Roanoke Group
of the Virginia Chapter

A Publication for Members and Friends
of the Roanoke Group of the Sierra Club

January 2006

EARTH FRIENDLY FRIDAY - JANUARY 13, 2006 - 6:30 PM - Stewardship through Conservation Easements - Come and meet two people who are leading the way for good stewardship in Western Virginia. Roger Holnback, Executive Director of the Western Virginia Land Trust, will explain how citizens can use conservation easements to protect open space. These permanent deeded agreements benefit us all and are true acts of environmental stewardship by private landowners. Paul Hinlicky, an ordained Lutheran Minister and the Tice Professor of Religion at Roanoke College, will talk about why he and his wife recently created a conservation easement on their land in Catawba Valley. See calendar on back page for more details and directions.

EXCOM ELECTION RESULTS - GROUP NAME CHANGE OFFICIAL - Sherman Bamford, Bill Modica, and Grace Terry have been re-elected to your Executive Committee for the 2006-07 term. Congratulations and thanks to these great volunteers for their continuing commitment to our success. The ballot question concerning our group's name was passed. We are now officially the "Roanoke Group" of the Sierra Club.

ROANOKE SIERRA CLUB'S TOP TEN ENDANGERED PLACES - The Roanoke Sierra Club has announced our first annual list of the Top 10 Endangered Places in our region. During the coming year we will be working for protection of these places from inappropriate development, destruction of natural areas, and pollution. CLICK HERE TO SEE DETAILS OF OUR "TOP TEN ENDANGERED PLACES"

THE FIVE MINUTE ENVIRONMENTALIST - Would you like to do something for the environment but don't have much time? Send your Virginia legislators a message to tell them you SUPPORT CLEAN SMOKESTACKS legislation for Virginia. It's easy! Go to the Virginia General Assembly web site and fill out the form here: http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform. Once you've done that, a button will appear on the next page to send a message to your legislators. Click the button and enter your message. Tell your legislators you want to clean up old, dirty coal-fired power plants that are polluting our air. "Clean Smokestacks" legislation mandate reduced emissions using existing technology. Urge your legislators (Delegate and Senator) to support this bill.

ROANOKE SIERRA CLUB EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Mark McClain, Chair (540-387-0930); Bob Egbert, Vice Chair (540-384-7448); Sherman Bamford, Annie Krochalis, Grace Terry,  Diana Christopulos, Bill Modica.  For complete officer and committee contact information, see: http://virginia.sierraclub.org/roanoke/contacts.html

YOU DONATE . . . OUR ACTIVISTS GO TO WORK!!!
It's not too early to start us on the way to our fundraising goal for 2006. Just clip this and send your check to Sierra Club, c/o Mark McClain, 907 Greenbrier Ct., Salem, VA 24153. Only a small percentage of your dues comes to our local group. The bulk of our costs including newsletter and other publicity for our cause has to be raised locally. Your support will ensure that our local activists have the resources they need. Donations to the Roanoke Sierra Club are not tax deductible.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION ON OUR LOCAL EVENTS, CLICK THE "MEETINGS AND EVENTS CALENDAR" LINK IN THE RIGHT HAND COLUMN OF THIS PAGE, OR CLICK "HOME" TO OUR MAIN PAGE