YOU Can Make a Difference; Read How in This eNewsletter
► Sierra Club Members, please remember to vote in Chapter and Regional Group Executive Committees. This is an easy way to thank the volunteers who dedicate hundreds of hours to lead your chapter.
► Light pollution affects us all! What can we do about it? Learn in our November 16th webinar
► See what your support of Loma Prieta Chapter made possible in 2021 (and previously)!
► Volunteer to take photos for the San Francisco Estuary Institute to help protect the Bay
► Take a hike! Here's what's available with your chapter. |
It's time again for you to VOTE for the next at-large members of the Loma Prieta Chapter Executive Committee. Those elected will start their two-year term in January 2023. You will also cast votes for your local Group’s executive committee elections.
Sierra Club, the nation’s largest and oldest grassroots environmental organization, is proudly democratic and member-driven. The at-large delegates you elect, along with the local Group delegates direct the work of our Loma Prieta Chapter.
This year six (6) individuals have been nominated to run for four (4) open at-large seats for our Chapter Executive Committee election. Visit here to see voting instructions and candidate statements. Paper ballots have been mailed to all eligible members which may be used for voting, or Visit here to cast your ballot online!. Voting ends on November 28th.
Charles Schafer, Chair
Loma Prieta Chapter Executive Committee
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"We have, however, become a little too Apollonian for our own good.
Our nights are now drenched in artificial illumination. We are blinded by the light. Utilities exploit fear of urban crime to market unnecessary and intrusive outdoor lighting. Luminous billboards and prodigal streetlights anesthetize our feeling for the night. As the Milky Way dissolves, cosmic grandeur and mystery evaporate.
With the stars lost from sight, our reach is reduced.
We could use a little theft of light."
Dr. E.C. Krupp in Sky and Telescope, March 2000
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Light Pollution: A Glowing Hazard
Webinar: November 16th, Wednesday, 1 - 4 pm
Presented by the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and your Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter
The use of LED technology and energy saving lighting fixtures are bringing with them an unintended, yet pervasive and harmful effect: the over-lighting of our nights. The symposium will focus on the biological and physical effects of lighting up the night and provide strategies that guard our health and environment while providing safe and practical lighting solutions.
The speakers are global experts on artificial light at night, light pollution and its impact on migratory birds, and solutions to reducing bird collisions.
Click here to learn more and register for free. |
Over a Dozen South Bay Cities Took Action On Climate Change in October!
October has been a very active month for building electrification! Loma Prieta Chapter volunteers and staff advocated alongside a strong coalition of local environmentalists to pressure local governments to adopt local ordinances electrifying new buildings.
Among these ordinances are some of the strongest in the nation! Read the full summary of code adoptions here [link tbd]
Interested in becoming a local environmental and climate advocate? Contact our Conservation Organizer at Dashiell.Leeds@SierraClub.org |
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The Loma Prieta Chapter is working to protect water and Tribal cultural resources from two huge and damaging projects in Santa Clara County: 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.
For updates and information on protecting Juristac, a sacred site of the Amah Mutsun people and critical wildlife corridor, click here.
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
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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 |
Op-Ed: We Need to Build on the Federal Climate Bill
"State and local representatives have good policy levers to tackle emissions from buildings that come from burning fossil gas, mostly for space and water heating. The IRA provides incentives to install electric appliances and there are local incentives too."
Click here to read the full Op-Ed in the San Mateo Daily Journal by Chris Frank, Kristel Wickham, and Lauren Weston |
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. |
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. |
Securities and Exchange Commission 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. |
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!
Sun 11/13/22, 10:30 AM, Shoreline Park Exploration (Front Country)
Wed 11/16/22, 10:00 AM, Hike Alum Rock Park
Thu 11/17/22, 10:00 AM, Hike Pulgas Ridge Open Space
Wed 11/30/22, 10:00 AM, Hike Sam McDonald / Tarwater
Thu 12/1/22, 10:00 AM, Hike Sam McDonald Heritage Grove
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Peninsula Clean Energy rebates
Peninsula Clean Energy is providing homeowners in San Mateo County and the City of Los Banos interest-free financing and new rebates to install electric appliances and make other energy-efficiency upgrades.
The agency’s new Zero Percent Loan program will provide interest-free financing for up to $10,000 per home for projects that include installation of electric heat pump equipment, including water heaters and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) units. Gas-powered equipment will not be eligible for the financing. |
Heat Pump 101: The Lowdown on the Hottest (And Coolest) Appliance You’ve Never Heard Of
- Unlike most furnaces or air conditioners on the market that are powered by fossil fuels — like methane gas (so-called “natural” gas), propane, and oil — heat pumps are electrically powered. Relying on electricity means that heat pumps do not burn dirty fuels inside your home to be breathed in or released into the atmosphere. Combusting gas or oil in a furnace or air conditioning system releases air pollutants that are harmful to human health and the climate, like nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and climate-disrupting carbon dioxide. Read the Sierra Magazine article .
- The Loma Prieta Chapter has been working since 2018 with our cities and counties to pass codes that will remove methane gas from our homes. Many of our cities have responded by passing strong all electric codes.
- To join the advocacy contact Dashiell Leeds at dashiell.leeds@sierraclub.org |
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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| From our friends at Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful |
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"The man who dies rich, dies disgraced"
said and exeplified by Andrew Carnegie, born Nov 25, 1835
At 65 years old Carnegie accepted a $480M buyout from JPMorgan ($17 billion in today's dollars). 90% was donated before his death.
At the close of the 20th Century there were 1689 Carnegie Libraries in the US. Most people born in the US checked-out their first book from a Carnegie Library.
Please consider your investment in the future by supporting your Loma Prieta Chapter's Year End Appeal, arriving now to your mail box, or accessible at our donation page, along with opportunities for other intelligent ways to donate, such as employer matching programs and triple-benefit stock donations.
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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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