Calendar: Programs

MVG September 2005 Program: Sierra Summit Reports

Missouri Valley Group Chair Karen Tigges (previously Rock), and Vice-Chair Candy Bless were two of the 3,000 Sierra Club members who gathered to discuss the state of the environment at the Sierra Club Summit and Expo, which took place September 8 through 11 in San Francisco. Here are their reports on the experience:

At the Sierra Club Summit and Expo

by Candy Bless, MVG Vice-Chair and Membership Chair

What a wonderful opportunity, to rub elbows with hundreds, even thousands of other Sierra Club members from around the country and help make decisions that will affect the club for years to come! It was all I had hoped for and more! While in San Francisco, I had many awesome encounters. At the expo, temporary home for 800-plus exhibitors, from which I picked up information that I hope to use later for club activities and tabling events. I could have spent hours walking the aisles talking with exhibitors, discussing causes or products. It was great to see so many businesses showcasing environmentally friendly wares.

We saw re-useable shopping bags made from recycled plastics, non-tree paper, a printing company that is certified as a green business, a real estate company that specializes in green building projects and several organic food companies. The list goes on and on. When I wasn’t at a session or eating, you could have found me talking to people at the expo.

During the sessions, I took many pages of notes and I’m still digesting them, but I have already learned a lot. I was impressed with the frank and open manner in which the sessions were conducted; the presenters were honest and the audience was able to have an open dialogue with them.

I attended a session where we discussed what businesses have to do to be environmentally friendly. A representative from Starbucks was on the panel and explained that there are many factors that go into a decision, even one as simple as whether to carry organic milk. Many times, he explained, decisions are made on the basis of profit; the share-holders demand it. If a company goes out on a limb and the product or method fails, their stock could go down - and that’s bad for business.

Businesses must be very careful when trying any new idea; that's why many months, sometimes years, go into research and development. Then, when an idea finally does get to the consumer, customers must be willing to pay for the product. So, when you go into your favorite local coffee shop (or any other business), ask for organic milk (or another green idea) and see what they say. You may just be surprised and get it! And as a bonus, they may be more willing to try a green idea the next time.

In all, it was a very busy but productive weekend. Before we left, we were reminded that the hard work is yet to come, putting into action all the decisions and ideas that we encountered over four days. I know I’m fired up to do some hard work and I have tons of ideas as a result of the weekend!

Direction-Setting, Sierra Summit 2005

by Karen Tigges, MVG Chair

You might call it a perfect storm, where the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina came together with the gathering of 700 delegates from around the country to discuss the direction the Sierra Club should take in the next five to six years. At the juncture of these events, a renewed direction for the Club was in the offing. Calling the delegates to respond to this new challenge, Club President Lisa Renstrom enunciated the three waves of the environmental movement.

The first, “To explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth,” she said, is at the heart of the Club's founding.

The second, “To practice and promote the responsible use of the earth’s ecosystems and resources,” she explained, came into focus as we worked to enact regulation of pollution.

Now the third wave, “To educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment,” was the task and the challenge before us now. Representing 50 states and the District of Columbia, delegates came to the convention with direction from pre- Summit voting at their regional levels in mind, but with the fresh realization in their hearts that their decisions could have far-reaching, national consequences.

At first it was not smooth sailing for the direction-setting process, when everything from the initial framework for establishing choices to the voting process itself was called into question by some participants. Sensing rebellion in the ranks, our moderator called upon Executive Director Carl Pope to address these concerns.

Pope explained that the process of setting the eight conservation approaches was a long, arduous undertaking that required a lot of give and take among members of a committee chosen to articulate the approaches. It took the committee members more than a year to establish the eight choices that were finally presented to the membership. While the process wasn’t perfect and couldn’t address everyone’s concerns, Pope asked the delegates to trust and work within the process as it was. To assuage one concern in particular, that by choosing a top priority, the others would not be considered, he assured the delegates that no program would be cut as a result of this process. He further suggested that we consider at least one of the conservation approaches, that of “Building Vibrant, Healthy Communities,” in light of Hurricane Katrina. He said that concerns such as environmental justice, urban sprawl, public transit and community health could all be addressed within that one approach.

With that last bit of guidance in mind, the direction-setting agenda went forward. Presented with paired comparisons, in which each of the eight conservation approaches was paired with the seven others in turn, the delegates voted on their top priorities. At the end of the process, an amazing transformation had taken place. While “Build a New Energy Future” remained the top priority, “Build Vibrant, Healthy Communities” soared from next to last place in importance in the pre-Summit voting to second place among the eight approaches in the new vote. Clearly, Carl Pope’s advice was taken to heart.

The next step was to assess the capacities of the Club to realize these priorities. Given eight “Capacities that influence decisions” to choose from, “Seek new allies and build coalitions" was chosen as the top one, followed by “Create media visibility,” and “Bring people together to take action together.” These were also chosen as the top three capacities in presummit voting, although the order of the latter two was reversed.

In choosing among six “Capacities that influence decision-makers," the delegates chose “Influence voters’ electoral decisions" as most important, followed by “Influence state policy makers” and “Influence local decision-makers about specific places.” This latter choice came up from last place in pre- Summit voting and supplanted “Influence federal policy-makers” as the number three choice. Was this another effect of the perfect storm?

Lest we find ourselves smug about having made these choices, we should remind ourselves that the hard work lies ahead. The tough choices of where to apply our resources of money, manpower, and willpower still have to be made. The real work of coalition building remains, and as always, influencing voters, and state and local decisionmakers. We have already made strides in these latter two capacities by sending representatives to state and local legislative and board hearings, and we certainly are active in election campaigns. However, more can be done in the area of coalition building. Efforts are under way to do just that. The Nebraska Environmental Roundtable, a coalition of conservation organizations from around the state, will meet in October in Lincoln (see the calendar of events for details).

We can seize the momentum brought about by this perfect storm and use it to achieve the third wave of the Sierra Club mission: “To educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment.”

This article originally appeared in the October 2005 issue of the Missouri Valley Sierran