Our volunteers are at the heart of our work. In this newsletter, we are excited to share blogs from several volunteer leaders.
đł Kasey asks, "Whatâs Your Tree Story?" đĄ Lindsey considers The Collective Shift: The Myth of Self-Sufficiency in the third and final part of the Replacing Consumerism blog series đż Lora reports from the 2026 Heartwood Forest Council Gathering đ Jennifer is contemplating "What does the 250th Anniversary mean to me?" in Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of the United States of America đ¶Mark has a Tale from the Trail: Jasper Parklands Urban Hike
Plus!
đ Join our virtual Book Club đïž Sierra Club events and outings near you ... All our regular features, and more!
Happy reading,
Rebecca Dien-Johns Chapter Digital Strategist
đłWhatâs your tree story?
I used to lie in my bed at night as a child and stare at the tree in our front yard that towered outside my windows. As it swayed back and forth, its shadows danced across my room. I was both mesmerized and horrified. By day, this mighty Sycamore offered shade for my busy make-believe town filled with Matchbox cars one moment and Barbie and Ken adventures (dates) the next. My older sister used to climb high into its limbs. I was never so brave.
đĄ The Collective Shift: The Myth of Self-Sufficiency
In the first two parts of this series, we explored how consumerism shapes our mindset and our homes. Now, we turn toward what happens when that personal work begins to move beyond our front doors.
When we remove excess from our homes, we often discover that what we were searching for was never another purchase, a larger closet, or a better storage solution. What many of us are truly seeking is connection. The more we simplify our spaces, the more room we create for community, reciprocity, and belonging. This is where the personal work begins to become a collective shift.
Conservation Committee Chair, Lora Kemp, and Winding Waters Group member, Julie Lowe traveled to the Shawnee National Forest in Illinois for the 2026 Heartwood Forest Council. Held at the Dixon Springs State Park, the Forest Council highlighted different forest preservation and conservation issues.
Attendees got to explore Dixon Springs, learn rock climbing skills, wrote letters to help protect Indiana bobcats, and researched plants and creatures found in the local streams.
Native flora in the Shawnee National Forest. Photo: Julie Lowe
đCelebrating the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of the United States of America
What does the 250th Anniversary of the founding of the United States of America mean to me? Well, Iâm old enough to remember the Bicentennial Anniversary celebration in 1976. I have a vague picture in my mind of the 4th of July parade in my hometown that year when I was 8 years old. I remember creaky red wagons decorated with red, white, and blue ribbons, fire trucks blaring, and clowns throwing candy, probably tootsie rolls and pixie sticks. I remember the thrill of finding a Bicentennial quarter, with a revolutionary drummer on the tail side, and even now I habitually look for them on the rare occasion that I receive coins. Most of all, I remember the feeling of the Bicentennial being something bigger than myself, more than I could explain or understand. I was 8 and ignorance was bliss.
đ¶Tale from the Trail: Jasper Parklands Urban Hike
It was a beautiful Saturday morning in Jasper and a perfect day for the Sierra Clubâs urban hike at the Parklands.
The Parklands of Jasper is a 75-acre urban renewal endeavor which turned a 9-hole golf course and surrounding woodlands into an urban oasis with two miles of walking trails, a wetlands area for nature studies, 25-acres of woods and a large variety of all native plants, wildflowers, and pollinators.
Attendees of the outing observing the wetland area. Photo: Nicole Chandler
đ Join the Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter Book Club!
Our Book Club this month is Pride themed and we encourage you to join us for Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian on Tuesday 6/30. Next month we are reading Dan Eganâs The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance and will meet on 7/14 for that discussion.
All are welcome at Book Club and as always a gentle reminder that it is totally okay to show up to Book Club having read all of the book, some of the book, thought about reading the book, or looking for a pitch to sell you on reading the book. ALL are welcome!
The goal of this space is to facilitate conversation and there is not a quiz at the end or an objective beyond learning more about issues we care about and cultivating community with one another. We look forward to the opportunity to connect, share about, and reflect on the issues, themes, and excerpts that resonated with you in the book.
Colleen Curtin Outreach Coordinator
Spotted!
Sierra Club staff and volunteer leaders are passionate about getting out there and spreading the word about issues that matter to Hoosiers!
Volunteer leader Jesse shares about the Heartlands Group at Earth Day Indiana at Garfield Park on May 30. Photo: Colleen Curtin
Special thanks to the incredible volunteers who joined us behind the table for Earth Day Indiana at Garfield Park on May 30!
You all helped us connect with hundreds of our neighbors and community members and share with them about the work Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter and Heartlands Group are doing in Central Indiana and across the state.
Our photo this month is of sunning turtles lining up at Mill Race Park, April 21, 2026. This beautiful photo was taken and shared by Frank Buddingh. Thank you, Frank!
Do you have a photograph of Indiana nature â past or present, micro or macro â that you would like to share?
We'd love to see it and perhaps feature it in a future newsletter.
