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January 10, 2006
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Sierra Club Chronicles: On DVD, TV, and Online "People can do something about environmental problems," says documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald. "The common thread in all these films is, 'Here's a story, and with community involvement, something can be done.' None of these are 'the-sky-is-falling' stories. These are problems with solutions."  Greenwald is talking about his latest endeavor, a new series called Sierra Club Chronicles, available for free on DVD when you host a house party, or watch it on the Chronicles website. If you have a satellite dish, you can also find it broadcast nationally on the Link TV channel debuting on Thursday, January 12 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. The stories, which take place from Louisiana and New Mexico to Alaska and New York, show how most environmental battles are local, and prove that one determined person, or a small group of people, can effect change. Their stories provide inspiration and ideas for campaigns being waged in other states, whether activists are confronting pollution, corporate greed, short-sighted governmental policies, or other issues.The first of seven monthly episodes, "9/11 Forgotten Heroes," focuses on first responders to the 9/11 attacks who have suffered health problems stemming from health hazards at Ground Zero. The series is produced by Greenwald's Brave New Films in association with Sierra Club Productions. To help spread the word of these stories and their significance to organizers at the local level, the Sierra Club is encouraging its volunteers and staff to host house parties. To find out more about getting a free DVD and hosting a house party, or to watch a video clip, go to www.sierraclubtv.org. Read our exclusive interview with Robert Greenwald, whose 2005 film, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices, attracted hundreds of thousands of Americans to home screenings last fall.
Why We Oppose Judge Alito's Confirmation
A Bold Plan to Limit Mercury Pollution in Illinois
 Lisa Hellman discovered the Sierra Club's Inner City Outings (ICO) program by accident in a teacher newsletter addressed to a former occupant of her apartment. She has since started an ICO group in Orange County, California, raised more than $10,000, and led more than 50 outings in the past three years. In November, REI awarded her one of its prestigious "Stewards for the Environment" awards.Inner City Outings, managed and staffed by volunteers in 49 groups around the United States, takes disadvantaged kids out into nature. The Angeles Chapter, the Club's largest, already had an established ICO program, but Hellman saw a void in Orange County, where most people don't even realize there are pockets of lower-income kids, some of whom have never experienced the local natural wonders. "Recently, we took some kids out picking up litter on the beach," says Hellman. "There were crabs all over the place. They'd never seen crabs before. They thought they were cockroaches." Hellman's is one of 16 stories in our most recent Planet newsletter highlighting "What We Do Best."
View previous editions of the Sierra Club Insider at the Insider Archives. |
Editing the Evidence
 It's not often you can actually see the White House's suppression of global warming research red-handed, but Sierra magazine has published a "decoder" that shows how Philip A. Cooney, former chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, "edited" research reports of global warming, introducing uncertainty where there was none, and even suggesting that global warming might actually turn out to be an economic opportunity. Here, in Cooney's own handwriting, is how the White House suppresses science. 
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Mr. Green's Mailbag
Is organic food a luxury only available to the wealthy? Does it make environmental sense to trade in a 1990 sedan for a new Prius hybrid? Do plastic grocery bags actually get recycled? Sierra magazine's advice columnist, Mr. Green, answers all these questions and more in his "Ask Mr. Green" column. Of course, some readers think Mr. Green, below, is more of an eco-idiot than a green guru. So he gets letters. Check out the rants, raves, and righteous ideas from our readers and Mr. Green's take-no-prisoners responses. (On families cooking from scratch: "Tell the kids to turn off the TV, and get their worthless little butts in the kitchen and chop. Better to lose a finger in the kitchen than a mind to television.")  |
PROTECT
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Don't Let the EPA Take Away Your Right-to-Know
The EPA has recently introduced a "Burden Reduction Proposed Rule." Guess whose burden would be reduced? One of our nation's most successful environmental protections, the Community Right-to-Know Act requires industry to disclose information on chemical releases into nearby communities. (Congress ordered these annual "toxic release inventories" (TRI) reports in the wake of a 1984 accident at a Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India, which released a poisonous gas and killed thousands, many of whom didn't even know the pesticide was being manufactured in their community.) But now the EPA is proposing weakening these protections, by excusing companies from disclosing large spills and requiring the reports every other year instead of annually. Tell the EPA to protect our right to know about toxic chemical releases, and to drop its proposed ruling.  |