Margaret Pennington
Redwood Chapter Chair

Local Sierra Club Elections - Time to cast your vote:

As you'll notice in this issue of the Needles, it's local Sierra Club election time. Thanks to all the candidates who have stepped forward to serve on Group and Chapter Excoms. Please read through your Group and Chapter candidate statements and cast your vote for your local Sierra Club representatives. Reminder: Sierra Club is one of the few non-profit organizations that is actually democratically organized with members electing their leadership from the local to the national boards. I hope you'll take a few minutes to engage in this fine tradition.

Speaking of Elections

What can I say? The November election results are still sinking in and weighing heavy on many minds. The Sierra Club is not a partisan organization, however it is unfortunately the case that the current Republican leadership is seemingly intent on dismantling environmental protections whenever and wherever possible. The coming year, with Republicans holding the majority in both houses and with Bush at the helm will be challenging for environmentalists.

My personal reaction on election eve - around midnight- as I checked the internet for election results and it began to sink in that we'd not only lost Paul Wellstone in an airplane crash a week earlier but his Senate seat was not going to be held by Walter Mondale, and beyond that sad fact was the grim reality that both the House and Senate would be controlled by Bush's party ­ well my reaction was to simply break out in tears.

Saturday in Sonoma

The following Saturday I went to a post election roundtable to discuss what happened in our local Sonoma County races. The mood wasn't much better there. Although there were some bright spots (see Sonoma Highs and Lows ­ below) there were also some discouraging and foreboding losses.

Why so? Well the story has a lot to do with money - money flowing from development interests. So much money that mailers from developer endorsed candidates were going out with first class stamps rather than bulk mail ­ money being no object.

Why so much money flowing into in Sonoma County races? I think we can look around and see the reasons. Compare Sonoma County with it's agricultural, open space, small town, urban mix to what's going on in the East Bay ­ South Bay ­ Central Valley. That's the future developers see for us and they are willing to plunk a lot of money into elections to secure and maintain "friendly" councils who see the future their way, too.

Why else were there losses? Well, those of us with a vision of livable cities, viable agriculture and protected natural landscapes need to get clearer with our message, get better organized with our most precious resource - the people who share that vision - and work all the harder to make it real.

Paul Wellstone's Legacy

I'm inspired by these words, quoted in The Nation, from Patti Smith, rock star and poet, reflecting on the enormous loss of Paul Wellstone, "Paul wouldn't want us to take a moment of silence for him." As The Nation's editor noted, "Paul would have loved that ­ not just for its echo of the labor movement's 'don't mourn, organize' tradition that he cherished but for its essential optimism. More than any prominent progressive political leader in decades, Wellstone relished the good fight. And he relished politics. He believed it mattered enormously to rally, to march, to walk a precinct and to run for public office ­ be it school board or the Senate. And he believed all those tasks should be undertaken joyfully."

Now's the time for all of us to roll up our sleeves in joyful pursuit of democracy and a better tomorrow. If you are already active in any organization working toward these goals (or are doing so on your own) and you are a Sierra Club member in order to show our support and be counted as a friend of the environment ­ thank you. We need you. But if you're not currently volunteering your time someplace else, and whether you have 10 minutes on Friday morning between 9 and 9:30 am, or two hours every other Saturday afternoon, or five hours every week - whatever your situation ­ we really need you.

Redwood Chapter's Excom is diligently working on strategic planning which includes better volunteer coordination. We don't have all our plans completely together or all our volunteer needs clearly articulated. But for now you could help us a great deal if you'd just let us know you're out there and ready to get involved. Please send a message to Melanie Matway at: ad_astra7@hotmail.com with your name and contact info and any information about your interests or skills or ideas that you'd like to share, or call Tom Devlin in our Sierra Club office (or leave a message) at 707-544-7651 with the same information.

And please let Tom or Melanie know if you'd like to join our email alerts list ­ we'll sign you up right away. This is a great way to keep informed about up-to-the minute environmental issues impacting our Redwood region and to learn how you can help.

Happy Holidays