SierraScape April-May 2005
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by Sreenu Dandamudi and Del Johnson

The East Missouri Group of the Sierra Club has many dedicated volunteers, more than we can hope to acknowledge as they deserve. At the January 27 EMG general meeting, we were pleased to recognize two volunteers as Sierran of the Year for 2004, and extend to them our gratitude for their years of service to the environment.

During her years of membership in the Sierra Club, Diane DuBois has been a true friend of the environment. She has assisted EMG in many ways, serving for some years as program chair, and in general enthusiastically helping EMG as it helps the cause of conservation. Her friends stress her dedication to the protection of native plants, as on the prairie plot at Lindbergh and Highway 40, and also for a number of years with the native plant project on the grounds of Lindbergh school.

Those who know her tell us that Diane most deserves recognition for her leadership, for more than fifteen years, of the cleanup efforts along the stretch of Highway 40 that is sponsored by EMG Sierra. Basically, they say, Diane owns this project. She makes sure it is done properly, carefully, and safely. She is the one who sees that all items collected go to the most appropriate destination, and are recycled if at all possible. She is always looking out for her volunteers, whether many or few, and is not above working alone when help does not materialize. If you want to see a person who exemplifies the spirit of recycling, a friend tells us, look no further than Diane.

Many of us recall that our first introduction to service with the Sierra Club was a Saturday morning highway cleanup led by Diane. We can't imagine a more amiable and effective spokesperson for EMG, and she highly deserves recognition as Sierran of the Year.

Mac Dillon has been active in the Sierra Club for several years. As the former Political Chair, he has spent countless hours each week, to help environment-friendly candidates get elected to office. Many of us don't realize how thankless of a job this is. The candidates he helps rarely thank him, and the other candidates definitely let him know that they're not happy with his actions.

However, with the limited resources in our Eastern Missouri Group, Mac has done an exceptional job as Political Chair. I feel that it is now time that we recognize not only the thankless hours that he has spent as Political Chair, but also let him know that we appreciate what he's done for Missouri's environment and that he should not let the critics get to him. That's why I am glad to see that Mac is one of the two recipients of the Sierran of the Year Award this year!