YOU Can Make a Difference; Read How in This eNewsletter
► Be Involved in the King Tides Project to help protect your community from sea level rise.
► 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.
► Support native artists this holiday season. |
Have you received our special package?
Only twice a year our Chapter mails a special postal package inviting you to become a local environmental changemaker, and I hope that by now you have received it. If you have already responded, we thank you. If not, please take a minute to do it now. Please remember that only a sliver of your Sierra Club membership dues is returned to Loma Prieta to support our work for a healthy environment, but 100% of your gift made directly to the Chapter will be spent locally.
See donation options, including employer matching opportunities. |
Help Prepare Your Community for the Impacts of Sea Level Rise. Get Involved in the King Tides Project!
This winter, King Tides are expected to hit the Bay Area on January 21-22, 2023.
Every year, the California Coastal Commission puts together a statewide project around King Tides to study sea level rise. This year, our Bay Alive campaign will be doing a deep dive on this project to look at how these tides impact our region. This is a three part project that involves attending our webinar, photographing King Tides in your area, and building a community story map that traces the effects of the tides throughout the Bay, and we need your help! |
Click here to register for the King Tides webinar on December 13th at 6pm
The first webinar takes place on Tuesday, December 13th at 6pm on Zoom. If you cannot attend but still want to participate, a recording will be posted on our King Tides webpage.
Anyone and everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate. Make sure to register for our webinar if you would like to get involved.
If you are interested in learning more, check out our website or contact Dani Zacky at dani.zacky@sierraclub.org. |
Experts Say Drought and and Treated Wastewater contributed to Bay Area Algae Bloom
Excerpts from the NBC Bay Area article
"Experts believe the drought, along with treated wastewater from the Bay Area's sewage plants contributed to August's algal bloom, also known as a red tide.
The biggest fear of the impact of the die-off is to green sturgeon, which are listed as federally threatened.
"One of the actions we were suggesting," Schreier said, "is to switch, even temporarily, from a harvest fishery to a catch and release fishery.”
To help protect wildlife and water flows, contact our Water Committee.
To help protect the Bay, volunteer with our Sustainable Land Use Committee.
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"San Jose Has Eliminated Parking Minimums ...
... easing the way for new housing construction and lowering the cost of building in the formerly car-oriented city. Now, new rules will require developers to include bicycle parking—“including one bike for every two lanes at bowling alleys and at least one bicycle spot for every 800 square feet at restaurants."
Note: Parking minimums are local laws that require private businesses and residences to provide at least a certain number of off-street parking spaces.
Read the entire article
Are you interested in making your city less car-oriented? Contact our Sustainable Land Use Committee |
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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.
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CNPS Santa Clara Valley Chapter's annual Growing Natives Garden Tour
Saturday - Sunday, April 1 - 2, 2023 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Are you interested in gardens that are waterwise, low maintenance and attractive to humans as well as birds and butterflies? Click here to learn more about Native Gardens |
Environmental Book Club Reading List
To join contact Gladwyn d'Souza
January: Water Always Wins- thriving in an age of drought and deluge, by Erica Gies
February: Nomad Century- How climate migration will reshape our world, by Gaia Vince
March: Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
April: The Intersectional Environmentalist- How to dismantle systems of oppression to protect people plus planet by Leah Thomas
May: Regenesis- Feeding the world without devouring the planet by George Monbiot
June: Euphoria by Lily King
July: The Flag The Cross, And The Station Wagon by Bill McKibben.
August: Rescuing the Planet- protecting half the land to heal the earth by Tony Hiss.
September: The New Wilderness by Diane Cook
October: There Are No Accidents- the deadly rise injury and disaster, who profits, and who pays the price by Jessie Singer
November: Bicycling with Butterflies by Sara Dykman
December: How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue |
BioBlitz at Coyote Creek Visitors Center
Location: 19245 Malaguerra Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA, 95037
Saturday January 21st
9AM - 11AM
A BioBlitz focuses on finding and identifying as many species as possible in a specific area over a short period of time. At a BioBlitz, scientists, families, students, and other community members work together to get an overall count of plants, animals, fungi, and other organisms that live in a place.
Docents will guide you and teach you to use the iNaturalist app on your smartphone to record all the living things you encounter.
Click here to RSVP |
Clean Power at a Steep Price
Electric Vehicles are resource intensive and inequitable. Lithium mines use vast amounts of water in what is already one of the driest places on Earth, thus endangering Indigenous peoples, rare flamingos; vegetation that feeds goats, sheep, and llama-like guanacos; and an Atacameño way of life followed by communities for thousands of years.
Read more from the Sierra Club here.
To volunteer on transit and walkable cities that provide alternatives to driving contact our Sustainable Land Use Committee |
This California city asked where its recycling went. The answer wasn’t pretty.
"Palo Alto found that some 60% of its recyclables got shipped abroad, with little transparency as to their fate."
Read here the full article about recycling
To volunteer on zero-waste issues in your city, contact Gladwyn d'Souza |
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 conscience 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 wherever I go.
Your Loma Prieta Chapter is always in need of volunteers, to help protect our local wildlife and wildlands. No experience is necessary and mentoring will be provided.
Please contact your Chapter Director at James.Eggers@SierraClub.org. |
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!
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.
Click here to watch the recording of the symposium.
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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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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 12/28/22, 10:00 AM, Hike Fitzgerald Marine Reserve to Princeton
Wed 1/4/23 10:00 AM Hike Huddart Park
Thu 1/5/23 10:00 AM Hike Edgewood Park
Wed 1/11/23 10:00 AM Hike Palo Alto Baylands
Thu 1/12/23 10:00 AM Hike Palo Alto Baylands
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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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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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| 2022.12.17 Day Hikers outing in Pinnacles National Park: 15 miles, 4000 ft elevation gain. |
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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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