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April 22, 1996
THE SIERRA CLUB ON THE STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
While President Clinton and Vice President Gore have often said pro-environmental legistlation must remain a national priority, a Republican-controlled Congress is actively trying to dismantle some existing rules they believe infringe on landowners' rights. As a result, the environment has emerged as an important issue in both the Presidential campaign, and in many races for Congress.
On this Earth Day, John DeCock, Associate Director of Conservation for the Sierra Club takes your questions on the state of the environmental movement, where its future lies, and how special interest groups may have to change.
Click here to see the NewsHour's recent stories on environmental issues.
A question from Ernest Higgins of Glens Falls, NY:In the beginning of the environmental movement, did legislation fall along party lines or was it more of a non-partisan issue? When did it start to become part of party politics? Is there any way to keep enivornmental groups separate from political parties?
John DeCock responds:
The making of environmental policy has historically been bipartisan, involving Republicans from Teddy Roosevelt to Senator John Chafee (R-RI) working hard to protect our public lands and the health and safety of our communities. It was Richard Nixon who signed the legislation that established the Environmental Protection Agency and signed the Endangered Species Act. The 104th Congress, led by the anti-cnvironmental GOP leadership, launched a War on the Environment and installed some of the country's most staunchly anti-environment legislators at the heads of pivotal committees. Special interests suddenly held unprecendented sway on Capitol Hill and in statehouses, demanding -- in some cases literally writing anti-environmental bills.
The Sierra Club counts among its members many Republicans. We strive to be non-partisan and evaluate our involvement in the political process based on the candidate's stand on environmental issues. The Sierra Club will endorse candidates, Republican or Democrat, who are willing to take the lead in advocating for environmental protection.
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A question from Cindy Kinch of Boston, MA:
It seems to me that many of these companies that run "earth-friendly" ads are the same ones that fight the very regulations they appear so happy to abide by. Is there anyway for the public to know what companies are really trying to be more "green" from the ones that are simply running savvy public relations campaign?
John DeCock responds:
There is no single best way to assess a company's environmental performance. It takes a little effort to research the record of corporations, but it is well worth the effort. We recommend the following:
a. Council on Economic Priorities (CEP) (non-profit specializing in corporate accountability)
--Shopping for a Better World: includes letter grades for firms under product lists;
--cites annually worst polluting firms (America's Least Wanted Firms) also maintains ongoing list of firms that have not yet improved;
--also maintains lists of most socially and environmentally responsible firms (America's Corporate Conscience Awards); operates consulting service (for a fee) providing information reported in media on how firms are performing.
b. Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC) (non-profit institution) develops profiles of environmental performance of Standard & Poors 500 firms; available only a fee basis; service to socially responsible investors.
Information available to the public includes:
--self-disclosure by corporations such as Annual Shareholders Reports, which may include environmental data; and reports to regulatory agencies, such as EPA, SEC, and Justice Department.
Keep in mind businesses will often contest this information, claiming it is dated, distorted or unrepresentative. However, putting forth claims will usually force them to disclose more accurate and current information.
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A question from Harold Vivaldi of San Clememnte, CA:
It was recently stated that the population on this planet would reach 8.3 billion by 2025, a 50% increase.It seems as if any environmental restrictions placed on the United States become only marginal in the face of this projection. What role does the limitation of world population growth play in the policies of the Club?
John DeCock responds:
Sierra Club recognizes that one of the greatest impediments to improving the quality of life and the environment is the rapid rate of human population growth during the past hundred years.
The Sierra Club's Population Program works aggressively toward world population stabilization by supporting the following steps: make funding of population and sustainable development programs a top priority in our foreign policy and appropriations; assure that the goals of the U.N. International Conference on Population and Development -- empowerment and equity of females, achieving reproductive health (including family planning and maternal and infant survival programs), and sustainable development opportunities for woman and men - are realized in our childrens' lifetime.
Sierra Club's International Population Program encourages Sierra Club members and citizens nation-wide to influence public policy having national and international demographic and environmental significance, to influence local growth decisions, and to increase awareness of population-related environmental problems throughout the world.
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A question from Tim Graveson of Inverness, CA:
The environmental movement clearly could be stronger. What is needed is not more rules it is a mind set change. Please comment.
John DeCock responds:
Clearly and consistently polls show that an overwhelming majority of Americans support the right to a clean and healthy environment. There are few issues on which there is such unanimity in our society. Because so many people can see the basic common sense of this, and because we have made many advances in environmental protection in the past 25 years, people do not believe that our federal and state legislators would do anything so nonsensical as to threaten environmental protection. It is extremely important that people change their mind set to understand that advocating for public lands, or clean air, or clean water is a never-ending effort. The current Congress has demonstrated that no amount of environmental protection is invulnerable from future bad legislation. People need to accept that they cannot be complacent and expect others to fight these battles. The efforts of ordinary people working together are what secured the level of environmental protection we have, what will maintain that level, and what will improve our protection in the future.
The environmental movement must re-double its efforts to reach into communities, and work neighbor to neighbor, to educate and involve the public in programs and campaigns to protect the health and safey of our environment. The Sierra Club has, in recent years, begun placing more emphasis on this type of outreach and recognizes how essential it is to build strong links in every community.
The Sierra Club and others in the movement will also continue to bring pressure to bear upon decision-makers who are more concerned with appeasing special interest campaign contributors than the individuals they were elected to represent. To this end, we'll be exposing the anti-environmentalists in the Congress who want to appear "green" while continuing to vote for the same extreme pro-polluter agenda.
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A question from Elizabeth Lee of Los Angeles, CA:
What is your game plan for using the Internet and other new media technologies? Have you been able to use it for grassroots development?
John DeCock responds:
We have been very active in using available technologies on the Internet. We communicate broadly with our staff and volunteers via electronic mail and have been doing so, in some form, since the mid-80's. We established a World Wide Web page (http://www.sierraclub.org) in the fall of 1994 and it has won praise for the quality and volume of information that is available. We have encouraged and supported our local chapters and groups to link to the Sierra Club page, so it is possible to get information on issues of national, international, regional and local importance.
We are currently working aggressively to expand our use of all electronic forms of communication, but we want to build a system for reaching our members that acknowledges the importance of establishing effective lines of communications with people who are not plugged into the Internet. We want to serve the communications needs of each member, whether it is a download from over Web page, a fax, a phone call or a letter in the mailbox.
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A question from Steve Mataija of Toronto, Ontario:
What other ways do environmental groups and other have to protect lands other than regulation? I know the Nature Conservancy spend much of its time buying land. Is this an effective way of preserving areas?
John DeCock responds:
The Nature Conservancy's approach is particularly well suited for preserving precious individual pieces of land that are under threat of development. This is an effective technique that has resulted in the protection of some beautiful and essential places.
However, the Sierra Club's approach is to influence public policy rather than to buy and manage the land. We work to protect from sale and exploitation the land that is owned by the American public. We encourage the federal government, states and municipalities to acquire and preserve natural areas. The current Congress has considered and will be considering again proposals to sell off National Parks and other public lands. In 1995, Congress passed and the President signed the extremely damaging "Logging Without Laws" timber salvage law that allows for virtually unregulated exploitation of public lands by the commercial timber industry.
While we do agree that there are a number of ways that groups can approach protecting lands, we find that the area where we can work to save the most land, most efficiently is in building awareness, among our members and the public, of the need to stop Congress from selling or damaging existing public lands.
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A question from Jennifer Klein of Minneapolis, MN:
During the Carter administration environmental and other interest groups inundated the White House with more legislative requests than it could handle with the net result being nothing much got done. It seems a lesson has been learned and the enivronmentalists have made fewer requests and demands on the Clinton White House. Is the lesson that patience is a virtue or that the executive branch is limited in what it can or will do?
John DeCock responds:
During the Carter administration, the environmental movement successfully advanced several important pieces of legislation, not the least of which was the Alaska Lands Act of 1980. This piece of legislation secured protection for more public land than any other before or since.
During the first two years of the Clinton administration, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups worked hard to advance as many pro-environment initiatives as possible. This work resulted in the passage of the California Desert Protection Act, and the Colorado Wilderness Act, but it is fair to say that we did not accomplish as much as we had hoped for.
Since the 1994 election, it has become necessary to switch to a defensive mode to oppose the anti-environmental aspects of the Contract With America. In the recent protracted budget battle, the President has stood firm in his opposition to bad environmental bills attached as riders to budget bills.
I think the lesson here is that we should work aggressively and tirelessly with the executive branch of any administration to advance the initiatives that we think aide necessary and to oppose bad legislation. There is a complex set of ever-changing factors that will affect what any administration can do and it is our duty to understand those and work with the administration to help them understand the importance of protecting environmental resources for our families and our future.
For further information about the Sierra Club's activist outreach, send e-mail to:
activist.desk@sierraclub-org
Visit our homepage at: http://www.sierraclub.org
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