board just delegated authority to make the decision for coal plant retirement and replacement generation to TVA’s CEO Jeff Lyash.Send your message now!
Take Action! Save Tennessee's Bridgestone-Firestone Centennial Wilderness! Despite vocal opposition from hunters and the local government, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) has decided to move forward with its plans to clearcut approximately 2,000 acres of hardwood forest adjacent to the Virgin Falls State Natural Area. Tell your state legislators and Gov. Lee to place a hold on this project until all options can be considered. Send a message now! For background info, read the next article:
State put on 60-day notice of lawsuit over plans to raze hardwoods on public lands: The plan to raze 2,000 acres of hardwood trees in the Bridgestone wilderness area could impact endangered species. Read more by Anita Wadhwani - Tennessee Lookout - Jan. 21, 2022.
In rare show of bipartisanship, 34 Tennessee lawmakers slam TWRA plans to clearcut: A letter sent by lawmakers accuses the TWRA of “breaching its duty” and a “shameful lack of communication” Read more by Anita Wadhwani - Tennessee Lookout - Jan 25, 2022
REI to build Tennessee warehouse with 280 workers, carbon-free energy. "The new distribution center in Lebanon, Tennessee, will be the fourth for REI and will serve more than 70 REI stores on the East Coast and in the Midwest and South." Read more by Staff and wire reports - Times Free Press - Jan. 12, 2022.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park shatters previous annual record by 1.5 million visits. "Great Smoky Mountains National Park, already the busiest national park in the country, had its busiest year on record with 14,137,812 visits.. In the last decade, park visitation has increased by 57%...” Read more by Sarah Riley & Derek Lacey - Knoxville News Sentinel - Jan. 20, 2022.
A cardinal flower blooms in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Photo by Ben Gilliam / Discover Life in America.
Environmental Updates
Take Action: Keep Cook Recreation Area Public! "Cook Recreation Area is federally owned and managed 200+ acres of pristine forests and shoreline on J. Percy Priest Lake in Davidson County. The Corps of Engineers is currently considering a commercial lease of the property which will permanently alter it." Learn more and sign the petition here.
Guest column: TVA’s empty coal ash promises. "Nobody wants coal ash in their backyard – but it’s even worse when the folks dumping the waste don’t evaluate all the risks and keep the community in the dark. That’s what happening now in South Memphis. At a Memphis City Council meeting in July 2021, the Tennessee Valley Authority announced their plan to dispose of the now-retired Allen Fossil Plant’s coal ash in the South Shelby Landfill. The plan includes trucking more than three million tons of the toxic material, and thousands of tons of dirt to fill in the coal ash pits, across South Memphis for 10 years. The surprise announcement caught Council members and many Memphians off guard. But after five years of watching TVA’s decisions for Memphis, it’s hard for us at Protect Our Aquifer to be surprised." Read more by Guest columnist Sarah Houston, Executive Director of Protect Our Aquifer - Memphis Daily News - Jan. 15, 2022.
Health & Justice
Black Appalachian Coalition Aims to Shift Narrative on Energy, Other Issues. "Appalachia’s people of color have borne greater social and economic burdens, on average, than their White counterparts, but their stories are often left out of policy discussions about energy and other issues in the region. A new coalition is now seeking to amplify those voices..." Read more by Kathiann Kowalski - 100 Days in Appalachia- Nov. 17, 2021.
Knox County deputies stun participants by arresting Black activist at meeting about policing. "Attendees at Friday's meeting, including Knoxville city leaders, said they were stunned when deputies accosted Hayes as he stepped outside the meeting about the city's search for a new police chief.. Hayes told Knox News he was punched in the face by a Knox County deputy while he was in custody Friday..." Hayes is a former Knoxville City Council candidate and activist. Read more by Angela Dennis, Tyler Whetstone, Rebecca Wright - Knoxville News Sentinel - Jan. 7, 2022. [Editors note: In 2019, David Hayes was endorsed for Knoxville City Council by the Harvey Broome Group of the Sierra Club.]
Free Covid-19 Rapid Tests. Every home in the US is eligible to order 4 free at-home COVID-19 tests! The tests are completely free and orders will usually ship in 7-12 days. Order your tests now so you have them when you need. Sign up to get your free tests here!
Take Back TVA Rally, August 8, 2021. Photo by Todd Waterman.
Chapter Announcements
Conservation Education Day
Conservation Education Day, Sierra Club Tennessee Chapter's lobby day in Nashville, will be on March 2nd this year. This event is jointly sponsored by the Sierra Club, Tennessee Conservation Voters, Tennessee Environmental Council, and Tennessee Interfaith Power and Light.
We will meet with our legislative representatives in their offices in the Cordell Hull Building to communicate our interests in bills before the House and Senate. The public was not allowed in their offices last year, but will be this year. Likely topics include coal primacy, private sewer systems, an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) bill and whatever else arises during the sessions.
We have had 40+ chapter members meet with 50+ legislators in past lobby days. We will have a training session on March 1st in the evening to cover our issues and how to lobby your representatives. If interested in participating, contact Bill Moll by email or phone at 404-401-7899.
Sierra Club Chapter Election Results!
Election Coordinator: Dr. Cris Corley
From Cris Corley: Ballots were collected through Dec. 15, 2021. Current memberships, as of Nov. 1, were verified by the Sierra Club database on Dec. 18 at the Freedom Law Center in Nashville. Two envelopes were not opened due to lapse in membership. Election results were certified at the January 2022 Chapter ExCom meeting. Special thanks to Gary Bowers for his technical expertise in setting up the Zoom link with Mac Post during the membership verification and vote counting process, Todd Waterman for gathering information for the candidate bio sheet, and sincere gratitude to John Behn for his patience.
Congratulations to the following winners for the 2022-2023 term!
Chapter ExCom Delegate at Large (max 4): Nancy Bell, Marquita Bradshaw, Grace Stranch, Charlie High
Cherokee Group ExCom (max 4): Tony Wheeler, Bruce Blohm, Lisa Luck, Alice Demetreon
Chickasaw Group ExCom (max 3): Shenee Simon, Carl Richards, Charlie Belenky
Harvey Broome Group ExCom (max 6): Dr. Melanie Mayes, Axel Ringe, Kristen Johnson, Julie Elfin, Maggie Longmire, Stefen Whitee
Middle Tennessee Group ExCom (max 4): Diane Scher, Mary High, Karen McIntyre, Jack McFadden
At the January ExCom meeting, a new Chapter Chair was chosen. Congratulations, Cris Corley!
Upcoming Meetings
COVID-19 NOTICE: Sierra Club activities may enforce group size limits, PPE, social distancing requirements to comply with venue/city/county requirements. Please contact the activity organizer for any updates. Check website for Zoom or in-person meeting status or contact your chair.
Guests are invited to a 3-day, 2-night "glamping" adventure in Great Smoky Mountains National Park hosted by Discover Life in America, a nonprofit that manages the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory, which is a project focused on recording and conserving each of the park's 60,000+ species! Funds raised by the event go towards DLiA's work in the Smokies. Scheduled for April 10-12, it should be right on time to see some phenomenal spring wildflowers! Guests will enjoy guided hikes and nature walks, camping in a luxurious off-grid setting, great local food and drink, and more. Visit the website to sign up. (Event not sponsored by Sierra Club)
Job Listing for Appalachian Voices
Appalachian Voices is hiring for a Tennessee Field Coordinator to help organize rural communities in East Tennessee. Key issues will be 1) stopping the Kingston Coal Plant's conversion to natural gas and 2) organizing for democratic decision making and new programs for clean energy/lower utility bills. For more info or to see how to apply, visit the website.
Smiling campers take a log bridge over a creek at a past Eco-Adventure in the Smoky Mountains. Photo courtesy of Aurora Sarchet / Discover Life in America.
Events
Statewide environmental events listed in order of occurrence:
Maryville Huddle Meeting: Update on Kingston Coal Ash Spill with speaker Jamie Satterfield, award-winning investigative journalist with more than 33 years of experience, specializing in legal affairs, policing, public corruption, environmental crime and civil rights violations. Event held Thurs. Jan. 27, 7-9 pm EST. Join the Zoom Meeting here: Meeting ID: 895 4588 8666 / Passcode: 061690.
Tennessee Valley People's Power Training. Do you want to start a grassroots campaign for lower electric bills, renewable energy or another energy goal in your area? Are you interested in rallying your community for change but don't know where to start? The People's Power Training is a 3-part training that will help you and your neighbors build the knowledge, skills and connections you need to be successful. The 1st part was in December, but no worries if you missed it-- you can register here for the makeup session on Mon. Jan 31st at 7-9pm ET. Then register here for the 2nd part of the series on Tues. Feb. 1st from 6:30-8:30pm ET.
February is Black History Month. What we now know as Black History Month began as "Negro History Week" in 1926 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). It was originally established during the second week of February because of the proximity to the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. While both men were great American symbols of freedom, Dr. Woodson never wished to confine Black history to one week, or even a month: "His life’s work and the mission of ASALH since its founding in 1915 represent a living testimony to the year-round and year-after-year study of African American history." Learn more about the context of Black History Month.
Urban Waters Report Card with John Schwartz. Join us for an Energy & Environment Forum with Dr. John Schwartz, who will discuss the development of an Urban Waters Report Card (UWRC) for Tennessee. Schwartz's presentation will provide background for the project and explain current projects. The forum will be held in the Toyota Auditoriumat the UT Baker Center onThurs. Feb. 3rd, from 1:00-2:30 pm EST. Event is free and open to the public. Virtual access will also be available here via Zoom.
HBG Program: Averting Environmental Collapse: Building Toward True Sustainability, with Dr. Christina Ergas. "As major environmental crises loom, Christina Ergas presents a view that one possible way forward is a radical sustainable development that turns the focus from monetary gain to social and ecological regeneration and transformation." Tues. Feb. 8, 7:00-8:30 PM ET. RSVP for this virtual event at this Campfire Event Link.
Conservation Education Day will be March 2. This is an opportunity to meet with our legislative representatives with likely topics to include coal primacy, private sewer systems, an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) bill. Contact Bill Moll to get more information and sign up.
Graphic by Maryville Huddle.
Special Features
Dear Eartha: Advice from an Eco-Guru
Dear Eartha, A friend recently told me she’d heard of an environmentally-friendly alternative to using salt on roadways. Do you know about this? Any other innovations you could share with your readers? —Always Looking for a Better Solution
Dear Always Looking, Right, the salt is necessary to save lives on our freeways, but here’s what I found from Scientific American for alternatives to salt as a de-icer:"Beet wastewater (left over from sugar beet processing), cheese brine, pickle juice and potato juice are some of the unconventional de-icers being tested. The carbohydrates or sugars in beet wastewater make it more effective at lower temperatures than salt water or brine alone, lowering the melting point of the ice to below -20 C from -10 C — and reducing the amount of chloride applied to the road.”
The downsides are smelly beet wastewater, and new research shows that "road-salt additives like these can change the ways ecosystems function and lower the amount of oxygen they contain, which can kill fish and other aquatic life. These alternatives should be used with caution. Instead of using salt and salt additives, some engineers are experimenting with roads that clear themselves of snow and ice. Early tests have suggested that solar panels could replace asphalt to melt ice and eliminate the need for road salt, by heating water in pipes embedded in the road. Others are looking for more effective ways to use rock salt — and reduce the amount that enters aquatic ecosystems.”
Another innovation that seems really cool is a recycling machine that sorts and compresses plastic and is only about the size of an over-sized dishwasher. It’s always heartening to read about ways to save our ecosystems and the lives occupying them. Speaking of that, for your environmental book club, I recommend Bewilderment by Richard Powers (author of Pultizer Prize-Winning The Overstory). Inspirational and heartbreaking at the same time!
And now a couple responses to my ‘What Matters Now’ query – Thank you, Dan and Mark!
Put This on A T-Shirt, from Dan Terpstra: Riffing on the t-shirt slogan, what matters now is energy, at the metaphorical speed of light. Where we get our energy, how we use it, and how much of it we use demands the following: a rapid transition from inefficient, polluting ICE vehicles to their electric equivalents; a wholesale conversion away from TVA’s coal generation facilities and their proposed fossil gas replacements to renewable solar and wind equivalents; intensive adoption of clean electricity- powered appliances in our homes, whether from a heat pump, HVAC, water heater, or an induction cooktop; and, finally, legislation to encourage distributed solar energy on all of our rooftops. All of this takes another kind of energy: personal action. We need to get off our butts [couches] and get engaged: by writing letters to our legislators, protesting TVA’s tepid renewable adoption rate, moving our money out of dirty banks; and joining organizations like Sierra Club, 350, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Sunrise, Third Act, and more to amplify our voices and make change happen as swiftly as nature demands. Thanks for asking. Put that on a t-shirt!
The ALS Concept, from Mark F. Mundo: This is how I try to live now; it is called the ALS concept. It is NOT too late, pass it on.
A= adjust your way of thinking about our environment. Know that “everything touches everything else.” L= live a lifestyle of less. We all know “less is more.” S= self-sacrifice when it comes to everything. We have to learn to say “no.”
If we as citizens care anything about future generations, these three simple concepts will begin the process of healing. Be the example! Thanks for all you do! Peace and love.
*****
To share your opinion of "What Matters Now," send your brief passage of about 100 words to the Sierra E-News Editor [Enews.sierratn@gmail.com], and keep submitting your environmental questions as usual! 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: Virginia Springbeauty (Claytonia virginica)
Cluster of pale pink Springbeauty flowers blooming at White Clay Creek State Park in Delaware, April 2020. Photo credit: Thomas Muller / wildflower.org.
Virginia springbeauty is an early spring wildflower that blooms from about February to May. The delicate blooms are pink or white with a dark pink stripe. Its leaves are grass-like, so this plant can be easy to miss unless you're looking for it.
The flower has a tuber at the root, similar to a potato, that is edible and has a sweet flavor similar to chestnut.
Springbeauty is native to eastern North America and is part of the Purslane Family. It is a low plant that grows in large patches and makes good groundcover.
Like some other ephemerals (having a short life cycle), the flowers close at night and on overcast days.
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!
The views expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sierra Club.
Who We Are
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.
