Articles:
Photographer Phil Schermeister
Seral 2.0 Herbicide Concerns
Preserving Wildlife
Click to download The Sequoia – March 2024
Tuolumne Group of the Sierra Club
Part of the Mother Lode Chapter
Articles:
Photographer Phil Schermeister
Seral 2.0 Herbicide Concerns
Preserving Wildlife
Click to download The Sequoia – March 2024
Articles:
Yosemite Reservation Plan for 2024 is Mostly a Nothing Burger
Forest Service Proposes Using Herbicides on Fuel Breaks
Join our Sierra Club Tuolumne ExCom
New Local Wildlife Added to Threatened List
Click to download The Sequoia – January 2024
Articles:
Tuolumne Group Hosts Bestselling Author Andrea Lankford
Stanislaus NF Proposes Controversial “Hazard Tree” Logging Plan
New ExCom Members Desperately Needed
Click to download The Sequoia – October 2023
Articles:
Yosemite Seeks 2nd Round of Input on Improving Visitor Experience
How the Swiss Manage their Heavily Visited Tourism Sites
Click to download The Sequoia – August 2023
Articles:
Local Outings Group Seeks New Leaders
How to Become a Sierra Club Outings Leader
Stanislaus Forest Shifts to Faster (not better) Planning Approach
Click to download The Sequoia – April 2023
Articles:
Yosemite Reservations Plan Alert
Prescribed Burn Challenges
Tuolumne Climate Action Plan Update
Click to download The Sequoia – January 2023
Articles:
ExCom Seeks New Members
2023 Sierra Club Calendars
2022 Sierra Club Tuolumne Scholarship Awardees
Click to download The Sequoia – October 2022
For years, Tuolumne County has delayed creating a required “climate action plan” that is supposed to lay out steps the County will take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in our region to help reduce climate change. The County has finally released the latest draft of its Climate Action Plan (CAP), but due to politics and pressure from climate change skeptics, the CAP turns out to be almost nothing but rhetoric, with no real requirements or mandates that will actually result in reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. It is a “nothing actually required” non-action plan that should be an embarrassment to County residents.
Tuolumne County’s “Climate Action Plan” is now available for review and comments through June 15. www.tuolumnecounty.ca.gov/1332/Climate-Action-Plan. We are asking all Sierra Club members in Tuolumne County to take just a few minutes to submit comments in response to this plan.
The CAP is a smooth-talking document with nice graphics and important sounding words, but it mandates absolutely nothing to actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or to meet climate change reduction targets, or to do anything meaningful.
For example, one measure is: “Reduce vehicle idling.” Another measure is: “Encourage students to walk or ride a bike to school.” Another is: “Promote responsible consumption of products…”
Tuolumne County has no control over vehicles idling, and students already walk and bike to schools. The County has no way to control whether people consume products responsibly. All of these so-called “measures” are just empty phrases that can neither be enforced nor measured.
Chapter 4 is supposedly the core of the Climate Action Plan, and it is full of such aspirational measures – all without any solid requirements. Every single measure is followed by the wording, “Actions that could be taken under this measure include…” or similar weak language.
Chapter 5 identifies a subset of “actions” with a high priority. Here too, the so-called “Action” descriptions are brimming with squishy words like “promote” or “encourage” or “explore” or “support” or “where feasible.” The only requirement is Action 1.2.1: “Establish a policy to require new County buildings to be constructed to meet a high energy efficiency standard.”
Really? That’s the only mandate in the whole plan? And even for that, there is no definition of “high energy efficiency.”
As it is currently drafted, this climate action plan is purely cosmetic, written by slick consultants to promote the concept that ill-defined, voluntary measures will somehow result in a magical reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. What the county needs is a clear plan with meaningful, measurable required actions.
Background on why the plan was developed
The State of California has passed legislation that establishes emissions targets and a suite of measures to achieve these targets. State and federal actions, however, are not sufficient. Local communities must participate as well, so California SB 379 was adopted in 2015 to require cities and counties in California to define greenhouse reduction measures they will take locally.
Rather than adopting a weak and meaningless plan, Tuolumne County supervisors should adopt a strong, effective plan that requires (rather than “encourages”) actions that will lead to measurable changes. This plan does not suffice.
YOU can help make it better and more meaningful. Rather than Sierra Club members just submitting comments that complain about the totally inadequate draft Climate Action Plan, your comments can point out how the plan can be corrected and strengthened. This is a true opportunity for Club members to “act locally” to help deal with a global problem.
Here are ways you can help:
The CAP should have clear requirements that are measurable and quantifiable. Examples include:
The CAP measures should be monitored, and an initial report on progress should be mandated to be made public within 3 years of CAP approval, with a second required public report at 6 years after CAP approval.
Bottom line
If Sierra Club members don’t engage to provide strong criticism of this incredibly weak, meaningless draft Climate Action Plan, then county supervisors may adopt it, and no effective greenhouse gas emission actions for our region will be required. It is important for you to take 5 minutes to engage and help on this key issue.
At the very least, please submit a short comment letter criticizing the CAP plan for not having clear, measurable, and meaningful measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Do it for your children and grandchildren, and for the future of our region. Remember, deadline for comments is June 15, make your voice heard!
When we think of climate action, we usually focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency and the transition to low-carbon transportation. However, food production accounts for over a quarter (26%) of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. We can’t tackle climate change without considering what we choose to eat.
Climate-killing beef. The graph below, from OurWorldinData.org illustrates the environmental impact of various types of foods – and beef is a prodigious producer of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. By weight, beef uses 10 times more climate-warming emissions than poultry meat. When compared with staples like potatoes, wheat and rice, the impact of beef is even more extreme. Meat and dairy provide just 18% of calories and 37% of protein worldwide, but beef and dairy cattle produce 60% of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Rainforest beef. Beef farming is a top driver of deforestation worldwide, particularly in the Amazon. Cattle ranching in the Amazon is pushing the forest to the edge of what scientists warn could be a vast and irreversible dieback. As stated in the Washington Post (April 29, 2022), the US bought more than 320 million pounds of Brazilian beef in 2021 – and we’re on pace to purchase nearly twice as much this year. According to this article, “If the Amazon is to die, it will be beef that kills it. And America will be an accomplice.”
A modeling study published in Nature.com (May 4, 2022), states that “Replacing just 20% of global beef consumption with a meat substitute within the next 30 years could halve deforestation and the carbon emissions associated with it.”
Local beef isn’t much better. Buying from local farmers is always a good idea, but transport accounts for less than 1% of beef’s greenhouse gas emissions. For beef, it doesn’t much matter if you buy from the farmer next door or from far way. What you eat is more important than where it comes from. If you are eating a burger or steak for dinner, your meal’s carbon footprint will be large no matter where it was produced.
#EatLessBeef for a better world. One of the most powerful actions you can take to reduce your carbon footprint is to eat less red meat. You don’t need to become vegan overnight – or ever – but eating less beef will have a major impact on our world and the trajectory of climate change.
Articles:
Climate Change – It’s What’s For Dinner
Tuolumne County Climate Non-Action Plan
Local Conservation Updates
Click to download The Sequoia – May 2022
Articles:
February Climate Presentation Recap
SERAL Forest Project
Scholarship Program
Local Conservation Updates
Click to download The Sequoia – April 2022
Articles:
Guest Speaker Dana Nuccitelli February 24th
Talking About Climate Change
Stanislaus National Forest Climate Change Summary
Local Conservation Updates
Click to download The Sequoia – February 2022
This document synthesizes and summarizes current trends and projected future trends related to climate change on the Stanislaus National Forest and surrounding areas. Click to download Stanislaus NF Climate Change Trend Summary.
Articles:
Members Invited to Fill ExCom Vacancy
The Growing Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement
A Changing Climate for Investment
Tuolumne County Climate Action Plan
Click to download The Sequoia – October 2021
Articles:
Sierra Tuolumne Climate Change Committee
Becoming A Climate Activist
Why We Need to Talk (and talk and talk) About Climate Change
Local Conservation Notes
Click to download The Sequoia – September 2021
Articles:
Zoom Presentation: Aero-Space Technologies for Disaster Recovery
2021 Scholarship Award Winners
Taking Action on Climate Change
Click to download The Sequoia – May 2021
Articles:
Zoom Presentation on the Rim Fire and Its Aftermath
Conservation Updates on Local Issues
30 by 30 – Strategy to Preserve Biodiversity & Fight Climate Change
Click to download The Sequoia – April 2021
Articles:
Zoom Presentation Featuring Photos from Wildlife Survey Cameras
TUD Aims for Takeover of PG&E Facilities
State Officials Intend to Develop a “30 X 30” Conservation Plan for California
Tuolumne Group Recruits Two New Sierra Nevada Alliance Partnership Participants
Click to download The Sequoia – March 2021
Seeking catharsis in a COVID world? Looking for ways to express your concern and activism, beyond the limited reach of social media? Searching for a way to put your mind, energy, and talents to work for a worthy effort? Our Tuolumne Group’s Executive Committee is in desperate need of new members who are interested in participating in activism on local and state issues, and joining a larger conversation on environmental threats in our region. The Executive Committee (ExCom) is a small group of Tuolumne and Calaveras County Sierra Club members who share a love of this place where we live, and who volunteer to manage and direct the activities of our local Tuolumne group.
ExCom members meet monthly (currently via Zoom), to monitor local environmental issues, plan and host public presentations, plan outings, coordinate our newsletter, and in general ensure that the group operates for the benefit of the local environment. Meetings are fun, informative, and engaging. There is so much going on right now. Large, unsustainable developments threaten to overwhelm the Highway 120 corridor to Yosemite National Park. The threat of wildfire and its impacts in our region is touching all of us, and the health of our rivers and watersheds is under constant threat.
If you care about these things, we welcome you to join our ExCom group. The importance of connecting with the natural world has never been more clear. Our robust outings group has been organizing weekly hikes for over 35 years! Our trip leaders know the region by heart, and where the best hikes can be found every time of year. We’re looking for new outings leaders to allow for a more varied program.
ExCom members can participate in a number of areas. You decide the amount of time and effort you can give. Find ways to plug your talents and interests into the mix, all with the knowledge that you are contributing to efforts to protect the earth in a time of great need. We are reaching out to the environmentalists of the future. Your vision and energy can help shape the direction and focus of our Tuolumne Group in years to come.
To learn more about how you can participate in the efforts of our local Sierra Club Group, contact our membership chair, Elaine Hagen, at elainehagen@att.net.
Articles:
Your Tuolumne Group ExCom Needs You!
Biden Administration to Champion
Environmental Causes & Climate Change
Local Conservation Updates: Under Canvas,
Terra Vi, Suction Dredging, & Wind Storms…
Click to download The Sequoia – February 2021