REDWOOD NEEDLES
REDWOOD NEEDLESPresented by the Sierra Club Redwood Chapter Newsletter, The REDWOOD NEEDLES
Return to Article Menu
By Margaret Pennington, Redwood Chapter Chair
Chapter and Group Elections
It's time for our annual Redwood Chapter and group Executive Committee elections. Please take a moment to read the candidate statements and cast your votes. Thanks to all the candidates for expressing their willingness to serve on an ExCom.
Sierra Club elections are one of the things I particularly like about this organization. The founders, some 110 years ago, infused the Sierra Club with a vision of participatory democracy by setting it up as a true membership non-profit. Many of you may "belong" to other conservation or non-profit organizations. Those organizations may even refer to you as a "member." But if you look closely, in most cases you'll discover that you don't have any voice in determining the organization's course of action. Not so with the Sierra Club. The members elect their governing board representatives all the way from local groups on up to the National Board.
Most non-profits established now-a-days don't go the true membership route &endash; it's messy, as democracies tend to be. There's a potential for the founders to lose control. Grantmaking foundations and organizational development consultants usually advise against it. But John Muir, William Colby, et al, didn't seek the advice of grantmakers or organizational consultants. No, 1892 was a different time. They left us with this legacy &endash;a place to practice and hone the skills of democratic governance.
Please do vote.
'Tis the Season - thoughts on consumption
The winter holiday season is approaching, but it's feeling a little different out there this year. Understandably, there seems to be a collective hunkering down &endash; a sort of nesting urge setting in. People are looking for a sense of security, I suppose.
However, superimposed on that quest for tranquility is the call for us all to do what Americans do best &endash; CONSUME. The economy is in the doldrums so we "the consumers" are being urged to "charge" to the rescue. But despite what the mainstream economists say, consuming is not our first and foremost reason to be.
When people are struck to the core, as we were on September 11th, life's big questions come pouring in. If we give ourselves the gift of some quiet time to think, we may very well hear our real selves saying what's in our real hearts. It might sound something like this: we want connection and caring and safety and love &endash; oh, and maybe pumpkin pie.
The catch-22 here is that if we all settle down to enjoying the simpler things in life, the economy may very well flat-line. With all our collective wisdom, couldn't we find a better way? Shared leisure could be a wonderful gift, however, its not so wonderful if half the people lose their jobs and half remain over-worked. Could we learn to share?
From an environmentalist's perspective this call to consume is all the more troubling because environmental impacts are a function of population and consumption. (Impact = Population X Consumption) More of either causes stress to already over-stressed natural systems. It can feel like swimming against the tide to say this during the usual shop-til-you-drop holiday frenzy.
However there are ways to be thoughtful, more environmentally benign consumers. Wendell Berry in The Amicus Journal offers these suggestions:
"What we must do is use well the considerable power we have as consumers: the power of choice. We can choose to buy or not to buy, and we can choose what to buy. The standard by which we choose must be the health of the community &endash; and by that we mean the whole community: ourselves, the place where we live, and all the humans and other creatures who live there with us. It is better to buy at a small, privately owned local store than from a chain store. It is better to by a good product than a bad one. Do not buy anything you don't need. Do everything you can to see that your money stays as long as possible in the local community."
Beyond Consumption
Concern over the lagging economy has Congress contemplating an economic stimulus package that is a give-away to corporate interests. Additionally, the House has already passed a backward-looking, drill-America-first energy plan and dropped it on the Senate doorstep.
We can do better than this. It is possible for government to kick-start the economy with a spending package that is an investment in the future. An economic stimulus package that offers tax incentives and rebates for solar, wind and hydrogen technologies would do just that. Such a package would create jobs, wean us from dangerous foreign oil dependency and environmentally damaging fossil fuels, and set us on the path toward a sustainable energy future.
To hear more on this and other New Year's energy resolutions come to the Sonoma Group Environmental Forum Jan 15th. The focus on is Global Warming and National Energy issues. Sign up for the new email list on Energy EnergyMatters, by sending an otherwise empty email to EnergyMatters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and connect with others exploring local energy alternatives.
Warm wishes
Return to Article Menu