2008 Election Candidate Forum:
The Questions
Question 10: What do you see as the role of outings in the Club, both National outings (including international) and those organized by chapters and groups? What changes would you like to see in these programs?
Candidate responses were limited to 150 words per question.Lane
Boldman
As an Outings and Inner City Outings leader, I am committed to connecting people to the outdoors. I’ve worked with adults and children to show them the value of our wild and special places. I would like to see the programs expanded, because they are an invaluable source of goodwill and connection to the general public.
Liability has been an issue in the past few years, so additional support for leader training is helpful. The rollout of Outings Leader 101 Training and the soon to be released Online First Aid Training are the types of support that will be immensely helpful.
I would like to see an expansion of outings related to issues and education, such as environmental impacts in China for International, or perhaps outings to Mountaintop Removal sites in West Virginia for domestic outings. These could be promoted directly to educators in addition to our traditional advertising. Joni
Bosh
Questionnaire Not Returned Clark
Buchner
I think the Outings Program that has evolved from the Outdoor Activities Governance Committee, is outstanding example of the best that the club has to offer. I think more web based training needs to be implemented and that is currently happening. We need to be more aware of our carbon footprint in implementing outdoor activity, particularly in trips involving air travel, and methods for dealing with it need to be made an integral part of the planning process. More link ups need to happen between the National outings operations and the activities of the International Committee. I think that Group level outings remain one of our strongest areas for club recruitment and it is vital to see that our Local Outings Support Committee is strengthened. Jeremy
Doochin
A large portion of our Club’s membership joins or becomes active for our quality Sierra Club Outings. In fact, my initial involvement with the Sierra Club was at the age of 6 taking Sierra Club hikes with my parents, and it inspired me so much that I later returned to my local group at age 15 to become active. Outings not only bring communities together, but help to cultivate new activists.
In line with the Club’s mission to cultivate diversity, I would particularly like to see more outings focused to different groups –including different neighborhoods, minority groups, faith based groups, and students. It is also crucial that we create new ways of plugging some of outings activists into other areas of the Club. Sometimes people only are looking for an outing, but many other times a potential activist waits to be cultivated Jim
Dougherty
Outings are the Club’s life blood. I was disturbed to see that Project Renewal did not propose to preserve the national outings committee as a Board committee.
I’m an active outdoorsman and a former professional wilderness guide. Larry
Fahn
Questionnaire Not Returned Barbara
Frank
Outings, local and national, need to continue as part of the Club's mission. We need to expose and involve an increasingly disengaged public in the natural world. We evolved in a natural environment and cannot thrive without some physical and emotional contact with it. Richard Louv's book Last Child In the Woods should be required reading for everyone. Conservation and recreation should be integral parts of every Club outing. Internat'l travel requiring long flights is neither green nor sustainable and the question should be raised: is it an appropriate Club offering? David
Scott
The obvious potential of outings is that people care more about what they’ve seen up close and personal. I spent two months in central Alaska in 2000 and then spent time in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest in 2001. When I made congressional lobbying visits about Alaska wilderness protection, that time was invaluable in helping me convey real feeling for what I wanted to protect.
Outings have to be fun -- our national outings program seems to be succeeding well at providing that. I’m sure many chapter and group outings do as well. I’d like to see us expand programs like Inner City Outings and Building Bridges to the Outdoors as part of an energetic outreach to minorities and young people. Jerry
Sutherland
I had no intention of becoming an environmental activist prior to an Oregon Chapter High Desert Committee backpack trip in 1996. They saw my passion for the Pueblo Mountains and slowly but surely directed it to Sierra Club efforts. At the Summit those at my table shared similar stories. Going back to John Muir himself, outings have always been a great generator of activism within the Club. We can do more to improve communication between national outings leaders and local activists working to protect the places trips are held and to bring more conservation work directly into outings. International outings can do more to bring home the message that the Earth's biosphere is a habitat shared by all living creatures, and that all its citizens share in the responsibility to protect this web of life on behalf of current and future generations. Matt
Urban
The outings program is critical to the mission of the Club, as it is one of the best ways to provide a direct connection between people and the outdoors. Whether a conservation message is overtly embedded into an outing or not, getting people outdoors has them “get it”, and once they see and understand the natural world, it’s natural to want to protect it.
This was Muir’s vision, and what resulted in the formation of our National Park system. It’s embedded in our Club DNA. It just makes sense, and it works.
The outings program in the Club is one of the most well-run facets of our organization, but we must continue to strengthen our outreach to diverse communities – through our inner cities outings program for example, and other programs of its kind.
Reaching our broader goals requires we reach beyond our ranks, and outings are key to that. Nathan
Wyeth
Questionnaire Not Returned
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