By Dave Cortez, Chapter Director
I’m only 41 years old. To some of y’all, that’s young and a great age for a leader of the biggest grassroots environmental organization in Texas and the country. To others, whether my six year old daughter or the many teenage and twenty-something activists and organizers fighting for climate justice across Texas, I’m an old dude who talks too much about how great it was when…you know what I mean.
I have much to learn, and yet I’ve learned so much.
We are living in unprecedented times, marked by uncertainty, division, and deep challenges. The realities we face—whether political, social, or environmental—can feel overwhelming, and the path forward is often unclear. In moments like these, when fear and worry threaten to take hold, I turn to four core values that ground me and guide my actions: family, history, our connection to the land, and the power we hold collectively to shape a better future.
Family grounds me every morning and night as I listen to the hope-filled and innocent sounds and stories from my daughter that help me paint a picture of her future and how I must organize to fight for it with every ounce of my energy. History in the form of learning from my elders, and opening space for both my generation and younger generations to learn about mass deportations in the 1950s under President Eisenhower, or how the first Earth Day arose not as a call by siloed environmentalists, but one of people across issue bases united for a liveable planet. The touch of Texas wind, warm sun, and soft soil reminds me to breathe, and connects me with the living spirit of my ancestors who navigated poverty, hardship, and racism in ways I’ve not come close to, but their endurance lives in me.
This year has been difficult in countless ways, testing our resilience and resolve over and over. And after 24 years of single-party rule in Texas, we’ve faced decades of challenges to human, social, women’s, and environmental rights. Yet, through it all, we’re still here. We’re still organizing. We’re still working tirelessly for a better future for our people, communities, and families.
That work is bearing fruit, and as we gear up for a 2025 that will be riddled with attacks on our values from both the state and federal government, we must remember that we’ve been here before. Our people have been here before. But to do more than to survive, to really grow and thrive, our mission must be to cultivate networks of intergenerational power - young and old - where leadership is shared and ceded, and hope is tended to like the flowers and plants in our gardens.
Keep the faith, get your friends and family to join the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter, and get involved to help build on successes like these:
- The San Miguel Electric Cooperative in South Texas received funding to build a large solar and battery facility, replacing its existing lignite plant. San Miguel’s transition away from coal is a historic investment for the cooperative and a step in the right direction for nearby communities that have called on the co-op to clean up the lignite plant and mine’s air and water pollution that can harm human health. This marks the 389th U.S. coal plant to retire or commit to retire since the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign launched in 2010.
- Earlier this month, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the latest attempt by ExxonMobil to avoid responsibility for violating a federal environmental law. The court affirmed a 2021 federal court ruling that found ExxonMobil committed more than 16,000 violations of the federal Clean Air Act at its Baytown, Texas, refinery and chemical plant complex. This case was led by the Lone Star Chapter’s Clean Air Program Director Neil Carman, along with our partners at the National Environmental Law Center and Environment Texas. Together, we defeated Exxon in court, putting an end to Exxon’s numerous appeals over a 15-year period. The ruling affirmed the trial judge’s imposition of a $14.25 million civil penalty against the oil giant; the largest penalty ever imposed by a court in a citizen-initiated lawsuit to enforce the Clean Air Act.
- Also under Neil’s leadership, Texans living in fenceline communities next to the more than 6,200 chemical plants in our state won big when the EPA adopted clean air standards to rein in cancer-causing pollutants like ethylene oxide.
- Thousands of Texans successfully called on the Department of Energy to slow the expansion of liquefied natural gas terminals and to incorporate the concerns of frontline Texans living near proposed export facilities. Year after year, everyday Texans are experiencing ongoing drought, skyrocketing electricity prices, and record high temperatures, all of which will be made worse by the expansion of LNG exports on the Gulf Coast. At a time when fossil fuel-financed politicians are working daily to expand taxpayer handouts to wealthy, polluting energy corporations, it is very welcome news to see the Department of Energy reflect what so many coastal Texans have been saying for years: We don’t need more LNG.
Looking for some more inspiration and hope? Watch this video from El Paso Matters documenting the release of several dozen big horn sheep into Franklin Mountains State Park. My father, Tony Cortez, was one of about 300 people there to witness this release. This is special. Three generations of my family and countless friends have walked, hiked, scrambled, and climbed these lands, and to see wildlife return with such vibrant enthusiasm touches your soul.
Those are just a few of the bright spots of 2024. I’m most excited about the infrastructure we’re building to help you, your family, and your friends plug into organizing in your own backyard and in networks across Texas. Be sure to check out our Keep The Power On Campaign if you’re interested in energy, electricity, and modernizing our electric grid, and consider the Water For People and the Environment Committee to help keep pollution out of our waterways and to ensure we have water in the decades to come.
Together, we have everything to gain.
Together, we can defend our values and our neighbors.
Together, we can build the power to win big change right here in Texas.
With love, gratitude, and hope,
Dave Cortez
Director, Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter
Written to the tunes of Ben Harper’s The Will to Live