April 13, 2019

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Only twice a year your Loma Prieta Chapter mails solicitation letters, and you should have received one last month. Only a sliver of your annual Sierra Club membership dues is returned from Sierra Club National to your local chapter and almost 70% of our annual budget comes from gifts made by people like you. If you have already donated to support us, we thank you! If you haven't, please go here <https://www.sierraclub.org/loma-prieta/MFA19>, read more about why your gift is crucial for local conservation, and consider joining our team of environmental advocates working tirelessly to preserve our local environment.

photo: Coyote Valley

CONSERVATION PRIORITY: We are proud to thank and support local California Assemblymember Ash Kalra's proposal to create the Coyote Valley Conservation Program. Read (1), (2), (3).
Why is Coyote Valley important? Read (1) and (2). See the Open Space video.
Please find your Assemblymember here http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/
and contact them to ask for their support of AB948.

If Mountain View did measurement and reporting for their Climate Action Plan, you can get your city to do it too!

Thanks to Mayor Lisa Matichak, the City Council passed annual Green House Gas measurement and reporting requirements on 3/19/19. Mayor Matichak said, "Climate change is a global issue that cities need to address on a local level. It is important to take action to reduce our carbon footprint as soon as we can and to carefully measure progress on a regular basis."

Contact Gladwyn at godsouza@outlook.com if you need help or want to volunteer on reducing greenhouse gases from fossil fuels like methane.

Menlo Park! FYI to anyone interested in reviewing draft guidelines and recommendations for Menlo Park's Park Master Plan. Or friends you may know that reside in Menlo Park. This plan is for all City parks...but there is an existing, city-council approved Bedwell Bayfront Park Master Plan that is not to be changed by this document. Survey link here.

The City of San José is currently accepting applications for two vacancies on the City's Housing and Community Development Commission. Council District 7 and Council District 8 offices will make recommendations to the full City Council for these positions. The deadline to submit an application is Tuesday, April 30, 2019, at 11:59 PM.

Photo: thanks to the Loma Prieta Chapter's Day Hiking Section for hosting their Chapter Director on Mar 23 in Sam McDonald County Park: 12 miles, 2200 ft elevation gain.

Adobe employees
(1) Adobe matches charitable donations made by its employees 1:1. Encourage Adobe employees to take advantage of this program every time they give.
(2) Individual Volunteer Grant - For every 10 hours Adobe employees volunteer with charitable organizations in a given calendar year, they are provided a $250 grant that can be donated to the organization of their choice. Remind Adobe employees who volunteer with you to access these grants.
(3) Team Volunteer Grants - For every 10 employees participating at a volunteer event three hours or longer, Adobe will grant $1,000 USD to the charitable organization -- up to $10,000 USD

Employer Matching Gifts Program

Apple, Google, Microsoft, OTHERS: use your companies' plans also.

Backpacking Course, Sierra Club - Loma Prieta Chapter
Basic Backpacking. April 17- June 5, 2019. Cost $125.

Save Palo Alto’s Groundwater and the City of Palo Alto are pleased to present Planning for Rising Waters: Sea Level, Groundwater and the Bay Edge by Dr. Kristina Hill Assoc. Professor, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning and Urban Design, U.C. Berkeley April 24, 2019, 7 – 8:30 pm. Doors open at 6:30 pm Mitchell Park Community Center, El Palo Alto Room 3700 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Free Admission; please register here

San Jose Explores Creating Its Own Community Bank

If people would like to get involved in the effort, they should join the South Bay Progressive Alliance Public Banking Action Team. Info and signups here.

CBS Bay Area news coverage of the earlier Council unanimous vote to study Public Banking can be viewed here.

If you want to provide additional info, to see a short video from the Public Banking Institute that explains the concept and benefits of public banking, view this link.

Reach Codes For New Construction

In November 2018, Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) and Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) began collaborating on a new program to help new buildings and vehicles go zero carbon with electric power instead of fossil fuels. The “Building Electrification and Electric Vehicle (EV) Infrastructure reach code program” would serve all 32 PCE and SVCE member cities to help them update local building codes for all new residential and commercial construction. To find out more or to join the CALT campaign for reach codes in your city contact Gladwyn d’Souza, godsouza@outlook.com, Co-Chair of Loma Prieta Conservation Committee. Climate Action Blog.

One of the biggest threats facing the natural gas industry is inside the house

2017 Guardians of Nature Benefit: Honorees Tom Steyer and Kat Taylor (center) with Loma Prieta Chapter staff.

Do you like organizing parties?

Do you enjoy planning and have great attention to detail?
If your answers are “yes,” then join our 2019 Benefit team and help us put together our best annual fundraiser yet!
We seek a Signature Event Assistant Volunteer
Find out more here <https://www.sierraclub.org/loma-prieta/volunteer>

National Sierra Club Elections are Underway – VOTE!

Voting Online is Quick and Easy!
A Democratic Sierra Club Demands Grassroots Participation. Your participation is critical for a Strong Sierra Club.
Those eligible to vote in the national Sierra Club election will receive in the mail (or by Internet if you chose the electronic delivery option) your national Sierra Club ballot in early March. This will include information on the candidates and where you can find additional information on the Club's web site.
The Sierra Club is a democratically structured organization at all levels. The Club requires the regular flow of views on policy and priorities from its grassroots membership in order to function well.
You can learn about the candidate here.
Please note your ballots must be received by no later than Election Day, April 24, 2019.

4/18 @ 10:00 a.m. in Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors Chambers - Housing, Land Use, Environment and Transportation Committee Meeting: Report relating to land development standards for Stanford University's residential subdivision districts (continued from the 3/15/19 HLUET meeting). Receive monthly report relating to development agreement negotiations with Stanford University regarding 2018 General Use Permit. For more information

4/18 @ 6:30 p.m. in Board of Supervisors Chambers – Historical Heritage Committee Meeting (if needed): Receive report relating to Stanford University Historic Resources Survey methodology and findings. For more information

Summary of Major Stanford University Community Plan Amendments and General Use Permit Conditions of Approval Recommended by the Department of Planning and Development, County of Santa Clara, as of March 12, 2019 and Subject to Changes. To view the document, click here

Videotape of Supervisor Simitian’s 3/14/19 Town Hall regarding Stanford University’s General Use Permit Application. To view the recording, click here.

If you have questions or comments, please contact Kristina Loquist of Supervisor Simitian’s staff at Kristina.loquist@bos.sccgov.org or by phone at 408-299-5050

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/31707/off-the-drawing-board?utm_expid=.XqNwTug2W6nwDVUSgFJXed.1

Transportation Politics

Do you wish for faster public transit and safer, more efficient walking and biking networks in the Bay Area? Learn the basics of transportation politics in this 3-part series from two veterans advocates of transportation politics, with a particular emphasis on the corridor from San Jose to San Francisco.

Part 1: What government bodies are in charge of transportation investments?
Saturday April 20, 1:30 - 3:30 PM
Peninsula Conservation Center
3921 East Bayshore Rd
Palo Alto, CA 94303
Please RSVP here.

Part 2: How does transportation funding work currently?
Part 3: What is the history of public transportation investment in the Bay Area, and of transportation advocacy generally speaking?

Margaret Okuzumi is the former executive director of BayRail Alliance
Gladwyn D'Souza is chair of the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter's Transportation Committee
Co-sponsored by Bayshore Progressive Democrats & Loma Prieta Chapter Transportation Committee.

Are you passionate about combating climate change and serving your community?
Join the Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) Citizens Advisory Committee!

PCE is seeking applicants for its Citizens Advisory Committee. Deadline is April 15th. Strong applicants will have experience in at least one of the three following areas:
1. Involvement in their local community or experience building connections and conducting outreach
2. Experience in advocacy
3. Experience with energy-related programming
Applicants must live or work in San Mateo County.

For more information and to apply for the Citizens Advisory Committee visit: www.peninsulacleanenergy.com/learn-more/citizens-advisory-committee/

Green New Deal Town Hall Meeting

In February, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey released the Green New Deal Resolution, which seeks to address climate change by creating millions of new green jobs that will decarbonize our economy. These broad brush strokes provide the framework. Now we as a society get to have a conversation about what we want the details to be. Join us for a community discussion. Register here.
Tue, May 7, 2019, 6:30 PM – 8:45 PM PDT
Rinconada Library, 1213 Newell Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303

Inside the Sunrise Movement (it didn't happen by accident)

California Assembly Bills from Local Officials

AB 454 (Kalra) Migratory Bird Protection
This would expand California’s leadership on migratory bird protection and conservation, which is especially important as many migratory bird populations continue to decline due to human activities and as the federal government rolls back federal protections for birds and other wildlife. Sierra Club SUPPORTS

AB 40 (Ting) A Strategy for Zero Emission Cars by 2040
This bill would require a state agency that regulates zero-emission vehicle technology to develop a strategy for ensuring that, by 2040, all new cars and new light-duty trucks sold in the state are zero emission. Sierra Club SUPPORTS. This is now a two-year bill.

AB 936 (R. Rivas) Tar Sands Oil Spill Contingency Plan The bill would require the state to amend California’s oil spill contingency plan to include response activities for non-floating oil (tar sands crude oil) spills. It would also require operators that receive or ship non-floating oils to provide advanced notice of transport. Sierra Club SUPPORTS.

Photo: thanks to the Loma Prieta Chapter's Day Hiking Section for hosting their Chapter Director on Mar 30th in Joseph Grant County Park: 21.4 miles, 4285 ft elevation gain.

A latest battleground in protecting the SF Bay/Delta from further deterioration involves the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission which drafted an environmental impact statement to relicense two dams on the Tuolumne River (the same river that John Muir tried to save from the Hetch Hetchy dam).

FERC is ignoring the State Water Board’s recommendation that 40% of the river flows to the delta...even this is well short of what is necessary.

Join the Loma Prieta Chapter's Conservation Committee to stand up for our SF Bay&Delta! Even small things you can do are a big help!

Meat. Juicy, chewy meat. In your burrito, on your pizza, as your steak. It’s delicious, isn’t it? But each juicy bite holds consequences, consequences that reveal themselves in our environments, communities, and health. In her clear and impactful presentation—Hidden in Plain Bite--to the Environmental Stewardship Program on March 4th, Katie Cantrell, executive director of Factory Farm Awareness Coalition, described a scene of cows on cows and pigs on pigs stretching interminably for miles and miles as she was trying to show us what our voracious meat consumption depends on. Read more here.

Free Community Event Celebrating Nature with Snacks, Giveaways & Prizes!

Join Peninsula Open Space Trust and Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District as we co-host the Wild & Scenic Film Festival Tour at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills.

The Wild & Scenic Film Festival is the largest film festival of its kind, showcasing the best and brightest in environmental and adventure films.

The Sierra Club has layers, which helps make us powerful!

Sierra Club National, which promotes and organizes national campaigns,

Sierra Club California, which organizes CA legislative initiatives, and

Your local Loma Prieta Chapter, which does all the local conservation work, but receives less than 20% of the membership dues which you pay to Sierra Club National, so your local donations are critical to support our effective local work in conservation, public education, environmental politics, and outings.

Did you join the Sierra Club to make a difference for our environment?

There are many ways to become a local environmental hero!

1. Volunteer by joining one our local conservation teams, or political action teams, or environmental education teams, or outings teams.

2. Volunteer as a Social Media Coordinator
You don't need to be an expert. You'll be provided all content and only need to post on a regular basis. Commitment is 2-3 hrs per week. See all our channels and opportunities listed below.

3. Volunteer as an Environmental Writer/Reporter
Commitment is 2 - 10 hours per week.
The Loma Prieta Chapter has done and is doing an incredible amount of conservation work, but while our conservation activist are busy doing the work, we need reporters to write about it. If you are interested in this impactful opportunity to investigate and explain local conservation, write to chapter.director@lomaprieta.sierraclub.org.

4. Donate: Join/Renew Membership,
Shop thru Amazon, Legacy/Planned Giving, Employer Matching, One Time Gift for our Education Programs, Donate a vehicle, Gifts of Stock

For more information, contact Chapter Director James Eggers at james.eggers@sierraclub.org or (650) 390-9604.

Photo: thanks to the Loma Prieta Chapter's Singleaires Outing Section for hosting their Chapter Director on April 7 in Sanborn County Park: 9.2 miles, 1906 ft elevation gain.

Social Media Channels for the Loma Prieta Chapter

MeetUp: Chapter (2438 members), Hiking (4804 members), Day Hiking (1401 members), Singleaires (1289 members), Guadalupe Regional Group (450 members), Peak Climbing (365 members), Gay & Lesbian Sierrans (202 members), Black Mountain Hiking section (184 members);
NEW: Family Explorers (78 members), 20s - 30s (53 members)