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Endorsements Have Been Made!
Your Loma Prieta Chapter has endorsed more than 50 candidates and several ballot measures. All is explained in Election Insights, our annual paper newsletter sent only to Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter Members, which should have already arrived soon to your mail box. Click the banner above to read the online version. |
Action Items in Your Area! Read More in this eNewsletter.
► Cupertino: Oct 27th, Protect birds and reduce light pollution
► Redwood City: Help educate your community on climate based solutions
► South San Francisco: Voice your support for ecology and affordable housing
► San Jose: (1) Prevent the spread of light pollution, and (2) Tell the City that our forests are important
► San Mateo County: Take advantage of new EV rebates from Peninsula Clean Energy
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Above Video: A Tribute to Byron Sher by Mike Kerhin
Thank You for Making Our 2020 Guardians of Nature Benefit a Success!
The 2020 Guardians of Nature social distancing Benefit honoring Byron Sher was one of the most extraordinary events our Chapter has organized. Nearly 250 guests responded to our invitation, which means a lot to us in these times of abundance of virtual gatherings. Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors and other donors, we raised more than $60,000. Read the full article here.
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A Review of Our Bay2030 Advocate Program
I just completed the Bay2030 Advocate Program and highly recommend it. I am now biking the Bay Trail to see the sites we studied. I learned a lot and was tremendously impacted by the reports on endangered species in the SF Bay habitat. The reports of how we are losing our biodiversity in our own backyard suddenly became very personal to me.
Join the next program if you can. It's free and really interesting to better understand what the conservation issues are with the San Francisco Bay. The class makes it very easy to participate in advocacy. If you want to participate, it will help you make a difference in the environmental protection of the San Francisco Bay.
- Mary Buxton
The Bay2030 Advocate Program will start again in 2021. Please contact Susan at Bay2030.LomaPrieta@SierraClub.org for more information.
The Bay2030 Advocate Program is a part of our larger Bay2030 Campaign. |
We're Hiring!
Your Loma Prieta Chapter is seeking one full-time Bay2030 Campaign Manager, and one full-time Communications Manager.
Applications can only be accepted through the links given above.
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Above photo by Doc Searls: Cargill Salt Ponds
Call for Volunteers: The Bay is On the Ballot
Redwood City’s City Council has the power to protect the Bay and community from extreme sea level rise flooding. We’re mobilizing to help Redwood City residents understand what’s at stake in this election and support nature-based solutions like protecting the Cargill Salt Ponds for wetlands restoration and limiting development in flood-prone areas.
Please click below to join us!
Phone/Text Banking: Saturdays 11am
Phone/Text Banking: Mondays 6:30pm
Post-election, our campaign will continue with a learning forum for public officials and continued advocacy in Redwood City for climate action and adaptation plans. If you’d like to help, please contact: Bay2030.lomaprieta@sierraclub.org
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Above photo of an Anna's Hummingbird by Becky Matsubara
Raise your voice to protect Birds and the Starry Night Sky
October 27: Cupertino Planning Commission, PlanningCommission@Cupertino.org
The City of Cupertino will soon decide whether or not it wants to protect birds and the night sky. Cupertino staff has prepared an ordinance requiring Bird-Safe Design techniques and Dark Sky practices to prevent bird deaths and reduce light pollution. Public support is needed for the law to pass. Just one sentence about your love for birds can have a big impact!
You can email the Cupertino Planning Commission at PlanningCommission@Cupertino.org, or you can attend the Oct 27th meeting via zoom to give a public comment.
In the past 48 years, North America has lost 29% of its birds, a loss of nearly 3 billion birds. Annually, anywhere from 500 million to more than 1 billion birds are killed by human impacts such as window collisions. |
Above image of South San Francisco by Coolcaesar
South San Francisco: Let's Make Sure that New Development Protects Nature and People
South San Francisco is planning a massive office expansion adjacent to the Bay and Colma Creek. Let’s make sure hear that we need:
- Sea level rise solutions that improve habitat for wildlife, and for great bird watching
- Public access to bayside trails and beaches
- A jobs/housing balance that includes affordable housing
Join your Loma Prieta Chapter’s Bay2030 team of volunteers to speak up. It’s easy to do and our voices will make a difference!
Contact Bay2030.LomaPrieta@SierraClub.org to get involved.
We expect this development to be heard by City Council on November 18th. |
Above image: an induction cooktop, more powerful and precise than gas cooktops
Climate Action Continues in the Redwood City and East Palo Alto
Did you know that the World Meteorological Organization has predicted that we will reach a 1.5 C temperature rise at least once in the next 5 years? Such a temperature rise will have a massive impact on our ecosystems and society.
Time is running out to act on climate change, which is why it is so important that we stop putting new gas pipelines into the ground which will consistently leak methane into our atmosphere.
Congratulations to Redwood City and East Palo Alto for being the two most recent cities in California to pass Reach Codes, local laws that can prohibit the construction of new gas infrastructure and promote the construction of all-electric new buildings.
Interested on getting involved in climate action in your city? Contact Dashiell.Leeds@sierraclub.org |
Raise Your Voice as a Volunteer for Our Chapter’s Communications Committee
Interested in using your writing skills to help your local ecosystem? Our Chapter is looking for volunteers who are willing to write 150 – 800 word pieces. You can help write Letters to the Editor and Op-Eds for local papers, as well as create blog content.
More interested in reading than writing? We are also looking for volunteers to monitor local newspapers in their town.
Interested Volunteers should contact our Conservation Committee Co-Chair Gladwyn d’Souza at godsouza@mac.com
Your voice is powerful in combating misinformation! |
Valley Water Safe, Clean Water Special Projects Property Tax
In 2000 Santa Clara County voters approved a $39 parcel tax for Clean, Safe Creeks to help Valley Water pay for specific flood control and creek restoration projects. Again in 2012, voters passed a continuation of the tax for Safe, Clean Water (conveniently removing creeks), mostly for the same projects.
Valley Water has not shown the diligence to complete promised improvements on time even though the tax keeps increasing 2% every year and is now about $68 per year. The Chapter advocates to keep environmental projects in the Safe, Clean Water program and get them done on time. Contact Water Committee Chair Katja Irvin at katja.irvin@sbcgobal.net for more information. |
Peninsula Clean Energy is expanding its program offering rebates to help first-time buyers of new electric vehicles.
From PCE's Oct 1 press release:
"The 2020 New EV Rebate Program will offer rebates of $1,000 towards the cost of a new fully electric vehicle and $700 for a plug-in hybrid purchased by San Mateo County residents between Oct. 1 through Dec. 31.
Eligible vehicles are any new EVs that have a purchase contract cash price of $45,000 or less, before sales tax.
Peninsula Clean Energy is also providing residents the opportunity to experience driving an EV with a $200 rebate toward the rental of an EV and assistance in setting up at-home or at-dealership test drives."
Read more here. |
San Joseans, Your CIty Needs to Know that You Love Forests! If you value shade, cooler streets, habitat and food for birds and other wildlife, increased property values, cleaner air, beauty, and a unique sense of place, please take the survey and let the City know what's important to you!
Please express your strong support for planting LOCALLY native trees, which provide habitat for local wildlife, and require less water and less maintenance. |
Above Photo by jpstanley: The Constellation Orion, without and with light pollution
Are You Okay with More Light Pollution Coming to San Jose?
Update: Concerns from your Loma Prieta Chapter and the San Jose community have been noted by the San Jose Mercury News!
After a 30-year ban on new billboards, the City of San Jose wants to allow electronic billboards on private property. These billboards may advertise anything - from Vegas to accident injury attorneys!
Artificial light disturbs the natural circadian rhythms of living beings, increasing health risks such as cancer. For wildlife, artificial light can disrupt foraging and migration patterns and can cause birds to collide with structures and die from exhaustion. From a traffic safety perspective, do we really want more glaring distractions as we drive? Do we want billboards that may track us?
Contact Katja Irvin for more information, katja.irvin@sbcglobal.net
Click here to find your District and contact your City Councilmember.
Read the fact sheet here. |
Ollie Mayer Hiker's Hut Closed Until Further Notice The Ollie Mayer Hiker’s Hut is closed until further notice due to the current spikes in the Covid-19 virus. We are holding all reservations until such time that it is safe for our members to use the Hut. If you have a credit on file with us and wish to keep it that way, no need to take any action. If you prefer a refund please email us at: olliemayerhikershut@gmail.com |
YOU Can Make It Happen!
Hundreds of caring people stand behind every environmental victory won by your Loma Prieta Chapter. These caring people choose to partner with us by donating.
Now you have an opportunity to join our engaged community by simply responding to our Spring fund drive.
Only a sliver of the membership dues which you send to Sierra Club National is returned to your local chapter, but 100% of your gift directly to your chapter will benefit our local environment. Read more about how we will use your support. |
Why are some neighborhoods so much hotter than others?
Neighborhoods that are lower-income and have more Black or Hispanic residents can be up to 20 degrees Fahrenheit hotter in summer, with far fewer trees and more heat-absorbing pavement than whiter, wealthier parts of the same city. Researchers have been looking at the history of city planning, including practices like redlining. How Redlining’s Racist Effects Lasted for Decades
There’s also an important climate connection.
A recent study, Housing Discrimination Made Summers Even Hotter, found links between redlining and higher temperatures in modern-day Black neighborhoods.
Another study, The Effects of Historical Housing Policies on Resident Exposure to Intra-Urban Heat, found an even broader pattern: Across more than 100 U.S. cities, formerly redlined neighborhoods were 5 degrees hotter on average today than areas that were not redlined. |
Let it go, let it go! When the trade-in value’s too low, let it go, let it go!
Your best move is donating your vehicle to support your Loma Prieta Chapter. Call 844-6-SIERRA (844-674-3772) or donate online. We accept cars, classic cars, trucks, boats, RVs, and more. Plus, your gift is tax-deductible.
VERY IMPORTANT: tell CARS that you want to support the Loma Prieta Chapter through the Sierra Club Foundation. |
Top Posts recently on Loma Prieta facebook page
Follow us on facebook and you'll see most stories before the eNewsletter,
and other stories and action alerts that don't make it into the eNewsletter.
#3. Survey: The Value of Nature Before and During COVID
#2. Court Deals Blow to Salt Pond Development in Redwood City
#1. The Bay is On the Ballot this November |
Social Media Channels for the Loma Prieta Chapter
facebook: Chapter, 20s – 30s, Sierra Singles
YouTube; Twitter; Instagram; Spotify
MeetUp: Chapter conservation and education meetings (2667 members),
Hiking events (5031 members), Singleaires outing section (1775 members),
Day Hiking section (1646 members), Guadalupe Regional Group (553 members), Peak Climbing (467 members), Gay & Lesbian Sierrans (403 members),
Black Mountain Hiking section (392 members), 20s - 30s (150 members),
Family Explorers (95 members)
Social media volunteers needed. Chapter Director James.Eggers@sierraclub.org |
Got Mail? Too much Sierra Club mail? You can take control; it's easy!
If you feel overwhelmed you can easily manage what you receive. See the simple tutorial |
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It is a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity.
~ Jimmy Carter, 39th US President, Nobel Laureate (b. 1 Oct 1924)
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Health and safety to all,
James Eggers, Director
Sierra Club, Loma Prieta Chapter
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Thank you to our 2020 Guardians of Nature Benefit Sponsors
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Sierra Nevada Sentinels Mary Buxton and Ron Hess
Anonymous Yosemite Heroes Lisa Barboza and Brian Roach
Anonymous Sequoia Champions Marilyn Brewer
David and Nancy Crabbe
Sue Chow
Gladwyn d' Souza
Sidney and Linda Liebes
Larry L. Lundberg
2018 Guardians of Nature Honoree Joe Simitian, and Mary Hughes
Sigal Tzoore |
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Baylands Stewards
Shawn and Lisa Britton
Peter and Melanie Cross
Rick DeGolia
Susan DesJardin
Edith and Jeb Eddy
San Jose City Councilmember Pam Foley
Caroline Y. Hicks and Bert Fingerhut
San Jose City Councilmember Sergio Jimenez
Arthur Keller
Natalia Kloda
Ginny Laibl
Lucinda Lenicheck
Mary and Alex Nemerov
2019 Guardians of Nature Benefit honorees Enid Pearson and Emily Renzel
San Jose City Councilmember Raul Peralez
Bruce Rienzo
Lennie Roberts
Landa Robillard and Kelly Maas
Charles and Jamie Schafer
Rene Spring
Anonymous |
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| As people across the country protest in defense of Black lives, the Sierra Club recognizes the need to dismantle systemic racism in the United States and within our own organization. We must reckon with how white supremacy -- both past and present -- has shaped our institutions and do the critical anti-racism work necessary to repair the harm done. The environmental movement does not exist in a vacuum, and it is our responsibility to use our power to help abolish systemic racism, which is destroying lives, communities, and the planet. |
| The COVID-19 crisis has not passed and continues to disproportionately harm Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people and other communities of color. The pandemic has revealed how the communities hardest hit are often the same communities that suffer from high levels of pollution and poor access to healthcare. The fight for environmental justice cannot be separated from the fight for racial justice. |
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