| LOCAL SIERRANS PARTICIPATE IN NATIONAL ISSUES WORKSHOP - As
part of a national grass roots priority-setting process, members of the Roanoke Group met
in Salem on July 16, 2005. Thirteen members took part in this workshop, and we thank them
for being willing to spend a Saturday afternoon thinking globally and strategically.
Members who participated in this event were: Jerryanne
Bier, Melissa Booth, Diana Christopulos, Bob Egbert, Theodosia Evans, Richard Hall, Nancy
Hampton, Annie Krochalis, Peter Krull, Mark McClain, Bill Modica, Grace Terry, Jean Vike.
The ideas generated in this workshop will be combined with those from similar
workshops that are being held throughout the Sierra Club and will set the direction for
the Club's strategic plan.
Here is a synopsis of the group's work:
1. Setting Sierra Club Conservation Issue Priorities (What are we trying
to protect?)
Using a set of eight broad areas of conservation issues, each with a vision
statement, we established which ones we felt were most important for the Sierra Club to be
working on. This was done using a group discussion and weighted voting process.
Here are the rankings:
| RANK |
ISSUE |
THE SIERRA CLUB VISION |
Points |
| 1 |
Build a New Energy Future |
America creates a new energy future based on efficient and
renewable energy technologies that bring an end to oil dependence, global warming, toxic
air emissions and environmental damage to sensitive areas. |
14 |
| 2 |
Defend Federal Lands and Public Waters |
America's great natural heritage of federal lands and public waters
is restored and protected for all time. |
12 |
| 3 |
Protect People and the Planet from Pollution |
Americans and their environment are protected from unhealthy air,
polluted water, and toxic poisons by laws that apply equally to all. |
12 |
| 4 |
Protect State and Local Places |
In communities all across America, citizens act to protect the
natural character and native species of their area before it is too late. |
10 |
| 5 |
Protect the Global Environment |
America is a leading partner in efforts to resolve global
environmental problems. |
9 |
| 6 |
Build Vibrant, Healthy Communities |
Every American town and city is a good place to live and work. |
8 |
| 7 |
Invest in Building Sustainable Economies and Businesses |
America's economic activities are environmentally sustainable,
which assures health ecosystems as well as America's future prosperity. |
6 |
| 8 |
Promote Wise Individual and Consumer Choices |
Americans use their power as individuals and consumers to make
choices that use the natural resources of the Earth wisely and well |
5 |
2. Choosing Strategic Focus - Looking
at our top three choices, we then considered a set of several possible strategic goals to
achieve the vision. There is a table below for each of the top three conservation
areas. Within each of these is a list of possible strategic goals. The number
of * symbols in the boxes indicate the relative emphasis that we feel should be placed on
that strategic goal. We considered which should be emphasized for national actions,
and which were most appropriate for state and local actions.
Build a New Energy Future
| Strategy |
National Emphasis |
State/Local Emphasis |
| Reverse course of global warming |
**** |
|
| Accelerate renewable energy production |
**** |
* |
| Improve fuel economy for all vehicles |
*** |
|
| Improve energy efficiency |
* |
**** |
| Limit coal mining - oil & gas drilling - other energy development in
sensitive areas |
* |
|
| Clean up or replace dirty power plants |
|
******* |
| Stop new coal and nuclear plants |
|
* |
Defend Federal Lands and Public Waters
| Strategy |
National Emphasis |
State/Local Emphasis |
| Reform federal forest management to protect ecosystems and end commercial
logging |
***** |
**** |
| Acquire new federally-protected lands and link fragmented ecosystems to protect
and restore biodiversity |
***** |
* |
| Reform damaging uses such as grazing, oil & gas development, mining and
abusive recreation on federal lands |
** |
*** |
| Reform federal management of public waterways, dams, wetlands, coasts, and
offshore waters |
* |
* |
| Protect/recover declining and threatened native species and their habitats |
|
*** |
| Restore damaged ecosystems in federally-managed areas |
|
* |
Protect People and the Planet from Pollution
| Strategy |
National Emphasis |
State/Local Emphasis |
| Make polluters pay for cleanup |
****** |
** |
| Clean up / prevent toxins use, waste, production |
** |
*** |
| Clean up / prevent air pollution |
** |
** |
| Promote environmental justice |
** |
** |
| Safeguard / reduce nuclear waste |
* |
|
| Clean up / prevent water pollution |
|
*** |
| Reduce use of pesticides, genetic engineering, and other health risks from
industrialized foods |
|
* |
3. How to best achieve our goals - This
section addressed the processes the Sierra Club uses in its conservation campaigns.
Regardless of what the issue is, or what our strategic goal is, there are certain
activities that are pursued toward those ends. We considered a list of eight types
of activities and rated them based on whether we thought there should be MORE (+) or LESS
(-) of this type of activity within the Sierra Club.
| Activity |
More Activity Desired |
Less Activity Desired |
| Create media visibility (put our point of view in the public eye and public
debate) |
++++++++++++ |
-- |
| Bring people together to take action together (community organizing) |
+++++++ |
|
| Advocate for solutions (public information and education materials and
presentations) |
+++++++ |
|
| Get more people outdoors (explore and enjoy nature, community service, connect
with the environment) |
++++++ |
|
| Seek new allies and build coalitions (bring people with different perspectives
together to work on common goals) |
+++++++ |
- |
| Bring legal actions (hold businesses and government accountable for following
environmental laws through the courts) |
++++++ |
-- |
| Provide environmental expertise (advise community leaders, policy makers, and
agencies) |
++++ |
---- |
| Get many to voice their opinions (letter writing, phone call, and email
campaigns) |
+++ |
---- |
4. Who should we try to influence - The Sierra
Club works to impact a wide range of people and groups that affect environmental policy.
We considered an array of six groups of decision makers, and determined which we
think are most appropriate targets for the Sierra Club's conservation campaigns.
| Group |
Should work harder to influence |
Should work less trying to influence |
| Voters (turn out environmental voters, elect candidates that will
promote good environmental policy) |
+++++++++++++ |
-- |
| Individuals (get people to make good environmental choices in their
personal lives) |
++++++++ |
-- |
| Business Leaders - Shareholders - Employees - Customers (influence
good environmental choices in the business world) |
+++++++ |
-- |
| Federal Policy Makers |
++++++ |
--- |
| Local Decision Makers (influence decisions about specific local
places) |
++++ |
-- |
| State Policy Makers |
+ |
|
5. New ideas - Finally, the group participated in
a "hot ideas" exercise, where we complete comment cards about
issues/strategies/activities that members of the group felt were overlooked in the
prepared workshop agenda provided by the Club. These will be included in our
feedback to Sierra Club leadership, and combined with similar comments from others to
identify any missed opportunities:
Global issues got several mentions, including:
Framing the terminology of environmental issues (why does
"global warming" sound so nice)
Better definition of ecological issues (e.g. invasive species
versus loss of species)
Inappropriate advertising in Club publications
Engaging young people
Environmental education curriculum - Sierra Club influence
Fundraising and membership drives to support goals
Multi-national corporations evasion of environmental policies
Volunteer activist recruitment, training
Addressing the problem of "sham" public input hearings
|
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