Jersey Sierran Index

In 2019, New Jersey established the three-year Community Solar Energy Pilot Program, administered by the NJ Board of Public Utilities (BPU). Gov. Phil Murphy has called the pilot program a national model for making solar accessible to underserved...

After multiple revisions, New Jersey’s recycled content bill (S2515/A4647) was signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy on January 17, 2022. It won by a nice margin in both houses: 48 to 26 in the Assembly and 22 to 15 in the Senate. The bill had been...

In early January, Gov. Phil Murphy intervened with the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) to prevent a vote on construction of an 84-megawatt, backup, fossil fuel–powered generation plant. The move will force the PVSC to reflect more deeply...

In 2020 the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) adopted strict drinking water standards for three chemicals in the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) family. Many NJ water systems soon found they were exceeding the new standard....

This is a moment of transformation and growth for the Chapter, and I am excited to be part of it. I come to the Sierra Club with a background in climate change science and air quality. I earned my Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the...

A few months into our Hiring Committee’s search for a new Chapter Director, I took part in a one-hour training webinar on recruitment that proved invaluable. In the webinar I was advised that it was perfectly fine to call potential job candidates...

According to the Chinese zodiac, this is the Year of the Tiger, and climate activists would do well to embrace the characteristics of the tiger: bravery, assertiveness, and dominance. Clearly, the escalating impacts of carbon pollution—extreme...

When you open the homepage for the national Sierra Club, you are greeted with graphics and images representing the many climate and environmental concerns that our organization champions. You also see a simple block of text with a not-so-simple...

Our Chapter’s Transportation Committee was instrumental in achieving some major victories in the fight to reduce the transportation sector’s carbon footprint. Our campaign to electrify the state’s 22,000 school buses helped get legislation...

We need to shed light on the issue of light pollution. One of the newest committees formed by the New Jersey Chapter is the Light Pollution and Nights Skies Committee. We plan to advocate for statutes and ordinances that regulate lighting so we all...