Chapter Chair's Column

by Andy Sawyer - Environmental protection and public health are closely linked. Improved sanitation, including sewage treatment, drinking water treatment, and municipal garbage collection, has contributed more than medical advances to the increasing life expectancy in the United States. Life expectancy has more than doubled over the last one hundred fifty years, with the largest gains occurring between 1880 and 1920, as improved sanitation programs were implemented. Other public services and public policy issues not directly related to health care and medical advances also affect public health. And the importance of state and local government policies is highlighted by differences in life expectancy among states depending on how conservative or liberal the politics are in those states.

Thank you!

By Lynne Paulson - The Sierra Club Tahoe Area Group is very pleased to have education and outreach support from Grace Smith. She has increased our social media presence. She has helped develop events related to nature and conservation. She has been great at identifying other organizations we can partner with for activities and events. We are especially excited about the upcoming September 20 presentation “Adventures in Limnology” at Lake Tahoe Community College with sponsorship by the Geology Club and the Hispanic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program.

Our Mother Lode Chapter headquartered in Sacramento appreciated Grace’s support and leadership for the Young Adult Advisory Board that is related to tobacco product waste.

We must note that among her other accomplishments, Grace survived her first winter at Tahoe where there was so much snow that even long- time locals had not seen this much snowfall in decades!
We expect Grace to have an outstanding future and we hope that she remains committed to the Sierra Club motto to explore, protect and enjoy the planet.

Sacramento ICO News

By Harry Spanglet, Chair - It’s been a while since our last ICO update (last September), and we’ve been busy! Between September 2022 - September 2023 Sacramento ICO took approximately 260 youth on 16 outings, with eight partner agencies. In comparison, last year we took only 110 youth on 11 outings - and none in 2020-21! We are now starting to plan our fall and winter activities, including a weekend at a coastal hostel, and our extremely popular winter trips to the snow. For more information about our partners see their websites (linked in the article below).

Check out the pictures below of the world's largest white fir in El Dorado County, taken by the Amador-El Dorado Forest Forum board members!

Tahoe Keys Update

The development of the Tahoe Keys is a case study in how NOT to develop land in a fragile ecosystem on a world-renowned scenic lake. Linked is a video from ABC10 that includes interviews with Tobi Tyler from Sierra Club and Laurel Ames, former director of the League to Save Lake Tahoe.

Watch Here

Please join the Sierra Club's Environmental Justice in Tobacco Control project to learn more about the environmental impacts of toxic tobacco waste and the launch of our new general plans resource!

Cigarette butts remain the #1 most littered item collected in beach cleanups worldwide. They contain toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and are made of single-use plastic. Each butt contains approximately 15,000 strands of microplastic fibers that can shed at a rate of 100/day in water. Vaping products contain concentrated nicotine e-liquid, which is a federally listed acute hazardous waste. The lithium-ion batteries in these products have the unique propensity to explode and catch on fire by design, which has led FEMA to refer to them as "flaming rockets". Yet, these products remain haphazardly located next to the wildland-urban interfaces, open spaces, vital infrastructure, and water resources and occur at higher densities in low-income communities of color.

This webinar will discuss what toxic tobacco product waste is (TTPW), why it is a dangerous, pervasive, and unjust pollution

problem, and how land-use and zoning policies can be used to regulate these dangerous products. This toolkit will feature sample language that can be adapted to your jurisdiction's general plan to address toxic tobacco waste in several key policy issue areas, including fire safety, air quality, water quality, health, and more. This webinar will also provide an overview of general plans from our law partners, the Public Health Law Center, and feature sample language.

Please register in advance here:

https://sierraclub.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_B-2JkjWnRj2a6kk5URy_Yg#/registration and stay tuned for the release of this new and exciting toolkit on our website https://www.stoptoxictobaccowaste.org/model-policy