Photo of vehicle damage from “Vehicle Trails Associated with Illegal Border Activities on Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge”, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, July 2011 (see http://theYodeler.org/?p=6770).

In 1849, an 11-year-old boy moved with his family to the United States. More than four decades later, that boy co-founded the Sierra Club and served as its president for the next 22 years. Like many great Americans, John Muir was an immigrant. It is only because he was able to take advantage of the opportunities in his adopted country that the Sierra Club exists at all.

Today, however, the American immigration system is broken. It forces approximately 11 million people to live outside the prevailing currents of our society. Many of them work in the fields, mop floors, care for other people’s children, and take low-wage jobs to support their families. Many work in jobs that expose them to dangerous conditions, chemicals, and pesticides, and many more live in areas with disproportionate levels of toxic air and water pollution.

The 20 million Americans with family members whose legal status is in limbo share the Sierra Club’s concerns about climate and the environment. For example, our own polls indicate that Latinos support environmental and conservation efforts with even greater intensity than the average American: 90% of Latino voters favor clean energy over fossil fuels. A California study found that 74% of Asian-Americans, the fastest growing group in America, accept climate science. Yet significant numbers of these stakeholders and change agents have been denied their civil rights in the public arena.

The Sierra Club is committed to partnering with all who share our urgent concerns about advancing our democracy and fighting the climate crisis. It is time for us to work together.

That is why the Sierra Club Board of Directors has voted to offer our organization’s strong support for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Such a pathway should be free of unreasonable barriers and should facilitate keeping families together and uniting those that have been split apart whenever possible.

For the Sierra Club and the environmental movement to protect our wild America, defend clean air and water, and win the fight against climate disruption, we must ensure that the people who are the most disenfranchised and the most affected by pollution have the voice to fight polluters and advocate for climate solutions without fear.

This isn’t the first time that the Sierra Club has taken a stand on a critical issue related to immigration. In 1993, the Club opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement, a controversial position, but one that has proven to be the right choice. We did not think it would be good for workers or the environment, and it hasn’t been. In fact, NAFTA has been a major driver of undocumented immigration into the U.S. from Mexico and Central America.

More recently, the Club has challenged the Real ID Act, which allows the Department of Homeland Security to waive 36 federal laws–including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Wilderness Act. That ill-conceived suspension of bedrock environmental laws has been used to construct border walls in the Southwest with little regard to their effect on wildlife and habitats or their cost in human lives. Dan Millis, our Sierra Club Borderlands campaign organizer, was famously given a littering ticket by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for leaving life-saving bottles of water on federally protected land in the Sonoran desert.

We cannot solve either the climate crisis or our broken immigration system by acting out of fear or by supporting exclusion. One of our nation’s greatest strengths is the contribution that generations of immigrants have made to our national character. If we are serious about solving the climate crisis and protecting our democracy, then we need to work with the hardworking men and women who want to play by the rules and play a part in building a healthy, safe, and prosperous future for our country.

Michael Brune, executive director; and Allison Chin, president–Sierra Club

reprinted from “Coming Clean: the Blog of Executive Director Michael Brune”

Sun. – Thu., May 19 – 23.

Enjoy an incredible five-day bicycle ride in Northern California while supporting Sierra Club California. Climate Ride is a fully supported bicycle ride from Fortuna to San Francisco under towering redwoods, through the Russian River Wine Country, and along the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route. (This event is not sponsored by the Sierra Club.)

More than a bike trip, Climate Ride is an inspiring journey for 150 people united by passion for sustainability, renewable energy, and bicycles—the ultimate carbon-free form of transportation. Climate Ride also features an acclaimed nightly speakers series, known as the ‘green conference on wheels’, where we hear from bright minds in policy, advocacy, and innovation.

Sign up now for Climate Ride 2013 and support Sierra Club California.

Registration for Climate Ride is $75 (which includes a beautiful jersey and more), and then you raise at least $2,400 to participate in the five-day, all-inclusive event. The ride is fully supported by a team of talented leader-hosts, bike mechanics, medics, and massage therapists.

When you sign up, you’ll be joining many other people who want to do something to help create a better future for us all. Climate Ride is a great way to get involved and to experience an amazing adventure, powered by your own energy. The best bet is to sign up early, not only so that you have time to fundraise and train, but also because spots fill up!

To find out about the route, tips for getting in shape, and finding sponsors for your trip, visit www.climateride.org.

Everyone who registers gets to choose which organization they will be raising money for; we hope you will choose Sierra Club California!

To learn about the work of the Sierra Club’s Sacramento advocates at the Capitol and state agencies, visit www.SierraClubCalifornia.org.

To learn more about the event and other ways to support Sierra Club California, contact Vicki Lee at (510)741-1201.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), a model for environmental review laws around the country, has been under extreme attack in the last few years. Normally the attacks come at the end of a legislative session, when there is little time and opportunity for sensible public debate.

This year a coalition of CEQA supporters, working with some environmental champions in the legislature, is preparing to stop that cycle. The organizations represented in the coalition include environmental groups, labor unions, tribes, environmental-justice groups, civic organizations, and public-health advocacy groups. Sierra Club California is actively represented.

Our friends at the Planning and Conservation League Foundation are coordinating aspects of the coalition, and that includes the media outreach facilitated by a strategic-communications firm. The coalition recently launched a web site (CEQAWorks.org) a Facebook presence (look for “CEQAWorks”), and a Twitter feed (@CEQAWorks).

Sierra Club members around the state have been actively participating in efforts to get the word out that CEQA does indeed work for protecting the environment and informing communities about the expected impacts of large construction projects. They’ve been writing letters to the editor when they see articles attacking CEQA, and even contributing opinion pieces to local newspapers.

Gordon Nipp, one of Sierra Club’s active members in the Kern-Kaweah Chapter in Kern County, the home of one of CEQA’s most noted critics in the legislature, wrote a great opinion piece for the Bakersfield Californian. As Gordon notes, “CEQA is a major pillar of democracy in California; the consequences of changes need careful consideration.”

At the legislature, as bill introduction deadlines approach at the end of February, we expect to see a number of spot bills and fully developed bills introduced that address CEQA. A number of those will earn the CEQAWorks coalition’s support because they are reasonable and designed to make the law work better for everyone—not just for a few industry interests.

You can help spread the word and show support for protecting CEQA’s essential role right now from your computers. “Like” the CEQAWorks page on Facebook and follow its Twitter feed.

Kathryn Phillips, director, Sierra Club California

reprinted from Sierra Club Capitol Voice

The 2012 Sierra Club legislative scorecard is more optimistic than last year’s. A number of our strongest environmental-policy supporters brought their scores back up into the 90s this year, and once again we have more than one 100-percenter. This likely reflects the fact that there weren’t end-of-session environmental-rollback bills pushed by leadership and labor to force these members to make a choice among loyalties.

At the same time, scores for a number of Republicans dropped substantially. While there was only one zero percenter last year, this year there are a handful. Notably, though, last year’s lone zero-percenter, Kristin Olsen (R-Merced), brought her score up with three good votes for parks, solar energy, and safe streets for bicyclists, all things that rightly shouldn’t be viewed through partisan lenses. Nathan Fletcher (San Diego) more than doubled his score, from 36% to 73%, after changing his party registration from Republican to independent.

Some good bills moved

No landmark, headline-making environmental bills passed. In truth, we didn’t expect any when the session started. This was an election year with reconfigured legislative districts that make many legislators—and legislative leadership—cautious about stirring opposition, especially business interests that can pour money into opposition campaigns. Add to that the state’s bad budget outlook and generally down economy, which focused policymakers on a range of issues unrelated to the environment.

Still, the legislature did pass some good, solid environmental bills. They passed bills that advance the work started years ago to transition California to cleaner energy; to make clean, drinkable water available to all Californians; to keep state parks open and accessible; and to encourage humane treatment of wildlife.

Among the most satisfying wins was passage of SB 1222, carried by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), setting a cap on the fees that local entities can charge for rooftop-solar installation permits. Our own volunteer, Kurt Newick of the Loma Prieta Chapter, has been instrumental in drawing attention to the unreasonably high permit fees some local governments have been charging (see December-January Yodeler, page 7).

Another notable bill that many Club members worked to help pass was SB 1221, carried by Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance). That bill bans the use of packs of dogs to hunt and harass bears and bobcats.

We are especially pleased at the passage of two bills to get the state parks system on better footing: AB 1589 by Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) and AB 1478 by Bob Blumenfield (D-Van Nuys).

Rollbacks mostly stopped

We began the year worried that there would again be a flurry of environmental-rollback bills introduced through the “gut-and- amend” process at the end of session. And while there were some bad bills introduced that required a lot of action by our volunteers and staff lobbyists, most of those met a dead end either at the legislature or on the governor’s desk.

The exception was AB 845, sponsored by Assemblymember Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco). That bill bans voter-approved ordinances limiting solid-waste imports into cities and counties, and targets especially a 1984 voter-approved ordinance in Solano County that put a cap on the amount of solid waste that could be brought into private landfills in that county. That measure has been used to help protect sensitive marshland from landfill expansion.

See the full California Legislative 2012 Report Card.