REDWOOD NEEDLES
REDWOOD NEEDLES
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Bruce Hamilton, National Director of Conservation, gave a speech at the RCC gathering on March 9-10. I found these ideas extremely inspiring and informative and so pass them on to our members with the hope you will be re-charged and be given some useful insight for the struggle ahead.
Everyone has the right to a safe and healthy environment. If you have heard this phrase more than once, the Club's intent has been accomplished. This phrase was used in most press releases and other literature issued at the National level over the period of the War on the Environment campaign. Consequently, this basic idea was repeated in the media and eventually the same words were used recently by V.P. Al Gore. This shows how effective we can be when we pick a theme and keep hammering it into the memory of the American people. We feel bringing this message to people who care in the wider community is of basic importance. That the Sierra ClubÕs influence is recognized at the presidential level shows the effectiveness of our efforts.
1996 is the year of the Environment. It is the year that will make or break environmental issues for this country. Last year many people noticed Sierra Club as a winner. This year even more resources will be devoted to fight the War on the Environment. Our plan to stop the dismantling of the last 25 years of environmental progress will work...because the Club will devote all resources necessary to make it work. We must find an audience that listens to us and responds --we will repeat it rationally and coherently, over and over, until it sinks in. We must make everyone listen and we must make the message clear. The message is: We must protect our environment for our families, for our future, and for our kids. We must preserve our forests, our coasts, our deserts, our public lands. We must let the White House know that we are against the giving away of our public lands to grazing, mining, and timber harvest interests. We must let the White House and Congress know how strongly we feel about this, and that it really matters to the American people; we must do this for our children.
Write a letter to the Editor of your local paper. A recent poll
shows that 55% of Republicans don't trust their own party, especially
in environmental policy matters. But remember, a clean, healthy, safe
environment is not a partisan issue; everyone is affected. Trashing
the environment is unpopular, no matter the political party of the
person who tries it. Your letter to the Editor reaches voters, it
reaches elected officials, it reaches people who may not be fully
informed and who need just a little more data to be convinced that we
must act now, to prevent this wholesale giveaway of our national
inheritance. Your donation, in response to the annual appeal we have
sent you this month, is one effort you can make that will enable the
Redwood Chapter to continue the fight against the War on the
Environment. We must protect the coast, the purity of our water and
air, and irreplaceable forests like ancient Headwaters--for our
future and for our kids.
--Arlie Haig, Chapter Chair ahaig@crl.com
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