Sierra Club - your opinion?

I'm just wondering what people's opinions, positive or negative, of the Sierra Club are.

Please to discuss...

I have been an active member of the Sierra Club for close to 50 years. During that time I have seen a wide variety of changes, positive and negative. To a large extent, this seems to depend on the officers, volunteers, and the professional staff. In many respects, the Club is more a group of clubs than it is a monolithic organization.

The public face of the club is the activist, highly political group, with a strong preservationist leaning and a fairly strongly liberal (in some ways, extremely radical) agenda. But within the Chapters (the regional groups), there are Sections devoted to particular activities, ranging from outdoor oriented groups (backpacking, backcountry skiing, peak bagging, mountaineering, river running, day hiking, and many more) to social groups (young singles, older singles, gay and lesbian) to political activist groups, and more. I'm not sure where the eco-touring trips fit in the spectrum I just listed, but the Club sponsors trips that range from backpacks and base camps to foreign trips (some of which are pretty civilized with hotels and some of which are challenging backpacks, plus the cruises to the Galapagos and such).

I originally joined the Club because of the Rock Climbing Section of the Angeles Chapter. In the late 1980s, there were insurance changes - due to several million-dollar lawsuits, the decision was made to withdraw from all "risk activities", The insurance premiums for these outings were to equal or exceed the premiums for all other Club activities. However, many of the members even now join the Club because of the activity sections. The activities are a good way, in my opinion, to introduce people to the environment and to man's influence on it positive and negative and, more important, to the environment's impact on the human species.

At the same time, as a born-and-bred tree-hugger (well, cactus-hugger, since I grew up mostly in the deserts of Arizona), I am, as readers of Trailspace know, a strong environmentalist and conservationist. While I agree with much of the Club's stances, I disagree with their tactics - as the saying goes "I agree with what you say, but I disagree with the way you say it." I have seen many things the Club has done that are just plain wrong-headed or at least ill-considered. Part of this is due to the fact that the people you hear from the most are the ones who shout the loudest (or write the most letters or speak to the media). All too often, these people are shouting so loud that they do not realize or understand that their simplistic "solutions" can have extremely negative consequences and results that are diametrically opposite to their good intentions. Unfortunately, too many of the people who get involved in these campaigns do not understand basic science or are influenced by pseudoscience to support or promote "solutions" that would result in consequences that worsen the situation.

At the same time, the Club and its members have pursued many active campaigns with very positive results. Among campaigns in which I was active were the Dinosaur proposed dam project (blocked, now a National Park), the proposed Disney ski resort development at Mineral King (now part of Sequoia NP, blocked), and a proposed ski resort development on the north slopes of Mt San Gorgonio. These sensitive wilderness areas really deserved protection

What it comes down to is that I have very mixed feelings about the Sierra Club. I will continue to be an outings leader and to train people in the outdoors and acquaint them in courses of action that will produce positive results for all of us, while at the same time trying to help people to realize the consequences of the actions they take, which are sometimes the unintended negative consequences of well-meaning actions.

IMO, a mature organization that has strayed from its roots. I would go on about paying to much attention to marketing to feed the increasing need for membership to feed the machine to keep the board of directors happy... and that sometimes the almighty dollar derails the most pure intentions...

but I won't

Smoke,

It seems to be an unfortunate truism about a majority of organizations with a good cause, especially charitable and other non-profits. One of the prime examples is the March of Dimes. When I was a kid, polio was a super-killer - everyone knew a family with a kid who died or ended up in an iron lung, or at best had to get around in a wheelchair or with crutches. The March of Dimes collected dimes, literally, to fund the research for cure, prevention, and care. Then the Salk and Sabin vaccines were developed and polio disappeared almost completely from the whole world (there are still a few pockets). The whole purpose of the organization disappeared. The people running it floundered for a couple years, then decided to take on all childhood ailments. In the ensuing years, the ratio of income to administrative expenses has shifted to where the published figures say that 90% of the donations and other income goes into the administration - that is, the professionals running the organization. In other words, it looks like the organization exists for the purpose of keeping the professional staff employed.

I see that in other organizations as well - the professional staff seems to spend their primary effort on fund raising and in some cases seems to have lost sight of the cause for which the organization was founded. An organization I have some connection to talks about even the volunteers contributing their 3 T's - Time, Talent, and Treasure, with the emphasis being on Treasure.

I would say that i am philosophically aligned with the founding intent of several organizations whose political, and fund raising activity rub me the wrong way.

The Sierra Club is one, although I will volunteer to do work locally for these clubs, it is hard for me to be a 'Toe the Line' member.

Same with Trout Unlimited, I am not the typical member, but I support their conservation work.

I have also done Trail Maintainance & Volunteer work with animals, but could not really get involved at higher levels because sometimes the 'leaders' were a bit kooky. I was not the only person who felt that way.

Other times I had great experiences with level headed conservationists that I was able to learn from.

I do volunteer work for them- donate money also- but " yes" they have strayed too far IMO. Nevertheless- I will contnue to try to do things that actually matter and help the enviroment.I actaully belong to quite a few groups that we donate both time and funding. I think these groups are a great balance. Thanks

I let my membership lapse. Too political. I am for saving our wild places, dont agree with what they think that means.