Sierra Club News April 8, 2018

Ready to join Sierra Club?

Only $15 to join, www.sierraclub.org/missouri/osage click the join button

1. Saturday, April 14, Hike at Ha Ha Tonka State Park, HIKE TURKEY PEN HOLLOW TRAIL.

This is a 6.5 mile day hike with rugged trails of moderate difficulty. Contact Mike Currier at ekan@aol.com to indicate your intention to participate. More info. below.

2. Friday, April 13, 4:30 PM,Kirksville, Northeast Missouri Section formation, Take Root Cafe, brainstorming session to discuss Sierra Club guidelines for a Section, along with our goals, and ideas for projects & activities, more info. below.

3. Saturday, April 21, time TBD, Kirksville, Northeast Missouri Section Meeting, Take Root Cafe

4. Saturday, April 21, Hike at Three Creeks Conservation Area, from the Deer Park Access, more info. below

5. Thursday, April 12, Columbia, Rehearsal for Earth Day booth hand puppet show, 6:30 PM, need voice "actors" to help, no prior experience needed, you can read a script from behind the current. Contact jdye01@gmail.com for more information. Details below.

6. Sunday, April 22, Columbia, Earth Day Festival, Rain date April 29, Sierra Club booth, Need help with booth activities, volunteer by contacting carolyn.amparan@gmail.com, more info. below https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMQfnn4OfGw

7. Thursday, April 26, Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Larry C. Price visits Missouri School of Journalism, will speak in 204 Neff Hall on "The Human Toll of Toxic Pollution." , 6 p.m. Free Shakespeare's pizza will be available at 5:30 p.m. (not a Sierra Club event)

8. Tuesday, May 22, Columbia residents, CoMO Public Workshop on the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, 5:30 pm - 7:30 PM, ARC, opportunity to give input on the goals and vision for the Columbia plan. More information below. (Not a Sierra Club event)

9. Wednesday, June 6, next Osage Group General Meeting, Columbia, 7 PM, Program: TBD, Boone County Commission Chambers, 8th and Ash Street, enter from Courthouse Plaza

10. Help elect candidates to the state legislature who will support Sierra Club's goals. We are forming a political committee to plan and execute the club's activities in the 2018 election cycle. We need people from across Mid-MO to help. We have the opportunity to endorse and/or support good candidates for office. More details below.

11. Want to get more involved? Take the Volunteer Survey: There are a number volunteer opportunities with commitments ranging from a few minutes to regular time investments.

Please complete the survey regarding your interests and the local leadership can reach out to you when a matching need arises. You can decide at that time if you want to help or not. For now, please tell us about your skills and interests.

The survey is online on the Osage Group Sierra Club website, here's the link:https://www.sierraclub.org/missouri/osage/take-our-interest-survey

ONLINE ACTIVISM

12. Submit comments to the EPA on the proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan. Deadline April 26, 2018 Details on how to comment are at this link. See below for some talking points.

https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/clean-power-plan-proposed-repeal-how-comment

OTHER LOCAL NEWS:

14. Donations - Please consider the Osage Group of the Sierra Club in your non-profit donations. You can donate easily and securely online by visiting www.sierraclub.org/missouri/osage and clicking on the donate button. These donations are not tax deductible because of the nature of Sierra Club's non-profit status.

Ongoing Communication Options: (Get news between newsletters)

Like our Osage Group Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/sierraclubosagegroup/

Find out about events on the Osage Group website http://www.sierraclub.org/missouri/osage

Stay informed between newsletters without Facebook by using our email listserv: contact Jan Dye jdye01@gmail.com to be added

Website: Missouri Chapter, http://missouri2.sierraclub.org/

On this page you can also learn about outings sponsored by the three other Sierra Club groups in Missouri. The other groups sponsor camping, backpacking and canoe trips as well as hiking.

DETAILS BELOW

1. HIKE TURKEY PEN HOLLOW TRAIL at HA HA TONKA STATE PARK, Saturday, April 14, 2018

This is a 6.5 mile day hike with rugged trails of moderate difficulty. Contact Mike Currier at ekan@aol.com to indicate your intention to participate.

Since this is a longer day hike, we are allowing at least 3.5 hours to complete the hike. The trail head is located at Ha Ha Tonka State Park, on 1491 State Road D south of Camdenton off of HWY 54; a little over two hours south of Columbia.

We will meet at the AC-63 Commuter Parking at 8 am for the drive to Ha Ha Tonka State Park. Plan to meet at the Park visitor's center at 10 am for orientation and introductory remarks.

Bring hiking boots, or shoes with good support; rain gear; sunscreen and insect repellant; water, lunch, energy snacks; and Leave No Trace!

Outings Leader, Mike Currier, is very knowledgeable about the history and geography of Ha Ha Tonka State Park has he was involved in the original creation of the State Park. He will have lots of great information to share. Here is a sampling:

In 1909, Ha Ha Tonka was recommended to be Missouri's first state park. It took nearly 70 years before it became the sixty-first state park, recognized for it's large spring, karst topography, and it's iconic 'castle'.

Then, over the next dozen years, as the park's glades and woodlands were inventoried, and then managed with prescribed burns, a biologically significant Niangua River Hills landscape emerged that has old-growth character and incredible diversity.

The original 80-acre, state-designated Natural Area, focused on the Spring and associated karst features, was expanded in 2012 to recognize a Niangua River Hills Landscape of roughly 3,000 acres. This continues a legacy of protection, ecologically-based management, and advocacy that is emblematic of the Sierra Club values.

We will hike a 953-acre section of the Ha Ha Tonka Oak Woodland Natural Area which features scenic dolomite glades; outstanding oak woodlands, featuring 400-year old post oaks; and Red Sink, a large sinkhole that supports Pleistocene relict species.

2&3, There is a Northeast Section of Sierra club forming in Kirksville, meetings will be Friday, October 13 at 4:30 and Saturday, April 21, Take Root Cafe, Upper Floor

Some Sierra Club members in Kirksville are organizing a Kirksville sub-section of the Osage Group of Sierra Club in Missouri. Thirteen people (Sierra Club members and not-yet members) who attended the 23 February 2018 Sierra Club meeting with Missouri Representative Nate Walker expressed their interest in being a part of a Northeast Missouri (NEMO) Section of Sierra Club--to be formed. A Kirksville section will promote more local activities and potential activism on local issues.

We intend to hold a preparatory meeting several days before founding the NEMO Section to share ideas and to brainstorm goals and potential projects of the NEMO Section. The plan after the brainstorming session (13th of April) is to hold a follow-up meeting in Take Root Café to formally initiate the NEMO Section of Sierra Club. This meeting will be on Saturday, 21 April 2018. The time will be announced shortly.

4. Saturday, April 21, 2018, 10:00 a.m.. Hike from the Deer Park Access Three Creeks Conservation Area.

This hike is of moderate difficulty and is a three mile loop that is well marked, crossing Turkey Creek 6 times. The hike includes spectacular views of the area with Cliff lined streams. Mo. Conservation has made this trail a nature hike that includes a brochure.

To get to the trail head, take Hwy 63 south from Columbia until you reach Deer Park Store on your left; turn right and follow the road until it ends. A good pair of hiking boots with some water resistance is required. A liability waiver is required to be signed before taking the hike. Call Tom Lata at (573) 489-2302. Please let Tom know you plan to participate so he can notify you in the event of bad weather.

5. Thursday, April 12, Columbia, Rehearsal for Earth Day booth hand puppet show & planning session, 6:30 PM

This year at the Columbia Earth Day Festival the Osage Group's booth will feature an educational hand puppet show targeted at children. The goal will be to educate the children and their parents on how to live more sustainably. They will learn along with Goldilocks how to make simple life changes that lower our impact on the planet.

We need voice "actors" to help, no prior experience needed. You will be able to read a script from behind the curtain. The children really love this type of thing. Have fun will helping the cause!

If you can make it we will be doing a final planning session and a rehearsal on April 12 at the home of Jan Dye. Even if you can't make rehearsal but want to volunteer to help on the 22nd, please do. We will have multiple shifts available.

There will also be job roles for people to collect signatures on a petition to the Columbia city government concerning 100% renewable energy for electricity generation. Shifts between noon and 7 pm.

6. Sunday, April 22, Columbia, Earth Day Festival, Rain date April 29, Sierra Club booth, Need help with booth activities, volunteer by contacting carolyn.amparan@gmail.com, Setup shift at 10 AM, Other shifts noon to 7 pm. We Need YOU!

This coming Earth Day we need multiple shift on Sunday to help with the booth. Shifts are flexible depending on your schedule between noon and 7:00 PM.

We need volunteers to do the following tasks:

- collect petition signatures - tell people about Sierra Club and/or be the front person for the puppet show - Be behind the scenes as a voice and actor with a hand puppet

7. Thursday, April 26, Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Larry C. Price visits Missouri School of Journalism, will speak in 204 Neff Hall on "The Human Toll of Toxic Pollution."

, 6 p.m. Free Shakespeare's pizza will be available at 5:30 p.m. (not a Sierra Club event)

Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Larry C. Price will speak Thursday, April 26 in 204 Neff Hall on "The Human Toll of Toxic Pollution." Price will show images and share accounts of his work documenting health impacts from gold mining, battery recycling, lead mining, leather tanning and textile manufacturing in Asia, India, Bangladesh and Africa.

After a long career as a newspaper photographer and editor, during which he won two Pulitzer Prizes for his coverage of international crises, Price has continued to travel the world with the eye of a visual storyteller. In recent years, Price has focused his lens on global pollution, which sickens and kills millions of people worldwide each year. He has photographed stories for National Geographic magazine and is a contributor to PBS NewsHour. He won an Emmy in 2015 for a segment on the dangers of underwater gold mining in the Philippines.

The talk, which is open to the public, begins at 6 p.m. Free Shakespeare's pizza will be available at 5:30 p.m.

In addition, the Journalism School will recognize the second winner of the Smith/Patterson Pulitzer student fellowship. A Missouri School of Journalismstudent will receive $5,000 to cover a science, health or environmental story anywhere in the world outside the U.S.

The visit and fellowship are part of the Smith/Patterson Science Journalism Fellowship and Lecture Series, a joint initiative of the Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium and the Missouri School of Journalism.

The Columbia City Council has mandated a community Climate Action and Adaptation Plan be created. They have a appointed a citizen task force to work with staff and a consultant to develop the plan. The task force has a mission to ensure public involvement in the development of the plan. There will be multiple public workshops to allow the public to provide input. The first workshop will focus on vision and goals for Columbia in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the now unavoidable climate change that will occur. Osage Group Chair, Carolyn Amparan, is representing the Sierra Club and other environmental organizations on the task force. More information can be found on this project at the city's website:

https://www.como.gov/sustainability/climate-action/

9. Wednesday, June 6, next Osage Group General Meeting, Columbia, 7 PM, Program: TBD, The meeting will be at the Boone County Commission Chambers in the Boone County Wilson Government Building. Enter from the Courthouse Plaza near 8th and Ash Streets, downtown Columbia. Meetings generally last about 1.5 hours to 1.75 hours.

This year races for State Legislature will occur in many more districts than in 2016 when many candidates ran unopposed. We need a team to evaluate candidates and help with the logistics of contacting candidates to execute the Sierra Club process for potential endorsements.

We should evaluate candidates in all the districts of Mid-Missouri. You will be involved in making recommendations to the Osage Group executive committee on who to endorse. Participate in the vital cause of electing candidates who will vote to protect public health, the right to vote and the environment. This volunteer role can be executed remotely outside of Columbia. We need people in many districts. Contact Terry Ganey, Political Committee Chair, to volunteer at tjganey@gmail.com

13. Boone Electric Co-op customers: Sign up for a solar panel(s) from the community solar farm. Demonstrate your support for clean energy by supporting this first solar farm. It is a lot less expensive that buying panels for your own home. Sierra Club was instrumental in helping convince Boone Electric co-op to provide a solar farm. Now we need to help ensure it gets sold-out. https://www.booneelectric.coop/content/community-solar-project

"With the average output, the premium added to a Community Solar member's bill would be $2.65 per panel per month. For winter and summer outputs, the premium will range from $1.54 to $3.35 per panel per month. So, if your bill was $100 prior to joing the Renewable Choice Program, with one panel added to your bill, you'd pay on average $102.65 a month. "

12. Comment by April 26 to oppose the proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan

https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/clean-power-plan-proposed-repeal-how-comment

Sample comments on Proposed Clean Power Plan Repeal, please personalize and add your own life experiences or story..... You don't need to include all of these.

* I oppose EPA's proposal to repeal the Clean Power Plan, and would like to discuss the terrible consequences that this proposal would have for my family, my community, and our country as a whole.
*Insert personal impacts on your family & community, your personal concerns about climate change
*One poll after another has shown that Americans overwhelmingly support the Clean Power Plan and EPA action in reducing carbon pollution from coal plants. EPA is legally required to regulate carbon pollution from power plants, and the Clean Power Plan establishes reasonable requirements based on measures that states and industry are already using to reduce emissions.
*The Plan will curb dangerous carbon pollution that is exacerbating extreme weather events like hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, as well as the wildfires that have destroyed millions of acres in the West. In Missouri we anticipate increased heavy downpours & flooding alternating with extended droughts. Additionally heat waves, downpours and droughts will all have a significant negative impact on the Missouri economy. (Will your family's income potentially be hurt adversely by the changing climate?)
*It will also help reduce other harmful pollutants emitted by fossil fuel-fired power plants which contribute to the formation of smog and soot.(Does anyone in your family suffer from asthma or other cardio-pulmonary diseases? These are aggravated by these type of pollutants. If so, mention this as an impact)
*Repealing the Plan means ignoring the reality of the climate crisis, which would put our communities at risk of further disruption and deny them the opportunity to breathe cleaner air.
*EPA's proposal also ignores that the clean energy economy is booming and will continue to do so regardless of this administration's strategy of favoring polluting industries. States and cities all over the country have set a goal of moving toward "100 percent clean energy" during the lifetime of the Clean Power Plan. (Mention if your community has a renewable energy standard, is working towards 100% clean energy or has other climate crisis related goals)
*EPA now claims that the Clean Power Plan would result in major job losses. The coal industry has been in economic decline and coal miners have been losing their jobs for years, regardless of the Clean Power Plan. There is now strong awareness that this industry has resulted in air and water pollution, unsafe working conditions, respiratory illnesses, and scarred landscapes. The Clean Power Plan recognizes this reality, and in fact urges states to take employment impacts seriously and to ensure that workers and coal-producing communities benefit from the job and economic opportunities expected from the implementation of the rule. The Plan provides detailed guidance on the Obama administration's POWER+ Plan, which until last year was part of the President's budget package, and which was all about investing in coal communities and providing them with the means to chart their own future. Without the Plan, these goals are much less likely to be incorporated into state government and utility planning in states that favor the burning of fossil fuels.
*EPA has also inappropriately cooked the books to justify its proposed repeal in order to mislead the public on the benefits and costs that the Plan would entail. The Obama EPA had estimated that, by 2030, the Clean Power Plan would prevent 90,000 asthma attacks and up to 3,600 premature deaths annually. EPA is now inventing numbers in order to count far less public health benefits of reducing carbon emissions under the Clean Power Plan, including premature deaths, asthma, and heart attacks. The agency also used accounting tricks to inflate its estimates of the Plan's costs in order to tell the public that those costs are much higher than the Obama EPA had estimated. EPA has also raised concerns that the Plan will hurt consumers in order to contradict its earlier conclusion that electric bills will decrease by the end of the compliance period. EPA must correct these errors. The public knows that the rule will result in major health and economic benefits and we will not buy these tricks.
*The repeal, whether on its own or accompanied by a weaker standard, would expose the public to more carbon pollution and other dangerous pollutants emitted by power plants. EPA must not reverse the hard-won progress we have made to reduce carbon pollution.

Back to Show Me Solar's Blog ---> https://www.showmesolar.org/blog

To adjust your Sierra Club email preferences, please reply to this email with a description of your wishes. Thank you.

Sierra Club 2101 Webster, Suite 1300, Oakland, CA 94612

Show Me Solar

Sierra Club News April 8, 2018

Featured Posts

Recent Posts

Search By Tags

Follow Us