Current Situation

Due to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic situation, we are sensitive to our constituents during this challenging crisis. . . . As a result, Sierra Club events have been cancelled or postponed, at least through mid-June. (We anticipate that the cancellations will be extended at least to July 1, so no outings will be listed in this edition of the newsletter). Some group and chapter business meetings that have been restructured for remote participation will take place.  

Cancelled Events (at least through July 1):
Harvey Broome Group Outings
Harvey Broome Group Program Meetings

Events not cancelled:
online (via Zoom) Tennessee Chapter ExCom Business meetings
online (via Zoom) Harvey Broome Group ExCom meetings

Note: Consult the HBG website Calendar for updates to our calendar. Questions regarding HBG events should be addressed to HBG Chair Joanne Logan (loganjojolo@gmail.com).

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Knoxville Mayor's Climate Council

by Kent Minault

Mayor Kincannon inaugurated her Climate Council on Tuesday, the 12th, with a Zoom meeting of the twelve selected participants, who were organized into a well-scripted agenda by Sustainability Director Brian Blackmon.  According to Blackmon, Council members were selected so as to create a “balance” between various sectors of the city population, making sure that environmentalists were only 25% of the group.  Real estate, finance, contractors, utilities, business associations and the chamber of commerce comprised the remainder.  No climatologist or environmental scientist was included.

The timeline for the Council is up on their website.

A video recording of the meeting is available here:

Mayor Kincannon started the meeting by defining its goal as discussing ways to reduce our community emissions 80% by 2050.  And she acknowledged, “Community emissions are way more difficult to move the needle on.”  Then the members briefly introduced themselves.
       Pastor Chris Battle, The Underground Collective/Battlefield Farms
       Gabe Bolas, Knoxville Utilities Board
       Chris Cimino, University of Tennessee
       Brian Hann, Dewhirst Properties
       Amy Hathaway, Forest Heights Neighborhood Association
       Alicia Hemmings, Sunrise Movement Knoxville Hub
       Stan Johnson, Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development (also HGB ExCom member)
       Nancy Nabors, Knoxville Chamber
       Cortney Piper, Piper Communications/Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council
       Dr. Stephen Smith, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
       Rebecca Tolene, Tennessee Valley Authority
       George Wallace, Coldwell Banker Wallace

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WALKS IN DA WOODS DURING THE PANDEMIC

by Jerry Thornton

One of the few good  side effects of not being able to hike in Great Smoky Mountains National Park during the COVID pandemic shut-downs is that my wife, Alice, and I, were forced to explore other places to hike that we rarely or never had been.  Amazingly, most of the time we saw few, if any, other people.  
We had a wonderful early wildflower hike (March 18) at Norris Dam State Park, where we saw lots of trout lilies, bloodroot, Hepatica, and other early vernal flora.  NDSP has many nice forest trails, but the ones on the east side of the dam are particularly good for early spring wildflowers. 

On March 21, we also hiked TVA’s River Bluffs Trail on the west side of the dam, before that got shut down for a while.  The River Bluffs are even better for wildflowers, having lots of Dutchman’s breeches, phlox, trout lilies, and trillium.  There were many more people on the RBT than the NDSP trails, but we have found that it is rather easy to “social distance” out in the woods.  Just step off the trail a bit, wave a friendly greeting, and pass on by!

Dutchman's Breeches, Dean's Woods, March 2020 by Jerry Thornton

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Newsflash

*** Note to readers about accessing these articles

Altered 2009 TDEC test results made Kingston Coal Ash appear less toxic. "The health department used the altered safe estimate in its conclusion that coal ash was mere “nuisance dust” that did not pose a radiological threat, the Knox News investigation shows." May 15 News Sentinel article by Jamie Satterfield.