Renewable Energy Heads for the November Vote
By Henry Robertson

It was a long shot. We could get a renewable energy initiative on the November ballot if we could collect 150,000 signatures in a little over two months. We got 170,000. The campaign had to rely on paid signature gatherers, but 28,000 signatures were collected by volunteers, many of them Sierra Club members—a very impressive achievement in such a short time. It’s 99.9% certain the Renewable Energy Standard will be on the ballot although the official certification fromthe Secretary of State won’t come until early August. Read more...

Omnibus Energy Bill Passes Despite Late Session Filibuster On Village Bill
By Roy C. Hengerson

There was great interest in energy and global climate change issues during the 2008 Session of the Missouri Legislature, resulting in many bills dealing with energy issues. The Sierra Club supported most of those bills. However, many made little progress through the legislative process because of the slow pace of activity and controversies over other issues. High gasoline prices and increasing public concern about global warming did put pressure on legislators to enact something to address energy issues. Read more...

Hope Joins Coal Campaign

That’s Melissa Hope, and she has recently joined the Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign as Associate Regional Field Staff. Congratulations to Melissa! She served several years as Missouri Chapter’s Development Director and helped develop and implement our fundraising program, while also working on conservation issues. We will miss her direct help on our Chapter efforts, but know she is continuing to contribute to our greater conservation goals. In fact, Melissa is staying in the Kansas City area and will be working with Sierrans in Missouri and other region states. Read more...

Resilient Habitats
By Caroline Pufalt

High Elevation habitats, such as in Rocky Mt National Park, are at great risk due to climate change. Photo by Jim Bensman

Climate change is happening now. Governments and individuals who realize that are planning for the future. Actions are being taken to limit greenhouse gas emissions, reduce fossil fuel use and in some areas plan for physical changes such as protection for cities against rising sea levels.

But what about non human habitat? What plans are underway to prepare forests, wetlands, grasslands, marine environments etc for climate change? Is it even possible or realistic to take any action to address climate change impacts to these ecosystems? Read more...

The St. John’s Basin - New Madrid Floodway Project:
The Gap that’s Far from the Mall - Part IV Environmental Vindication
Alan Journet, Trail of Tears Group Conservation Chair

In 2003, the Ozark (Missouri) Sierran published a series of articles on the St. Johns Basin – New Madrid Floodway project proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This update represents a somewhat belated, but still timely, summary of the 2007 U.S. Federal Court decision resulting from environmental opposition.

The Mississippi River levee system started in 1717 at the behest of city founder Bienville to protect New Orleans. Completed by 1727, this levee was three-foot high. For many years, levee construction then became a private landowner responsibility. By 1743, riverfront landowners were required to build and maintain levees on their property or forfeit the land to the French crown. These low levees, however, did not offer enough protection against the mighty Mississippi River breakthroughs (known as crevasses) were common, and sometimes deadly. Read more...

Get Involved! You’ll Feel Better
Rick Haeseler-MO Chapter EXCOM

When I lived in Connecticut years ago, I became involved in the government of the small town I lived in. Being at many committee and board meetings, I noticed that out of a population of 5500 people, only about 200 people had any involvement in the government at all. Many of the same people were involved in 2 or more committees or civic groups. Read more...

State-wide Missouri Wilderness Conference

Lower Rock Creek, by Scott Merritt

September 6th, 2008
Sierrans don’t miss this event! Come to Salem, Missouri for a day of Missouri Wilderness education, discussion, and strategy planning for the citizen’s proposal to designate seven Wilderness Areas on the Mark Twain National Forest and the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. Guest speakers will include Dave Murphy of the Conservation Federation of Missouri; Rindy O’Brien, former aide to U.S. Senator Tom Eagleton and staffer at The Wilderness Society; John Karel of the Missouri Wilderness Coalition, and more. We will have a Missouri wilderness slideshow, displays, handouts, and a moderated strategy planning session later in the day. Read more...

Tour the Greenest Building in St. Louis

Sierra Club Harvest Celebration Dinner and Auction Fundraiser

You’re in for an education in sustainable building when you join us for the Sierra Club Harvest Celebration 2008 on Saturday, September 6th (more details on page 12) at the “greenest” building in the City of St. Louis: The William A. Kerr Foundation Headquarters located at 21 O’Fallon Street, just north of the Arch.

The media today is filled with the term “green,” much of it hollow hype. But 21 O’Fallon, is the real deal, an authentic, energy-conserving structure that promotes the health of its occupants and preserves the external environment. Read more...

The World Without Us (published July, 2007)
By Alan Weisman
Reviewed by Cheryl Hammond

Alan Weisman imagines a world where all the people have suddenly disappeared from the earth. Many films and books have explored this facinating theme, including the recent film, I Am Legend, starring Will Smith living in a world where a virus has wiped out most humans.

On the other hand, Weisman’s The World Without Us gives us well researched, scientific insight into the fate of the natural and built environment without us. There are examples of places where humans have already departed. The Korean DMZ between North Korea and South Korea is 151 miles long and 2.5 miles wide and has been essentially without people since the 1953 armistice left the two parts of Korea in a state of cold war hostilities with the DMZ as a no-man’s land. This strip of land has become a refuge for wildlife that would have otherwise disappeared. Read more...

Motorized Obsessions: Life Liberty and the Small-Bore Engine
By Paul R. Josephson
Reviewed by Caroline Pufalt

Lower Rock Creek, by Scott Merritt

Ah, summer. The season brings anticipations of summer vacations, summer reading, float trips, gardening, picnics and also unfortunately, lawnmowers, leaf blowers, weed wackers , jet skis, and ATVs. We Americans love our engines and, for better or worse, we have invented many uses for them.

Paul Josephson, a history and international relations professor, has written previously about technology, nature and about Russian nuclear policy. He reports how as a new homeowner he started in typical fashion with a gas lawnmower and determination to maintain the proper lawn with all the motorized equipment. But then, perhaps because of his interest in nature and technology, he began to think about alternatives. His lawn went natural and he presumably had more time to get out in the Maine woods and encounter All Terrain Vehicles and other forms of motorized recreation. Thus he had an interest to start a book that examines our obsession with motors and gadgets, big and small. Read more...