Mikie Sherrill for New Jersey Governor
By: Ricardo Pereira • Chapter Political Chair
In this time of national crisis, we must unite behind leaders who defend our values and who will fight for our future. In New Jersey, we now have an opportunity to choose a new governor, the most powerful public position in the state. The right candidate for that role is Mikie Sherrill.
Road Testing Our New Ioniq 5 EV
By Bill Beren • Transportation Committee Chair, Beren1@verizon.net
Driving and owning an electric car is a great experience. It is a quiet, comfortable ride. Starting and acceleration are much quicker and smoother than with a traditional gasoline-powered car. There are plenty more roadside chargers than you realize, once you start looking for them. Once you try it, you’ll be hooked.
How One Man Took His Family ‘Off the Grid’
By Betsy Longendorfer • Building Electrification Committee
We’ve all dreamed about taking time out of our busy lives to travel and to enjoy the outdoors, maybe even living off the grid. Professor Ben Wymore, of Yeshiva University, and his wife and two children did just that for three years, and they continue such adventures even now during the summers.
Help Fund Our Political Action Committee!
By Jim Andreano • Fundraising Committee Chair, Jimandreano@gmail.com
Our Chapter is fully committed to doing everything in our power to ensure a Sherrill victory. That will require our time and our energy. It will also require money.
Hiking Through Rocky Mountain National Park
By Gary Frederick, Conservation Chair, Raritan Valley Group
These are perilous times for our national parks. Although the parks logged more than 331 million visits in 2024, President Trump’s administration has cut the National Park Service (NPS) staff by about 24% nationwide, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
Students Push for Local Composting
By Olivia Xu • Student Action Committee Chair, student.action@newjersey.sierraclub.org
The Student Action Committee of the NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club is turning food waste into policy change. During the past several months, we’ve brought our composting campaign to town halls across New Jersey.
Weather Extremes Become the Norm
By Tony Hagen • editor@newjersey.sierraclub.org
In this issue of The Jersey Sierran, George Moffatt writes about extreme marine heat events. These are spreading as our oceans warm up, affecting survival in the undersea world in dramatic ways.
Understanding How High Temps Will Affect You
By Judith Green, Co-Chair, Climate Change, North Jersey Group
The longer seasons of more frequent and severe heat waves pose new dangers. Heat-related hospitalizations for heart attacks and dehydration are on the rise in the United States, and heat-related deaths are mounting.
Where Are We With Transportation Electrification?
By Denise Brush, Co-Chair, Clean Energy Committee, offshorewind@newjersey.sierraclub.org
Electrification of the transportation sector is a key part of the transition to 100% clean energy, a transition that is vital to help mitigate climate change and to allow everyone to breathe cleaner air. The NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club is very active in promoting transportation electrification.
Power AI With Clean Energy!
By Greg Gorman • ggorman@embargmail.com
On January 23, 2025, President Trump signed an order (EO 14179) to retool America’s policy for AI development. Trump’s order focused on speed, deregulation, and global AI dominance. It removed Biden-era safeguards for worker protection, cybersecurity, product safety, and fairness in AI contracting. Now growing rapidly, the AI industry will be an enormous consumer of electricity. It must be reliant on clean energy to mitigate the threat of global warming.
Does NJ Face a Drinking Water Crisis?
By Patricia Hilliard • Hudson County Group Chair
Climate change is causing ocean levels to rise. This means salt water is moving farther upriver, where it mixes with fresh water, causing undrinkable brackish water. There are other problems, too, such as aging infrastructure and contamination. New Jersey needs to work fast and furiously to ensure adequate supplies of fresh drinking water for its residents.
Hit the Brakes on Diesel: Why Schools Should Go Electric with Buses
By Olivia Xu • Student Action Committee Chair, student.action@newjersey.sierraclub.org
As the yellow school bus rolls through your neighborhood each morning, it may look the same as it has for decades—but a quiet revolution is coming. To reach the goal of 100% clean energy in New Jersey by 2035, electric school buses (ESBs) are on the rise, offering a cleaner, healthier alternative to their diesel-fueled predecessors. It is time for school districts to start encouraging state and federal authorities to join the commitment to electric school buses now.
Thar She Boils!
By George Moffatt • Education Chair, Jersey Shore Group
New Jersey’s coastline has been experiencing “super marine heat waves” for the past three years, part of a worldwide explosion of unusually warm ocean waters.