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 Every
month the Austin
Regional Group of the Sierra Club meets to discuss and examine
issues that affect Austin, Texas and the nation. Scheduling
difficulties at our old meeting place (the LCRA complex) have
made it necessary to find a need home for our monthly meetings.
We currently have a meeting site at the Texas State Teachers
Association building auditorium at 12th and Lavaca. We welcome
your comments on our new meeting location and any suggestions
you might have about locations for next year (we plan to meet
at the TSTA auditorium for at least the next 7 monthly meetings).
Follow this link for information about our NEXT general meetings
and for a MAP
to the TSTA meeting site: General
Meeting details... |
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backing
barak ... |
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The
National Sierra Club has officially endorsed the candidacy
of Barack Obama for President. Although this may seem
like a no-brainer, there are solid reasons behind the
endorsement. Read Sierra Club Executive Director Carl
Pope's discussion of why Obama is the right choice for
environmentalists: ENDORSEMENT
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get
involved ...
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Diana
Dierks, a Sierra Club activist recently from the
Dallas group wants to start a discussion course in Austin
in cooperation with the Northwest Earth Institute.
The
Northwest Earth Institute is recognized as a national
leader in the development of innovative programs that empower
individuals and organizations to protect ecological systems.
If you are interested in participating in a discussion course,
please look at the DETAILS
and then contact Diana. |
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| big
thicket bill needs your help... |
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U.S.
Representative Kevin Brady has introduced HR
5891 in the U.S. Congress to expand the size
of Big Thicket National Preserve (BTNP) from 97,000
acres to 197,000 acres.
HR
5891 is the product of 7 years of effort by
environmentalists, including the Sierra Club, and other
interested persons to address the massive landscape
change that East Texas has experienced.
This
is a critical bill for all Texans and a rare opportunity
to actually expand public land in Texas where public
land is scarce. Find out how you can support this historic
bill. Click on this link to find out more: BIG
THICKET
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take
action... |
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AUSTIN'S
ZERO WASTE PLAN
 Find
out about the City of Austin's plan to reach "Zero
Waste...or Pretty Darn Close" and what you can
do to help reach the Zero Waste goal.
Follow this
link to find out more about ZERO
WASTE. |
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take
action... |
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A
BIGFOOT is someone who makes an enormous
impact on the earth we all live on. Find
out what your
ECOLOGICAL
FOOTPRINT is
and how you can make it smaller.
Want
to take another quiz? Check out your impact
on Global Warming using the CARBON
CALCULATOR on Al Gore's Inconvenient
Truth website. You just might be surprised.
And alarmed. You should be. |
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banning
the bag... |
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What's
the right answer to "plastic or paper"
in the grocery store? The best answer is "neither,
thanks, I have my own." Plastic bags account
for 80% of the carry-out containers in American
groceries. The down side of this is huge landfill
and waterway clutter and enormous energy amounts
expended on disposable but non bio-degradable
petroleum products. While grocery store spokespeople
say their bag recycling efforts are significant,
some cities, like San Francisco have decided that
their hearts just aren't in it and have banned
non bio-degradable plastic bags in the city. The
photo at the top shows the San Francisco Supervisor
Ross Mirkarimi handing out canvas shopping bags
as part of the publicity for the program. Other
cities are considering similar bans, including
Los Angeles and Austin.
 If
this makes sense to you (and as an environmentalist
it should), contact your city representatives
and tell them you favor a plastic bag ban. Follow
this link to a discussion of the issue on the
Sierra Club National website: BAGS
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do
you like to breathe?... |
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Don't
get too used to it. Texas politicians and corporations
are working on making it a lot more difficult and a
lot more hazardous to your health. Find out more at
the Lone Star Chapter's Coal
Pollution page.
Ready
to take action? Follow the link above and find out who
to contact about your concerns. |
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| watch!
listen! learn!.. |
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NEW
SIERRA CLUB TELEVISION SERIES
PREMIERES NATIONALLY ON LINK TV
Robert Greenwald Executive Produced Series Takes Viewers Directly
Into
Communities for a First Hand Look at Profiles in Environmental
Courage.
"Sierra
Club Chronicles," a monthly series produced by Greenwald’s
Brave New Films in association with Sierra Club Productions,
and hosted by Daryl Hannah, captures seven David vs. Goliath
stories: the dramatic efforts of committed individuals across
the country working to protect the health of their environment
and communities. More
Information...
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| the
biggest fools... |
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Who's
contributed more to fossil fuel pollution than anyone else?
The CEO of General Motors or of ExxonMobil? The premier of
Alberta, Canada? The Sierra Student Coalition is one of many
groups participating in the annual Fossil
Fools Day awards. Nominees for the top prize,
to be given to the individual who has made the most significant
contribution over the past year to the development and dissemination
of fossil fuel-related pollution.
Who's
the biggest Fossil
Fool of all? Find out now! |
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| book
review ... |
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Hiking with
your pooch can be frustrating. Some trails are not dog-friendly
and many do not allow dogs at all, but now there is no reason
to leave your dog behind to turn into a couch potato (yes,
dogs need to get and stay fit as well as we do). This book,
by local Sierra Club member Melissa Gaskill, will help you
select the right hikes and trails to keep Spot happy, healthy
and fit right at your side.
Read the
BOOK REVIEW |
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| making
austin greener... |
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The
Austin City Council needs your support. As one
of the initiatives to help make Austin a greener city, the
council is considering requiring basic minimum energy efficiency
standards for all houses in Austin with the improvements
rolled into other upgrade costs at the Point of Sale. Makes
sense, right? Who could object to something with such obvious
energy conservation and economic benefits for not only the
home buyer, the home seller and the community at large?
Well, read your junk mail and you will soon see who objects.
A group of Austin Realtors is making outrageous claims of
burdensome costs on homeowners resulting from these Point
of Sale improvements despite clear evidence that not only
the Austin community but the homeowner as well will actually
realize an economic benefit from the requirements.
You
can do two things to help:
1.
learn about the issue and understand how
the Realtors are misrepresenting it for their own short-sighted
profits. Chris Lehman, the Austin Sierra Club Chair and
a commercial appraiser with his own company, has explained
the issue in his latest newsletter
article and in a more extensive point-by-point
explosion of the specious arguments made by the
realtors who object to this initiative; ARTICLE
and POINTBYPOINT
2.
contact
your city council members and let them know
that you have not been fooled by the scare tactics and hyperventilated
rhetoric and that you SUPPORT MANDATORY Point of Sale STANDARDS.
The council gets an earful from paid lobbyists and biased
realtors - they need to hear from you, the people at the
grassroots. COUNCIL
CONTACT INFO
OR
you can use this link to have the Lone Star Action Network
send a sample letter to the city council in your name. Click
on this button: 
Keep Austin Texas
a green city;
do your part.
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| staying
cool ... |
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Austin
is only one of the Central Texas cities that have signed on
to the Sierra Club program called Cool Cities, a local, hands-on
effort to fight global warming with tangible results and projects
YOU can contribute to. Here is the Cool Cities profile for
AUSTIN.
Join
the effort. Be a part of the solution. Follow this link to
GET INVOLVED |
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| we
can do it... |
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 Earthday
may be over, but the need to make ours a better, greener,
safer and more energy-efficient planet is an on-going
commitment. Find out how you can continue the momentum
of Earthday and do your part to bring about a better
and greener American future. Follow this link for
more info: WE
CAN DO IT
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something
to consider.... |
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 What
if Trees had 'standing'? Does Nature have rights in our world
of laws and legal process? How would things be different if
Trees had standing?
In this
article from Orion magazine, the
author discusses a famous case in which the Sierra Club was
not permitted to argue against the destruction of the Mineral
King Valley because the club had no 'standing.' Read about
this famous case, about one of our national environmental
heroes, Justice William O. Douglas and decide for yourself.
Click here: THE
RIGHTS OF NATURE. |
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| save
the polar bears.. |
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Carl
Pope, the Executive Director of the Sierra Club has a special
plea for anyone concerned with the future of the Polar Bear,
an iconic species that is seriously threatened with total
extinction. Please READ HIS
APPEAL and take action to help preserve this
magnificent predator from extinction. |
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| a
word from the pope... |
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 Carl
Pope, that is. Mr. Pope, executive director of the Sierra
Club, introduces a series of energy messages that help cut
through some of the confusion about the difficult decisions
we face on alternative energy and some of the even more confusing
terminology used by those who advocate a solution. This week's
video topic is 'cap-and-trade' vs. 'cap-and-auction' carbon
credits. Follow this link to check it out:
http://www.sierraclub.org/energy/video/ |
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| featured
major outing.. |
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MONDAY,
AUGUST 18TH THROUGH THURSDAY, AUGUST 21ST - SAN JUAN ISLANDS
KAYAK/HIKING TRIP
Join the Austin Sierra Club for a spectacular cruise on a
65-foot boat in the beautiful San Juan Islands. We will start
from Bellingham, WA and cruise to the San Juan Islands for
four days and three nights of hiking, kayaking and wildlife-watching.
Participants will cruise, hike and kayak while living in comfort
in the cabins below deck, enjoying gourmet meals cooked on
a wood-burning stove by a master chef.
Birders will love the variety of birds and waterfowl, including
bald eagles and murres, in the area and we will have a chance
of spotting some of the resident Orca pods, seals and/or a
dolphin or two.
Best of all, you will be one of only SIX passengers on board
and the boat will be at the disposal and direction of the
passengers; it will take us where we want to go in the islands.
There are two similar 4-day cruises available this year, one
at the beginning and one at the end of the Austin Sierra Club
Olympic Peninsula trip so that people
going on that trip can either come early or stay late and
extend their Pacific Northwest experience without having to
book an additional plane reservation. Check out the SAN
JUAN TRIP webpage for photos and details.
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| water
and the vireo... |
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Austin
Water Utility vs. Endangered Bird
City staff appears to have overcome severe obstacles to resolve
the WTP #4 site controversy. It took a lot of work to arrive
at a solution that respects bio diversity and the private
property rights of many, many western Travis County land and
home owners while still meeting the future needs of a growing
city. We owe much to the creative efforts of the City of Austin
Water Utility Engineers, the flexibility of City Council and
Mayor Wynn, and the perseverance of City of Austin Real Estate
Services staff. Mayor Wynn and City Council Members Lee Leffingwell
and Sheryl Cole expended some political capital working on
the Water Conservation Task Force to develop a new ordinance
to reduce peak water demand in concert with Austin Water Utility
Staff, the Sierra Club, and other stakeholders to provide
additional time to find a better site for WTP #4 and delay
the expense of that additional water treatment plant. In addition
this solution came as the result of the integrity of Travis
County Commissioners, the Travis County Biologists, and former
City Biologists. For more information click on this link:
WATER/BIRDS
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| pick
your poison... |
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 Let's
face it: as long as we continue to drive gas guzzlers, (and
a grateful and respectful tip of the hat to those who use
bikes and busses to their full potential), we need to buy
gas for them to guzzle. At least we can buy gas from the companies
with the BEST environmental and human rights records and avoid
buying gas from the WORST of them. Check out the Sierra Club's
list of the BEST
and WORST GAS COMPANIES in this global, consolidated
market and do your part by patronizing only the best ones.
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| keep
in touch... |
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Want to keep up with all the
current happenings in the Austin Sierra Club that affect your
life and your environment? Want to be informed about actions
that the Conservation group is taking to protect Austin water,
air and quality of life? Follow this link and scroll down
to the KEEP IN TOUCH block for links to email update lists:
TOUCH
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coal
for christmas?...
Email
addresses on this page protected by spam-busting code developed by Joe
Maller.
See his site at http://www.joemaller.com
for details. Thanks, Joe!
Sierra
Club® and "Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet"® are registered
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Sierra Club Website Terms
and Conditions of Use and Privacy
Policy.
Last
updated:
July 17, 2008
Content © 1999-2002 by the Sierra Club. |
