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2009 Election Candidate Forum:
The Candidates
Lane Boldman's responses to the 10 questions of the candidate forum:
Candidate responses were limited to 150 words per question.
What leadership positions have you held in the Sierra Club, and what have you accomplished in those positions?
• Chair, Cumberland Chapter Mountaintop Removal Task Force, 2008
o Halted Mountaintop Removal valley fills in Kentucky through successful challenge of Army Corps permits.
• Chair, National Council of Sierra Club Leaders, 2005-2008
o Advanced the Council’s efficiency through improved communications, dialogue, reporting and accountability. Improved connections between the Council and Board.
• Chair, Cumberland Chapter, 2002-2005
o Stopped the world’s largest coal company’s first major new coal-fired power plant in a generation, three years before the Club made this issue a national priority. Longest-running legal challenge in the Club’s National Coal campaign.
• Chair, Bluegrass Group 1997-2000
o Took on major battles regarding water privatization and sprawl.
• National Volunteer Leadership Advisory Committee, 2008
• Chair, Board Natural Gas Fracturing Task Force, 2008
• More: I have held many more leader positions in the Club since 1992, including forests and wildlands, and outings leadership roles. For details visit www.laneboldman.com
What needed skills or abilities will you bring to the Board of Directors: A team player? Conflict resolution experience? Financial expertise? Technology/communications? Other? Be specific.
• As Marketing Director for a $6-million dollar company, I am skilled in managing large budgets.
• As a Media professional and member of the Communications and Education Governance Committee, I bring advanced communication and media outreach skills.
• As an activist in the Appalachian Coal Belt, I bring key skills in combating Global Warming and working with low-income communities.
• As an outings leader and backpacking instructor, I place highest priority on protecting our wild places.
• An experienced Committee Chair at multiple Club levels, I know how to channel our volunteer energy.
• 2008 recipient of the Club’s Susan E. Miller award for contributions to Chapters, Groups and regional entities: “Lane has held a variety of positions too numerous to mention in the Sierra Club since 1993….she is held in the highest regard by people at all levels of the Club for her intelligence, fairness, and tireless work ethic.”
A lot has changed in the last 6 months—President-elect Obama's victory, the unprecedented economic crises, the number of people energized by the election. How should the Sierra Club view its role in this changed environment?
This is important. These last several years have been difficult. Our long-time activists and staff have overtaxed themselves, going above and beyond in order to win important victories during a period where political pressure was not in their favor. While the victories have been exciting and inspiring, the wear-and-tear on our volunteers and staff has been brutal. Even as we move forward, we must also recoup. Our focus needs to be on finding the financial support for our volunteers and staff that will enable them to deliver on their groundwork and take the pressure off of overtaxed resources. As for our role on a larger scale, we have come out stronger. Sierra Club is by far the most respected of all the environmental organization the area of climate change. It is our opportunity to draw more people and resources to us and we must use that opportunity now.
Please comment on the question of the Club engaging in business partnerships, including the Club's recent experience in cause-related marketing with Clorox Greenworks line of household cleaning products?
I have listened very carefully regarding this issue. The fact that the Club has had business partnerships for many years is true: We accept advertising in Sierra Magazine and I, like many thousands of members, hold a Sierra Club affinity credit card that donates to the Club. What I think made the GreenWorks relationship different was the specific parent company involved. Some partnerships have a greater propensity for controversy. This was such a case. Perception can be reality to the public. GreenWorks was a successful product, but the question is: were there other options that did not risk our credibility as much? Had the parent company been Seventh Generation or other well-known eco-company, not Clorox, would the concern be the same? The Club hit an uncomfortable line with this one and lesson learned is that we need to place higher attention to these questions and associated risks.
What is your experience with outings, and what do you see as their role in the Club?
• Outings Leader since 1993
• Backpacking instructor since 1998
• Involved with Inner City Outings since 2004
I started in the Club as an outings leader, and continue leading outings to this day. The Outings program is the initial contact for many future leaders and a vital component of our work. My husband and I lead Inner City Outings for at-risk youth — one of the Club’s most rewarding programs. The Outings program maintains a steadiness of vision and function that is core to this organization, reaching out and directly engaging people with the places we are inspired by and are working to protect. I currently lead outings to areas affected by Mountaintop Removal Mining to engage people directly with an issue that truly must be seen firsthand to understand the destruction. If you want to participate in a Mountaintop Removal outing please contact me at lanebold@earthlink.net.
In the spirit of One Club, what do you see as the proper relationship of staff and volunteers to each other and to the mission of the Club in 2009 and beyond, and how would you improve the connection between National Sierra Club operations and grassroots leadership?
Our unique strength is that we are fundamentally a grassroots-driven organization. Volunteers oversee policies, priorities and budgets while staff oversees support and organizing functions. This is a complex structure, and I have worked deliberately to strengthen connections at all levels of the Club including local group, Chapter, and National entities, and between volunteers and staff. Unfortunately our size demands that one has to make an exceptional effort to stay connected. As I have done as Chair of the Council, I would improve these connections by increasing the opportunities for National entities to listen to local entities and hear their needs. We have to pay particular attention to the smaller, more venerable entities in the Club, including those not directly involved in priority campaigns such as Inner City Outings. Our mission for 2009 is to strive for our existing programs to be supported well and work effectively.
What is your experience with grassroots organizing? What do you see as the key differences between 20th century grassroots organizing and 21st century grassroots organizing?
Fundamentally, there is little difference between organizing now and organizing when I started in the club. Successful organizing involves identifying, informing, and inspiring people to come together and work for a greater cause, the same as it has always been. People organized against injustice in the coalfields in the 1920’s and 30’s, for civil rights in the 1960’s and for Global Warming in this century. What changed are the tools. Social networking, blogs, YouTube, Google Earth, and other advanced electronic communication tools allow us to move people on a larger, faster scale in ways we did not have even five or ten years ago. These are powerful organizing tools, and we must learn to use them well to engage younger audiences. But as a media professional, I know that tools are only tools and effective organizing requires a collective vision, knowledge, will, and strong leaders. Those needs haven’t changed.
What is your vision of ways to finance the Club's Chapters, Groups, and volunteer structures in the next 2, 5, and 10 years? Would you support mechanisms such as national-chapter fundraising partnerships, new types of grants, allocation of funds based on non-demographic criteria, or general assistance in outside fund-raising? Suggest other ways. Please be specific.
The stability of our funding is the single largest factor that is holding us back, jeopardizing the consistency and success of our programs. It is challenging for volunteers and staff alike to spend resources building a successful program and to then lose their funding. The ability for donors to give to local and regional projects is very attractive, yet it diverts core energy from local activists when they have to focus instead on fundraising. Partnering our knowledge and limited resources within the Club should be considered. We need to get a handle on how we can allow more entities in the Club to apply for grants without being in competition among ourselves. Professional assistance in identifying foundations and potential donors of all levels would be a tremendous help. This may also require a fundraising manager, who can identify the most appropriate strategies for approaching multiple levels of donors.
The Club is undertaking work to bring more youth and diverse cultures into our membership and leadership. What specific strategies would you advocate to accomplish this?
We have started a down a positive track, but we have a long way to go, and we may experience some bumps as we try to catch up. The adoption of a Diversity plan has already improved our outreach to communities of color. And the modernization of our electronic communications to attract younger audiences is taking shape. We need all this and more of it. We must build capacity and make sure these important improvements do not divert from our existing activists and supporters—so that our outreach is not just a shift, but is an expansion; retaining what we have as we reach out to others. Programs such as Inner City Outings, Environmental Justice, and the Sierra Student Coalition can take the lead in this area. We also need to restore the functions of the Partnerships program’s faith outreach, and increase our presence in China and India.
How effective are the Sierra Club's publication and electronic communication tools and which ones do you read or use?
As a former Communications & Education Governance Committee member, and as a Media & Marketing Manager professionally, I have made it a point to be subscribed to every Sierra Club outreach and internal channel possible in order to provide good feedback, which I do on a regular basis. I am subscribed to Sierra Magazine, Taking the Initiative, RAW, Hotline, Currents, Plugged In, Insider, The Green Life, Clubhouse News, several Chapter newsletters, committee publications such as EJ and Inner City Outings newsletters, the Club’s Facebook and MySpace pages, Sierra Club Radio, “Hey Mr. Green” podcasts and multiple listservs.
We do need to make sure that the purpose of each medium and channel is clear and useful. Our internal communications in particular still need much work. I am well known by leaders as an effective communicator, and will bring this and my media skills to my work as a Director.