By Joe Testa • chapter.chair@newjersey.sierraclub.org
From time to time, you might read in a daily newspaper or online that the Sierra Club has filed a lawsuit regarding a fossil fuel infrastructure project or has been involved in supporting or opposing a bill in the state Legislature. This is only the tip of the iceberg in how the staff and volunteers in the New Jersey Chapter are working behind the scenes every day to support the mission of the Club. It is often hard to keep track of our efforts, from working for regulatory reform of PJM Interconnection—our region’s electric grid coordinator—to drafting legislation and fighting development projects that threaten open space and habitat!
The Sierra Club’s stated mission is “to explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the Earth; to practice and promote the responsible use of the Earth’s ecosystems and resources; to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out these objectives.” That’s a pretty broad mandate our members have signed up to support. How does the Club figure out how to take action to actually make progress in achieving that mission?
Around the country and here in New Jersey, we’re working to fulfill that mission with a grassroots model unique in the environmental movement: a decentralized network of (mostly) state-level chapters. Each chapter sets its own local priorities that are consistent with the Club’s mission and suited to the local economic, environmental, and political situation—leveraging the energy and expertise of their local volunteers, in collaboration with professional staff. In New Jersey, we have a team of five staff members along with several volunteer committees who are taking on these challenges.
Another unique aspect of Sierra Club is that it’s each chapter’s elected volunteer executive committee (“excom”) that votes to set the chapter’s local priorities and oversees the chapter’s budget. As I write this article in July, our own Chapter’s ExCom is putting together our work plan for the coming fiscal year. It’s our job to translate broad ideas such as “protect the wild places of the Earth” and translate them into specific actions that will move us toward meeting those objectives.
While not finalized yet, here are some of the priority topics that are likely to be included in our final plan:
• Promoting renewable, affordable energy generation and infrastructure, including educating the public about the benefits of clean energy.
• Advocating for wildlife and habitat protection.
• Countering data center impacts and proliferation.
• Promoting building and transportation electrification.
• Supporting coastal resiliency and responsible land use.
• Strengthening the Chapter’s internal structure, as a critical component for achieving the Chapter’s policy goals.
The ExCom that sets our Chapter priorities is acting on behalf of our membership, and is in fact elected by our members. This is where you come in. Our Chapter’s Nominating Committee, led by Chair Stan Greberis, has recruited an outstanding slate of five candidates for this year’s ExCom election. On page 2 of this issue, you will find a ballot where we invite every member to vote to fill the three positions up for election. We invite you to review their statements and cast your vote by either returning the paper ballot or responding to an emailed ballot many of you will also receive (if you have previously given us permission to send to your email address). When you participate in our election, you are demonstrating your support for our mission.
What are your thoughts on how we are focusing our work according to the priorities I listed above? Drop me an email at chapter.chair@newjersey.sierraclub.org if you’d like to weigh in on our Chapter’s work or volunteer with a team or committee that is tackling one of the topics above.