Peak & Prairie

Rocky Mountain Chapter's
Online Newsletter
April / May 1998

Recharging Our Commitment
by Sherri Valentine

When I was reminded that becoming new Chapter Chair included writing this column, I found myself thinking about what it means to be "a member of Sierra Club." While I "think out loud", I'd like to challenge you, the reader, to do the same.

Most of us joined Sierra Club to make a difference. Didn't we? Yet how do we make that difference? What do we do on behalf of Sierra Club, the environment, and in our daily lives to keep making that difference every single day?

It is so easy to become overwhelmed by the pressures of maintaining our jobs and family responsibilities, and even easier to become overwhelmed by the onslaught of mountains of information that invades our lives daily! Yet as those pressures and expectations increase, the need for our commitment does as well.

Do you reach for the glass container instead of the plastic one and put that aluminum can and newspaper in a recycling bin? Do you purchase and consume minimally processed and organic foods and let your local grocery store know that you desire and expect a reasonable choice of safe foods? Have you discontinued or greatly decreased your use of harmful chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers, etc.? Are your recreation activities and daily commuting habits environmentally friendly?

Are you registered to vote? Do you actively participate in the process of your political party by writing letters to the editor? When did you last write or call your legislators and Congressional representatives and let them know how you feel about issues or their votes?

For those of you with children, are you still teaching your children about protecting and preserving our environment, or have you let yourself become so overwhelmed that your children are now teaching you?

I challenge you to renew your commitment to yourself, your family, and our beautiful, irreplaceable planet, to look again at the world with the innocent, pure eyes of a child, and do something different - not just once or twice, but from now on.

And, I invite you to contact Sierra Club - your local group, a committee, or look in the back of any issue of Peak & Prairie, for lots of ideas - and get actively involved again. Remember that slogan, "think globally, act locally"? It's still good advice.