2018 Winter Impact Report

by Adriana Gonzalez, Puerto Rico Chapter

In San Juan, our chapter focused on conservation and zero-waste infrastructure projects. But when the hurricane hit, everything changed. The island was ripped apart. People didn’t have power and access anywhere was difficult. First, I made sure our volunteers were safe. Then, our relief efforts started, and that broke down to three phases:

During the first week, we started bringing warm meals to residents with special needs and seniors living alone—that community is still without power. We worked with local restaurants in that area and provided compostable boxes for the meals (there was so much waste and debris everywhere from the hurricanes that we didn’t want to add to it).

In the second phase, we were able to start making relief grants to specific community groups on different parts of the island. Community leaders and partners really know and understand their own communities and where the greatest need is. Some groups started using the funds for warm meal distribution, others bought groceries or materials for rebuilding their houses, and there were even some that bought machinery and equipment to clear away trees and debris to open up the roads. We also recently granted funds to help rebuild and reinstate one of our community agricultural programs.

“People have either heard or read about solar energy, but they have never really experienced it.”

The third phase came when materials like solar lanterns and water filtration systems started arriving. We had gotten to a point where the grocery store ran out of food. Water treatment plants weren’t operating to provide people with clean water (and many were getting sick drinking contaminated water). And how many batteries and how much diesel can you get before running out? Then the waste accumulated again. The supplies and materials have been such a valuable, cohesive way to bring relief to our communities.

We’ve had really interesting reactions to solar lanterns as soon as we started distributing them. People have either heard or read about solar energy, but they have never really experienced it. I remember handing out a solar lantern to a senior man that I’ve been delivering meals to. He was skeptical about the solar lantern and thought we were crazy for giving him something like that. The next day when I went to visit him again, he said, “Oh my god, it really works! It’s amazing!” One type of solar lantern sent to us had a radio feature. One family almost cried after not having any communication with the outside world for weeks; then, all of a sudden, they had access to entertainment on the radio.

People didn’t have to buy or rely on batteries anymore. They have clean energy in their hands, and solar energy is a completely doable solution.

Right now, our communications and road access have improved, but there are still communities without power, running water, or a lot of basic needs met. Businesses are having a hard time—without power, they can’t operate their business (especially when people are spending $100 daily on diesel) and are forced to shut down. This is causing a domino effect, where people are losing their jobs and unable take care of themselves or their families.

As we start to move beyond first response, I wonder how we can have a better quality of life. People are just barely getting by. For a lot of people, the issue is not having a quality of life that is dignified, like something as simple as a home-cooked meal or being able to do anything that resembled their life before the hurricanes.

“For a lot of people, the issue is not having a quality of life that is dignified, like something as simple as a home-cooked meal or being able to do anything that resembled their life before the hurricanes.”

Recovery will take many years, but we don’t want to revert back to how things were before. We want to recover and emerge as a different island.

Image: Adriana, far left, with volunteers after receiving a shipment of solar lanterns and other emergency relief supplies.

by Olinka Green (Dallas, Texas)

A resident’s experience with the impact of Monticello, Big Brown, and Sandow coal plants.

These coal plants have affected every single one of us. I’ve lived in Dallas my whole life. I’ve always suffered with breathing problems from living here. I didn’t even know how bad it was until I lived on the Virgin Islands briefly for eight months with no breathing problems at all. When I came back to Dallas, my lungs started to fail and I had to be put on steroids and asthma treatments.

My granddaughter, who is five years old now, is really affected by the pollution from these plants. It’s especially hard to breathe during the summer time. We have ozone days—that’s when the air quality is in the red zone and we can’t go outside. ‘Red days’ happened so often on 98 or 99 degree days. We would all stay inside from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. because the air pollution was so bad. My granddaughter had to go to the hospital three to four times for breathing treatments, and often developed skin rashes from the pollutants in the air. When she was three years old, I took her to an EPA hearing. She testified and said, “I want to breathe clean air.” She and her parents just moved out of Dallas to the countryside this past summer, where there are no coal plants and they can be closer to nature.

All three of these plants made a big impact on everyone’s lives here. Just like you can’t separate your fingers from your hand, you can’t say which plant was worse—they all played a part. I’m elated these plants closed because it’s a big victory, and poor people don’t usually get victories.

Image: Olinka with her granddaughter. Photo Credit: Olinka Green

Any drilling will threaten our coastline, coastal communities, marine ecosystems, and our efforts to combat climate disruption. There were 23 public hearings from January through early March, and our chapters in every coastal state coordinated a big bipartisan push back, contributing to the 1.3 million public comments in opposition to the plan and drove attendance at public hearings. In spite of the format and locations of the hearings—just one per state, usually hundreds of miles away from the coastal communities that would be affected by drilling, and with no opportunity to give spoken comments—thousands of Sierra Club champions across the country (from California to North Carolina) showed up in a big way to send a clear message: No offshore drilling off our coasts!

Image: Thousands showed up in Sacramento and at rallies across California to voice opposition to Zinke’s scheme. As a result, California declared that it will block any permit for drilling along its coastline. 
Photo Credit: Jane Richey