What's Happening in Topeka? Use Our Legislative Tracker

Kansas Sierra Club is following more than two dozen pending bills of importance to our priority environmental issues: electric rates, water, plastics, renewable energy, food sales tax, and box turtles. The tracker linked below shows our positions on these bills.

Sierra Club Kansas Legislative Tracker

Want to get involved in talking to legislators? Want to discuss legislation with our lobbyist and your fellow environmentalists?

Join SierraKan and we’ll add you to the new chapter Google Group for all of us who believe we can make a difference in Kansas.

New Conservation Chair Seeks Environmental Warriors
BY FELIX REVELLO, Chapter Conservation Chair

I have been a Sierra Club member/follower since the previous century, the mid-1990s to be more precise, following and participating in many of our activities, including concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and wildlife habitat conservation. I’ve been advocating/agitating on behalf of our many different issues by contacting legislators, writing letters-to-the-editor, and speaking at town halls.

Trail to Reconciliation Part 3
(hinoshi aaowa ittiana) In multi-lingual  English/Muskogean/Chickasaw text
BY KENT ROWE, Southwind Group Executive Committee

The Sierra Club’s Cool Cities campaign emphasis on trees makes a good long-term goal of providing “shade upon the land” [ihoshottikachi yaakni’]. We can increase our plantings to fill in the holes created when trees are cut down. 

But grasslands of the Central Plains, even more than trees, have massive potential to store carbon from the atmosphere, lessening the effects of climate change. Most varieties of native grasses proliferate in just a few seasons and provide habitat for many species of birds, including red-tailed hawks. 

Stumping for Kansas Tree Cities
BY HAROLD SCHLECHTWEG, Southwind Group Executive Committee

Sierra Club supports Biden’s Build Back Better agenda including investment in public tree planting that can reduce the impacts of urban heat islands and flooding from stormwater. See How Trees Can Help Urban Communities Thrive | Sierra Club.

Kansas cities struggle with tree losses, some due to damage caused by the emerald ash borer. City foresters need citizen support for protecting the future of our urban forests.

Personal Home Rule Means Bring Your Own Bag
BY THE CHAPTER ZERO WASTE COMMITTEE

Sierra Club has adopted a “zero waste” policy to help combat plastic waste, which litter everywhere. We see plastic bags in trees, in waterways and on the roadsides. There are massive amounts of plastic in the oceans and on beaches. Plastics have even been found in the air.    

Tiny bits of plastic, known as microplastics, have been found in the dust from air in cities, national parks and even the Arctic. We eat, drink and breathe plastic. The best way to begin to reduce plastics in the environment is to stop using single-use plastics such as straws, cups and single-use plastic bags. 

Sierra Club COVID Rules Extended to May 31, 2022

Our COVID19 guidelines as updated on February 8, 2022 require that all in-person meetings, events & activities follow the Events & Activities Guidance.

Any approved in-person meetings between now and May 31, 2022 must include a Google Meet or Zoom option to accommodate non-vaccinated staff & volunteers and/or those that choose not to participate in in-person meetings at this time. 

Details and RSVP links for all meetings and events are on the chapter calendar. If you've ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes, our executive committee meetings are listed there too. 

Featured Waypoint: Day Tripping to Cedar Niles Park
 
BY HAROLD DRAPER, Kanza Group Chair

Johnson County’s Newest Park Is In the Olathe Area

The 1,030-acre park features four miles of paved trails for walking and bicycling and a 4.5-mile natural surface trail for hiking and mountain biking.