Internships

The Maryland Sierra Club offers many internship and volunteer opportunities. Conveniently located on Route 1, students can take advantage of the diverse openings in office management, administration, web design, environmental advocacy, environmental news reporting, politics, communications, marketing, outdoor education, advertising, publications, and research. Below, you will find brief descriptions of internships in addition to Sierra Club’s goals and policies and how to receive credit for an internship.

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Assistant Office Manager: Assist Sierra Club Maryland Chapter Coordinator in daily running of office and volunteer coordination to support educational outreach, campaigns, and training programs. Responsibilities include organizing, filing, databases, phone calls, taking messages, maintaining office systems, attending meetings with activists and government officials, reporting on, attending and organizing events, supporting the executive and other internal Sierra Club committees, and nine geographical groups.

Activist Communication System: Establish and manage the activist communication system, including phone banks, mailings, web postings and e-alerts, to influence legislators to vote to protect the environment and consumer welfare in the Maryland State Spring legislative session in Annapolis and to promote participation in activities.

Community Organizer: Empower and educate a community to affect positive changes for the environment and quality of life. Research the field to understand problems and solutions, conduct surveys and interviews, attend meetings, write letters, distribute literature, maintain lists of interested parties, and assist event organizers.

Cool Cities: Learn about, participate in, promote, and build the Sierra Club’s Cool Cities Campaign under the auspices of the Energy Committee. Educate and recruit Sierra Club members, the public and local cities to participate in the campaign and help change our energy using habits, systems, and choices to reduce global warming gas emissions.

Invasive Plant Removal Project Coordinator: Invasive species are the biggest threat to biodiversity on the planet after habitat loss. Sierra Club works with statewide invasive plant removal project leaders. Responsibilities include coordinating and promoting participation at invasive plant removal sites, working with site leaders, informing volunteers of information on requirements and hazards, coordinating carpools, and distributing education sheets to participants.

Invasive Plant Removal School Site Organizer: Participation in invasive plant removal projects is an excellent introduction to the natural environment. Responsibilities include coordinating, organizing, and participating in invasive plant removal field trips for elementary, middle or high school classes at local Prince George's County schools.

Marketing/Advertising: Create a new section of advertisements for the Chesapeake Newsletter to help offset printing costs. Set up new distribution locations.

Maryland General Assembly Legislation: Influence, track and prepare analysis of legislation, attend hearings, prepare alerts, distribute fact sheets to legislators and the public, write and deliver testimony to legislative committees, arrange constituent meetings with legislators. Generate support for pro-environmental bills through such means as phone calls to Sierrans and letters to the editor. Write updates for Maryland Conservation Council Report and the Maryland Sierra Club website. This internship may require access to a car.

Media: Update contact information, data bases, and fax files to improve the Sierra Club Maryland Chapter's press outreach systems. Support campaigns with media releases and public service announcements. Collect media coverage of local Sierra Club activities.

Outings: Assist Outings Chair in promoting Sierra Club Outings Program. Collect write-ups from outings leaders for website & newsletter. Distribute conservation materials at and attend Sierra Club outings. May complete training to become a Sierra Club outings leader and co-lead two Sierra Club outings.

Political: Work with and assist the Sierra Club Maryland Chapter political committee in efforts to elect candidates to office who will protect the environment. Tasks may include researching and producing scorecards for candidates holding office and green voter guides, distribution and evaluation of candidate questionnaires, supporting Maryland Chapter political committee communications, organizing candidates forums, outreach efforts to support candidates, including creating and distributing campaign materials such as flyers, brochures and email alerts.

Publications: Generate and solicit materials, design and manage printing and mailing of newsletters for one of 9 groups within the chapter. Assist the chapter newsletter editor and editing team with production. Create a Maryland Chapter Directory for distribution to volunteers and leaders. Create brochures, leaflets, and flyers to promote campaigns or to inform the general public about the Maryland Sierra Club and its goals.

Website: Assist the Maryland Chapter or one of the nine local Sierra Club groups to design and improve web pages soliciting and re-writing materials, posting newsletters and alerts. www.maryland.sierraclub.org

Sprawl and Smart Growth: Participate in public educational outreach about sprawl versus smart growth, land use and transportation planing, metro Purple Line concept, in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. Present "Red Alert" video on air quality & transportation to civic and other organizations. Generate public comments. Attend, write summaries and letters about meetings, hearings, and events.

True Cost of Food Campaign: Learn about, participate in, promote, and build the Sierra Club’s True Cost of Food Campaign, educate and recruit Sierra Club members and the public to participate and change their eating and food buying habits and choices.

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To Arrange Credit

It is a great time to intern with the Sierra Club. We have internships during the summer in addition to the fall and winter. Students can arrange to receive school credit by contacting a professor to sponsor them in a department suitable to the internship. An agreement is arranged between the student, professor, and the Sierra Club as to what the internship will consist of. This may include a certain number of hours, a task or set of tasks, a journal or paper to be written, or completion of some other finished product, and a schedule of meetings with the Sierra Club person directing your internship. Generally 1 credit is equivalent to 45 hours, 2 credit hours to 90 hours, 3 credits to 135 hours, etc. Internships may be somewhat tailored to specific situations and individual needs.

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What is the Sierra Club?

"Everybody Needs Beauty As Well As Bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike."

~ Sierra Club Founder John Muir

1912 Mission Statement

The Sierra Club's purpose is to explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth, to practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources, to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment, and to use all lawful means to carry out these objectives. We support the right to a clean and healthful environment for all people, including native people, the rights to democracy, to participate, to equal protection, to know, to sustainable environmental benefits, to equity, and to generational equity. We support an end to pollution. We support the precautionary principle that polluters should bear the burden of proof that their activities are safe. Safeguards should be put in place when there is threat of serious or irreversible damage.

The Sierra Club Works to protect the environment through legislative and grassroots efforts. The Sierra Club is unique among environmental organizations because grassroots volunteers run it. Almost all the work that is done is accomplished by dedicated volunteers rather than paid staff. This makes the Sierra Club one of the most effective environmental organizations in the country.

The Sierra Club Encourages People to get out into nature to promote appreciation of the natural environment. You may be interested in helping lead or attend stewardship outings, stream cleanups, invasive plant removals, or hikes, biking or canoe trips in areas that need protection. In the office there's plenty of work to do including data entry, computer work, member outreach, phone calls, news clippings, PR work, mailings and organizing. Around the state you can attend hearings, meetings, trainings and events, lobby your public officials, table at festivals, or participate in petition drives. In the nine groups in Maryland and with the Student Sierra Coalition, there are various leadership and committee positions available and niches for a variety of special skills or expertise.

CAMPAIGNS Sierra Club Md Chapter is currently working on:

- Better Communities Less Traffic Campaign: An anti sprawl, pro smart growth and smart transportation campaign including stopping the ICC and Truck "Tech"way in Montgomery County, and other outer beltway segments We are promoting the purple line - a rail line that would circle the beltway (including rail at the Woodrow Wilson Crossing).

-The Air & Energy Committee worked for legislation this year to reduce greenhouse gases, mercury and other toxins emissions from 7 power plants in Maryland that were left out of the clean air act in the 70's. We are now starting a Cool Cities campaign to work with local towns to reduce global warming gas emissions.

- Protect our Forests Campaign: Our state owned forests in Maryland are being used as tree farms for revenues distributed to local counties and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Education funds and funding for DNR should be increased and disconnected from the destruction of natural ecosystems of our publicly owned parks and forests. Our parks are also at risk of paving and development for the benefit of private interests. The Forest Committee has actively pursued legislation to protect the Ancient Old Growth State Savages Forests in Western Maryland from logging by "Wildlands" designation and to Restore Program Open Space funds.

- Protect Grizzly Bears
- Promote Environmental Justice locally and around the world
- Reduce Population Growth through Women's empowerment to protect natural Resources
- Stop Liquefied Natural Gas Storage Tank Siting in Populated areas
- Protect and Restore the Anacostia River
- Protect of the right whale and other marine life
- Spread the knowledge of the True Cost of Food in America

Sierrans are working on many issues critical to the protection of our environment around the state. Please call the office; include where you are located, what kind of work you may be interested in doing and your phone and email. With your help, we can make a difference! For more information or to arrange internships call or send a resume with a short letter of your interests. We hope to hear from you soon!

Laurel Imlay
Sierra Club Maryland Chapter Office
7338 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 101 A
College Park, MD 20740
301-277-7111 tel / 301-277-6699 fax
<maryland.chapter@sierraclub.org>

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Directions to the Sierra Club Maryland Chapter College Park Office

Car: 495 Beltway to exit College Park Route 1 South. Pass UMCP campus on right. Pass southern most UMCP entrance, College Avenue. Turn right at next light on to Knox Road, go up hill and turn left into back parking lot in upper part of College Park Shopping Center. Wawa & Vertigo Books are downstairs.

Transit: Green Line to College Park Metro Station. Exit east side facing Paint Branch Parkway. #83 bus marked "Rhode Island" to Baltimore Avenue/Route 1 & Hartwick road. Or exit west side for a 10 minute walk through the neighborhood; go 1 block up Calvert Road, right on Dartmouth, left on Knox Road, 6 short blocks, cross Route 1 to College Park Shopping Center. Take stairwell beside Vertigo Books to 2^nd level.

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