YOU Can Make a Difference; Read How in This eNewsletter
► Sierra Club Members, please 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 in protecting our local wildlife and wildlands.
► Voice Your Input on the Development of the San Mateo County Consolidated Plan with a 5-7 Minute Survey
► Tell the Metropolitan Transportation Commission how to improve community outreach by taking this survey.
► See what your support of Loma Prieta Chapter made possible in 2021 (and previously)!
► Take a hike! Here's what's available with your chapter.
► Sierra Club provides an opportunity to support native artists this holiday season. |
Sierra Club Members, You Have the Power! Voting Extended to Dec. 12th.
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 December 12th.
Charles Schafer, Chair
Loma Prieta Chapter Executive Committee
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BREAKING NEWS: Gschwend Property Purchased for Conservation
The Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency, POST and Santa Clara County Parks have purchased 17-acres (Gschwend Property) at the southern rim of San Jose - the gateway to Coyote Valley.
The land is habitat to species such as the endangered Bay Checkerspot butterfly and contains important wildlife linkages such as Coyote-Alamitos canal, which meanders on the property to a culvert that allows deer, bobcats, coyotes and other wildlife to safely cross Santa Teresa Blvd.
This is a huge success for our wildlife and open space advocates, who have tenaciously fought in collaboration with community and environmental groups such as The Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and Green Foothills.
We will continue to watch this property, hoping that habitat is restored and animal movement continues, and ensuring that any public access maintains sensitivity to the privacy needs of wildlife and residents alike.
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The Loma Prieta Chapter's 2022 Conservation Activist Award goes to ...
our cherished volunteer Dave Poeschel; please read his acceptance speech here.
Thank you all, donors, hikers, conservation activists, allies with other organizations, and decision makers who generously share your time to hear our concerns.
We the people of the Sierra Club are a conscious for the planet. We speak for people we will never know, who have yet to be born. We speak for the other species who have no voice other than a soulful howl in a nature documentary.
So regardless of the outcome, win or lose, whether the political pragmatism of the moment permits decision makers to side with our Sierra Club, they know we’re right. We are the angel on their shoulder whose voice for the planet seeps into their subconscious even when we are not able to be there.
Thank you all for the vigorous discussions that make us stronger. Thank you for the education. Thank you for your camaraderie and maybe especially for me, for your patience.
Thank you my band of brothers and sisters, you will always be close to my heart where ever I go.
Your Loma Prieta Chapter is always in need of volunteers, to help protect our local wildlife and wildlands. No experience is neccessary and mentoring will be provided.
Please contact your Chapter Director at James.Eggers@SierraClub.org. |
Photo: 2020.05.31 Joseph Grant County Park, California King Snake which your Chapter Director found freshly dead on the trail with bicycle tread across it's spine.
How Do Mountain Bikes Affect Local Wildlife?
The Department of Environmental Studies at San José State University is pleased to present a public Master of Science Thesis Defense
Wednesday, November 30, 2022, 12:00 – 1:15 PM
In-person: ENVS Garden (by Washington Square Hall)
or via Zoom https://sjsu.zoom.us/j/5858275843 pw: ENVS@SJSU
Erin Lacour, M.S. Candidate
Department of Environmental Studies, San José State University
Combining camera trap and fitness app data demonstrates that mammals change behavior near high-use bike trails on Mount Tamalpais, CA |
Voice Your Input on the Development of the San Mateo County Consolidated Plan with a 5-7 Minute Survey
Your input is valuable to inform housing and community needs in San Mateo County.
Click here to read about the development of the San Mateo County Consolidated Plan and learn about upcoming community workshops.
Click here to take the 5-7 minute survey.
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Tell the Metropolitan Transportation Commission how to Improve Community Outreach
Take the 2023 Public Participation Plan Survey by clicking here.
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission makes decisions on how hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent. We encourage those who take the survey to select the option for "provide online/telephone options for participating rather than in-person events", as some in-person meetings are difficult to attend. |
Our Symposium, "Light at Night - A Glowing Hazard" was a Huge Success!
Click here to watch the recording of the symposium.
More than 600 people registered for our symposium to learn about the devastating impacts of light at night on birds, wildlife, and our ecosystems from presentations by national experts.
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. On November 16, the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter, the Sierra Club Bay Alive Campaign and the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society presented a symposium to focus on the biological and physical effects of lighting up the night and to provide strategies that guard our health and environment while providing safe and practical lighting solutions.
Attendees, included elected officials, government representatives, professionals and members of the public.
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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 |
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 |
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 11/30/22, 10:00 AM, Hike Sam McDonald / Tarwater
Thu 12/1/22, 10:00 AM, Hike Sam McDonald H. Grove
Fri 12/2/22, 3:00 PM, Pinnacles Car Camping and Condor Hikes
Wed 12/7/22, 9:30 AM, Hike Los Trancos Open Space Preserve
Thu 12/8/22, 10:00 AM, Hike Hidden Villa
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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. |
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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Sierra Club provides an opportunity to support native artists this holiday season for that special gift. At a minimum we can become aware of the theft to native resources and ongoing extraction of their resources and legacy.
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| 2022.11.24: view from Loma Prieta Chapter's Hikers Hut, in Sam McDonald County Park. |
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I don't think there's anything exceptional or noble in being philanthropic.
It's the other attitude that confuses me.
- Paul Newman
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Please support 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. Thank you for being exeptional and noble.
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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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