Al Armendariz quickly resigned from the EPA after his videotaped comments were made public. He will now work as part of Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign based in Texas.
Great…now we have another of our sporting groups to watch. Since they’ll be spending more time chasing anti-fossil fuel activism than what many sportsmens dollars support them for.
That’s correct, it’s no big change. I received a letter soliciting $$ to help fight the destruction of the wolves. The letter went on and on about how all of the wolves are being killed. The problem with the letter was that it did not mention steps that some States have taken to manage the wolves. According to the letter hunters and others were just decimating the wolf population. Their to far to the left for me.
I just want to point out that the Sierra Club is NOT a hook and bullet organization, but an environmental organization. Although many “sportsmen and women” are members, their object is to protect the whole environment. That’s an important difference. Their concern is the whole of everything, not just the wolves, or doves or ducks or fish. In that regard methyl mercury effects everything, and 90% of it comes from coal fired plants here and abroad. It is the purvey of The Sierra Club to point that out and try to increase awareness of that fact. Here in Minnesota it is a huge problem. One in ten babies are born with levels of mercury in the blood above the safe limit. Expectant mothers should consume NO fish what so ever, and the rest of us no more that one meal a month. In some waters, like the St. Louis River that enters Lake Superior at Duluth, or the Mississippi south of Minneapolis, the recommendation is to consume NO fish whatsoever. For the Sierra Club to have a hard headed advocate in charge of their Beyond Coal campaign is exactly what I would want and expect. It would make John Muir (and his grandson who lived just one lake away from me) proud. Too soon we forget the children of Sioux Narrows, the armless, deformed children, victims of methyl mercury just over out northern border. In Minnesota we’re talking about it being too late to do anything about the legacy of coal and mining that resides in our waters, now it’s about mitigating just how bad it could get, How sad. Thank you Sierra Club! As 'ol Harry Truman would say, “give 'em hell!”
I think we may be missing the point here, letting our bias for the messenger get in the way of the message. The message is killer coal is a bad energy source. We didn’t know that 200 years ago when we started burning this stuff by the ton, but we know it now and it’s time to transition to a better way. Don’t get misdirected by the clean coal messages and self serving ads of the energy giants, or misdirected from the truth by the guy on the horse… “The British ARE coming” the message is true. Coal kills and deforms people, animals and fish. Don’t lose sight of the truth because you don’t like with the guy telling you, sometimes he may be right.
Again…we disagree. I would avoid getting misguided by the Green groups as well. The sky is not falling actually. Let me know when a “feasible” wind turbine or solar farm is up and running that can even supply one city the size of NYC, LA or Chicago. It won’t happen.
Bottom line is…the Sierra Club misleads sportsmen in order to draw in the dollars of the largest contributors to the environment and true conservation that the country has. Proclaiming itself as being pro-hunting & fishing…and all the while being filled with PETA-type folks, green groups & anti-gun groups who are moving against those same people.
Amen. I’ve never encountered an organization willing to lie to raise funds that didn’t have an agenda different from what they would have you believe. The Sierra club advocates some good and important things. They also have some radical views beyond what I can support.
Sorry but I strongly disagree. Coal if mined right, and used properly is just a fuel and quite a good fuel at that. People are the culprits on both sides of this equation as those doing the mining, and using in the past, have had an abysmal track record due to lack of technology, cost and greed. Later efforts are much better and current efforts are doing pretty good in many cases. Coal, as do all fossil fuels, has it’s place and we must be ultra careful to not throw out the baby with the bathwater and that, by the way, is the determining factor between a conservationist and an environmentalist. NJTroutBum indicated, “Bottom line is…the Sierra Club misleads sportsmen in order to draw in the dollars of the largest contributors to the environment and true conservation that the country has. Proclaiming itself as being pro-hunting & fishing…and all the while being filled with PETA-type folks, green groups & anti-gun groups who are moving against those same people.” and in doing so hit the nail squarely on the head as I’ve seen this many times over.
Unfortunately far too many folks know and have good reason to believe that, “birds of a feather, flock together,” and thus what could be the greatest conservation organizations are diminished by their close associations with the Sierra Club and others of that ilk while shunning organizations that support irrigation, ranching, etc. If you want to maximize your efforts in salmonid or other fisheries conservation you must include all but hold all organizations that are at cross purposes with true conservation at arms length.
The extraction industries are their own worst enemy with an abysmal record of what some might term as slash and burn policies for the sake of profits. They have taken what they could with little to no regard for the environment. They have made themselves the target of radicals because of their willingness to put profits ahead of everything else. I for one do not trust anything said by any industry in the extraction business. This does not mean I will blindly follow an organization such as the Sierra Club but I will listen to them with cautious skepticism.
