Sierra Club Florida - Club for the Environment

Club Activity

Hands Across the Sand. Sierra Club and others are standing up to protest offshore drilling and protect our beaches, Saturday, February 13 from 1-2 pm EST at a beach near you. Please go to Beaches for key beach locations and other information. This is a statewide protest and it’s simple – just go to the beach and join hands. Suncoast Sierra Club has formed an alliance called Love Tourists Not Drilling (on Facebook) to organize Pinellas beaches, and is happy to help other SC groups organize.

Take a Hike, Florida! The Florida Forever Coalition invites you to help organize and take hikes across the state to celebrate 20 years of public land acquisition on February 20. Please go to Support Florida Forever for more information about a hike in your area, or arranging a hike. Organizing a hike is easy and rewarding, we’ll supply you with everything you need to get started!

Sierra Florida Press Release - Florida Panther. Citing the federal government’s failure to conserve and protect the Florida panther and its habitat, as required under by the Endangered Species Act, the Sierra Club and the Conservancy of Southwest Florida sent a notice letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Department of Interior of their intent to file a legal challenge. See details.

High Speed Rail, Again, Sierra Club Florida supported a High Speed Rail proposal (HSR) in 2001 when it was approved by the constitutional amendment. Since that time, HSR has become a political football in Florida. Now, because of possible stimulus funding from the current administration, we may see it actually happen in Florida. Download analysis here. HSR pdf.

New Organization for Sierra Club Florida. The Steering Committee has been given the directive from National Sierra Club Board of Directors to rebuild and manage statewide Sierra Club functions in Florida. The details of this charge, information on the Steering Committee members, new procedures and more can be found on the Steering Committee Page.

Position Taking and Representing Sierra Club With over 28,000 members in Florida, speaking for and being One Sierra Club can be a challenge. Sierra Club Florida has specific guidelines that can be found by clicking here: Representing Sierra.

New Handouts Available from Waste Minimization Campaign.The team has been busy. Go to their webpage for info and flyers.

Group Advisory Coucil Update.The Sierra Club Florida Group Advisory Council has begun work on their primary mission - the health of Sierra Club Groups in Florida. Volunteers are needed with skills and experience in attracting new members, fundraising, recruitment of volunteers, web and newsletter communication. Details on how you can help.

Florida Phosphate Campaign Update.The Sierra Club Florida Phosphate Issue Committee has been created. Members are: Ancient Islands - Andy Quinn; Greater Charlotte Harbor - Percy Angelo; Tampa Bay - Beverly Griffiths; Manatee-Sarasota - Linda Jones; Member-at-Large - Cris Costello; Liaison to Steering Committee - Marian Ryan; Legal liaison to Phosphate Committee - Eric Huber. Committee training will take place in September. Details on the Issues.

Growth Management Committee Update SC Florida Growth Management Committee has been formed with volunteers from around the state. With all the bad bills the legislature passed, they have their work cut out for them. For more details GM Home Page.

First Solar-Powered City Historic agreement will power Babcock Ranch, FL and help create 20,000 jobs. Details and more.

Take Action Against Drilling and For Clean Energy: Join Florida Climate Crossroads There’s a war being fought on two fronts today: Tallahassee and Washington. Oil lobbyists are blitzing both Florida State Senators and U.S. Senators to push for approval to drill off Florida’s eastern Gulf shores. Offshore drilling threatens our beaches, our coastal environments, our vital tourism economy, and our very way of life. Over half of the other states are already moving ahead to a clean energy future, but our State Legislature is instead pushing for oil drilling in our nearshore waters 3 miles off our Gulf beaches. Any oil spilled in the eastern Gulf would quickly be taken by Florida’s loop current around the entire state, ruining Atlantic as well as Gulf beaches within a week. Passing a strong climate bill in Congress is therefore the best protection our beaches can have. It'll protect our 950,000 coastal tourism jobs, while creating 100,000 new clean energy jobs for Floridians. How can you can stay up to speed on what’s happening in both capitals and take action to win this war for our state & planet? Join our new Sierra members’ group, Florida Climate Crossroads and stay up-to-date with the latest news and action alerts in our fight against offshore drilling and for clean energy jobs and clean cars. (Yes, you need to "join", you cannot be passive on this site). Take a stand to show that Floridians won't let our coasts be sacrificed to Big Oil. Go to Florida Climate Crossroads.

The Climate Project is an international non-profit organization founded by Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore, dedicated to preserving the climate balance on which the world depends. Our mission is to raise public awareness of the current climate crisis through our 3,000 volunteers from around the world, all of whom have been personally trained by Mr. Gore to educate the public on climate change. TCP presenters give a version of the slide show featured in the Academy-Award winning film An Inconvenient Truth and have reached a combined audience of more than 5 million people worldwide. In addition to enabling the general public to schedule climate change presentations in their local area free of charge, our site provides the latest news on climate change and related issues. Click here for our website

Take Action

Fair Districts for Florida. Two Constitutional Amendment petitions circulating now could assure that our legislative districts are drawn fairly during the next redistricting in 2011 and 2012. Sierra Club Florida has endorsed these petition drives and urges you to learn about the issue. Find out more, go to Florida Fair Districts.

Florida Springs Rally Are you saddened that Florida's springs are becoming polluted? Want to do something meaningful to help save them? Join with other environmental groups, February 16 in Tallahassee. Learn more.

Amendment 4 (Florida Hometown Democracy) will be on the ballot and Sierra Club members are working to get it passed. To learn more, go to FHD INC. For details about our Florida Sierra Growth Management team Click Here.

Support Florida Forever. Even a very small appropriation in the proposed state budget can keep this program alive. Read more.

Ramp up for 2010 Legislative Session. Your calls and emails made a difference last year, and now we need you once again. Click Here to see what you can do.

Copenhagen what? The Sierra Club Student Coalition was there. Find out what it was like from Florida rep Joseph Manning. Check out his note page on Facebook

Sierra Club Petitions for Panther Habitat Protection. Read story in Naples paper. The Sierra Club joins the Conservancy of SW Florida and petitions the Dept. of the Interior and the US Fish and Wildlife Service to protect panther habitat.

Campaign Coordinators Wanted: Waste Minimization Campaign. SC Florida has made waste minimization one of its priority campaigns for 2009-2010. Volunteers from every SC Group are needed. Click Here to find out more on the campaign and how to volunteer to be a Group Coordinator

Is Oil Drilling Safe in the Gulf of Mexico? SAFE says so. A report was just issued by a corporation called SAFE (Securing America’s Future Energy - who worked on energy policy for the Bush Admin.). The report is entitled: Eastern Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Exploration and Military Readiness. And there’s more to that story. (Cathy Harrelson, Suncoast Sierra Club Coastal Task Force Chair). Click on the link below to read more. Blog on This.

In The Press

Clean-water rule

EPA to Florida: No more rivers green as grass

LYONS: Giving voters the say on development plans

As amendment titles go, "Hometown Democracy" is the apple pie kind that usually makes me suspicious.

But this time, the name really isn't far off base. For good or ill, the proposed addition to Florida's Constitution would indeed give local voters more power.

Offshore drilling remains hot topic at Tallahassee debate

The proposal to drill for oil or natural gas in Florida state waters may be on simmer, but debate remains heated.

Editorial: Can't afford it?

After failing to enforce the Clean Water Act in Florida for more than a decade, the EPA is moving ahead with placing caps on nitrogen and phosphorus levels in Florida waters. But a coalition of agricultural, industrial and utility interests say Floridians can't afford what it will cost to clean up our waters.

EPA gives state new waterway guidelines

The agency's proposal involves numeric limits for phosphorous and nitrogen, which can harm fish.

Finally, the 'River of Gra$$'

It looked like a ho-hum gathering of environmentalists at last weekend's recent Everglades Coalition Conference at PGA National Resort. But it was historic, even exciting.

Will court sour sugar deal?

The fate of Gov. Crist's landmark U.S. Sugar deal could come down to an obscure point of law that the Florida Supreme Court is likely to decide this month.

One big leap for Everglades restoration

As projects go, the Tamiami Bridge, while not cheap at $81 million, is modest compared to, say, the $515 million stadium for the Marlins or even its adjacent parking garage, now priced at $135 million. Then there's the Miami Seaport tunnel, which rings up at around $1 billion for construction.