COVID-19 Update: Read about the most recent Sierra Club guidelines here.
You're Invited! Spring Retreat April 28-30 at Fall Creek Falls
The Tennessee Chapter Spring Retreat is approaching! Enjoy the company of other environmentalists during the peak of spring wildflower season at Fall Creek Falls State Park
! Join us for fellowship, hikes, fireplace chats, and more. Don’t miss the Saturday evening program, silent auction, and the informal social gathering that follows. We particularly encourage families to bring children of all ages to introduce them to the wonderful natural landscape of the park! We're planning some special nature activities just for kids. Weather permitting, we will have a bonfire where we can make s’mores!Detailed agenda will be sent out before April 22nd. Early bird registration by April 22. Register here!
Tennessee News
Sierra Club Voting Underway for Board of Directors!Right now, members have the opportunity to vote for up to 5 candidates. Membersshould have received your ballots in the mail. Ballots must be received byApril 26th at noon Eastern. You may vote by paper ballot or online. For more information and links to candidate profiles, visit Sierra Club Board of Directors 2023.
OPINION: How Tennessee will lead the nation in environmental protection. "From cleaning up toxic industrial waste sites called brownfields to increasing accessibility in the Tennessee State Park system to proposing $50 million dollars for a Nuclear Fast Track Fund, it is clear that Governor Lee is determined to ensure that the Volunteer State leads the nation in environmental protection."
Read more by Lily Moll and John Bratton, Guest Columnists - Tennessean - March 10, 2023.
Measure to protect Duck River from industrial development in Maury County advances. "A bill to protect a stretch of the Duck River in Maury County from industrial development, including the looming prospect of regional landfills, advanced in the Legislature Wednesday after a tense and occasionally rowdy House hearing." Read more by Anita Wadhwani - Tennessee Lookout - March 22, 2023. Update from Scott Banbury: Class II Scenic River designation for the Duck River passed the House Government Operations Committee unanimously on 3/27/23. It will now be going to the House Floor. It was already passed by the full Senate on 3/13/23.
Knoxville Utility Board (KUB) Community Solar Update. "KUB is introducing Knoxville's first community solar array, in partnership with TVA and the City of Knoxville. After nearly a year of construction, KUB's 1-megawatt community solar array is now operational. Community solar is a way for KUB customers to support local solar projects and subscribe to the benefits of a shared solar array." Learn more about the program here.
Off-road vehicles barred from Franklin State Forest until July 8 for damage assessment. "Visitors to Franklin State Forest in Franklin and Marion counties will only be allowed to enter on foot following a 120-day order barring off-road vehicles that started Saturday and continues until July 8. The Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry instituted the restrictions to assess the damage caused by off-road vehicles being driven in restricted areas." Read more by Ben Benton - Times Free Press - March 12, 2023.
TVA's next-gen small nuclear reactor will open at Clinch River site in Oak Ridge. "The new power-generating technology plan includes a partnership with three other companies."Read more by Anila Yoganathan - Knoxville News Sentinel - March 23, 2023.
Tennessee Chapter attendees at the Winter Retreat, held last January at Cedars of Lebanon State Park. The Spring Retreat is April 28-30 at Fall Creek Falls State Park. Photo credit: Todd Waterman.
Environmental Updates
Is natural gas ‘clean energy’? Tennessee lawmakers want you to think so. "Natural gas is 'better than' coal. This refrain is a classic argument for the fossil fuel industry, and it is how Tennessee lawmakers are persuading the state legislature to rebrand natural gas as 'clean energy'...The Tennessee bill appears to have the intent of preempting local governments from enacting effective clean electricity standards or net-zero goals, Anderson said. The city of Chattanooga, for example, just announced a net-zero by 2050 goal last week."
Read more by Caroline Eggers - WPLN.org - March 15, 2023.
EPA Releases New PFAS “Forever Chemical” Drinking Water Standards. On March 14, the EPA "released new drinking water standards for the first time in over 20 years, and they include six PFAS chemicals for the first time! This is a major step forward, and when the rules are finalized, the new drinking water standard for PFOS and PFOA will be the lowest limit for any chemical the EPA regulates in water." Read Sierra Club press release here.
WATCH: Uncovering the Permian Climate Bombis an "award-winning short film directed by Sharon Wilson and Miguel Escoto about a 22-year-old activist that comes face to face with what is now the world's largest source of climate pollution: the Texas Permian Basin." Watch it here via Youtube (13 min).
Dalton Utilities in Georgia to get federal funds in attempt to remove 'forever chemicals' from drinking water. "The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed the first federal limits on harmful “forever chemicals” in drinking water, a long-awaited protection the agency said will save thousands of lives and prevent serious illnesses, including cancer." Read more by Michael Phillis and Matthew Daly - Associated Press - March 14, 2023.
Sign up for legislative updates from Tennessee Chapter Lobbyist, Scott Banbury:sign up here (scroll down to Tennessee Legislative Updates).
Health & Justice
Environmental Justice Activists in Memphis Are Finally Turning the Tide.
"First, the butterflies disappeared. Then, the family dog died; and then the neighbors did, too. But Marquita Bradshaw’s biggest loss of those adolescent days was probably her great-grandmother. Susie Hall died in 1995 after developing uterine and kidney cancers....She attributes her great-grandmother’s death, like many of those in their South Memphis neighborhood, to environmental injustice. Bradshaw grew up within walking distance of the Defense Distribution Depot Memphis Tennessee, an Army surplus site that was active between 1942 and 1989. At the site, the Department of Defense dumped hazardous waste, including German mustard gas bombs, blistering chemical agents, and medical waste."
Read more by Daja E. Henry - Yes Magazine (originally published in The 19th) - March 17, 2023. Editor's Note: Marquita Bradshaw is one of 7 candidates running for Sierra Club Board of Directors 2023.
WATCH: Civil Rights Leader Ben Jealous on his new memoir. In this episode of Democracy Now!, learn about new Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous, who formerly directed the NAACP, as well as People for the American Way. His newest book, Never Forget Our People Were Always Free, examines his career as an activist and organizer, and growing up the son of a white father and a Black mother. View the video on YouTube here (11 min). Ben Jealous explains: "We have more in common than we don't, and that's always been the case and always will be the case."
Earthjustice debunks clean water myths: In the fight for clean water, industry spreads disinformation. "Some lawmakers and their industry supporters are spreading clean water myths...On behalf of reasonable people everywhere who understand the importance of protected rivers and streams, of sustainable water supply, of wetlands protecting us from floods, and of clean drinking water, let us dispel some of this disinformation." Here are the facts about five myths. Read more by Julian Gonzalez - Earthjustice - March 1, 2023.
Building codes affect health and climate. A Tennessee bill would block cities from updating them. "Buildings are the fourth-largest source of climate pollution in the U.S. Many cities are tackling emissions with better energy codes, but a new bill in Tennessee would effectively block this policy tool — preventing cities from requiring developers to construct healthier and more efficient homes and buildings." Read more by Caroline Eggers - WPLN - March 20, 2023.
'Live free and die?' The sad state of U.S. life expectancy. "Life expectancy continues to decline in the U.S. as it rebounds in other countries. Across the lifespan, and across every demographic group, Americans die at younger ages than their counterparts in other wealthy nations." The reasons are vast: poor diet, lack of universal access to health care, higher child poverty, racial segregation, social isolation, easy access to firearms, opioids, and more. "Even the way cities are designed makes access to good food more difficult." Read more by Selena Simmons-Duffin - NPR - March 25, 2023.
Marquita Bradshaw looks out at the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tenn. Photo credit: Sowing Justice.
Events
Statewide environmental events listed chronologically.
Do you have an event you'd like publicized?
Send it to Enews.sierratn@gmail.com.
Sierra Forum: Meet Ben Jealous. Please join us Thursday, March 30th for a virtual conversation with Sierra Club’s new Executive Director Ben Jealous. You’ll hear more about Ben’s approach to our interconnected movement and his vision for Sierra Club. Register here for the virtual event, held at 11:00 am CT / 12:00 pm ET.
Food Waste Awareness Week is April 10-16. Join Get Food Smart Tennessee for a week full of virtual engagement and educational opportunities, state-wide food drives, and regional events featuring food waste awareness activities such as locally-made upcycled bread beer, live food waste cooking demos, local resources and representatives, and more! Take the food waste pledge here.
Earth Day is Saturday April 22! Earth Day began in 1970 as a demand for clean air, water, and planet. Take some extra time to advocate, pick up trash, get politically involved, or attend an Earth Day event in your area!
Discover Life in America's 25th Anniversary Celebration Events on Earth Day. DLiA is inviting supporters to an open house from 10 am to 2 pm on April 22 to celebrate at the Twin Creeks Pavilion in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There will be live music, lunch, tours of the natural history collections, nature programs, and meet and greet opportunities with scientists and park biologists. Then at 6:00 pm, author and University of Delaware professor Doug Tallamy will discuss his book Nature's Best Hope. Register or learn more here.
Eco-Adventure in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This "glamping" weekend will be held Sunday, April 30-Tuesday, May 2 near Gatlinburg, and all proceeds support DLiA’s (Discover Life in America) mission to conduct biodiversity research in Smoky Mountains National Park. All proceeds will help support DLiA, the non-profit organization coordinating the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) for GSMNP. More info here. Tickets ($950) are limited and registration closes on April 10th or until all tickets are sold.
Tennessee Chapter Fundraising Corner with Mac Post
The annual March Appeal fundraising letter either recently arrived in your mailbox or will shortly.It outlines several of the Chapter’s priorities for the year. They include:
Fixing state laws so local communities are protected from the reckless siting of fossil fuel pipelines, landfills, and confined animal feeding operations.
Ensuring the proper clean up of TVA’s coal ash impoundments across the state.
Advancing legislation that moves Tennessee toward a truly circular economy by keeping packaging waste out of our landfills and environment.
Working with local and state governments to see that Tennessee takes full advantage of the opportunities available through the federal Inflation Reduction Act.
To accomplish these goals, we need for you to pitch in and help fund our activities. If you didn't get the letter and would like to make a contribution now, you can visit the handy the online Chapter web form!
Special Features
Dear Eartha: Advice from an Ec-Guru
Dear Eartha,
Every year when the time changes in the spring and fall, the kids, pets, and adults have a hard time adjusting. I wonder if it is really worth it to shift schedules so often. Is it really worth it environmentally, and when did this routine start? –Curious Time Keeper
Allie the Editor here, filling in for Eartha this month. I have wondered about daylight savings too. As a night owl, I appreciate the longer daylight hours in the evening, but I struggle with losing an hour of sleep to get it. And in the fall, the sudden loss of sunlight bums me out!
We are not the only ones feeling conflicted about the time change. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a CBS News poll conducted in March 2022 found that “46% of U.S. residents preferred daylight saving time all year round, 33% preferred standard time year-round and 21% were okay continuing to clock switch twice a year.” If opinions are so varied, how did we get here?
The idea of shifting waking hours to match daylight came up a few times before it was implemented officially. It was proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, but only as a tongue in cheek suggestion; he wrote a playful letter in the Journal de Paris
where he chided Parisians who slept in too late. He went so far as to calculate the savings it would garner in reduced candle usage. In 1895, George Hudson, an astronomer and entomologist in New Zealand, set forth the more concrete idea of setting back the clocks by two hours every spring. Then in 1907, William Willett in Great Britain presented the idea as a way to save energy.
But it was not until 1918 that the United States decided to implement a daylight saving time (DST) under the Standard Time Act, which was intended to reduce fuel costs during WWI, according to the Library of Congress. The Act went into effect 105 years ago on March 31, 1918.
Federal law allows states to opt out of DST. Two states have decided not to participate: Arizona and Hawaii. Within Arizona, the Navajo Nation does observe the time change. Globally speaking, equatorial nations experience a stable amount of sunlight year-round and don’t typically observe DST. Most African and Asian countries do not observe DST. Among the countries that do observe it (Europe, parts of South America, parts of Australia), there is variation in how it is implemented.
What about the health effects, and does DST reduce energy usage? Studies have shown negative impacts on people’s circadian rhythms, increase in heart attacks, as well as a higher number of car crashes (in North America and the UK, but not in Finland or Sweden) and workplace injuries in the days after a time change (Wikipedia). There is no conclusive determination that DST is good or bad for energy usage, because so many factors contribute to electricity usage patterns in a year (weather, geography, economics). Studies suggest an energy savings of 0.3%, while other studies suggest an increase in motor fuel use.
DST likely leads to a decrease in certain types of crime, though the loss of sleep causes people to be less altruistic and giving toward each other. In one 2016 study, they found that sleep-deprived judges gave out harsher penalties (“Sleepy Punishers Are Harsh Punishers: Daylight Saving Time and Legal Sentences” by Cho, Barnes, and Guanara).
So, as with so many things, it’s complicated. Keep that spring in your step, and take a nap if you need to. Allie
Submit your questions and comments to the Sierra E-News Editor [Enews.sierratn@gmail.com].Dear Eartha is penned by Rita Bullinger.
Species Spotlight
This month's featured species is: Rhododendron indicum
Bright pink azaleas in bloom. Photo credit: Todd Waterman.
The common name for Rhododendron indicum is Southern Indian azalea. Rhododendron is a genus classification, while azalea is a sub-genus. So all azaleas are rhododendron, but not all rhododendron are azaleas.
The word Rhododendron derives from the Greek words rhodo, meaning rose, and dendron, which means tree. The word azalea has roots in the Greek word azaleos, meaning dry. It likes well-drained soil and partial shade.
Rhododendronindicum is native to Japan, and thrives in the Southern US region. It's an evergreen variety which blooms in mid-late spring, and sometimes in fall.
There are 17 species of native azaleas in the US, with groups divided by flower color. Native azaleas are deciduous, so they drop their leaves in winter. Native azalea options include Piedmont azalea, Cumberland azalea, and Florida flame azalea.
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