Opposition to climate change does not come just from the fossil fuel industry. Bike lanes, transit stops, affordable housing, and clean energy all face local opposition, so we need to mobilize local support for the change we want to see. In 2023, Bill McKibben wrote that environmentalists need to get comfortable saying “yes in our backyards”. Sierra Club has made policy shifts in this direction, most recently with our Renewable Energy Siting Policy. Now we need to follow that up with organizing, so that our activists know where to show up to support the building we need.

Our most important challenge and opportunity is our people. Sierra Club is powerful because of our members, our volunteers and our staff. However, membership is not really growing, many Chapters are struggling to build a leadership pipeline, and our staff are worn out. In my experience, grassroots activism has to be fun and invigorating to keep people engaged. Our volunteers should find joy in coming together, our staff should feel they can build a many-year career with us, and our members should be proud to say so.

So many of Sierra Club's current leaders, including me, first came into Sierra Club via locally-organized outings. Yet the Local Outings perspective feels less well-represented at the highest levels of Sierra Club than the Political or Conservation activism. I will bring the local outings perspective directly to the Board and ensure that our financial and risk management policies work for the needs of volunteer outings leaders.