Current Situation

Due to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic situation, we are sensitive to our constituents during this challenging crisis. . . .

Revised COVID-19 pandemic situation extends moratorium on gatherings to July 4, 2021. Sierra Club in-person events have been cancelled or postponed, and the cancellations extend to July 4, 2021. Some group and chapter business meetings that have been restructured for online participation will take place. The work goes on! Most group and chapter business meetings have been restructured for online participation.
Cancelled Events (at least through July 4, 2021):
Harvey Broome Group Outings
Face-to-Face Harvey Broome Group Program Meetings
Events not cancelled:
Online (via Zoom) Tennessee Chapter ExCom Business meetings but note online program meeting info below
Online (via Zoom) Harvey Broome Group ExCom meetings

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“Virtual” March 2021 Program: Tuesday, March 9, 2021, 7:00-8:30 PM

What: The Tennessee Invasive Plant Council: Who We Are and What We Do
Who: Kitty McCracken, President of the Tennessee Invasive Plant Council
When: Tuesday, March 9, 2021, 7:00-8:30 PM
Where: Virtual via Zoom. Please Register through this Campfire Event Link.  About a week before the event (and a day before as a reminder) you will receive an email with the information on how to connect to this program.

The Tennessee Invasive Plant Council is committed to furthering and promoting education on all issues related to invasive non-native plants. TN-IPC reaches out to anyone with an interest in the problem of invasive exotic plants, their identification, impacts, and control methods.  Since its organization, TN-IPC has hosted statewide symposia, given informative presentations and workshops to other organizations, classes and citizen groups, and participated in weed management events. One of our primary tasks is the development of the invasive plant list in Tennessee, which is used by state agencies, resource managers, scientists, teachers, and others interested in invasive plant control.  TN-IPC is a member of the National Association of Invasive Plant Councils, the North American Invasive Species Management Association, and other professional organizations.

Note: Consult the HBG website Calendar for updates to our calendar. Questions regarding HBG events should be addressed to HBG Chair Jerry Thornton (gatwilcat@aol.com).

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HBG and Local Issues & Business

They also include their suggestions for “assistance” for those in need, and how those of us in better circumstances can assist those in need via “Project Help."

For utility companies in other counties and municipalities in Tennessee, e.g., Alcoa, LaFollete, Lenoir City, Maryville, Clinton, and more, read their pandemic response policies.

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.

There’s Still Time for YOU to:
 Sign the Petition to Rename Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park.
(Help us get to 5,000 signatures!)

Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park in Benton County was named after a Confederate General notorious for being the first Grand Wizard of the KKK.
Sign the petition at this link.

Virtual Events

Sierra Club National “Letters to the President” Events
Feb 9, 16, 23, and March 2 @ 8 PM ET
Starting February 9th, the Sierra Club will host a month-long series of letter writing parties called Letters to the President. Each week, we will start the party with an issue briefing on topics ranging from Biden’s Climate Executive Order to COVID Recovery and our plan for protecting public lands. After the briefing, we’ll pivot to action and write letters to President Biden, together. We will also incorporate creative tactics to add personal touches to the letters and have fun in the process. Sign up at sc.org/LettersToThePresident to join!

UT Arboretum Society sponsors regular webinars about nature and the environment. Upcoming webinars (they usually run from 7 PM to 8 PM) include Bluebirds, An American Success Story (Feb 23), Time to Feather your Nest (Mar 4), Smart Yards (Mar 11), Froggy Went A Courtin' (Mar 23). Register here.

Environmental Justice and Women’s Health Film Screening & Panel Discussion
Feb 27 @ 7 PM ET
Join the North NJ Sierra Club and partners for a screening of The Condor & The Eagle, an award-winning film that shares the stories of Native environmentalists and indigenous women leaders who are catalyzing an unparalleled global response to climate change and environmental injustice. The panel discussion will highlight the disproportionate effects of pollution on the health of women within these communities, and the actions that grassroots activists are taking to heal those most affected by corporate polluters. Pre-Registration is Highly Recommended! Register to attend and view the trailer at:
https://event.webinarjam.com/register/175/n7yn7fnn

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State and National Newsflash

*** Note to readers about accessing these articles

Screenshot from “Earthrise” video

WATCH: “Earthrise” poem by Amanda Gorman
The U.S. Youth Poet Laureate rose to national acclaim with her inauguration poem “The Hill We Climb.” But did you know she also wrote a moving environmental poem for the Climate Reality Project’s 24 Hours of Reality back in 2018? Watch it here.

From Memphis to Tunica: Concerns About TVA’s Coal Ash Contamination, Remediation Plans. by Christian Middleton, Mississippi Free Press, Jan 26.
The Tennessee Valley Authority may have a big problem—and one that could soon spill over into Mississippi. The federally owned corporation manages the now-defunct Allen Fossil Plant in Memphis, Tenn., where environmental experts claim ash ponds have been contaminating groundwater said to be locally connected to the Memphis Sand Aquifer since at least 2017. This aquifer is the primary source of drinking water for the city of Memphis and serves other communities across the Mid-South. Protect Our Aquifer, the Tennessee Chapter  of the Sierra Club, Jobs with Justice of East Tennessee, and Interfaith Worker Justice of East Tennessee make up the coalition of groups concerned about TVA’s plan to remove coal ash from the Allen plant.

Related - Coal’s Poisonous Legacy: Groundwater Contaminated by Coal Ash Across the U.S. Environmental Integrity Project, March 4, 2019.
This widely-covered report singles out TVA’s Allen Fossil Plant in Memphis, with 350 times the safe level of arsenic, Kingston’s coal ash spill, which awakened Americans to coal ash threats, and Bull Run’s wet coal ash ponds extending out into Melton Hill Reservoir.

Greta Thunberg’s Message to World Leaders at Davos Summit. EcoWatch, Jan 26.
Greta Thunberg calls for urgent action to address the climate and ecological crisis. She reminds the world of the promises made to children and grandchildren — a promise they expect to be kept. The proposals being discussed and presented at the moment are 'very far from being enough.'

Biden launches historic, government-wide climate action. Scott Waldman, E&E News, Jan 27.
The executive orders signed by Biden focus on helping front-line communities affected by pollution, address job losses in coal mining regions and bring climate science back to federal agencies after facing isolation during the Trump administration.The moves mark Biden's first steps toward putting the nation on a path toward carbon neutrality by mid-century through a $2 trillion plan that envisions a massive overhaul of the country's electricity and transportation sectors.

Tennessee Climate Office Established at ETSU. Johnson City Press, Feb 1.
The Climate Office for the state of Tennessee has been officially recognized at East Tennessee State University by the American Association of State Climatologists. The Tennessee Climate Office at ETSU has been fulfilling the basic responsibilities of a state climate office since its establishment in 2016, providing climate data services to state agencies, researchers and citizens and studying the impact of drought, extreme rainfall, severe storms and other hazards. To meet the needs of the entire state, the TCO has formed partnerships with climate data representatives at universities in each region of the state.

The Paradise Fossil Plant near Drakesboro,KY is one of 11 coal plants where TVA says it is spending $5 billion to clean up. Image from Chattanooga Times Free Press.

TVA proposes to build new gas plants at shuttered coal sites: Sierra Club objects to
continued burning of fossil fuels. Dave Flessner, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Feb 2.
Despite opposition from some environmental groups against continuing to burn fossil fuels, the Tennessee Valley Authority is proposing to replace aging gas plants in Memphis and New Johnsonville, Tennessee, with new gas-fired combustion turbines in Kentucky and Alabama. The Sierra Club is urging TVA to look at more sustainable energy options, including more solar with battery storage facilities to meet future power needs.

Report Ranks Tennessee 20th for Transportation Electrification. Erik Schelzig, The Tennessee Journal, Feb 3.
Tennessee received 30.5 points on the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy’s scale, placing it behind Virginia (36 points) and North Carolina (31.5 points) in the Southeast. Tennessee was awarded seven of 17 possible points for planning and goals, 9.5 of 30 for incentives for electric vehicle deployment, 1 of 12 for transportation system efficiency, 5.5 of 10 for electric grid organization, 2 of 10 for equity, and 5.5 of 21 for outcomes.

Power struggle: TVA distributors want access to transmission lines to bring in outside electricity. Dave Flessner, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Feb 8.
Volunteer Energy Cooperative and Athens Utilities Board in East Tennessee and the Gibson and Joe Wheeler electric membership corporations in West Tennessee are asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to order TVA to transmit the outside electricity to them on TVA lines. Attorney William DeGrandis said TVA is charging "excessive bundled rates" and using "draconian" measures in its power contracts to block open access to cheaper power. TVA President Jeff Lyash says the local power companies are free to leave TVA with the proper notice, but they should not be able to use TVA transmission assets paid for by all TVA customers to get power from another wholesale supplier.

A group of teenage boys roll a log across a clearing at the CCC camp in Redwood state park. Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

Biden’s New Conservation Corps Stirs Hopes of Nature-Focused Hiring Spree. Paola Rosa-Aquino, The Guardian, Feb 9.
As part of his recent climate policy spree, Biden announced the establishment of a “Civilian Climate Corps Initiative” that could harness the energy of the very generation that must face – and solve – the climate crisis by putting them to work in well-paying conservation jobs. After Biden’s omnibus executive order, the heads of the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture and other departments have 90 days to present their plan to “mobilize the next generation of conservation and resilience workers," a step toward fulfilling Biden’s promise to get the US on track to conserve 30% of lands and oceans by 2030.

Countries Must Ramp Up Climate Pledges by 80 Percent to Hit Key Paris Target, Study Finds. Brady Dennis, The Washington Post, Feb 9 . The pledges countries made to reduce emissions as part of the 2015 Paris agreement are woefully inadequate, and the world must nearly double its greenhouse gas-cutting goals to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change, according to research published Tuesday by the University of Washington. The study found that even if countries were to meet their existing pledges, the world has only about a 5 percent chance to limit the Earth’s warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels — a key aim of the international agreement.
 
Wanted: Solutions to Replace Existing Middle Point Landfill Operations. Scott Broden, Murfreesboro Daily News Journal, Feb 11.
Rutherford County seeks options to deal with its solid waste needs once Middle Point Landfill reaches capacity. Middle Point Landfill operates on 803 acres on East Jefferson Pike just north of Murfreesboro and is owned by Republic Services, a publicly traded corporation in Phoenix. The company reported to the state in 2020 that Middle Point has "10 years and 8 months of remaining life." County officials worry the landfill could close much sooner and are examining solutions that can include composting, recycling and converting waste to energy.

Humanity Is Hurtling Into a 'Ghastly Future' It Doesn't Comprehend, Scientists Warn. ScienceAlert.com, Jan. 14.
"Humanity is running an ecological Ponzi scheme in which society robs nature and future generations to pay for boosting incomes in the short term [...]
In the long term, the authors say we are looking at a 'ghastly future of mass extinction, declining health, and climate-disruption upheavals (including looming massive migrations) and resource conflicts...'"

Source study: Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future. Perspective, Multiple Authors, Frontiers in Conservation Science, Jan 13.

WATCH: How General Motors is planning to become carbon neutral by 2040. William Brangham, PBS NewsHour, Feb 15.
William Brangham interviews Dane Parker, chief sustainability officer for General Motors, on GM’s “aspiration to eliminate tailpipe emissions from all of our light-duty vehicles by 2035, and to be fully carbon-neutral by 2040.”

Green, or greenwashing? Michael Brune examines GM’s “aspiration to eliminate tailpipe emissions from all of our light-duty vehicles by 2035, and to be fully carbon-neutral by 2040”:
GM, Toyota sell green vision in Super Bowl ads — but actions tell different story Opinion, Michael Brune, Detroit Free Press, Feb. 7, 2021

*** A democracy with informed citizens requires the professionalism that we have historically expected of credible news sources. Most “local" newspapers today are asking folks who access their online news stories to purchase a subscription to their paper. This is understandable generally, and reminds us that we should do our part to pay for the resources that result in publication of local news. Those of us who use summaries of published print news, as we do, are no exception, and we ask the same of our readers. However, we also believe that a person who only wants to see an occasional article published in a newspaper should not be required to subscribe. So if you believe that you are in the latter category - only an occasional reader - you may be able to read an article without a subscription if you "browse anonymously" or clear your browser cache before activating a link to an article. This may help you avoid many "pay walls" at these news sources (some sources restrict access even with anonymous settings). Another approach is to search for alternate source on the particular news item. But we recommend that our readers who find themselves accessing an online news source on a regular basis subscribe to an online version of the paper, which is generally much cheaper than a  print version.

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Can't donate now? Sign up for Kroger Community Rewards. Kroger donates a portion of what you spend to the Harvey Broome Group as long as you designate HBG as your preferred charity.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Kroger Community Rewards web page
2. Register (or Sign In if you already have an account.)
3. Enroll in Community Rewards (or Edit if you're already enrolled.)
4. Enter HBG's Community Rewards Number 27874.

That's it. Swipe your Kroger Card when you shop and know that you're helping protect your environment.

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Who We Are