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HGB & TN Chapter Meetings
Conservation on Tap!
Join the Harvey Broome Group at Albright Grove Brewing Company, 2924 Sutherland Avenue, Knoxville, on Wednesday, December 13th from 7 - 9pm. We will be speaking to the crowd about what the Sierra Club is and does and a bit about our fight against climate change. More important, the HBG will receive $1 for every pint of beer sold that night, so it is an important fundraiser for the group. So, come on down and drink a beer or two, and invite your friends!
December 12, 2023 Program
What: Annual December Slide Show Program and Social
When: Tuesday, December 12, 2023, 7:00-8:30 PM
Where: Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville TN.
HBG Holiday Party and Photo Fest! The December 12th program meeting of the Harvey Broome Group will be the annual opportunity for folks to show some photos of their favorite outing of the year and to tell the group about what made it special. If you had a great adventure in 2023, get together 8-12 photographs and let Mac Post (mpost3116@gmail.com) or Melanie Mayes (mamayes5@yahoo.com ) know what your are planning. Bring your photos loaded onto a flash drive. We also like to share some food, so bring something in the snack or hors d'oeuvres category so we won't go hungry! The meeting is at 7:00 pm at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church at 2931 Kingston Pike in Knoxville
January 9, 2024 Program
What: Tennessee Riverline: North America's Next Great Regional Trail by Lila Honaker, Communications and Marketing Director, and Jennifer Webster, Programs Manager
When: Tuesday, January 9, 2024, 7:00-8:30 PM
Where: Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church 2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville TN.
The Tennessee RiverLine is North America’s next great regional trail system, spanning all 652 miles of the Tennessee River and representing 1.2 million acres of connected river experiences. It is a catalyst for economic, social, and environmental impact in four states and dozens of cities, towns, and rural communities along the Tennessee River, as well as the more than 4.5 million residents who call the Tennessee River Valley home. Beyond recreational, environmental, and economic potential, the project embodies the spirit of innovation and regional collaboration that is our legacy in the Tennessee River Valley.
In this presentation, we will explore how recreation, stewardship, and land use come together to inspire new thinking amongst its many generations of committed stewards–both young and old–about our relationship with this valuable resource.
Retreat at Cedars of Lebanon State Park
Mark your calendars! Winter Retreat Scheduled for January 19-21, 2024 at Cedars of Lebanon State Park.
CEDARS OF LEBANON HIKES FOR 2024 RETREAT ON SATURDAY
All Sierra Club Members: Tennessee Chapter Elections
It's time to vote for your fellow Sierra Club volunteers who are running for Group and Chapter Executive Committees. Find the ballots and candidate statements both in the print paper mailed to members, and the electronic version:
November December 2023 Tennes-Sierran.
Instructions are on page 4 of the paper. Please note: Despite the ballot instructions, you will not find your membership number on the Tennes-Sierran mailing label. It was inadvertently left off. Find it on your membership card, or on the mailing label of your copy of the Sierra Magazine, online at: myaccount.sierraclub.org, or included in an email sent to all members with the subject "Sierra Club Chapter and Group Excom Elections".
For assistance, email Election Committee Chair Mac Post (mpost3116@aol.com).
Ballots must be received by December 15.
Thank you for participating in the Sierra Club democratic process.
HBG Outing: Help Save Dean's Woods from the Invaders!
Saturday, December 16
9:30 AM - 2 PM
1001 Germantown Lane, Knoxville
Deans Woods is a jewel of biodiversity in South Knoxville now owned by the University of Tennessee. Its display of vernal flora in March, April and May is unmatched this side of the Smokies! Unfortunately, it is being overrun by invasive, exotic weeds, such as wintercreeper, English ivy, Amur honeysuckle, Japanese honeysuckle, and other non-native plants. Please join us from 9 am to 1pm to pull, dig, cut, and otherwise get rid of as much of these invaders as we can. You must be reasonably fit and dressed for difficult, outdoor work. Bring tools such as pruners, mattocks, hand-axes, shovels, and saws and prepare to get down and dirty! Also bring a full water bottle or energy drink. Donuts will be provided! Any rain cancels. Call (865-719-9742) or email ( gatwildcat@aol.com) Jerry for information and to sign up.
HBG Helps Three Grateful Sierra Club-Endorsed Knoxville Endorsees Win by HBG Political Chair Kent Minault
Here’s the election article to read about our local Knoxville elections. Victor Ashe captures the energy and passion animating the victorious campaigns that establish a strong progressive ascendancy in our city’s political life.
Ashe communicates the nuances of messaging that helped the winners win, as well as the essential fact that all three victorious candidates, Debbie Helsley, Amelia Parker and Tyler Caviness, deployed extensive ground games to further their campaigns and spoke directly with thousands of Knoxvillians. The door-to-door work of the candidates, multiplied by volunteer efforts from supporting organizations like the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, CWA, Democratic Socialists of America, City Council Movement and others, were the most significant factor in handing these three Sierra-Club-endorsed candidates their substantial margins of victory. Harvey Broome Group members Julie Elfin, Stefen White, Dana Moran, Jerry Thornton, Jack Vaughan, and Kent Minault were frequently seen as voters opened their front doors.
The lesson to take to the electoral contests of 2024 is obvious; we’ll need to amplify this successful ground game so it can be effective on the much more challenging county, state and federal races we’ll face in a couple of months.
Email or call me if you’d like to join the Sierra Club’s political team to pull off more of these victories: kminault@gmail.com 818-497-3177.
Peter Thornton shows average global temperatures have fluctuated greatly since 500 million years ago, then were remarkably stable over the past 10,000 years, then very abruptly spiked in recent decades, and are on track to rise by over 8 degrees F over 1960-1990 levels by 2100.
If you missed or want to review Director Peter Thornton of the Climate Change Science Institute at ORNL's thoroughly informative, yet lay-friendly October HBG program, here's an album with him and his slides, which sum up current climate science, with reporting by Mac Post and me.
Peter seemed confident that if we reached net zero emissions, global warming would cease. In the Q&A I asked if he was as concerned as me about climate warming feedback loops accelerating each other beyond our control.
A Trillium blooms in Frozen Head SP, by Jerry Thornton; "Frozen Head Waterfall," by Michael Hodge, CC BY 2.0 (on Panther Branch Trail)
Harvey Broome Group Opposes RV Park at Frozen Head State Park
by Jerry Thornton, HBG Chair
On November 16th I and about a dozen other people, including ExCom member Dr. Melanie Mayes, voiced opposition to the State Parks Department’s plan to build an RV campground at the very entrance to Frozen Head State Park and Natural Area, in Rocky Fork Field, a favorite gathering place for local events, such as church picnics, volleyball games, and an annual Christmas gift-giving drive-through. We spoke at a public hearing on the park’s draft master plan. Officials in Nashville had snuck the RV campground into the park’s budget bundled with needed improvements to the existing primitive campground and picnic facilities. The improvements were presented as an “all or nothing” package, which is certainly not necessary. No one at the hearing spoke in favor of the RV campground, and all agreed that it would be incompatible with the stated mission and purpose of the park. HBG has filed formal comments, detailing reasons why the RV campground is a bad idea, while supporting other elements of the master plan. Please contact your state Senator and Representative and ask them to oppose spending state money for this RV campground project.
Coal Ash and Radioactivity: ask EPA to Protect Communities Near CCR Fills
By Dec. 11: Please write EPA Administrator Regan requesting urgent action to protect communities from dangerous coal ash fill projects. As described below, EPA recently found dangerous health risks from radiation exposure and arsenic at fill sites. And/or, by Dec 8: Please sign on as an individual to Earthjustice's letter to Regan
EPA has never admitted this before, and their findings raise many questions, as well as a high level of concern for fill projects in residential areas, particularly where coal ash abuts homes and/or is uncovered.
Your Action: We must now ask EPA take immediate action to (1) Quantify the health impacts from coal ash fill, especially from radioactivity; (2) Investigate and clean up coal ash fill in residential areas; (3) Initiate a rulemaking to prohibit use of coal ash as structural fill; and (4) Post an advisory recommending cessation of the use of coal ash as fill in residential areas pending a final rulemaking.
The Litter Chicks gathered at Watauga Lake for their last cleanup in November. Sandy’s crew and ours totaled 102 sacks of litter!
Clean Up TVA rally
by Todd Waterman
On November 8, Kent Minault, Brady Watson, and I carpooled to Tupelo, Mississippi, where we joined others for a Clean Up TVA rally, then for commenting at a TVA Board "Listening Session." We advocated against TVA's planned methane gas plants and pipelines, urging instead renewables, storage, and energy efficiency. We also asked for increased transparency, and for CEO and employee bonuses no longer incentivizing fossil and nuclear but green energy. Then, promisingly, we spoke with two board members who agreed to ongoing meetings with us. Dave Flessner of the Chattanooga Times Free Press wrote up our rally, the listening, and the next day's board meeting, at which members voted not to give CEO Jeff Lyash a raise, and three members suggested revisiting TVA's compensation structure.
Clean Up TVA activists rally before heading inside to comment before the TVA Board (Todd Waterman photo).
2023 SOCM Annual Meeting attendees pose in front of Cumberland State Park's Byrd Creek Dam and bridge, constructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Organizing with Joy at Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM)'s Annual Meeting
by Todd Waterman
At our partner organization SOCM's Annual Meetings, serious organizing is seriously fun. This year, on October 7-8 at Cumberland State Park, on Saturday morning, Dragonfly Circus Arts led Building Solidarity Across Difference exercises that had us laughing, then gazing into each other's eyes, then in groups creating frozen skits dramatizing the polarization of library book-banning debates, then resolving those conflicts to achieve solidarity. We paired up for connecting conversations. We chose issue-focussed breakout groups on Public Education, Housing, and Environment – that one would birth a new statewide Environmental Group. Then, SOCM’s traditional young-versus-old tug-o-war – which this year appeared to prove SOCM’s experience is its strength (though not its future). We did Skill Workshops on “Identifying issues through effective 1:1 conversations” and "Bringing New People Into the Work." After dinner in the cafeteria, we closed with candle-lit memorials, recognitions, and visions for SOCM’s future.
On Sunday morning, three groups each raced to design a campaign, writing each of an equal number of steps on a paper plate, then laying out the plates, with each person stepping from plate to plate to leap over the finish line. Then, the one and only Rachel Milford of Cattywampus Puppet Council introduced . . . giant puppet-making! Before we could get our hands dirty, though, it was more constructive play, and five-year planning breakouts on Public Education, Housing, and Environment. But then . . .
I love photographing all that joy and passion, though I pay a dear price: missing out on much of that joy and passion. Next year, don't you miss it.
On the Third Act Tennessee Launch, Bill McKibben interviewing Justin Pearson; Sierra Club's Emily Sherwood; and recorded video of Dolly Parton singing "World on Fire."
Third Act Tennessee Launches
by Todd Waterman
Our partner Third Act Tennessee’s Nov. 9 Working Group Launch was impressive despite a technical glitch that shut most of us out for the first 15 minutes and Marquita Bradshaw's having had to cancel. The recorded video linked below begins with looping photos by Ron Shrieves and others. Dan Terpstra then introduces Third Act and its three campaigns: advancing fossil-free finance; democratizing energy; and uplifting voting and democracy, which is essential for the first two. Then we hear Third Act founder Bill McKibben and Rep. Justin Pearson enthusiastically discuss successful organizing, Emily Sherwood talks up organizing grassroots opposition to planned TVA gas pipelines, and Working Group leaders, including Joanne Logan, introduce themselves. The launch fittingly concludes with Dolly Parton debuting “World on Fire” at the 2023 Academy of Country Music Awards ceremony:
"Liar, liar, the world's on fire
What you gonna do when it all burns down?
Fire, fire, burnin' higher
Still got time to turn it all around."
CBS News' video reports that this year, as the record was broken, the Biden administration touted record levels of federal funding for clean energy projects, while not mentioning the U.S. also became the world's largest producer of crude oil. Climate scientist Michael Mann comments, hoping the similarly contradictory COP28 will nonetheless cut emissions before it's too late.
“ 'We’re really interested in making sure the United States is not waiting or relying on international fossil fuel agencies to provide power. We want to provide clean power at home,' [Granholm] said.
"Granholm said she supported TVA’s retirement of coal plants, which recently included Bull Run Fossil Plant near Oak Ridge. She described TVA’s proposed expansion of natural gas plants as 'a bridge' to other methods." Sierra Club opposes both new nuclear and new gas plants.
"The Tennessee Valley Authority has retired the Bull Run Fossil Plant, the latest in a spate of coal-fired plants as the agency aims to retire all coal plants by 2035. After more than 50 years in operation, the TVA board of directors approved the retirement of the only single-generator coal-fired plant in the TVA system, located in the Claxton community of Anderson County, in 2019. The closure was announced Dec. 1."
"The UNFCCC says the 'cardinal principle' for COP presidents and their teams is 'the obligation of impartiality.'
"Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, the head of the COP20 summit in Peru in 2014, worries a collapse in trust could mean no progress on tackling climate change in Dubai.
"Prof Michael Jacobs of Sheffield University, who is an expert on UN climate politics, told the BBC the COP28 team's actions looked 'breathtakingly hypocritical.' "
" 'I actually think it's worse than that . . .' he said, 'because the UAE at the moment is the custodian of a United Nations process aimed at reducing global emissions. And yet, in the very same meetings where it's apparently trying to pursue that goal, it's actually trying to do side deals which will increase global emissions.' "
"The National Climate Assessment shows America is warming [60%] faster than the global average with climate change impacting nearly every facet of life. It found extreme weather events now cost the U.S. roughly $150 billion per year. Amna Nawaz discussed the report with Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist of the Nature Conservancy and distinguished professor at Texas Tech University.
"KATHERINE HAYHOE: 'Wherever we live, our lives are being touched by how climate change is loading the weather dice against us.'
'So, number one, we need to cut our heat-trapping gas emissions as much as possible as soon as possible through efficiency, clean energy, and some smart agriculture. ...
'It is not about saving the planet.
'It is about saving us, us humans and many of the other living things that share this planet with us.'
Gas Has Reliability Issues. Why Is the Tennessee Valley Authority Doubling Down on It? Brady Watson, Union of Concerned Scientists blog, Oct. 12 https://blog.ucsusa.org/brady-watson/gas-has-reliability-issues-why-is-the-tennessee-valley-authority-doubling-down-on-it/
"In fact, too many gas plants are the problem, not the solution. Furthermore, it’s also clear that with the increase in extreme weather driven by climate change, gas plants are threatened by the very conditions they’ve helped contribute to.
"Both [Paul] Klein and [Nancy] Muse, and other customers just like them, want the TVA to invest in renewable energy, which can be used to replace retiring coal plants instead of adding more fossil fuels to the mix. “While of course I am a happy consumer of electricity, I feel that the TVA should be investing in renewable energy,” says Klein.
"He’s not wrong to wonder if his utility could be stepping up and doing more. Other utilities are doing it, and the TVA could be a leader given the fact that it is not beholden to shareholders. Like Klein, one also has to wonder: given all the concerns raised by residents, and the clear unreliability of gas, why is the TVA sticking to the fossil-fueled foolery of the past?"
***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. You can click on the gift link, which assumes that you plan to "gift" the journal or magazine or newspaper to someone, or you can "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.
Many thanks to the Defenders who have sent in their donations to help fund the Tennessee legislature’s only full-time lobbyist for the environment, Scott Banbury. To add your own contribution to this very important cause, simply make a secure online donation here,or mail your check to:
TN Chapter Sierra Club, Attn: Defenders
PO Box 113
Powell, TN 37849
The Defenders is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization and donations are not income-tax deductible.
