March update from the Heartlands Group, connecting Indianapolis and surrounding counties
March 6, 2025
News from your local Sierra Club group
Greetings from your Heartlands Group! We're excited to invite you to a hike this Saturday at Ritchey Woods — our first of many local outings we are planning this year. We are looking forward to meeting you.
Also in this newsletter - find out more about the Heartlands Group and how to get involved, how you can help protect our progress towards renewable energy in Indiana, and an invite to the Hoosier Chapter Spring Briefing.
Jesse Kirkham (Heartlands Group Chair)
Join us at Ritchey Woods this Saturday, March 8
Join us for a FREE phenology-focused hike as we partner with Indiana Phenology and Friends of Richey Woods to stroll through Ritchey Woods Nature Preserve.
Join us on Saturday, March 8, 10 AM to noon at Ritchey Woods.
We'll use the iNaturalist phone app to make citizen science observations, practice winter tree ID, and look for the first signs of spring. This is a great learning opportunity and Family Fun Hike.
The Heartlands Group serves the greater Indianapolis area. It's part of the Hoosier Chapter of the Sierra Club, hosting Sierra Club outings, hikes, conservation education and sustainability events in Central Indiana. Our mission is to leave a better environment for future generations. We will increase environmental awareness through action and education.
Please tell us your environmental interest and share your passions and concerns at jlkirkham@earthlink.net
We look forward to hearing from you!
Join us on the trail! You can find all Sierra Club hikes and outings in Indiana at sc.org/hcevents
Protect our Progress towards Renewable Energy
If passed into law, the Energy Inflation Act (House Bill 1007, and Senate Bills 423/424) could leave Hoosiers stuck with billions in electric rate increases for experiments with Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMR’s) and reverse our progress in transitioning away from coal towards renewable energy.
The good news is that our voices are making a difference — already House Representatives adopted an amendment to House Bill 1007 which would require large users like Google to pay 80% (up from 75%) of the costs of adding new power resources to meet their data center needs.
If we can organize more of our friends and family to contact our lawmakers, we stand a chance of blunting these bad bills. Tell your legislators to vote no at: sc.org/nobailout.
You can find a sample script to invite your friends to take action, along with information about how to volunteer with Sierra Club at tinyurl.com/takeaction25.
Join the Spring Briefing with our Director, Robyn and the Hoosier Chapter, March 18, 7:00 PM
On the call you will hear from our Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter leaders, volunteers and staff about our successes and challenges in advocating for the environment and Hoosier families at the State Legislature. You’ll hear about the incredible work of our Sierra Club community in Indiana including our favorite outings, how our Beyond Coal campaign is challenging Duke Energy to transition to clean energy, and our efforts to expand protections for our forests.
We will also take the opportunity to highlight the Spring schedule and ways you can get more involved in our work in Indiana to explore, enjoy, and protect our planet and our communities.
