Newsletter- October 2021 update from Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter
October 27, 2021
Happy fall from Sierra Club!
Hi Supporter,
Welcome to fall! It’s taking a while for the leaves to change color, but the temperature outside is slowly but surely falling... even if the leaves, so far, are slow to!
Here at the Hoosier Chapter, we love fall. It’s such a beautiful time of the year to get outdoors, especially in Indiana where we are blessed with awesome forests to witness the autumnal colors in all their splendor. Fall is also the time when many folks celebrate Halloween, Samhain, and other similar holidays and festivals. This has us thinking about one of the most iconic creatures of this time of year- the bat. But why do our thoughts turn to bats at this time of the year? Wildlife biologist Giorgia Auteri, daughter of Sierra Club volunteer leader Rebecca Lorenz, explores just that question in her video on YouTube, It’s the Battiest Time of the Year! Why is That?
Bats are a source of fascination for Indiana musician and artist Stuart Hyatt, too. In fact, he created an entire album based on field recordings of bats. As Stuart says in this New York Times article, “Bat noises are like bird songs, just in a register no one can hear. I wanted to bring out the musicality in their voices.” He also wanted to bring attention to the plight of the Indiana bat , a species which has been on the endangered list for over half a century.
Another bat local to our state is the northern long-eared bat, who also seem to be becoming less common. You can find out more about them from our friends at Indiana Forest Alliance, who work hard to preserve the habitat of this bat and many other species.
So, what can we do to help our bat friends? The US Fish and Wildlife service has a great list of tips. We can plant native trees and pull invasive species like honeysuckle to provide bat habitats, as researchers from Purdue and Indiana State University recommend in this Indy Star article. And, we can continue to fight for our forests, and for clean air and land to give them the best chance of survival.
We have a packed newsletter for you this month! Highlights include an interview with local author Michael Stafford, news of an event our Winding Waters Group is hosting on watersheds, and how to take action to combat air pollution. We also have a lot to celebrate- Columbus becoming Indiana's first Bee City, youth activist Rahul Durai receiving a prestigious award, and welcoming a new outings leader, Paul Fuchs. Read on for all this, as well as our usual recommendations feature and some beautiful readers' photographs.
Podcast with local author Michael Stafford
As Hoosier Chapter Chair, I wanted to let you know about this podcast interview with Indiana author, Michael Stafford. We talk of how we met earlier this year while taking action against the Indiana “Anti-Wetlands bill”, Senate Bill 389, and the importance of protecting the environment.
Michael and I met during a volunteer phone banking event when I was calling Indiana voters to discuss the “Anti-Wetlands” bill. It was late March, 2021 and the Indiana State Legislature had not heard a single environmental bill but was about to hear SB 389. Now Indiana law, it was a bill that was anything but “pro-wetlands”. Hoosier Chapter members had been emailing and calling the chapter office communicating outrage and opposition to this biased partisan bill that would benefit the Indiana Home Builders Association and the authors of the bill. It was during one of these calls that Michael asked what he and his wife Susie could do to help. In short, Michael and I decided to record this podcast and share it with our Hoosier Chapter members and friends. We hope you enjoy it!
Julie Lowe, Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter and Winding Waters Group Chair.
Columbus, IN Becomes First Bee City USA Affiliate in Indiana
Four years ago, members of the Sierra Club Winding Waters Group met with me to discuss plans for a “Pollinator Park” in Columbus. Both Sierra Club and the park committee shared the common goal of increasing native plants in Columbus.
Fast forward to the present, when, thanks in large part to the advocacy of the Sierra Club and other environmentally focused groups, Columbus has become the first Indiana affiliate of Bee City USA as of September 2021. Columbus City Council voted unanimously to accept the resolution to make the city’s commitment official.
Eric Riddle Secretary and Program Co-Chair for the Sierra Club Winding Waters Group
Members of Columbus Pollinator Committee, Sierra Club, and Americorps at Blackwell Park at monthly volunteer event. Photo courtesy of Eric Riddle.
Celebrating Youth Climate Activist Rahul Durai
“Duke Energy has a choice: It can choose to keep polluting our planet and our communities, or it can choose to protect a livable future for Indiana. We are firmly telling Duke that we, the people of Indiana, want a livable future!”
- Rahul Durai (right), 2021 Sierra Club Emerging Changemaker of the Year Award Recipient
Last year, 15-year old student activist, Rahul, helped found Confront the Climate Crisis, a youth-led organization dedicated to propelling Indiana forward on climate action and environmental justice, while holding our elected leaders accountable.
We’re thrilled Rahul stepped in as a leader with the Greater Lafayette volunteer team on the Beyond Coal Campaign.
Photo: Elina Gorenstein, Confront the Climate Crisis
To learn more about and to support the work of Rahul and Confront the Climate Crisis, please visit confronttheclimatecrisis.com
Recently, Rahul spoke at the Get Moving Duke Press Conference hosted by the Beyond Coal Campaign at the Pedestrian Bridge in Lafayette. The purpose of the event was to expose Duke Energy as Indiana’s worst climate polluter and to call on the utility to move beyond fossil fuels and transition to affordable, renewable energy as part of their 20-year energy planning process. The company is expected to debut their plan in the coming weeks. Rahul was joined at the event by State Rep. Chris Campbell, West Lafayette (WL) Councilwoman Kathy Parker, WL Utility Dir. Dave Henderson and Susan Schechter, owner of Virtuous Cycles. The Wabash River provided an important backdrop to signify the tie-in of Duke’s Gibson Super Polluter plant, also located along the Wabash, and the necessity of protecting our freshwater resources.
Take action- Tell IDEM to Hold Polluters Accountable
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is seeking comments on its draft regional haze plan, a do-nothing plan that fails to impose any pollution reductions on any polluters.
The goal of the regional haze part of the Clean Air Act is to protect visibility at our national parks. Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is the national park most impacted by Indiana polluters, but of course Hoosiers are impacted by their pollution too. The same types of pollution that cause haze--sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides/ozone--also cause serious public health problems. In this draft plan, IDEM has failed to reduce harmful air pollution from Duke's Gibson County Super Polluter, US Steel in Gary, and Alcoa Warrick's high polluting aluminum plant in Warrick County, among others. IDEM’s whole plan is designed to defend not requiring anything from Indiana polluters.
Interested in doing more and testifying at the upcoming hearing on October 28? Reach out to Amanda at amanda.shepherd@sierraclub.org.
Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter, Winding Waters Group, is excited to announce the upcoming event, Upstream, Downstream: Sharing the Watershed. Attendees will be connected to Indiana Humanities’ Unearthed theme, which helps Hoosiers explore how the environment shapes us and we shape it. We are delighted to welcome speaker Phillip Anderson (ReThink Consulting and IUPUI) to present at this event, which will be held on November 9, at Decatur County REMC and online.
In this talk, Phillip Anderson encourages attendees to consider this question in their own life and locality: “How do my actions affect the ways other people interact with the watershed?”
One of the biggest challenges Indiana’s rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands face does not come from big industrial pollution but rather pollution that can come from our construction sites, our parking lots, our farms, our roads, and even our own backyards. Every Hoosier can help to protect Indiana’s watersheds. That is why we are so excited to host this event. We hope you can join us!
Julie Lowe, Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter and Winding Waters Group Chair.
Date & time: Tuesday, November 9, 2021, 7 to 8 pm (Doors open at 6:30)
Location: Community Meeting Room, Decatur County REMC, 1430 W. Main Street, Greensburg, IN 47240 and online.
We are pleased to welcome Paul Fuchs as a new outings leader with Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter!
To become an official hike leader with the club, it is a requirement is to organize and lead a hike. Paul chose Fort Harrison State Park as a perfect location for an early fall outing, and gave a great trailhead talk.
For more information about our outings program, or if you're interested in becoming an outings leader, contact chapter chair Julie Lowe, at j_lowe66@yahoo.com
L-R, Paul Fuchs, Alan Pineda, Joe Warner, Ian Bretz, Jesse Kirkham, and Annie Bretz. See more photos from Paul on our Instagram.
Readers' photos
We have a lovely variety of readers' photos to share with you this month!
Top: "This is a green frog that has lived in this pond for over 3 years. He was raised as a tadpole and always sits in the Arrow Arum everyday. Although not an uncommon species it gives me hope of reclaiming wildlife marshes and habitat very easily. He also overwinters every year and fascinates me after a harsh winter that he is able to spring back". - Neal Dake.
The second photo is from our own Chair, Julie Lowe. She says, "forget-me-nots are my favorite, and I took this photo at Spring Mill State Park in August while there for our family reunion. So delicate!"
Lastly, a photograph from outside Indiana- reader Cheryl Milchak sent this from Rachel Carson Reserve Beaufort, North Carolina. She has named this photo Grazing on the Marsh.
Thank you so much to Neal, Julie, and Cheryl for sending these photos in!
Do you have a photograph of Indiana nature that you would like to share?
We'd love to see it and perhaps feature it in a future newsletter!
Use the button below or email rebecca.dien-johns@sierraclub.org
What have you been reading, listening to, or watching lately? We'd love to hear from you. Use the button below or email rebecca.dien-johns@sierraclub.org
That's everything for this month! To stay up-to-date with our chapter goings on between newsletters, you can follow us on social media at the links below so you don't miss a thing. We hope you've enjoyed reading this newsletter as much as we enjoyed putting it together!
