YOU Can Make a Difference; Read How in This eNewsletter
► Volunteer to take photos for the San Francisco Estuary Institute to help protect the Bay
► Watch: Protect Juristac, a sacred indigenous site and critidal wildlife habitat, by learning how to comment on an Environmental Impact Report
► Become a home water conservation hero by building your own water conservation system out of plastic pipes
► Join your community at the Guardians of Nature Benefit, returning this fall with an in person option, and celebrating Peninsula Open Space Trust's President Walter T. Moore.
► See what your support of Loma Prieta Chapter made possible in 2021 (and previously)!
► See a map of hazardous sites and communities at risk from rising seas.
► Take Basic Wilderness First Aid Class from the man who literally wrote the book. Oct 1
► Take a hike! Here's what's available with your chapter. |
Calling Citizen Scientists Around the Bay
You may have heard that the San Francisco Bay is experiencing an unprecedented algal bloom and, as a result, fish die-offs are happening. Scientists urgently need data to understand the extent of this algal bloom.
Photograph and report dead fish found on the Bayshore to scientists at the San Francisco Estuary Institute by using the following form and uploading your pictures.
Click here to learn how you can take photos to protect the environment
Click here to learn more about your Chapter's Bay Alive Campaign to protect and restore Bay ecosystems |
Opportunity to Use your Voice to Protect Juristac
Help protect this critical wildlife linkage and sacred site of the Amah Mutsun people from a proposed open pit sand mine! An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) has been released for the project and now we have the opportunity to submit comments!
Click here to watch the EIR letter-writing workshop and learn how to submit you own comments. |
Your Loma Prieta Chapter's Guardians of Nature Benefit returns this fall
and will celebrate Peninsula Open Space Trust's President Walter T. Moore.
During his tenure, President Moore has led POST to permanently protect and restore thousands of acres of local open space, including Coyote Valley, one of our Sierran community's most beloved hiking spots. You can read more about our honoree and our upcoming Guardians of Nature Benefit for your Loma Prieta Chapter. We hope that you will join us!
Find more about the 2022 Guardians of Nature Benefit on the event's website.
Purchase tickets here. See sponsorship opportunities here.
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" Dawn At Mineral King Valley" tells the story of the Sierra Club’s role in determining the direction of modern environmental law in California.
If you want to become involved in similarly impactful work at the local level then contact our Chapter Conservation Chair, godsouza@mac.com. |
Leaky Gas Pipelines are a Threat to Our Health and Climate
We are living in a time where it is critical to plan our communities to avoid reliance on gas infrastructure. This is not only due to the effect of greenhouse gasses on the environment but also for the health of our communities. Methane leaks at every step of its life cycle, from production facilities where it is processed, along the pipelines it flows through, and inside of our homes. Single leaks at the source of production of the gas can impact the climate as much as the annual emissions of 2000 cars. We are also beginning to understand the health effects of leaky methane in the home from gas stoves.
Written by volunteer Daniel Contreras |
Pedestrian Casualties
Car-centric cities are extremely dangerous for proponents of low energy transportation like walking and bicycling. Pedestrian casualties are rising nationwide. Despite a pronounced decline in driving during some of the pandemic, the early years of the 2020s have proven even deadlier to American pedestrians, with an estimated 7,342 pedestrians killed in 2021—an increase of 54 percent over 2010. Slow streets (15mph zones around schools and 20mph city wide speed limits) are necessary for our health, safety and the climate.
Click here to read a study on regulating the pedestrian safety crisis |
Why Environmental Justice is Part of Reproductive Justice
In recent years, Sierra Club has been working hard to advance environmental and social justice publicly and within its organization. Supporting Prop 1 is consistent with this advocacy. In response to the leaked decision overturning Roe vs Wade, Sierra Club’s Managing Director wrote in a blog, “No one should ever be forced to choose between raising a child in a neighborhood with lead-tainted water, polluted air, and sweltering heat or not having a child. That is no choice at all.” Sierra Club has made it clear to its members and the public that reproductive justice is environmental justice and supporting Prop 1 is relevant, important, and should not come as a surprise to anyone.
Read more here |
Loma Prieta Chapter Supports Affordable Housing for Farmworkers
The Chapter has long advocated for affordable housing, especially for farmworkers, in and near Half Moon Bay. Over recent decades the City and the County have achieved notable successes with the prize-winning Moonridge farmworker project near the southern edge of town and several excellent senior housing projects along Main Street.
A recent success-in-the-making is the projected utilization of City properties on Kelly Avenue to build 40 farmworker units plus a meeting room that will have very short walks to transit, medical services, schools and shopping. The City Council, Mercy Housing and the amazing Ayudando Latinos A Sonar (ALAS) organization can take a much deserved bow for pulling this together.
But stay tuned. The Chapter is supporting other affordable housing locations in Half Moon Bay that could yield multiples of the above project and we look forward to the day when we can announce those to you.
Mike Ferreira
Loma Prieta Chapter Executive Committee
Coastal Issues Committee
Learn more about affordable housing |
Tour of Green and Electrified Homes
September 24th 10am - 4pm
Want to see how to run a house without fossil fuels?
Visit several homes near you that have made the switch to clean, green electricity. You’ll get to taste food made on an induction cooktop, learn about heat pump water heaters, and possibly ride in an electric vehicle!
For more details about homes you can see in cities throughout Silicon Valley, click here to register for FREE.
Questions? Contact Debbie Mytels at debbie.mytels@gmail.com |
Looking to Electrify but Don't Know Where to Start? Begin Here!
The Switch is On provides the resources you'll need to electrify your home, click here!. Explore the benefits of an all-electric home and learn about how you can swap from gas to electric!
Incentives are available! Click here to learn more. This tool allows you to find the right incentives that apply to you. |
More from our friends at San Jose Clean Energy
1. Net Metering Customers eNewsletter sign-up here
2. Solar Customers, it is Time to True-Up! What's "True-Up"? |
Rebuilding Coastal Prairies
Saturday, September 24, 2022 10:00 am PDT
The Coastside Land Trust welcomes Grey Hayes to talk about the many facets of the coastal prairie - including an in depth talk about what lives within it, and why we should care. He will also explore the history and current restoration and conservation efforts, and the concept of re-indigenation from the perspective of a restoration ecologist.
Register here to Learn More about Coastal Prairies |
Bat Fest!
October 22d
Join our friends at Saved By Nature for an evening festival celebrating local animals of the night, with live bats, owls, and other creatures. It's a fun time under the stars! With a special guest speaker, food trucks, live music, festival games, arts and crafts, mini-pumpkin patch, REI lounge and community partner organization booths. Be sure to bring your own blankets and lawn chairs to enjoy popcorn, cotton candy and your favorite drink while watching the movie The Addams Family (1991) under the night sky.
Learn more about Saved By Nature's Bat Fest. |
YOU Can Make a Difference for Local Environmental Protection!
Our Environmental Legislative Action Team and Climate Action Leadership Team will show you how.
Your Loma Prieta Chapter is organizing a network of advocacy teams at the city level.
These are city-focused teams with the twin goals of spearheading actions to combat climate change and to conserve and restore natural habitats.
You will be working with city council members, key city staff, county officials, and other environmental activists. We welcome and educate those who are new to climate policy.
For more information contact Loma Prieta Chapter's Conservation Organizer dashiell.leeds@sierraclub.org. |
What Are the SEC Climate Rules?
Financial regulators are hoping to force big companies and investment managers to disclose climate information. If you'd like to join local grassroots effective work to make these changes happen, please contact Sue Chow, sue2042@gmail.com
Loma Prieta Chapter, Chair of Environmental Legislative Action Committee |
Sea level rise poses a dual contamination threat ...
from both surface flooding and groundwater rise below the surface that could reach as far as three miles inland from the edge of the Bay, pushing up and spreading toxins along the way. More than 900 hazardous sites across the state could be impacted by the end of the century. In California, communities of color are five times more likely than the general population to live within a half mile of a toxic site that could flood by 2050.
See a map of hazardous sites and communities at risk from rising seas. |
| Join our friends at Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful for Creek Cleanup, Coastal Cleanup, Bioblitz, and Plant Galls for the Curious Naturalist.. |
Water Board takes aim at shoreline landfills at risk from sea level rise
California's Regional Water Quality Control Board issued a tentative order imposing heightened sea level rise planning requirements on 16 additional shoreline landfills, ten of which are in our Chapter region! (17 sites are already subject to that heightened scrutiny.) Under the new order, the identified landfills would have to do a vulnerability assessment and submit a Long-term Flood Protection plan addressing severe storm events, SLR, shallow groundwater rise and land subsidence. Bay Alive is supporting our friends in the SF Shoreline Contamination Cleanup Coalition as they lead the charge to support, clarify and strengthen this important oversight of a major contamination threat in our shoreline communities. |
Take a hike! Here's what's available with your Loma Prieta chapter.
Note: regardless of the name/origin of the outing section, all are welcome!
Wed 9/14/22, 10:00 AM, Hike Wunderlich County Park
Thu 9/15/22, 10:00 AM, Hike Wunderlich County Park
Fri 9/16/22, 9:00 AM, POLE Walking for Balance & Maintaining Mobility, Mastick Senior Center, Alameda
Mon 9/19/22, 9:00 AM, POLE Hiking Training, Mori Point, Pacifica
Wed 9/21/22, 12:30 PM, POLE Walking for Exercise (Nordic Walking) At Lands End
Thu 9/22/22, 10:00 AM, Hike Edgewood County Park
Register and see more information on our chapter calendar.
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Do You Need Space to Spread Your Wings?
Donate a Vehicle to Support the Critical Local Environmental Work of Your Chapter.
It’s easy to give and the pick-up is free; just call 844-6-SIERRA or 844-674-3772 or give online at https://careasy.org/nonprofit/Sierra-Club-Foundation-Loma-Prieta-Chapter.
If you would like to donate a Mazda Miata, please contact your Chapter Director personally.
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Social Media Channels for the Loma Prieta Chapter
Facebook: Chapter, 20s – 30s, GLS, Sierra Singles
Loma Prieta Chapter's YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify |
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In Case You Missed It
Previous volumes of our Chapter eNewsletter can be found here.
HISTORIC DATES
Aug 30, 1944: birth of Molly Ivins, American newspaper columnist, author, political commentator, and humorist
IN THE NEWS
Inherit the Dust
An Arctic Village is Reclaiming Indigenous Architecture
What it Means to Sign the New Outdoorist Oath
Do Animals have Culture too?
Sierra Club's new Statement of Values
Sierra Club California 2022 Endorsements
A systematic review of the literature highlights the potential positive impact of nature-based learning for primary school-aged children Access Study
Positive associations between nature contact and children’s health supports advocacy for equitable nature access Access Study
Empirical research over the last 40 years identifies positive associations between nature activities and wellbeing in children and youth Access Study
Improving the quantity and quality of public open space in disadvantaged neighborhoods may help reduce mental health inequities Access Study
How can local cities and residents use nature-based adaptations to sea level rise? Watch recordings of our recent webinar series with SF Bay experts and share with your local elected officials!
Photographers, if you’d like to share with us your high-resolution photos of local nature, with or without people, please contact our Development Coordinator Justyna Guterman, justyna.guterman@sierraclub.org
Too much Sierra Club email? You have control! See this simple tutorial.
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| Thanks to David Fogel for planning and inviting your Chapter Director for two nights camping at >10k ft elevation and to climb Mt Dana, 13,061 ft elevation. |
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A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator, the smaller the fraction.
- Leo Tolstoy
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Liberty and Justice for All,
James Eggers, Director
Sierra Club, Loma Prieta Chapter |
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| 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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