Leap into the new year
with resolve!
By Janet Stanko
Chair, Sierra Club Northeast Florida Group
Happy New Year to all! Here are some things you can do in 2019 to promote the environmental and conservation issues that are so important to us all.
• Stay informed. Our
Facebook posts
and
Twitter feeds
are wonderful sources of state and local environment news. “Like” us on Facebook so you’ll get our latest news and events. And follow us on Twitter for instant reactions and things you can do to help our mission. These are major avenues to communicate with legislators and stakeholders.
• Check our
group’s website
for updates on our calendar, outings, local, state and national news, legislative action alerts, and the current and back issues of our newsletter, the Sierra Sentry.
• Join our Action Alerts list (it’s on the website) for important “arm-chair activism” — calls, emails, and events — to support the messages our state lobbyist, Dave Cullen, brings to the legislators.
• Make a lifestyle-related resolution that helps the environment — use less single use plastic such as straws (St. Petersburg has recently
voted to ban them
) and more recyclable or reusable items, eat less meat and more vegetables, reduce water use, walk or bicycle when you can.
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Want to change the world?
Start by making your bed!
To change the world, start each day by
making your bed
, a Navy SEAL, Admiral William McRaven, told a Texas graduating class. He was not talking specifically of the long difficult fight for climate action, but he might have been. (This first appeared on Allen Tilley’s climate change email list.)
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Looking ahead:
there's work to be done
by Janet Stanko,
Chair, Northeast Florida Sierra Club
The new year promises to be one of challenges and advocacy for our core mission, along with some good times too. Here is my look ahead.
Legislative advocacy
The state legislature convenes on March 5, and this year, as in previous years, we will meet with our legislators beforehand. We’ll talk to them about our priorities, including funding for buying conservation land, opposing fracking in Florida, regulating single use plastic, and inspecting and repairing septic tanks.
These meetings will be in Jacksonville in February. We will schedule a training session on a Saturday (we’ll let you know when) to prepare folks for speaking to legislators. You don't need experience. And it impresses the legislators to to have their district constituents participating in these meetings. For information, contact Janet Stanko,
JaneStan@BellSouth.net
.
What’s next?
• Jacksonville City Council elections will be held in March. We are doing endorsements in many City Council races, so watch for our March newsletter.
• 2019 Legislative session opens March 5. We will track the bills affecting the environment and related issues; we will let you know our reasons for supporting or opposing them.
• A group survey is coming in February or March. (Sierra Clubs are organized by state chapters and local groups — we’re the Northeast Florida Group.) Our survey will give you a chance to tell us the directions and issues you want our group to follow. Your participation will help set the agenda.
Sierra Social Media
In 2018, we engaged a social media director who has done the vast majority of our posts on
Facebook
and
Twitter
. We have become a go-to source of environmental news and events, plus fun items as well. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, share our posts, and add your own items.
And a look back
Although Andrew Gillum and Senator Bill Nelson lost statewide, they won in Duval County! It was the first time since 1986 that Duval favored a Democrat for the job. Both candidates had a favorable environmental track record/platform.
We campaigned and partnered with many organizations doing these important tasks. The effort paid off in victories for Mayor Nancy Shaver in St Augustine and for Sandy Golding in Jacksonville Beach who won her council race.
On ballot issues, we were encouraged with passage of Amendment 9, which bans off-shore drilling in Florida. It protects the seas three to nine miles from our coast.
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St. Johns preservation
group fights for trees
by Virginia Quelch and Mark Gendzier
A St. Johns County group is renewing its fight for rigorous safeguards to protect the county’s diminishing tree canopy from an onslaught by builders.
The group, Citizens for a New Tree Ordinance—Citz4Trees—is lobbying the St. Johns County Commissioners for changes in the land use code that will reduce clear-cutting and provide trees with the protection they need.
Citz4Trees was organized in 2015 when residents, outraged by a home builder’s clear-cutting a stand of magnificent old sand oaks, decided to push for change. The group made its voice known, but the effort stalled over the next two years as they county coped with the damage from hurricanes Mathew and Irma.
Two meetings were held in 2018 to review Citz4trees proposals for tree preservation. At those meetings, the Northeast Florida Builders Association offered its own suggested changes to the land development code that would strengthen its ability to clear cut and decrease tree replanting.
Right now, the two competing proposals are being reviewed by St. Johns County officials.
Citz4Trees urges all concerned with the recent accelerating loss of the tree canopy in St. Johns County to contact their county commissioners and ask them to support changes to the land use code that will require developers to protect and maintain our trees.
The commissioners: James K. Johns, (904) 209-0301 or jjohns@sjcfl.us; Jeb Smith,(904) 209-0302 or jsmith@sjcfl.us; Paul M. Waldron,(904) 209-0303 or pwaldron@sjcfl.us; Henry Dean, (904) 209-0305, hdean@sjcfl.us; and Jeremiah Ray Blocker, (904) 209-0394, jblocker@sjcfl.us.
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Wild plants and waterkeepers top agendas for meetings
in January, February
Wild plants — complete with free seeds — and waterkeepers are the featured topics at the Sierra Club’s meetings this month and next. The meetings are free and open to everyone.
January
. Wild Plants: a Fresh Perspective. Monday, Jan. 14, at Lakewood Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville. A social time begins at 6:30 p.m. The meeting begins at 7 p.m.
Dr. Jim Moore, a former physician who has concentrated on urban biology since 2015, will focus on wild plants and ways to integrate them into our lives. This will be an interactive program with microscopes and live specimens. There will be a seed dispersal at the end.
February
. Protecting the Matanzas River. Monday, Feb. 4, at 6 p.m. in the Clubhouse of the Ocean Grove Condominiums at 1, Arbor Club Drive, Ponte Vedra Beach.
Jen Lomberk, the Matanzas Riverkeeper, will speak on the work of waterkeepers around the globe and her work to protect local waterways from her base in St. Johns County. The Matanzas River remains one of the last healthy rivers in Florida. She will also discuss the opportunities for recreation on the river and how citizens can get involved in protecting the Matanzas. For further information email Brian Paradise at bgparadise@comcast.net.
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Hikes & paddles drew crowds
in 2018; this year begins
with a great line-up.
Last year, members and friends showed their enthusiasm for connecting with nature, our outings chair, Bill Armstrong reports: we had 62 outings with a total of 884 people participating. Outstanding!
We start the new year with a wonderful lineup. (To see a full outing description and to RSVP for these events, go to our
website
or
Meetup pages.
Outings are free (except for park fees) and are open to all. Some outings require a greater level of fitness and skill than others. No pets or firearms allowed on outings. Outing participants are required to sign a waiver and release of liability at the start of the outing. Here is a copy of
the waiver form
. You'll get one to sign at the outing.
Sunday, Jan. 6, 9 a.m.
: Julington-Durbin Fitness Hike. It's hiking season in Florida! Join us on a 10-mile hike to condition your body for longer hikes throughout the winter and spring.
Saturday, Jan. 19, 9:30 a.m.
: Kayak Trout Creek. We'll take a leisurely paddle up Trout Creek in St. Johns County on this very calm waterway. We'll go about five miles round trip.
Saturday, Jan. 19, 9 a.m.
: Hike Mike Ross Gold Head Branch State Park. We’ll hike approximately six miles on a variety of terrain with some elevation changes.
Sunday, Jan. 20, 10 a.m.
: Hike Nocatee Preserve. Join us for an easy 5-mile hike. We will walk approximately halfway to the end and then return to trailhead, avoiding most of the flood-prone area.
Monday, Jan. 21, 9:30 a.m.
: Hike the Fort Caroline Area. Enjoy a 4-mile hike through Fort Caroline National Memorial and the Spanish Pond Trail in the Theodore Roosevelt Area.
Friday, Jan. 25, 9:30 a.m.
: Hiking in Guana. We’ll hike about 5 miles at a leisurely pace through a diversity of ecosystems with good views of marshes and the inter-coastal waterway.
Saturday Jan. 26, 9 a.m.
: Julington-Durbin Fitness Hike. It's hiking season! Join us for another 10-mile hike to condition your body for longer hikes throughout the winter and spring.
Saturday, Jan. 26, 9 a.m.
: Urban Fitness Hike – Riverside/Avondale Loop
The hike will take place in the Riverside/Avondale area of Jacksonville and will use its streets, sidewalks, and parks to create a 6.5-mile loop.
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Sierra Club, Northeast Florida Group | sierrasentry@gmail.com | sierraclub.org/florida/northeast-florida
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