Club Activity
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.
Waste Minimization Campaign. How to reduce the amount of recyclable solid waste disposed in waste management facilities, landfills, or incinerators by 75%? There are good ways and bad ways.
Click Here to read more, and to volunteer to work on the issue.
Florida Phosphate Campaign Update. Sierra Club Florida Phosphate Issue Coordinating Team is being formed. Club is looking for volunteers from key regions of the state and also some "at-large" members. Deadline for applications is July 6.
Click Here for Details
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.
Legislative Session Closes - what we gained, what we lost.
Our Sierra Club Florida lobbyist and lobbying advisory team stayed with it to the end, and so did our members.
Your calls and emails made a difference. Click Here to see what happened.
First Solar-Powered City
Historic agreement will power Babcock Ranch, FL and help create 20,000 jobs.
Details and more.
Please Give to our March Fund Appeal
Florida Sierra members: You have recently gotten a fund appeal letter from us. This is our once-a-year plea to you to help fund our critical work. Every penny you donate at this time, stays right here in Florida to help defend our state's natural resources and our rights to clean air and water. Send your contributions to: Sierra Club Florida, P.O. Box 28353, Kenneth City, FL 33709. Contributions are not tax-deductible. They support our effective, citizen-based advocacy and lobbying.
Take Action
Environmentally Unfriendly Florida Legislature and Florida Governor.
The legislature passed the bad laws and the Governor signed them. But, it could always have been worse. See what Sierra did this session and consider how you can help next year. Click Here for details.
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. The first petition covers fair redistricting of the Congressional districts and the second covers the fair redistricting of the Florida House and Senate districts. Currently, incumbent politicians draw safe districts for themselves to be sure they stay in power. This is one of the main reasons that incumbents are hardly ever defeated. The present Florida Constitution contains no standards to prevent politicians from gerrymandering their districts.
Sierra Club Florida has endorsed these petition drives and urges you to learn about the issue, sign and send in the petitions and spread the word!
Sierra Club Florida supports Fair Districting. Find out more, go to
Florida Fair Districts.
The FWC hears impassioned pleas about freswater turtle harvesting
People from around Florida came together to provide data to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in the hopes of stopping the destructive harvesting of freshwater turtles.
There was concern that FWC would increase harvesting limits without understanding the impact and without any management plan. Their full ruling is now not expected until June 2009. Take Action - Read more.
In The Press
Environmentalists decry bill giving state more control over water resources
resources
District directors don't need board OK to grant 50-year pacts.
Some of the first eerie signs of a potential health catastrophe came as bizarre deformities in water animals, often in their sexual organs.
Editorial: Florida power
With the intensity and frequency of its sunshine, Florida should be a world leader in harnessing this potent form of renewable energy. Yet, the state has only a handful of commercial solar arrays, offers a paltry $5 million rebate program, and serves merely as a conduit for federal stimulus funds targeted to renewable energy projects.
Commuter train plan is alive and well, supporters say
U.S. Rep. John Mica had a warning Monday for those who oppose the proposed SunRail commuter train for Central Florida.
State still lets Central Florida's sludge foul Everglades, critics say
The foul waters of Lake Okeechobee, the failing health of the Everglades and even sick dolphins along the South Florida coast might seem like troubles so distant they could hardly be the Orlando area's responsibility.
Endangered wading birds making a comeback
It was a rare sight: three young wood storks, perched awkwardly atop two tree islands deep in the Everglades.
Electrified coral reef off Florida gets federal OK
The Global Coral Reef Alliance plans a conservation project near Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. Similar projects have created marine habitat elsewhere, but their long-term benefits are unclear.
Training range OK for whales, Navy says
A Navy review has settled on the Florida-Georgia coastline as the site for anti-submarine training that many environmental activists fear will harm wildlife, particularly right whales.
Better reasoning needed to defeat controversial Amendment 4
t's no wonder that opponents of Florida Hometown Democracy have suddenly gotten very nervous. The proposed constitutional amendment passed muster with the Florida Supreme Court, and the secretary of state last week placed it on the 2010 ballot, naming it Amendment 4. The battle will be fierce, but if opponents really want to defeat this proposal, they had better come up with some new arguments against it rather than the hysterical ones they are spouting now.
Better reasoning needed to defeat controversial Amendment 4
"Stupid growth" has been around Florida for decades, brought about by the same building, real-estate and banking industries that make up most of the membership of the chamber of commerce, that work as part-time state legislators and local commissioners. They are the supporters of the misnomer "Floridians for Smarter Growth"— the same group that played a huge part in getting us in the mess we are in today.
