Goals:
-Beyond Coal
-Curbing Carbon
-Clean Energy Solutions
-Green Transportation
-Resilient Habitats
-Safeguarding Communities

  New Jersey Chapter (20,000 members - 10th largest of 65)
    Outings   |   Action Network   |   Raritan Valley Group

The mission of the Sierra Club is:

• Explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth
• Practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources
• Educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment
• Use all lawful means to carry out these objectives.

Teddy Roosevelt visited Yosemite park and went camping with him, which helped inspire Roosevelt's innovative conservation programs, including establishing the first National Monuments by Presidential Proclamation, and five more National Parks by congressional action.

President Bill Clinton said "One of the Americans who inspired Theodore Roosevelt to conserve our nation's forests was the naturalist John Muir, who once said, "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread - places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul." In today's fast-paced, high-tech world, Muir's words are even more compelling."
See: John Muir page

Muir will be on the California Quarter.

It accomplishes this through:

• Outings - From day hikes in your local park to month long trips to wild places of the world, the Sierra Club offers over 350 national and international outings plus more than 8,000 local outings on foot, by canoe, on skis, by bicycle, horseback, etc.,. John Muir said: "If people in general could be got into the woods, even for once, to hear the trees speak for themselves, all difficulties in the way of forest preservation would vanish."
  In 50 U.S. and Canadian cities, Sierra Club volunteers lead Inner City Outings, providing low-income, inner-city youth with trips to wilderness.
• Local Meetings - The Sierra Club is divided into chapters (1 per state in the east, but there are 13 chapters in California) and the chapters divided into groups, which hold local meetings with presentations on outings, local, national and worldwide environmental issues and other topics. The meetings are open to members and non-members.
• Education - Sierra Magazine, 390 local groups with monthly meetings providing educational programs and social interaction. Sierra Club Books has published more than 700 titles. There are numerous educational programs conducted by volunteers at the Local Level. Sierra Club's Green Life has Green iPhone Apps, tips for living green and more.
• Activism - Write letters, attend meetings, become a local leader...
• Lobbying - For and against legislation and conservation initiatives at all levels. The Sierra Club has a paid staff in Washington DC. Most chapters have paid directors who lobby at the state level. In addition volunteers work with local planning boards and governments.
• Politics and Elections - From the "Environmental Voter Education Campaign" to Campaign support for legislative candidates pledged to defend our environment.
  Endorsements - Political committees meet with congressional candidates and local officials and publicly endorse those who will promote conservation.
• Litigation - A staff of fourteen attorneys and professional staff prosecute strategic litigation for the Club's nationwide grassroots campaigns and direct the entire docket of nationwide Sierra Club litigation. Earthjustice (formerly "Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund") is an independent, nonprofit law firm started by Club leaders and others in the 1970s.

See Why Join the Sierra Club?

The Take Action Web page allows you to send faxes, e-mails and letters to public officials.

Accomplishments:
Some Examples:

• Establishment of Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks
• Enactment of the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act
• 1894 - Sierra Club climbers place registers on the summits of six peaks and begin recording assents.
• 1901 - In the Club's first outing, William Colby leads 96 participants on a trip to Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows, beginning a tradition of annual High Trips.
• 1911 - Devil's Postpile National Monument established, largely through the work of Club member Walter Huber.
• 1912 - Club urges establishment of a National Park Service and buys inholdings at Soda Springs in Yosemite National Park.
• 1916 - Club supports bill establishing National Park Service. Club member Stephen Mather is appointed National Park Service Director.
• 1919 - Ansel Adams becomes custodian of LeConte Lodge in Yosemite Valley. Club supports formation of Save-the-Redwoods League.
• 1921 - Club urges purchase of redwoods in California's Humboldt County for a state park.
• 1922 - Mt. Shasta Alpine Lodge is built by Club members.
• 1931 - On annual High Trip, Club members Francis Farquahar and Robert Underhill introduce the use of rope and belaying techniques in rock climbing.
• 1936 - Ansel Adams travels with his photographs to Washington, D.C., to lobby the Roosevelt administration to preserve Kings Canyon and the surrounding High Sierra.
• 1946 - Club purchases Flora and Azlea lakes to protect one of the last natural areas near California's Donner Pass.
• 1950 - Atlantic Chapter, comprising 18 eastern states and the District of Columbia, becomes first Club chapter outside of California.
• 1959 - Sixth Wilderness Conference focuses on "The Meaning of Wilderness to Science." Participants raise the issue of the environmental effects of world overpopulation.
• 1963 - Club launches campaign to protect the Grand Canyon following congressional proposals to dam and flood parts of it.
• 1964 - After years of battle, Congress passes the Wilderness Act, the first wilderness protection legislation in the world.
• 1975 - With Club support, Congress passes legislation promoting energy conservation.
• 1977 - Club joins successful effort to strengthen the Clean Air Act.
• 1981 - Sierra Club and other conservation groups gather more than one million petition signatures urging the ouster of Interior Secretary James Watt.
• 1985 - Club successfully supports reauthorization of strengthened Superfund law and Clean Water Act.
• 1990 - Strengthened Clean Air Act enacted by Congress in spite of veto threat by President George Bush, thanks to Sierra Club campaign.
• 1996 - Club wins Clean Air lawsuit in Colorado over pollution in Mt. Zirkel Wilderness requiring $145 million in power plant emissions controls and $4 million in penalties - a record settlement for a citizen suit.
• 1999 - After campaign by Sierra Club and Amnesty International, Russian environmental activist Alexander Nikitin acquitted of espionage charges and set free.
• 2001 - The EPA announced that General Electric must pay to clean PCBs from the Hudson River. The Club had long sought such a clean-up.
• 2002 - A bill was signed into law protecting nearly 500,000 acres of Mojave Desert wilderness in southern Nevada. Another enacted wilderness bill added about 57,000 acres to areas in central California.

Organization:
Governance:
15 Member Board of Directors elected by members.
Allison Chin is the current President of the Board.

Other Committees are listed on the Programs, Committees, and Teams page. Carl Pope is the Executive Director
He oversees a staff at headquarters in San Francisco, the Legislative Office in Washington DC. plus 9 regional field offices and offices in Sacramento and Canada. See "Who You Gonna Call?"
Annual Budget: $50 Million

Local Organizations:
Members belong to one of 65 chapters in the US and Canada. There is usually 1 chapter per state, but California has 13 chapters.
Chapters are divided into 390 groups of 1,500 - 2,500 members usually along geographic boundaries, but there are also special interest groups e.g. Singles.

See Also:
Clubhouse - Resources for club leaders (Extranet): (Job Description Library)
WILD - Look up club leaders by chapter, group, name, leadership position