Eastside residents say NO to a proposed data center!
Hi Friend,
Welcome to the July update from your Heartlands Group.
In this newsletter:
🙌 Thank you for showing up this past month! 🗓️ Upcoming events and volunteer opportunities with the Heartlands Group ✋ Eastside residents say NO to a proposed data center ☀️ Ready to go solar? Join Carmel Green Initiative and Solar United Neighbors to find out how! 📣 Weigh in on air permits for the LEAP industrial site in Lebanon 📚 Come to our virtual Book Club 🫶 How to get involved with our activities
If you have any questions about our work in and around the Indy area, please don't hesitate to reach out. We love to hear from you!
Rebecca Dien-Johns Chapter Digital Strategist Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter
🙌Thank you for showing up this past month 🙌
Community organizers and local advocates rally in Indianapolis prior to the July 1st Metropolitan Development Commission Public Hearing regarding a potential Data Center Ordinance. Photo: Colleen Curtin
Heartlanders are unstoppable.
You all turned out to public hearings and rallies this month in spite of the record breaking heat and aggressive humidity. You signed petitions, joined Book Club, tabled, and showed up in Chapter and Group meetings this month. I am so grateful for your commitment to our community and the environment. We are just getting started and we can’t do it alone. Please continue showing up, bring your friends, neighbors, and family. Talk to them about how you are opposing those proposed data centers in Martindale-Brightwood, Decatur, and Irvington, holding corporations and local leaders accountable, protecting Eagle Creek and local waterways and wetlands from industrial pollution, and enjoying the abundant beauty of Central Indiana’s trails this summer.
It isn’t too late to get involved, visit sc.org/hcevents or join us at our next Heartlands Group Meeting Wednesday 7/22!
Colleen Curtin Chapter Outreach Coordinator
🗓️ Upcoming Events and Volunteer Opportunities with the Heartlands Group 🗓️
Indiana Beyond Coal Organizer Nicole and Sierra Hoosier Chapter Outreach Coordinator Colleen tabling at Pride last summer. Photo Credit: Nicole Chandler
Upcoming events with Heartlands Group:
Monday 7/13 Volunteer Outreach Tabling Training - Online 12:30pm-1:30pm ET
Monday 7/13 Public Hearing Indianapolis City Council MEDC Data Center Ordinance - Indy
Saturday 7/18 Summer Tree ID Hike - Martinsville
Wednesday 7/22 Heartlands Group Monthly Meeting - Hybrid Online - In Person in Indy 6:30pm-7:30pm ET
Wednesday 7/30 Air Permit Info Session - Lebanon 6:30pm ET
Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities with Heartlands Group:
Friday 7/17, all day Volunteer Outreach Booth at Indiana Black Expo’s Summer Celebration in Indy
Saturday 7/18, all day Volunteer Outreach Booth at Indiana Black Expo’s Summer Celebration in Indy
Saturday 7/18, 1:00-7:00pm Volunteer Outreach Booth at Zionsville Pride at Mulberry Park in Zionsville
Sunday 7/19, all day Volunteer Outreach Booth at Indiana Black Expo’s Summer Celebration in Indy
*Please email colleen.curtin@sierraclub.org if you are interested in any of these opportunities. To volunteer with our Outreach Team you must have attended both our New Volunteer Training and our Tabling Training in advance. Thank you!
✋ Eastside residents say NO to a proposed data center ✋
Eastside residents make their voices heard on the Pennsy Trail, Indianapolis, June 2026. Photo:
April 2026, 7:30 am. The sun rises from behind the distant treeline as Koopa and I walk the Pennsy Rail Trail, his ears bouncing with every step. As the dew begins to dry, I take deep breaths, smelling the earthy comfort of morning air before we head back to our home in Irvington, on the not-so-far Eastside of Indianapolis. On our left sits Irvington Community Elementary School, where classes will begin shortly after the sun emerges from behind the trees. Opposite the school is a field, grown over with silver maples, black willows, cottonwoods, dogwoods, and a few red cedars sprinkled among the shrubs. I hadn’t realized, living in Irvington for the last three years and having walked and biked past the field by the school countless times while admiring the trees and shrubs that slowly reclaimed the land, that it had once been the old Ford Visteon plant—and is now considered a brownfield.
Have you ever thought about putting solar panels on your sunny roof?
Generate your own clean energy to protect against high electricity rates. Join us for a Solar 101 info session to learn about solar technology, economics, and how the Central Indiana Solar Co-op makes it easy to go solar with your neighbors.
When: Thursday, August 20, 2026 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Who: This event is sponsored by Carmel Green Initiative & Solar United Neighbors.
The public is invited and encouraged to attend this free program.
Where: Carmel Clay Public Library, 425 East Main Street, Carmel 46032
For more information about this event, visit carmelgreen.org or contact Madelyn Zalon at mzalon@carmelgreen.org or (317) 459-2150.
📣 Weigh in on air permits for the LEAP industrial site in Lebanon 📣
On July 30, our partners Protect Pike Township are hosting an Air Permit Info Session about the Meta data center air permits ahead of a virtual public hearing taking place on August 6.
Get the details and register for that info session here.
Join us for the 2nd year of our Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter Book Club! This year we have some fantastic reading selections as well as opportunities for members to submit suggestions for future books.
Join us July 14th for Dan Egan’s The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance and again August 11th for Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis by Samantha Montano.
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! Also a reminder that 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 Chapter Outreach Coordinator
About the Heartlands Group
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.
To get involved with our activities this year, email Chapter Outreach Coordinator, Colleen Curtin: colleen.curtin@sierraclub.org
Join us on the trail! You can find all Sierra Club hikes and outings in Indiana at sc.org/hcevents
