SierraScape October - November 2005
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CANDIDATE STATEMENTS

Executive Committee (ExCom) members meet once per month to authorize club actions and assist activities of other Eastern Missouri Group (EMG) members.

There are seven voting members on the ExCom. Three persons will be elected, each to fill a two-year term. Voting instructions are given on the ballot (see page 7).

The following are statements by candidates for the ExCom, listed in alphabetical order.

     Becky Denny

I have been a member of EMG Sierra for six years. Now a Life member, I expect to learn more about the organization.

For five years I've been a Stream Team member. Fox Creek has been so rich in macro-invertebrates that I feel honored to be involved in the program.

I attended DNR meetings several years ago as the state Stream Team rep to develop rules for Sand and Gravel mining through DNR. I received the Citizens Award from the Missouri Chapter of the American Fisheries Society primarily for attending those meetings.

A longtime member of the Coalition for the Environment, I actively opposed the Page Ave extension. I attended Chip Mill meetings in Jefferson City and spoke against allowing them in Missouri. We (citizens/environmentalists) did not get the committee action we needed to protect our forests but we did make it uncomfortable for several large companies to move into the state.

I am a Forestkeeper with plots on my land near Lake Clearwater. I've agreed to follow a forest plan written by a Missouri state forester. I hope to improve the diversity present in my 43 hilly acres even though it was "high-graded' in the early 1990's.

     Judy Holstein

My name is Judy Holstein and I am running for a place on the Executive Committee. I have been a member of the Sierra Club for ten years. I worked on the first two Sierra Club "Walks for the Environment." I have participated in the yearly planning sessions and helped with the planting of the native plants in the small park area near the club office. I have volunteered for lemonade sales on Earth Day in Forest Park.

I have worked on the SierraScape committee for the past several years and have been involved with the Political Action Committee also. I regularly write letters to our representatives on environmental issues and also to the Post when issues come up regarding the environment.

I have a deep commitment to working for the welfare of the environment and am looking forward to working to improve the image of the Sierra Club in the Eastern Missouri Group area.

     Joan Kernan

The Sierra Club became a part of my life during the struggle to prevent the Meramec Dam. It was a successful campaign and encouraged me to continue to fight for preservation of the environment and against harmful legislation and corporate greed. That passion has remained with me for over thirty years. My family and I have camped at many of the pristine sites that dot our land and have a true appreciation of nature. It saddens us as we see our treasures eroded. Never have we been in a more vulnerable position and had a greater challenge to preserve the air, land and waters of our country. It is a steep climb but we must accept the challenge. The Sierra Club is doing something right as it is now a designated target of talk show hosts and other representatives who disdain nature and the right to breathe clean air. If named to the Executive Board, I will work diligently to keep on us on track, inform the public and hound legislators to recognize the dangers that surround us. It is more important to protect our natural treasures than to fatten the coffers of corporations.

     Henry Robertson

I'm running for a second term on Excom. In my current term I serve as the Group's representative to the Chapter, which means that I spend six weekends a year in meetings with Sierra Club leaders from around the state. This helps me keep up with the full range of issues facing us. Fortunately, everyone gets along well at both the Group and Chapter levels, which I'm told has not always been the case.

Meanwhile I remain active on the Conservation Committee and the Transportation and Smart Growth Committee. I've just started an Energy Committee, which is working on local mayors to play a part in the fight against global warming by improving their cities' energy efficiency. I also squeeze the odd lemon, go to public meetings, and pen the occasional comment letter on behalf of the Club.

I've just started a job with Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, a non-profit law firm founded to protect the environment, as an attorney working half-time.

These are not easy days for us. We can't necessarily rely on government to protect our wild places or the quality of our air, land and water. In the July/September Ozark Sierran I wrote an article on the prospect of impending oil shortages and America's need to kick the petroleum habit with energy efficiency and renewable energy sources like wind, solar and biomass.

I can't claim to be a human dynamo solving all these problems, but with the backing of the Sierra Club's great membership I feel that I can make a difference. I will give of my time if you'll give me your vote.

     Ken Schechtman

I am a lifelong activist, committed to the notion that change does not happen unless ordinary people join together and demand it. Environmentalists have been doing so for decades, and anyone who considers the clean air bill or our many reborn streams and lakes must marvel at the successes, even as we battle for all that is yet to be won and for all that is currently being stolen.

I have been Vice Chair of our Executive Committee for the last four years and am a Washington University Professor who brings to the Club a dedication to environmental ideals, a scientist's measured analysis of issues and, most important, an abiding commitment to an effective results-oriented Club that lets no one forget that we did not stand by and watch. As a hiker with a reverence for nature, I have an obligation to Missouri's forests and to our wild and special places. As an advocate, I have authored dozens of published op-ed articles over many years. As a citizen, I have been a long-time activist in numerous progressive causes. And as a parent, I can do nothing less than fight for the planet I will one day leave behind. I hope you will again offer that opportunity.