About Us

Sierra is the storytelling arm of the Sierra Club, the United States’ oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental group. We are a national print and digital magazine publishing award-winning journalism and cutting-edge photography, art, and video dedicated to protecting the natural world. Combining features on green living and outdoor adventure with reporting about threats to the environment, Sierra brings together leading journalists, photographers, and filmmakers to convey the ideals at the heart of the Sierra Club’s mission.

Sierra is the modern version of the original Sierra Club Bulletin, created by famed naturalist John Muir in 1893, one year after founding the Sierra Club. Today, the magazine publishes quarterly in print and every day online. We reach 1 million readers across North America with every print edition and hundreds of thousands more online.

Submission Guidelines
If you are interested in submitting editorial or photographic materials to Sierra, please consult our guidelines for submission.

• Guidelines for Writers
• Guidelines for Photographers

Awards and Distinctions
Sierra magazine regularly publishes original award-winning journalism, photography, and illustration in print and online. We are proudly the home of vanguard eco-literary journalism and investigative stories that lead to real change.

2023

• In January 2023 the menstrual underwear company Thinx settled an up to $5 million class action lawsuit that claimed its "organic" line of products contain PFAS chemicals, or Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances. The lawsuit originated from an original investigative story by Sierra magazine "Ms. Green" columnist Jessian Choy, who in January 2020 published a column revealing that she sent samples of Thinx "organic" brand menstrual underwear to Dr. Graham Peaslee, a nuclear scientist and Notre Dame professor, for analysis, and he confirmed they had high levels of PFAS. Such chemicals have been linked to a wide variety of impacts to the environment and human health.
• Illustrator Miguel Porlan was selected to appear in the American Illustration Annual for his original commissioned work for Sierra magazine's carbon capture series in the Summer 2022 issue.
• Isobel Whitcomb's "An Ark for Amphibians," first published in Sierra magazine, was selected for the 2023 edition of THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE AND NATURE WRITING ’23. 
• Kristina Marusic / "Titans of Plastic" won the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania's Golden Quill award for petrochemical coverage. This was a collaborative multimedia feature story between Sierra magazine and Environmental Health News publishing in the Fall 2023 issue.
• Illustrator Brian Stauffer was selected to appear in the Society of Illustrators Book and Exhibitions for his original commissioned work for Sierra magazine's Winter 2023 feature story, "Fossil Fuel Ideologues are Desperate to Keep Coal Alive, No Matter the Costs."

2022

• Lucy Sheriff's "Beavers are Fighfighters Who Work for Free," first published in Sierra magazine, was selected for the 2022 edition of THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE AND NATURE WRITING ’22. 

2021

• Sierra magazine was a finalist in two categories for the 69th Annual Maggie Awards: the July/August 2020 issue overall, and for Jessica Camille Aguirre's feature story on climate migration, "How Climate Change is Driving Families
  North," which published in the September/October 2020 issue of Sierra.

2020

• Jackie Bryant's "Life, Death, and the Border Patrol," first published in Sierra magazine, was selected for the 2020 edition of THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE AND NATURE WRITING ’20. 
• Heide Brandes's "Native American Nations Struggle to Protect Wild Rice," first published in Sierra magazine, wins a North American Travel Journalists Association Gold Award. 

2019

• Edward Humes's "You Can't Recycle Garbage," originally published in Sierra magazine, wins the Maggie Award for Best Feature Article for the 68th Annual Maggie Awards.
• Photographer Robyn Twomey's work documenting the lives of single-mother military veterans, originally commissioned for a feature article in Sierra magazine (Katie O'Reilly's "Scenes From a Camping Trip for Single-Mother Military Veterans"), is selected to appear in the American Photography 35 annual award book.
   

2018

Sierra magazine won three Maggie Awards for the 67th Annual Maggie Awards, as follows:

• "To Climb a Mountain" (published online as "A Group of Young Afghan Women Reach New Heights Trekking in Nepal") by Wendy Becktold: Maggie Award for Best Feature Article
• "School of Thought" (published online as "Fish Populations in the Sea of Cortez Are Rebounding Thanks to a Marine Protected Area") a photo by Anuar Patjane Floriuk: Maggie Award for Best Single Photograph
• Entire issue (November/December 2018): Maggie Award for General Excellence (Special Interest)

In addition:

• Leslie Hsu Oh's "A Guilt-Free Day on the Slopes," first published in Sierra magazine, wins a North American Travel Journalists Association Gold Award. 
• Gigi Ragland's "Dispatches From the Great Plains’ Sandhill Crane Migration" earns an honorable mention in the same category for the North American Travel Journalists Association awards. 

2017

• Sierra magazine is a finalist in the multimedia category for Media Industry Newsletter (MIN) magazine's multimedia feature category (MIN is now part of Folio magazine).

2014

• "Artist or Activist: In Africa, Nick Brandt Assembles an Anti-Poaching Army": Ozzie Award for Best Cover Design

2013

• "Gust Junkies": Maggie Award for Best Series of Editorial Photographs/Consumer

2012

• "Kick Coal, Save Jobs, Right Now": Society of Publication Designers Merit Award for the Best Illustration/Single Spread
• March/April issue: Folio magazine's Silver Eddie Award for the best full issue by an association/nonprofit publishing six issues per year
• "High Art": Maggie Award for Best Series of Editorial Photographs/Consumer
• "High Art": Maggie Award for Best Single Editorial Photograph/Consumer
• "Sound Off": Society of American Travel Writer's Environmental Tourism Award (Bronze)
• "Make Light": Maggie Award for Best Feature Article/Consumer
• "The Cost of Coal": Maggie Award for Best News Story/Consumer

2011

• "Wilderness Diplomacy": Print's 2012 Regional Design Annual Award
• "Look, It's a Cheatercycle": Maggie Award for Best Single Editorial Illustration/Consumer

2010

• "View From the Vortex": Maggie Award: Best Series of Editorial Photographs/Consumer

2009

• "King Coal in Court": Maggie Award for Best Single Editorial Illustration/Consumer;
• "Innovate": Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Department, Section, or Column/Consumer

2007

• "Smart Energy Solutions": Maggie Award for Best Series of Articles/Consumer
• "Ways & Means": Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Department, Section, or Column/Consumer
• "A Patriotic Pall": Maggie Award for Best Single Editorial Illustration/Consumer

2006

• "Photography of Hope": Maggie Award for Best Black-and-White or Two-Color Editorial Layout/Trade & Consumer
• "Photography of Hope": Maggie Award for Best Series of Editorial Photographs/Consumer
• "A Real Refuge": Canada's Northern Lights Awards First Prize

2005

• "American Idylls": Maggie Award for Best Public Service Series or Article
• "Madame Butterfly": American Society of Journalists and Authors Best Profile Award

2004

• "Wild America": Maggie Award for Best Special Theme Issue
• "Bull Elk" (Photographer Gary Kramer): Apogee Award for Excellence in Still Photography

2002

• "Ode to the Bus": Maggie Award for Best Signed Editorial or Essay
• "Election 2002": Maggie Award for Best Public Service Series or Article

2000

• "Night Ride": Maggie Award for Best Single Editorial Illustration
• "Canada's Forgotten Coast": Maggie Award for Best Public Service Series or Article
• "The Legacy of Lewis & Clark": Maggie Award for Best Public Service Series or Article

Staff

Editorial
Jason Mark, Editor in Chief
Rachel Griffiths, Art Director
Jonathan Hahn, Managing Editor
Paul Rauber, Senior Editor
Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Poetry Editor
Lindsey Botts, Digital Editor
Julia Sklar, Story Editor
Suki Gear, Copy Chief
Jessica Meskus, Senior Associate Art Director
Nikki Kahn, Photo Editor

Finance and Operations
Gary Reinecke, Deputy Chief Operating Officer
Amy Santana, Production and Digital Engagement Manager

Address Changes
For subscription inquiries, contact Sierra Club Member Services, 415-977-5653. For address changes: Send old and new addresses and a Sierra address label to Sierra Club Member Care, 2101 Webster St., Suite 1300, Oakland, CA 94612; email address.changes@sierraclub.org.