Green Options » Sierra Club

Big Oil’s Land Leases: Why Do We Need Offshore Drilling and ANWR?

Jennifer Lance — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:47:44 +0000

Big Oil and some politicians are constantly clamoring to open up more regions for oil exploration, but why? Look at all the land they are already leasing or have been offered for leasing!

Image and Via: Sierra Club

Reconfiguring Labor Day: The Convergence of the Labor and Environmental Movements

Timothy B. Hurst — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:31:03 +0000

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a palpable shift in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have given way to scaled-down parades, and neighborhood cookouts. But long before Labor Day symbolized the end of summer, and the closing of the municipal pool, it was a celebration of this country’s backbone - its laborers.

The first governmental recognition of Labor Day came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. In 1894 President Grover Cleveland declared Labor Day a national holiday. Throughout the 20th century, the interests of labor groups were firmly entrenched in the populist vision and the platform of the Democratic Party. But starting in the 1960s and 1970s, a chasm began to grow within the Democratic Party between the established interests of the labor movement and the emerging interests of the environmental movement.

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The Ten Coolest (and greenest) Colleges in America

Tom Schueneman — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:42:07 +0000

This is a guest post by freelance environmental writer Tom Schueneman, publisher of GlobalWarmingisReal.com

Sierra Magazine has recently announced its list of the ten “coolest schools in America” for 2008.

For our purposes here “cool” doesn’t refer to the level of party, but to the school’s efforts to address climate change and sustainability.

Until recently, that sort of cool remained largely the domain of small, private colleges, but no more. The colleges ranking in this year’s list represent a diverse range of institutions, from Warren Wilson College in North Carolina with 850 students, to Arizona State, the country’s second largest, with 51,500 students. Being cool is in.

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Non-Profit Provides Green Homes for Injured Veterans

Dawn Killough — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:21:19 +0000

Homes for Our Troops builds specially adapted homes for injured veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, free of charge. Thanks to a recent grant from The Sierra Club, these homes will now be built green. “This grant will allow us to incorporate state of the art building techniques and materials such as geothermal heating system[s] and photovoltaic solar panels to give our veterans the long-term economic and environmental benefits of green building,” says Homes for Our Troops President and Founder John Gonsalves.

Homes for Our Troops is a non-profit organization, founded in 2004, that has already completed 28 specially adapted homes across the country for veterans of the current conflict. Two dozen homes are currently underway, and they plan to build 100 more homes over the next three years. They raise donations of money, building materials, and professional labor, and coordinate the process of building a new home or adapting an existing home for handicapped accessibility. All of this is done at no charge to the veteran.

With the current grant from The Sierra Club, new homes will be built with environmental and energy conservation concerns in mind, participate in the Energy Star program, and the LEED for Homes program established by the US Green Building Council. These new homes will provide long-term economic and environmental benefits to the veterans and their families.

Homes for Our Troops will also incorporate outreach into its new home program, educating the home construction industry and the general public on the benefits and importance of green building. They hope to promote a greater understanding of the benefits of the green building movement.

As the wife of a (thankfully) healthy returning veteran, I fully support this effort to give back to those who keep us safe and free. I urge our readers to visit the Homes for Our Troops website and donate to this worthy cause.

What to Wear When Bare this Summer!

Lucille Chi — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:55:35 +0000

Hats! Try this hip California Rising ‘We Are One’ Hat (shown here) which features breathable hemp, soft brushed organic cotton jersey, canvas with locally grown, milled and knitted organic cotton all dyed with low impact dyes. California Rising is a member of 1% For the Planet. I also like this visor from the Sierra Club, simply white and all organic.
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Hawaii Law Requires All New Homes Install Solar Hot Water Heaters

Jennifer Lance — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:27:00 +0000

All new homes built in Hawaii will be required to install solar hot water heaters beginning in 2010, cutting energy costs by 30%. The state of Hawaii has a goal of at least 70 percent renewable energy use by 2030. “Achieving this goal is nearly impossible without widespread use of solar water heaters,” Hawaii Sierra Club director Jeff Mikulina says. “The solar roofs bill is smart policy, sensibly crafted to smooth a transition toward zero-energy homes of the future.”

Via: Sierra Club

Image: This Old House

Bye, Bye Coal Plants Say Environmental Groups

Jennifer Lance — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 03:44:26 +0000

Environmental groups, such as the Sierra Club and Environmental Defense Council, are staging a coal plant-by-coal plant attack on any proposed new coal-fired power plant in the United States. Using bureaucratic or legal means, such as zoning or water use, environmental groups have stopped 65 coal plants in the last three years. The LA Times explains its really a war about climate change, “Coal puts twice as much temperature-raising carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as natural gas, second to coal as the most common power plant fuel.”

Image: Ohio Citizen

Biofuels and Ethanol

jrlhomme — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 14:40:17 +0000

Once again I have found a topic for debate as I am pondering the results of higher fuel prices and an increased demand for biofuels.
My question for everyone is one of ethics that I have been muddling through. Here it is:

How ethical can it be to take food from the poor of this world to make fuel for the rich when there is an ample supply of fuels that do not require the use of food.
Corn, wheat, rice and beans are the base foods for much of mankind. The prices for these staples has doubled in the past three years as the demand for biofuels has increased.
I do not think that this type of thing is wise for the stability of our planet. Yes, I agree with trying to decrease our overall carbon footprint but taking food from the poor is not the right option. The correct option is to encourage more fuel efficient cars and public transportation.
When I was a teenager twenty five years ago most car companies offered cars that got from 35 to 45 mpg. They did this without all that fancy vacuum lines and such. They did not have computers and were simple in design. Now we are lucky to find a car that gets 30 mpg. I remember in 1977 Subaru offered three vehicles that got 50 mpg on the highway. If we could do it then why can’t we do it now.
The next issue I have is with the Sierra Club here in Kansas where I currently live. Last year an electric company Sunflower Electric proposed building an efficient coal fired plant that meets or surpasses the guidelines set forth by the EPA. The area in western Kansas needs the economic development that this plant would bring yet the Sierra Club has brought pressure that has blocked this proposal. The alternative that the Sierra Club is offering is wind farms. I have a problem though with wind farms. Most who are proposing them have no idea about electricity.
Windmills can generate a small amount of electricity but they cannot generate enough current unless many are built. For a wind farm to generate enough electricity as the Sunflower proposal it will require over 15,000 wind mills to be built on well over 5,000 acres thus taking away land that would be used for farming. Once again take food from the poor to provide energy for the rich. This coal plant is cutting edge technology that is efficient and much cleaner that it was in the past. This country needs the energy it will produce and we don’t need to take food from the poor.

Reporting in from Good Jobs, Green Jobs: A National Green Jobs Conference

Carol McClelland — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 03:27:45 +0000

I’m in Pittsburgh, PA this week for Good Jobs, Green Jobs: A National Green Jobs Conference. Although we are only half way through the event, I have a few insights to share tonight.

As the conference started this morning, it was immediately clear that this gathering was a bit different from most. The conference has been coordinated by Blue Green Alliance, a strategic partnership between the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club. Not an alliance I would have imagined! Would you?

The groups that came together to convene this meeting include a number of other unions, environmental advocacy groups, businesses, foundations, academic institutions, selected cities and states. As noted by a number of speakers, at first glance these groups might not seem to have much in common…except for one thing. The environment and the need to find ways to reduce greenhouse gases.

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Eco Trips for Families

Jennifer Lance — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:13:35 +0000

In this week’s Sierra Club Insider, it was stated that the family vacation is disappearing from American culture.

According to Treehugger, a new study by Oliver Pergams of the University of Illinois-Chicago and Patricia Zaradic of the Environmental Leadership Program found that “the time children spend in nature — particularly the activities we looked at in this study — determines their environmental awareness as adults.”

Citing the same study co-sponsored by the Nature Conservancy, the Grist states

Kids — and adults — these days are “videophiliacs” who prefer their nature through the TV screen rather than personally experienced, says a new study. It estimates that Americans’ participation in outdoor recreation has dropped as much as 25 percent over the past 20 years.

What’s a green family to do? Beyond offsetting your typical trip to Disneyland, there are now many eco travel tours and trips for families. Of course you don’t have to join a tour to take a memorable eco trip with your family. Camping and backpacking provide wonderful opportunities for families to experience nature; however, a well-designed eco trip will allow you to meet other families and take some of the responsibility off of your shoulders.

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