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Logo of Sierra Club
Motto Explore, enjoy and protect the planet.
Established 1892
Exec. Dir. Carl Pope
President Allison Chin
Headquarters San Francisco, CA, USA
Membership 730,000
Founder John Muir
Homepage www.sierraclub.org

The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization founded on May 28, 1892 in San Francisco, California by the well-known preservationist John Muir, who became its first president. Carl Pope is the Executive Director of the Sierra Club, an American environmental organization founded by Conservationist John Muir in 1892 The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the John Muir ( April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914) was a Scottish -born American Naturalist, author and early The United States of America —commonly referred to as the This is a list of environmental organizations. See also Environmental organization Intergovernmental organizations International organizations Events 585 BC - A Solar eclipse occurs as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Year 1892 ( MDCCCXCII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city John Muir ( April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914) was a Scottish -born American Naturalist, author and early The Sierra Club has hundreds of thousands of members in chapters located throughout the United States, and is affiliated with Sierra Club of/du Canada. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Sierra Club of/du Canada (SCC is a Canadian, volunteer-based environmental organization

Contents

Mission statement

To explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth; To practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources; To educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out these objectives. [1]

Organization

The Sierra Club is governed by a fifteen-member volunteer Board of Directors. Each year, five directors are elected to three-year terms, with all Club members eligible to vote. A president is elected annually by the Board from among its members and receives a small stipend. The Executive Director runs the day-to-day operations of the group, and is a paid staff member. The current Executive Director is Carl Pope. Carl Pope is the Executive Director of the Sierra Club, an American environmental organization founded by Conservationist John Muir in 1892

All Club members also belong to chapters (usually state-wide), and to local groups. National and local special interest sections, committees, and task forces address particular issues. Policies are set at the appropriate level, but on any issue the Club has only one policy.

In addition to the members who are active as volunteers, the Club has approximately 500 paid staff members. Most of them work at the national headquarters in San Francisco, California, but there are others in the lobbying office in Washington, D.C. and in numerous state and regional offices. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D

All members receive Sierra magazine, a bimonthly glossy magazine describing the Club's activities and spotlighting various environmental issues. All chapters publish a newsletter and/or schedule of activities, and many groups also publish a newsletter. The Sierra Club also has a weekly radio show called Sierra Club Radio.

History

In 1892 a group of professors from the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University helped John Muir and attorney Warren Olney launch an organization modeled after the eastern Appalachian Mountain Club. The University of California Berkeley (also referred to as Cal, Berkeley and UC Berkeley) is a major research university located in Berkeley Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University or simply Stanford, is a private Research university located in Four members of the same family all named Warren Olney, have been prominent in Californian history The Appalachian Mountain Club ( AMC) is one of the United States' oldest outdoor groups The Sierra Club's charter members elected Muir president, an office he held until his death in 1914. [2] The Club's first goals included establishing Glacier and Mount Rainier national parks, convincing the California legislature to give Yosemite Valley to the Federal government, and saving California's coastal redwoods. Mount Rainier National Park is a United States National Park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington Muir escorted President Teddy Roosevelt through Yosemite in 1903, and two years later the California legislature ceded Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove to the Federal government. Theodore Roosevelt (ˈroʊzəvɛlt October 27 1858 January 6 1919 also known as T Yosemite Valley (joʊˈsɛməti yoh-SEM-it-ee) is a world-famous scenic location in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Mariposa Grove is a sequoia grove located near Wawona California in the southernmost part of Yosemite National Park, at. The Sierra Club won its first lobbying victory with the creation of the country's second national park, after Yellowstone in 1872. [3]

In the first decade of the 1900s, the Sierra Club became embroiled in the famous Hetch Hetchy controversy that divided preservationists from "resource management" conservationists. History The name "Hetch Hetchy" comes from a grass with edible seeds that grows in the valley in the Native American Sierra Miwok language. For years the city of San Francisco had been having problems with a privately-owned water company that provided poor service at high rates. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city Mayor James D. Phelan’s reform administration wanted to set up a municipally-owned water utility and revived an earlier proposal to dam the Hetch Hetchy valley. James Duval Phelan ( April 20, 1861 San Francisco California - August 7, 1930) was an American Politician The final straw was the water company's failure to provide adequate water to fight the fires that destroyed much of the city following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Gifford Pinchot, a progressive supporter of public utilities and head of the U.S. Forest Service, which then had jurisdiction over the national parks, backed the Hetch Hetchy dam. Gifford Pinchot ( August 11 1865 October 4 1946) was the first Chief of the United States Forest Service (1905–1910 and the Muir appealed to his friend President Roosevelt, who would not commit himself against the dam, given its popularity with the people of San Francisco (a referendum in 1908 confirmed a seven-to-one majority in favor of the dam and municipal water). Muir and attorney William Colby began a national campaign against the dam, attracting the support of many eastern conservationists. William Egan Colby ( January 4, 1920 – April 27, 1996) spent a career in Intelligence for the United States culminating in holding With the 1912 election of Woodrow Wilson, who carried San Francisco, supporters of the dam had a friend in the White House. Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28 1856—February 3 1924 was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. The bill to dam Hetch Hetchy passed Congress in 1913, and the Sierra Club had lost its first major battle. In retaliation, the Club supported creation of the National Park Service in 1916, to remove the parks from Forest Service oversight. The National Park Service ( NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation Stephen Mather, a Club member from Chicago and an opponent of Hetch Hetchy dam, became the first National Park Service director. [4]

During the 1920s and 30s, the Sierra Club served its members as a social and recreational society, conducting outings, improving trails and building huts and lodges in the Sierras. Preservation campaigns included a several-year effort to enlarge Sequoia National Park (achieved in 1926) and over three decades of work to protect and then preserve Kings Canyon National Park (established in 1940). Sequoia National Park is a National park in the southern Sierra Nevada, east of Visalia California, in the United States of America. This article is about Kings Canyon National Park USA For Kings Canyon Australia see Kings Canyon (Northern Territory. Historian Stephen Fox notes, "In the 1930s most of the three thousand members were middle-aged Republicans. "[5]

The New Deal brought many conservationists to the Democrats, and many Democrats entered the ranks of conservationists. The New Deal was the name that United States President Franklin D Leading the generation of Young Turks who revitalized the Sierra Club after World War II were attorney Richard Leonard, nature photographer Ansel Adams, and David Brower. Ansel Easton Adams (February 20 1902 – April 22 1984 was a legendary American Photographer and Environmentalist, best known for his Black-and-white David Ross Brower ( July 1, 1912 &ndash November 5, 2000) was a prominent environmentalist and the founder of many environmental organizations Brower was 21 when he met Ansel Adams on a trail in the Sierras in 1933. Adams sponsored Brower for membership in the Club later that year, and he was appointed to the editorial board of the Sierra Club Bulletin. Returning to his job with the University of California Press after the war, Brower began editing the Sierra Club Bulletin in 1946. [6]

In 1950 the Sierra Club had some 7,000 members, mostly on the West Coast. That year the Atlantic chapter became the first formed outside California. An active volunteer board of directors ran the organization, assisted by a small clerical staff. Brower was appointed the first executive director in 1952, and the Club began to catch up with those major conservation organizations including the National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, The Wilderness Society, and Izaak Walton League, which had long had professional staff. The National Audubon Society is an American non-profit Environmental organization dedicated to conservancy The Izaak Walton League is an American Environmental organization founded in 1922 that promotes natural resource protection and outdoor recreation [7]

The Sierra Club secured its national reputation in the battle against the Echo Park dam in Dinosaur National Monument in Utah, which had been announced by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1950. Echo Park (Colorado is a remote river bottom surrounded by canyon walls on the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument. Dinosaur National Monument is a US National Monument located on the southeast flank of the Uinta Mountains on the border between the American The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States. The Bureau of Reclamation (formerly the United States Reclamation Service) is an agency under the U Brower led the fight, marshalling support from other conservation groups. Brower's background in publishing proved decisive; with the help of publisher Alfred Knopf, This Is Dinosaur was rushed into press. Invoking the specter of Hetch Hetchy, conservationists effectively lobbied Congress, which deleted the Echo Park dam from the Colorado River project as approved in 1955. The Colorado River (' Aha Kwahwat in Mojave) is a River in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately Recognition of the Sierra Club's role in the Echo Park dam victory boosted membership from 10,000 in 1956 to 15,000 in 1960. [8]

The Sierra Club was now truly a national conservation organization, and preservationists took the offensive with wilderness proposals. The Club's Biennial Wilderness Conferences, launched in 1949 in concert with The Wilderness Society, became an important force in the campaign that secured passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964. The Wilderness Act of 1964 ( was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society. [9] , Brower launched the Exhibit Format book series with This Is the American Earth in 1960, followed two years later by In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World, with spectacular color photographs by Eliot Porter. Eliot Porter (1901–1990 was an American Photographer best known for his color photographs of nature These elegant coffee-table books introduced the Sierra Club to a wide audience. Fifty thousand copies were sold in the first four years, and by 1960 sales exceeded $10 million. Soon Brower was publishing two new titles a year in the Exhibit Format series, but not all did as well as In Wildness. Although the books were successful introducing the public to wilderness preservation and the Sierra Club, they lost money for the organization, some $60,000 a year after 1964. Financial management became a matter of contention between Brower and his board of directors. [10]

The Sierra Club's most publicized crusade of the 1960s was the effort to stop the Bureau of Reclamation from building two dams that would flood portions of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon Full-page ads the Club placed in the New York Times and the Washington Post in 1966 exclaimed, "This time it's the Grand Canyon they want to flood," and asked, "Should we also flood the Sistine Chapel so tourists can get nearer the ceiling?" The ads generated a storm of protest to the Congress, prompting the Internal Revenue Service to announce it was suspending the Sierra Club's 501(c)(3) status pending an investigation. The The board had taken the precaution of setting up the Sierra Club Foundation as a (c)(3) organization in 1960 for endowments and contributions for educational and other non-lobbying activities. [11] Even so, contributions to the Club dropped off, aggravating its annual operating deficits. Membership, however, climbed sharply in response to the attack by the IRS from 30,000 in 1965 to 57,000 in 1967 and 75,000 in 1969.

Despite the Club's success in blocking plans for the Grand Canyon dams and weathering the transition from 501(c)(3) to 501(c)(4) status, tension grew over finances between Brower and the board of directors. The Club's annual deficits rose from $100,000 in 1967 and 1968 to some $200,000 in 1969. Another conflict occurred over the Club's policy toward the nuclear power plant to be constructed by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) at Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo, California. For the 1970s rock music band see Pacific Gas & Electric (band. San Luis Obispo (sænˈluːɪs əˈbɪspoʊ Spanish for St Louis the Bishop) is a city in California, located roughly midway between San Francisco Although the Club had played the leading role blocking PG&E's nuclear power plant proposed for Bodega Bay, California in the early 1960s, that case had been built around the local environmental impact and earthquake danger from the nearby San Andreas fault, not from opposition to nuclear power itself. Bodega Bay is a town and Census-designated place (CDP in Sonoma County, California, United States. The San Andreas Fault is a geologic Transform fault that runs a length of roughly 800 miles (1300 km through California in the United States. In exchange for moving the new proposed site from the environmentally sensitive Nipomo Dunes to Diablo Canyon, the board of directors voted to support PG&E's plan for the power plant. A membership referendum in 1967 upheld the board's decision. Brower, however, came to the conclusion that nuclear power at any location was a mistake, and he voiced his opposition to the plant, contrary to the Club's official policy. As pro- and anti-Brower factions polarized, the annual election of new directors reflected the conflict. Brower's supporters won a majority in 1968, but in the April 1969 election the anti-Brower candidates won all five open positions. Ansel Adams and president Richard Leonard, two of his closest friends on the board, led the opposition to Brower, charging him with financial recklessness and insubordination and calling for his ouster as executive director. The board voted ten to five to accept Brower's resignation. [12] Eventually reconciled with the Sierra Club, Brower was elected to the board of directors for a term from 1983 to 1988, and again from 1995 to 2000.

Michael McCloskey, hired by Brower in 1961 as the Club's first northwest field representative, became the Club's second executive director in 1969. An administrator attentive to detail, McCloskey had set up the Club's conservation department in 1965 and guided the campaigns to save the Grand Canyon and establish Redwoods National Park and North Cascades National Park. The "Redwood National and State Parks" (RNSP are located in the United States along the coast of northern California. North Cascades National Park is a US National Park located in the state of Washington. During the 1970s McCloskey lead the Club's legislative activity -- preserving Alaskan lands and eastern wilderness areas, and supporting the new environmental agenda: the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, the Clean Air Act amendments, and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, passed during the administration of President Jimmy Carter. The Toxic Substances Control Act ( TSCA) is a United States law passed by the United States Congress in 1976, that regulates the introduction A Clean Air Act describes one of a number of pieces of legislation relating to the reduction of Smog and Air pollution in general The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA is the primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of Coal mining in the United States James Earl "Jimmy" Carter Jr (born October 1 1924 was the thirty-ninth President of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981 and the recipient of the 2002 The Sierra Club made its first Presidential endorsement in 1984 in support of Walter Mondale's unsuccessful campaign to unseat Ronald Reagan. Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (born January 5, 1928) is an American politician and member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party McCloskey resigned as executive director in 1985 after 16 and a half years (the same length of time Brower had led the organization) and assumed the title of chairman, becoming the Club's senior strategist, devoting his time to conservation policy rather than budget planning and administration. [13] After a two-year interlude with Douglas Wheeler, whose Republican credentials were disconcerting to liberal members, the Club hired Michael Fisher, the former head of the California Coastal Commission, who served as executive director from 1987 to 1992. The California Coastal Commission is a state agency in the US Carl Pope, formerly the Club’s legislative director, was named executive director in 1992. Carl Pope is the Executive Director of the Sierra Club, an American environmental organization founded by Conservationist John Muir in 1892

In September 2005, the Sierra Club held its first Sierra Summit in San Francisco. Approximately 1,000 volunteers from around the country, selected by their chapters and groups, were delegates; some nondelegate members also attended. There were seminars and exhibit presentations about current environmental issues and about techniques for more effective activism. Prominent guest speakers included Al Gore; Bill Maher; Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.; and Arianna Huffington. Albert Arnold Gore Jr (born March 31 1948 is an American environmental Activist, author Businessperson, former Politician, and former William "Bill" Maher Jr, (ˈmɑɹ born January 20 1956) is an American Stand-up comedian, Television host, Robert Francis Kennedy Jr (born January 17, 1954 in Washington D Arianna Huffington (born Arianna Stassinopoulos, on July 15, 1950) is an Author, media gadfly, and nationally syndicated

Notable past or current directors

Outings

In 1901 William Colby organized the first Sierra Club outing to Yosemite Valley. Wallace Earle Stegner ( February 18, 1909 — April 13, 1993) was an American Historian, Novelist, Short story Clair Sprague Tappaan ( May 14 1878 - November 30 1932) was an American Lawyer, Professor and jurist Paul Watson (born December 2, 1950) is the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and a significant figure in the Environmental movement Edgar Wayburn (born September 17, 1906) is a noted Environmentalist who was elected president of the Sierra Club five times in the Adam Werbach is an Environmental activist who was elected as the youngest-ever national president of the Sierra Club in 1996 when he was 23 years old Bernard Daley Zaleha, JD (born July 19 1957) is presently serving his second term on the national board of directors of the Sierra Club. William Edward Colby (May 28 1875 — November 9 1964 was an American Lawyer, conservationist, and first Secretary of the Sierra Club. In the late twentieth century outing became a common term for taking someone "out of The closet "—that is publicising that someone is Gay. Yosemite Valley (joʊˈsɛməti yoh-SEM-it-ee) is a world-famous scenic location in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The annual High Trips were led by accomplished mountaineers (some of them Sierra Club directors), such as Francis P. Farquhar, Joseph Nisbet LeConte, Norman Clyde, Walter A. Starr, Jr., Jules Eichorn, Glen Dawson, Ansel Adams, and David R. Brower. “Alpinist” redirects here See also Alpinist (magazine Mountaineering is the Sport, Hobby or Profession of Francis Peloubet Farquhar ( 31 December 1887, Newton Massachusetts - 21 November 1974 in Berkeley California) graduated Joseph Nisbet LeConte (1870-1950 was a noted Explorer of the Sierra Nevada. Norman Clyde ( April 8, 1885 – December 23, 1972) was a famous mountaineer, nature photographer, and self trained Walter A "Pete" Starr Jr (1903–1933 was an American lawyer and mountain climber Ansel Easton Adams (February 20 1902 – April 22 1984 was a legendary American Photographer and Environmentalist, best known for his Black-and-white David Ross Brower ( July 1, 1912 &ndash November 5, 2000) was a prominent environmentalist and the founder of many environmental organizations Many first ascents in the Sierra Nevada were made on Sierra Club outings. In Climbing, a first ascent (FA is the first modern recorded climb to reach the top of a Mountain, or the first to follow a particular Climbing route Sierra Club members were also early enthusiasts of rock climbing and pioneers of the craft. In 1911 the first chapter was formed, Angeles, and it immediately started conducting local outings in the mountains surrounding Los Angeles and throughout the West. Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West In World War II many Sierra Club leaders joined the 10th Mountain Division, bringing their expertise to the war effort. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

The High Trips, sometimes huge expeditions with more than a hundred participants and crew, have given way to smaller and more numerous outings held across the United States and abroad. The National Outings program conducts hundreds of outings, most of which are between 4 to 10 days in length. Local chapters, groups, and sections lead thousands of generally shorter trips in their regions and beyond (mostly hiking, but also including cycling, cross-country skiing, etc. The word 'hiking' is understood in all English-speaking countries but there are differences in usage Cycling is the use of Bicycles or - less commonly - Unicycles Tricycles Quadricycles and other similar wheeled Human powered vehicles Cross-country skiing (also known as XC skiing) is a Winter sport popular in many countries with large snowfields primarily Northern Europe, ). Inner City Outings groups help make wild places accessible to children who are only familiar with the urban environment.

Conservation policies

The Sierra Club has official policies on a number of conservation issues. They group these into seventeen categories: agriculture, biotechnology, energy, environmental justice, forest and wilderness management, global issues, government and political issues, land management, military issues, nuclear issues, oceans, pollution and waste management, precautionary principle, transportation, urban and land use policies, water resources, and wildlife conservation.

Land management

Some Sierra Club members have urged the Club to be more forceful in advocating for the protection of National Forests and other federally owned public lands. "National forest" redirects here for the National Forest in England see National Forest England; for those in Brazil see List of Brazilian National Forests For example, in 2002 the Club was criticized for joining with the Wilderness Society in agreeing to a compromise that would allow logging in the Black Hills in South Dakota[16]. Founding The society was incorporated on January 21, 1935 The eight founders were Bob Marshall, chief of recreation and lands for the Forest Service Aldo The Black Hills ( Pahá Sápa in Lakota, Moˀȯhta-voˀhonáaeva in Cheyenne) are a small isolated Mountain range rising from the South Dakota ( is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America.

Nuclear issues

The Sierra Club opposes building new nuclear reactors, both fission and fusion, until specific inherent safety risks are mitigated by conservative political policies, and regulatory agencies are in place to enforce those policies. This article is a subarticle of Nuclear power. A nuclear reactor is a device in which Nuclear chain reactions are initiated controlled Nuclear fission is the splitting of the nucleus of an atom into parts (lighter nuclei) often producing Free neutrons and other smaller nuclei which may In Physics and Nuclear chemistry, nuclear fusion is the process by which multiple- like charged atomic nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus [17] Fusion is currently opposed due to its probable release of the hydrogen isotope tritium. Hydrogen (ˈhaɪdrədʒən is the Chemical element with Atomic number 1 Isotopes (Greek isos = "equal" tópos = "site place" are any of the different types of atoms ( Nuclides Tritium (ˈtɹɪtiəm symbol or, also known as Hydrogen-3) is a radioactive Isotope of Hydrogen. [18]

Political activism

Protecting rivers

One long-standing goal of the Sierra Club has been opposition to dams it considers inappropriate. In the early 20th century, the organization fought against the damming and flooding of the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. History The name "Hetch Hetchy" comes from a grass with edible seeds that grows in the valley in the Native American Sierra Miwok language. Despite this lobbying, Congress authorized the construction of O'Shaughnessy Dam on the Tuolumne River. The United States Congress is the bicameral Legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses This article concerns the dam in the Sierra Nevada mountains For the one near Columbus Ohio see O'Shaughnessy Dam (Ohio. The Tuolumne River is one of the major rivers draining the western slope Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The Sierra Club continues to lobby for removal of the dam, urging that San Francisco's water needs be accommodated instead by the re-engineering of the Don Pedro Reservoir downstream. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city

The Sierra Club advocates the decommissioning of Glen Canyon Dam and the draining of Lake Powell. Glen Canyon Dam is a Dam on the Colorado River at Page Arizona, USA operated by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. Lake Powell is a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River, straddling the border between Utah and Arizona. The Club also supports removal, breaching or decommissioning of many other dams, including four large but high cost dams on the lower Snake River in eastern Washington state.

Blue-Green Alliance

In June, 2006, the Sierra Club announced the formation of a Blue-Green Alliance with the United Steelworkers, the largest industrial union in North America. A Blue-green alliance describes an alliance between political parties and other organizations Template talkInfobox Union for usage --> The United Steel Paper and Forestry Rubber Manufacturing Energy Allied Industrial The goal of this new partnership is to pursue a joint public policy agenda reconciling workers' need for good jobs with all people's need for a cleaner environment and safer world. [1]

Immigration controversy

During the 1980s, some Sierra Club members wanted to take the Club into the contentious field of immigration to the United States. American immigration ( emigration to the United States of America) refers to the movement of non-residents to the United States. The Club's position was that overpopulation was a significant factor in the degradation of the environment. Overpopulation refers to a condition where an Organism 's numbers exceed the Carrying capacity of its Habitat. Accordingly, the Club supported stabilizing and reducing U. S. and world population. Some members argued that, as a practical matter, U. S. population could not be stabilized, let alone reduced, at the then-current levels of immigration. They urged the Club to support immigration reduction. Immigration reduction refers to movements that advocate a reduction in the amount of Immigration allowed into their country The Club had previously addressed the issue of "mass immigration,"[19] and in 1988, the organization's Population Committee and Conservation Coordinating Committee stated that immigration to the U. S. should be limited, so as to achieve population stabilization. [20]

Other Sierrans, however, thought that the immigration issue was too far from the Club's core mission, and were also concerned that involvement would impair the organization's political ability to pursue its other objectives. The Board of Directors accepted this latter view, and voted, in 1996, that the Sierra Club would be neutral on issues of immigration.

The advocates of immigration reduction sought to reverse this decision by using the referendum provision of the Bylaws of the Sierra Club. A referendum (plural referendums or referenda) ballot question, or plebiscite (from Latin plebiscita A bylaw (sometimes also spelled by-law or byelaw) most commonly refers to a city or municipal law or ordinance passed under the authority of a Charter They organized themselves as "SUSPS", a name originally derived from "Sierrans for U. S. Population Stabilization" (although that name is no longer used since the Sierra Club objected to infringing the Club's trademark in the term "Sierrans"). SUSPS and its allies gathered the necessary signatures to place the issue on the ballot in the Club's election in the spring of 1998. The Board's decision that the Club would take no position on immigration was upheld by the membership by a three-to-two margin, although SUSPS complained that the ballot had been structured in an unfair and confusing manner.

The controversy resurfaced when a group of three immigration reduction proponents ran in the 2004 steering committee elections, hoping to move the Club's position away from a neutral stance on immigration [2]. The battle grew heated, with accusations of unethical and possibly illegal behavior floated by both sides[3][4]. A lawsuit was filed by the reduction proponents, but subsequently dropped. Groups outside of the Club became involved, such as the Southern Poverty Law Center and MoveOn [5]. The Southern Poverty Law Center ( SPLC) is an American Non-profit legal organization internationally known for its tolerance education programs its legal MoveOn is an American non-profit progressive liberal public policy advocacy group and Political action committee which has raised millions of Finally, the reduction proponents won only 3% of the vote, and the controversy subsided.

Related organizations

Affiliates and subsidiaries

The Sierra Club Foundation was founded in 1960 by David R. Brower. Board of Trustees Robert J Heil - Chair - Oakland California Robert McKinney - Vice Chair - Indianapolis Indiana David Ross Brower ( July 1, 1912 &ndash November 5, 2000) was a prominent environmentalist and the founder of many environmental organizations It is a 501(c)3 charitable foundation that provides support for tax- deductible environmental action.

The Sierra Club of/du Canada has been active since 1963. Sierra Club of/du Canada (SCC is a Canadian, volunteer-based environmental organization It is now an independent corporation with its own national structure and local entities throughout Canada working on pollution, biodiversity, energy, and sustainability issues. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes instability disorder harm or discomfort to the physical systems or living organisms they are in Biodiversity is the variation of Life forms within a given Ecosystem, Biome or for the entire Earth. In Physics and other Sciences energy (from the Greek grc ἐνέργεια - Energeia, "activity operation" from grc ἐνεργός Sustainability, in a general sense is the capacity to maintain a certain process or state indefinitely

In 1971, volunteer lawyers who had worked with the Sierra Club established the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund. This was a separate organization that used the "Sierra Club" name under license from the Club; it changed its name to Earthjustice in 1997. Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm based in the United States that specializes in pro-environmental litigation

The Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) is the student-run arm of the Sierra Club. The Sierra Student Coalition (SSC is the student-run arm of the Sierra Club. Founded by Adam Werbach in 1991, with 14,000 members, it purports to be the largest student-led environmental group in the United States.

The Sierra Club Voter Education Fund is a 527 group that became active in the 2004 Presidential election by airing television advertisements about the major party candidates' positions on environmental issues. A 527 group is a type of American Tax-exempt organization named after a section of the United States tax code,. The United States presidential election of 2004 was held on Tuesday November 2, 2004, to elect the President of the United States. Through the Environmental Voter Education Campaign (EVEC), the Club sought to mobilize volunteers for phone banking, door-to-door canvassing and postcard writing to emphasize these issues in the campaign.

Internal caucuses

These are unofficial groups of Sierra Club members attempting to influence Sierra Club policy by electing candidates to the board of directors. Some of these groups are listed below in alphabetical order:

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Main Page for Sierra Club Policies - Sierra Club
  2. ^ Michael P. The environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green movements is a diverse scientific social and Political movement for This is a list of environmental organizations. See also Environmental organization Intergovernmental organizations International organizations Massachusetts v Environmental Protection Agency, 549 US 497 (2007 is a U The timeline of environmental events is a historical account of events that have shaped humanity's perspective on the environment Cohen, The History of the Sierra Club, 1892-1970 (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1988), pp. 8-9.
  3. ^ Stephen Fox, John Muir and His Legacy: The American Conservation Movement (Boston: Little, Brown, 1981), pp. 125-129.
  4. ^ Fox, John Muir and His Legacy, pp. 139-147.
  5. ^ Fox, John Muir and His Legacy, p. 214.
  6. ^ Fox, John Muir and His Legacy, p. 275.
  7. ^ Fox, John Muir and His Legacy, p. 279.
  8. ^ Fox, John Muir and His Legacy, pp. 280-286.
  9. ^ Fox, John Muir and His Legacy, p. 286-289.
  10. ^ Fox, John Muir and His Legacy, pp. 316-319.
  11. ^ Cohen. The History of the Sierra Club, pp. 357-365.
  12. ^ Cohen, The History of the Sierra Club, pp. 395-434.
  13. ^ Michael McCloskey, In the Thick of It: My Life in the Sierra Club (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2000), pp. 99-248.
  14. ^ About the Photographer - Jim Dougherty Photography. Retrieved on 2007-08-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 70 - The Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans.
  15. ^ HPS Summit Signatures - Mount Harwood. Retrieved on 2007-08-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 70 - The Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans.
  16. ^ Jeffrey St. Clair: Dark Deeds in the Black Hills (on muckraking magazine Counterpunch's website). Retrieved on 2007-08-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 70 - The Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans.
  17. ^ Why Not Nukes? Reconsidering the nuclear option
  18. ^ Nuclear Power – Conservation Policies - Sierra Club. Retrieved on 2007-08-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 70 - The Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans.
  19. ^ "Sierra Club Policy: Immigration Policy History. " SUSPS. Accessed 14 May 2008.
  20. ^ Kunofsky, Judy. "Sierra Club, U.S. Population Growth, and Immigration. " Sierra Club Population Report. Spring 1989. Accessed 14 May 2008.

References

External links

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