About Us I Programs and Campaigns I Contact Us I Bylaws I Location and Calendar of Events
The Peninsula Regional Group is a regional group within the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club. Our members are residents of all of San Mateo County exclusive of San Carlos and Belmont, and northern Santa Clara County, California.
The Loma Prieta Chapter is one of the many chapters that constitute the national Sierra Club. The Chapter includes San Mateo, Santa Clara, and San Benito Counties. We have an active and growing Region and Chapter with something for just about everyone.
We have an outings program of hikes in the local greenbelt, please see the calendar below.
Do you have an idea for something you would like to see our regional group become more involved with? We welcome any and all of your suggestions; email Gita Dev, our Vice Chair at: prg.vicechair@lomaprieta.sierraclub.org.
Invitation to Join A Cool Cities Team
Governments have the legal authority to fight climate change and protect our environment. While the federal government can pass important legislation, they are not the only change agents. City, county, and state governments are just as important, sometimes even more important. In progressive states like California, local governments can often be trendsetters, influencing policies at higher levels.
Our City Teams work closely with our Education and Environmental Education & Legislative Action Committee (EELA). EELA members work with city, county, and state politicians to pass strong environmental legislation, ordinances, and resolutions.
ELA’s work includes the following and more:
- Cultivating strong relationships with local and state elected officials.
- Working with city and state officials to pass important local ordinances and state legislation
- Organizing chapter members to lobby for strong environmental actions at the local and state levels
- Organizing conferences and forums for public officials and the general public.
If you are part of a Sierra Club Cool Cities Team, you will be able to play an important role in combating climate change and saving ecosystems and endangered wildlife. You will also be part of a vibrant local environmental community.
If you are interested in joining a Cool Cities team,
contact Sue at sue2042@gmail.com
Book Group: Environmental Book Club
Do you enjoy exploring different perspectives on our environment, nature, climate change, and conservation? If so, then you will be interested in joining our book group, Environmental Book Club, organized by Gladwyn d’Souza, our chapter’s Conservation Chair. Contact: godsouza@mac.com
The Environmental Book Club meets on the 2nd Saturday of each month at 1:30 pm on Zoom. The following is the book list for 2023:
January: Water Always Wins- thriving in an age of drought and deluge, by Erica Gies
February: Nomad Century- How climate migration will reshape our world, by Gaia Vince
March: Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
April: Under The White Sky- the nature of the future by Elizabeth Kohlbert
May: Regenesis- Feeding the world without devouring the planet by George Monbiot
June: Euphoria by Lily King
July: The Flag The Cross, And The Station Wagon by Bill McKibben.
August: Rescuing the Planet- protecting half the land to heal the earth by Tony Hiss.
September: The New Wilderness by Diane Cook
October: There Are No Accidents- the deadly rise injury and disaster, who profits, and who pays the price by Jessie Singer
November: Bicycling with Butterflies by Sara Dykman
December: How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue
Divestment Campaign
Divestment from fossil fuel companies is a powerful action that all of us can take right now to combat climate change.
Lowering the demand for fossil fuels through reducing the demand for coal, oil, and natural gas is, of course, an important climate action, but reducing the supply of fossil fuels (the goal of divestment) by putting pressure on fossil fuel companies to stop selling planet-destroying toxins is the second key prong of climate actions.
Many people are unaware of how the 10-year old divestment movement has been increasing in momentum--many established institutions have either already divested or have committed to divesting. Even mainstream government entities like New York State and New York City have committed to fossil fuel divestment.
Now is the time for us to turn up the pressure. The state of California as well as California’s cities and counties can no longer profess to be at the forefront of climate actions if they continue to invest in fossil fuel companies.
Contact us if you are ready to join the divestment movement. sue2042@gmail.com
Nuclear, A Solution to Nothing!
By Gladwyn d'Souza
The Associated Press reports, “hunger stories” warning of drought-induced hardships that have started surfacing in the Czech Republic. Meanwhile France has the majority of its 56 reactors throttled down or offline due to a combination of scheduled maintenance, erosion damage (worryingly at the newer plants of the aging fleet) and cooling water shortages due to recurring heat waves and droughts! Europe is stressed, as the power cutbacks come on the heels of Russian gas restrictions. Nuclear power makes up 72% of the French grid and was supplied to much of industrial Europe.
France’s nukes show it’s not a climate solution needed to cool a rapidly heating planet given nuclear's vulnerability to climate change. Ukraine is showing that nuclear is not a solution to anything as some of the largest plants in Europe face bombing and shelling in war with Russia! China another nuclear superpower with 50 plants, is also undergoing power cutbacks which are now expected to further exacerbate supply chain issues as reported by Bloomberg.
Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, France and the USA remain captive to the human rights abuses and environmental degradation that nuclear power plants bring. Long before Standing Rock, native tribes had opposed the adverse heatlh consequences of nuclear mining on their reservations. Today, human rights abuses inflicted upon “disposable” people by nuclear powers manifest themselves in degraded lands from Niger to the Navajo reservation.
Yet policy makers continue to worship at the altar of nuclear suicide. China has 17 new nuclear plants under construction as reported on Wikipedia. France is moving ahead with plans for neighborhood-sized small nuclear plants. And in California, this week Governor Newsom proposed a $1.4B bailout of PG&E’s troubled Diablo nuclear plant in order to keep it operational through 2035.
Given its cost, health hazards, waste burial problems, and the potential of disastrous meltdowns, you would think that policy makers would have put alternatives to nuclear in place long ago. Fortunately, the legislature has seen the writing on the Czech Republic’s rocks. The AP reported that “A proposal circulated recently by California Democratic legislators would reject Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to extend the lifespan of the state’s last operating nuclear power plant — and instead spend over $1 billion to speed up the development of renewable energy, new transmission lines and storage to maintain reliable power in the climate change era.” Money would also go into heat pump conversion of water and cooling systems as well as to low income housing clean energy upgrades.
Unfortunately, Governor Newsom just signed the bill, AB-846, to keep Diablo Canyon’s two nuclear reactors running until 2030 at a cost of $1.4 billion dollars, an amount that is disguised as a “loan” to PG&E, the owners of Diablo Canyon. The $1.4 billion “loan” would be paid back to the state with federal funds, so taxpayers will be footing the bill, not PG & E, the beneficiaries of this windfall that would keep dirty energy going for much longer!
To quote Mark Jacobson at Stanford, “Nuclear is just not part of any feasible strategy that could counter climate change.” It is just another crisis to add to the climate crisis. Kudos to the Democratic legislators for recognizing the writing on the rocks.
From Enlight 21:
https://enlight21.com/news/nuclear-a-solution-to-nothing
BAYCATS (Bay Area Youth Climate Action Teams)
Hi! We are the Bay Area Youth Climate Action Team, a group of dedicated environmental activists in middle and high school. Previously, we successfully influenced the Millbrae City Council to pass a single-use plastic ban ordinance. In addition to attending local city council meetings to advocate for better environmental legislation, we utilize our social media platforms to educate the public about important environmental news. Our mission is to connect passionate youth from across the Bay Area in order to spread awareness about our current climate crisis. Together, we will create a lasting impact on our planet, and strive towards a brighter and cleaner future. We hope you visit our website, linked below, to view our past initiatives and join us on our mission!
We hope you will want to visit our website: www.ycats.org
If you have any questions please email Amanda at
Plastics: The Problem and Progress
By Kathy Battat