The Sierra Club can claim some expertise in stopping dimwitted ideas: It’s helped block the construction of 128 coal-fired power plants, concrete and measurable victories in the oft-murky struggle against climate change.
New Executive Director Mike Brune turns this record into a good question in the new Sierra magazine:
Here’s an immediate challenge for all of us: How can we be as good at promoting solutions as we are at fighting bad ideas? The Sierra Club has honed the latter to a fine art, as seen in our successful opposition to destructive mining operations, new coal plants, and attempts to log ancient forests. But stopping bad things from happening is only half the job; we don’t want to simply slow the rate at which our planet is degraded. Our vision for a clean and sustainable world must also come alive.
For every dirty coal plant that gets bulldozed, a new solar park, wind farm, or other clean-energy facility must come online. For every oil pipeline that’s rejected, a concrete plan to actually reduce oil consumption must be approved. Let’s be strategic and creative as we craft visionary solutions and be relentless in our push to make them real. When we do this, we’ll change the story about energy development in this country. We won’t just make noise; we’ll make history.
Yes. Brune’s whole column is worth a read. So is the interview he did with Grist when he took the ED job back in January.
