March 2003
Welcome to e-Sierra
The email newsletter of the Sierra Club North Star ChapterMarch 2003 / Issue 12
SierranACT ACTIVIST ALERT SYSTEM ENVIRONMENTALIST IMPRISONED IN TURKMENISTAN
Farid Tukhbatullin, co-chair of the Ecological Club in Dashhoguz, Turkmenistan has been imprisoned on trumped up charges for attending a human rights meeting outside of the country. Amnesty International and the Sierra Club are calling for his release and for ExxonMobil to act to protect the rights of citizens where they are operating. If you are signed up on the SierranACT Activist Alert System take action: http://northstar.sierraclubaction.org/alertlist.asp. If you are not signed up, sign up today: http://northstar.sierraclubaction.org/signup.asp.
ENVIRONMENTAL TOWN MEETING WITH RT RYBAK - APRIL 10
The Sierra Club North Star Chapter is hosting an Environmental Town Meeting with Mayor RT Rybak on Thursday, April 10th from 7:00pm-9:00pm. Mark your calendars and join us for an evening of dialogue on environmental issues. For more info contact: .
ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE = HEALTH DISPARITIES
Join the Sierra Club, Minneapolis Urban League, Council on Black Minnesotans, NAACP, Metropolitan Area African American Chamber of Commerce, and the African American Tobacco Network for an advocacy training on environmental justice in Minnesota. Rep. Keith Ellison, Community Activist Spike Moss, and Paula Maccabee of the Sierra Club, will talk about building the environmental justice movement as a base of power to reduce environmental health threats in Minnesota. Thursday, March 20th, 6:00 pm 8:00 pm (Dinner at 5:30 pm; donations accepted). Minneapolis Urban League (2100 Plymouth Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55411) For more information, please contact Michelle Rosier, 612-659-9124 or .
JUMP INTO SPRING AT THE LIVING GREEN EXPO - APRIL 12 & 13
Interested in real solutions to live better, more healthy lives with less impact on the environment? Come to the Living Green Expo and learn ways to save money and save the planet at the same time. Stop by the Sierra Club booth and learn about energy-efficient cars and ways to reduce pollution from generating electricity. Join Sierra Club students in learning ways to protect children from school bus diesel emissions. For information, visit www.livinggreenexpo.org or contact Michelle Rosier, 612-659-9124.
CITIZEN POWER!
The first in a series of 6 land use workshops designed to help citizens understand local development patterns and get involved in open space preservation. Our kick-off workshop will be held Saturday, April 26th, at the Rum River branch of Anoka County Libraries in Anoka. The Workshop will run from 10:00am until 12:30pm, followed by lunch and a guided nature hike through Rum River Nature Area. [7th Ave. and RT. 116 in Anoka]. For more info contact: or call 612-659-9124
"WATER WARS" CONFERENCE
"Water Wars" Conference at Macalester College, March 25 and 27 from 7pm-9pm featuring international speakers from Somalia (Fatima Jibrell, a Goldman Environmental Prize winner) and Cochabamba, Bolivia on Tuesday. Local water activists on Thursday. If you are concerned about the privatization and corporatization of our water supplies or about water problems in the developing world, you should be at these events. More info contact: .
BECAUSE WE CAN DO BETTER PROTECTING OUR NATURAL PLACES
Help kick off our Spring Campaign to demonstrate our shared values of environmental protection. Members from Sierra Club will be meeting at Patrick Eagan Park to put up yard signs calling on the protection of our special natural areas. Interested in a beautiful spring day, talking with neighbors, and meeting other Sierra Club folk? Saturday, April 26. Contact or 612-659-9124 for more information.
PROTECT OUR FORESTS FOR OUR FAMILIES AND FOR OUR FUTURE
We've waited 5 years for the Superior and Chippewa National Forests draft plans, and here they come! Draft plans will come out in April, and we'll have a 90-day comment period to get our National Forests back on track. It's your last chance to get involved. Sign up at: http://northstar.sierraclub.org/campaigns/forests/responseForm.html.
CLEARING THE AIR
The Sierra Club Wasioja Group as part of the Rochester Energy Future Coalition (REFC) is fighting expansion of coal burning at Rochester Public Utilities' Silver Lake plant. On Monday, March 24th, REFC will host a panel and community discussion on the future of clean energy in Minnesota and Rochester. Contact Jon Rosenblatt at .
MEMBERSHIP MEETING
In Minnesota, we tend to believe that our State is above average in everything and that we have taken all the actions needed to protect our health and our environment from pollution. Paula Maccabee, Program Coordinator of the Sierra Club's Minnesota Air Toxics Campaign will explain many of the ways in which our illusions about clean air are simply not true. Join us for our monthly membership meeting. For more information: http://northstar.sierraclub.org/involved/volunteer.html.
PRESIDENT BUSH AND CONGRESS WATCH
Push for Oil is Everywhere - Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Vote Wednesday
Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman may cast the deciding vote on
whether to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The full Senate will vote on it this week! Please call Senator
Coleman: 651-645-0323 or 202-224-5641. Let his staff know that you
appreciate the Senator's firm stand to protect the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling.
Through March, come watch an Arctic National Wildlife Refuge slide show. The show features stunning photography and original music inspired by the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The images and music were created during a 100 day, 1000 mile wilderness journey in the Arctic. The slide show documents the land and its wildlife including great herds of caribou during their migration to and from the calving grounds in the Arctic Refuge. The program will also feature the controversy over oil development versus wilderness protection of the Refuge coastal plain. For more information contact: .
Congress and Pres. Bush Got You Down - Keep Track Because 2004 Will Be Here Soon
Keep track of the anti-environmental agenda of 2003. This website
provides updates on the latest policies and gives you plenty of
information to write letters to the editor and to talk to your
friends and neighbors.
http://www.sierraclub.org/politics/
SCHEDULE OF UPCOMING EVENTS
March 19: Membership Committee
March 20th: Pipeline: Environmental Justice and The Power of Organizing
March 22-23: Sierra Club Media Training
March 24th: Clearing the Air Panel, Rochester, MN
March 26: Book Group
March 28-30: BWCAW Winter Camping
April 1: Inner City Outings
April 2: Forestry Committee Meeting
April 5-6: Wilderness First Aid Training
April 7: Air Toxics - Coal Subcommittee Meeting
April 9: Communications Committee
April 10: Mayor Rybak Environmental Town Meeting
April 12: Tour de Manure
April 12-13: Living Green Expo, Minnesota State Fair Grounds
April 12-13: Canoe and Camping Southern Minnesota
April 15: International Committee Meeting
April 16: Membership Committee Meeting
April 17: Land Use Committee Meeting
April 18: Sierra Club Office Closed
April 19-20: Canoe and Camping Southern Minnesota
April 21: John Muirs Birthday
April 22: Earth Day
April 23: Excom Meeting
April 24: Earth Day event, Patrick Henry High School in North Minneapolis
April 26: Sierra Club Spring Education Kickoff
April 26: Land Use Education Anoka Workshop
April 25-27: Midwest Mountaineering Spring Expo
For More Calendar Information Contact:
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Heather Cusick
Conservation Director
Sierra Club - North Star
2327 East Franklin Ave. Suite 1
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55406
phone: 612.659.9124
fax: 612.659.9129