Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic EvolutionSM
Sierra Club
Lost and Woke
Although the Sierra Club has a great many of its own web pages, I decided to feature them, here, as I had experienced so many decades of activism with them. As a teenager I had an interest in what the Sierra Club was doing but, of course, I had no money so simply watched from a distance. It wasn't until 1988 that I actually could afford to pay membership dues and involve myself in the club's conservation efforts. As you can see, further below, I was elected to a number of Sierra Club positions and began traveling around the west (including to their then San Francisco headquarters) to work on a variety of projects and campaigns.
HOWEVER, although I can't put my finger on the exact date (or year), the Sierra Club lost its way sometime in the 90s or around the millennium. It was sometime around that era that the club decided to stray from environmental protection to work on "social justice" issues. Additionally, they made a conscious decision to avoid addressing the single most important environmental threat, our huge overpopulation problem.* Sadly, the Sierra Club's political correctness has cost the environment dearly. But, of course, their membership numbers have swelled and huge donations keep flowing-in from leftist millionaires and social justice warriors. Although I should have done it two decades earlier, I finally quit renewing my membership at the end of 2021 after 33 years. I will always have great admiration for John Muir but am sure he'd of what the club has become...
* The reason the Sierra Club refuses to recognize our huge overpopulation problem is because they're aware that 80% of America's population growth is now the result of immigration. It would upset the aforementioned millionaire donors and social justice warriors if the Sierra Club ever took a stand against our open borders or the millions trying to enter our country each and every year. 1) I was a longtime volunteer, activist, and leader in the club's Colorado Chapter 2) I assisted Dr. Alan Cooper in his national effort trying to educate Sierra Club members about population 3) I've conducted live interviews with club leadership on my radio program where anger surfaced in response to my questions about population and immigration. Although I had Executive Director Carl Pope on as a guest it was a later interview, with Kim Pope (no relation, she ran the club's "Our Wild America" campaign during the Trump Administration), where she expressed anger that the Sierra Club should even be questioned about population issues...
Any doubt the Sierra Club has lost its way?
As I mentioned, above, I joined the Sierra Club in the late 80s before it became a leftist political organization more concerned with social issues and elections than environmental work. What little doubt I had about this was completely erased when I received the Fall 2021 edition of Sierra at a time when I was deciding whether to continue or not.
That edition of the magazine started out on page 3 with Opening Remarks from the editor's desk. It's there that Jason Mark writes about Native-led campaigns despite "...white settlers' centuries-long effort to exterminate Native cultures." Opening remarks continued on page 6 with the subtitle, "An invitation to save the planet by ending white supremacy." In that piece, author Hop Hopkins writes, "...I and many other volunteers and staffers have worked to better understand how racism fuels the climate crisis..." He went on to add, "Folks who identify as white don't need to end white supremacy for people who look like me. Y'all need to end it for yourselves." On page 36 Heather Smith goes on to remind us that, "Nationally, Black cyclists are more likely to die in bike accidents than white cyclists..." and on page 37 a cheerful note from Alanna Morris Van-Tassel about a Juneteenth bike ride where, "People are honking. White families on the side clapping and cheering. And every time we receive love, we're giving it right back." Page 38 has a statement from Rachel Olzer saying, "I think a lot of white people understand racism in theory, but when it comes to how that stuff plays out in their interpersonal relationships, it kind of stop there." That section of the magazine also alludes to the George Floyd riots of 2020 but, fortunately, spares us further detail. Whether real or imagined, why so much emphasis on racism in an environmental magazine??
Further into the magazine there are concerns about low wages on page 50 of Sandra Goldmark's, Built Not to Last article followed, on page 53 with a note about fair-labor standards and a system built on low wages. What does that have to do with the environment??
In fairness, many of the magazine's final pages were devoted to renewable energy, the Spotted Owl, composting toilets, and the elk at Point Reyes National Seashore. But, clearly, Sierra's (and the Sierra Club in general) places enormous emphasis on social justice issues at the expense of its environmental work and, most certainly, will never seriously address our huge population problem.
My Letter to Sierra Magazine in 2021:
Although I'm not aware of them publishing my letter in either the magazine, or online, to their credit they did
publish Dave Hays' "Smoking Hypocrisy" letter in their March/April 2021 edition. Here's the leter I sent them:
Sierra January/February 2021
"Higher Ground" by Jackie Bryant
How special, two full pages of Sierra devoted to organic marijuana, recycling vape cartridges,
sustainable cultivation, and cannabis carbon emissions. Yet not a single word about the
damage pot does to one’s lungs, mental health, or the danger it presents along our highways.
What’s next, a comprehensive look at organic cigarettes and biodegradable booze bottles?
Some Sierra Club history in a nutshell:
After their campaign for the successful creation of Yosemite National Park, journalist Robert Underwood Johnson encouraged naturalist John Muir to explore the idea of an "Association" to help protect the Sierra Nevada. Joined by artist William Keith, Joseph LeConte, David Starr Jordan and others preliminary meetings began with the eventual creation of the Sierra Club, in May of 1892. Muir was assisted by attorney Warren Olney a group of professors from the University of California at Berkley and Stanford University. John Muir was elected the Sierra Club's first president - a position he held until his death in 1914.
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Click Here for more my page on technical climbing... |
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Click Here for the Ten Essentials - Don't leave home without 'em! |
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Click Here for some info on 14ers... |
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Click Here for my camping page... |
(Click on any of this page's "thumbnail" images for a larger view)
October '06 was an interesting Sierra Club month for me! In addition to hanging around with various activists and environmental friends, I was pleased to interview
Executive Director Carl Pope for KGNU. ALSO, I was on a fantastic trip through the United Kingdom where I was able to visit the birthplace of Sierra Club founder John Muir in Dunbar, Scotland. These pictures, below, tell part of my October story:
Me and Carl PopeInterview With Carl Pope "When Carl Pope attended a Sierra Club fundraiser at Jarod Polis' [Polis later became govenor of Colorado] place in Boulder on October 24th, Rachel Carson Group ExComm member and activist Roger Wendell snagged him for an interview at KGNU (88.5 FM Boulder, 1390 AM Denver), where Roger does a radio show. You can listen to an MP3 recording of the interview right here!"
(From the November 2006 main web page of the Sierra Club's Rocky Mountain Chapter
Me and Dan Disner
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Click Here for the interview I conducted with Executive Director Carl Pope (it was aired on 10/31/06)... |
 Greg, Susan, Roger & Dan |
 Greg, Marsha, Dan, and Judy |
 Roger and John Muir... |
 John Muir's birthplace |
 Southeast Coast, Scotland |
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Click Here for the trip Tami and I took through Scotland to visit John Muir's birthplace... |
On April 29-30, 2005 I volunteered for Treasurer's training at the Sierra Club's national
headquarters in San Francisco - there were 41 "students" and nearly two dozen presenters!
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Hamilton, in the photo at left, makes another point for our class! |
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Click Here for the pix I took around San Francisco between classes... |
 My Chronicle of Philanthropy photo |
For the Record:
I formally joined the Sierra Club in 1988 but had actually tried to get some dues money together at age 14 in the late 60s. Due to a variety of distractions I didn't get involved for another two decades but am glad I finally did. Here are some Club activities I've been directly involved in over the years: |
Rachel Carson Group (Rocky Mountain Chapter)
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 Community Service Award on December 10, 2005! |
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Click Here for my ExCom candidate's statement... |
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 Outdoor leadership training |
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 Captain Paul Watson and me |
 Dr. Alan Kuper and me |
Links, Pix and Other Related Stuff:
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Back to Roger J. Wendell's Home Page...
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