YOU Can Make a Difference; Read How in This eNewsletter
► 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)!
► Take Basic Wilderness First Aid Class from the man who literally wrote the book. Oct 1
► 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
► See a map of hazardous sites and communities at risk from rising seas.
► Take a hike! Here's what's available with your chapter. |
2022 Guardians of Nature Online Auction is live!
Our 2022 Guardians of Nature Benefit online auction is now open! Go here to bid on a selection of items and experiences to help support the environment you love.
It’s still not too late to celebrate with us our 2022 Guardians of Nature honoree, Walter T. Moore, President of Peninsula Open Space Trust. Join your fellow Loma Prietans in person on Friday, September 30th, at Mitchell Park Community Center in Palo Alto for a festive evening of renewed fellowship, delicious food, and inspirational speakers, or watch the program online. Purchase tickets here. See sponsorship opportunities here.
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The Loma Prieta Chapter is working to protect water and Tribal cultural resources in Santa Clara County from two huge and damaging projects, the Pacheco Reservoir Expansion Project, and the Sargent Ranch Quarry Project. You can help by joining the Chapter Conservation Committee or Water Committee and supporting our efforts to stop these projects. See contact information below.
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Use your Voice to Protect a Local Sacred Indigenous Site and Critical Wildlife Area: Deadline for Letters is September 26th
Help protect this critical wildlife corridor, 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 so now you have the opportunity to say that you want the area saved for indigenous peoples and wildlife.
If you have questions, contact Conservation Committee Chair Gladwyn D'Souza at godsouza@mac.com or Water Committee Chair Katja Irvin at katja.irvin@sbcglobal.net
Click here to watch the EIR letter-writing workshop and learn how to submit you own comments.
To get started, use this template letter from Protect Juristac. |
First in the Nation, California Ends Subsidies to Connect New Buildings to the Gas System
"The CPUC's newest decision, in accordance with the Sierra Club and many other environmental, environmental justice, and consumer advocates, will eliminate these subsidies for all customer classes: residential, commercial, and industrial starting in July, 2023. No more gas subsidies means bill relief for California customers, an estimated $164 million annually, according to the CPUC."
Click here to read the full article by Sierra Club Associate Attorney Nihal Shrinath
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Sierra Club is honored to partner with the creators of the incredible film Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust. Join us for a free film screening with Emmy-winning filmmaker Ann Kaneko. Our very own Senior Associate Director of National Energy Campaigns in California, Monica Embrey, is featured in the film telling the story of her family.
Film trailer: https://vimeo.com/428845064
Film website: https://manzanardiverted.com/ |
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 |
Loma Prieta Forest Protection Committee Has Collaborated with an Unusual Coalition to Defeat a Tree-Cutting Bill
In the just-completed California Legislative Session, a PG&E-sponsored bill, mostly unheard of (SB 396) , was defeated by an unusual coalition of liberals and conservatives – environmental organizations, property rights advocates, timber landowners and rural and urban counties.
SB 396 would have stripped property owners’ rights and worsened the devastation from PG&E’s reckless vegetation mismanagement. PG&E’s argument, that so many trees need to be cut down to prevent wildfires, didn’t stand up to the facts.
Read the Full Press Release here
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Is Bio-Tech Safe like “Clean-Tech” was Clean?
Silicon Valley is one of the most polluted places in the US as a result of the “clean-tech” silicon industry boom polluting its soil, ground water and leaving a legacy of toxics. Now Bio-Tech is being embraced as safe-tech and is being ushered into downtowns and nestling next door to homes and sensitive Bay habitat.
Dude, do you know what’s cooking in that lab next door?
Is Bio-Tech safe? Bio-tech agents range widely, from relatively benign agents to lethal and deadly pathogens that transmit easily through air, water and accidents that cause exposure.
Click here to learn more and help make sure your city doesn’t embrace more than it bargained for. |
Biotech Speculators Target Redwood Shores’ Sensitive Bayfront
Investment group Longfellow Real Estate Partners plans to demolish an existing 984,000ft² office park and triple it to towering, 7-story biotech/R&D lab, with undisclosed Biosafety Levels, next to sensitive habitat and existing homes.
Bay Alive volunteers are leading the charge to challenge the plan
Why? Between the environmentally sensitive Belmont Slough immediately north, and surrounding residential neighborhoods, this flood-prone, 84-acre site also contains a closed, unlined landfill whose problematic history of contaminants and complex geotechnical issues is increasingly vulnerable to rising sea and groundwater levels.
To learn more and get involved in this project contact Nina Goodale at Nina.goodale111@gmail.com |
"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. |
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 |
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"? |
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!
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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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. What is Nature Deficit Disorder?
#2. Review: Dawn at the River King Valley
#1. Representation Matters Film Festival |
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
Sep 25th, 1890, Sequoia National Park was founded
Oct 1st, 1890, Yosemite National Park was founded
IN THE NEWS
Join the campaign to protect 30% of California Lands and Waters by 2030
Beloved Whale Dies from Ship Strike in California
Wisconsin Court Upholds Bird-Friendly Ordinance
Don’t Say Gay. Or Climate Change.
When Elephant Seals Become Ocean Researchers
House Committee Investigates the Role of PR Firms in Spreading Climate Disinformation
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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| 2022.09.03 view from Montara Mountain. This is one of your Chapter Director's favorite places to hike (this time 20 miles w/3900 ft elevation gain), not only because it affords great views of both the San Francisco Bay and the San Mateo Pacific Coast, but also because it is an important local habitat and a great example of what local environmentalists can achieve to protect local habitat; I send continuing thanks to Lennie Roberts and all who worked to protect this local treasure. |
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I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown,
for going out, I found,
was really going in.
- John of the Mountains:
The Unpublished Journals of John Muir, (1938), edited by Linnie Marsh Wolfe, (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1938, republished 1979, page 439.
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Liberty and Justice for All,
James Eggers, Director
Sierra Club, Loma Prieta Chapter |
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Thank you to our 2022 Guardians on Nature Benefit Sponsors
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Sierra Nevada Sentinels
Mary Buxton and Ron Hess
Anonymous
Yosemite Heroes
Alan and Irene Adler
Lisa Barboza and Brian Roach
Anonymous
Sequoia Champions
Patricia Borga Suvari
Sue Chow
Nancy and David Crabbe
Gladwyn D'Souza
Joe Simitian, Santa Clara County Supervisor
and 2018 Guardians of Nature Honoree,
and Mary Hughes
Richard Simpson and Ann Reisenauer
Sid and Linda Liebes
Larry L. Lundberg |
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Baylands Stewards
Lisa and Shawn Britton
Brian Carr
Peter and Melanie Cross
Ruth MacDonald-Degener and
Martin Degener
Rick and Karen DeGolia
Susan DesJardin
Katie Dunlap
Susan Dunn
Rebecca Eisenberg
Susan Ellenberg, Santa Clara County
Supervisor
Mary Gill
Jerry Hearn and Rebecca Reynolds
Wayne and Judith Hooper
Caroline Horn
Sergio Jimenez, Councilmember, San Jose
Kristine Karnos
Arthur Keller
Ginny Laibl
Ruth Stoner Muzzin
Kevin Mullin, Assemblymember
Enid Pearson, 2019 Guardians of Nature
Honoree
Lucas Ramirez, Mayor, Mountain View
Emily Renzel, 2019 Guardians of Nature
Honoree
Bruce Rienzo
Lennie Roberts, 2016 Guardians of Nature
Honoree
Charles and Jaime Schafer
Johanna Schmid and Ed Reed
Tara Sreekrishnan, Santa Clara County
Board of Education Trustee |
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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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