We offer many opportunities to preserve and enjoy the environment.
These opportunities include projects designed to curb pollution and preserve
forests, wetlands, wildlife and waterways. Of equal importance are opportunities
to organize and lead hikes and other outings. Following are the folks to
contact to learn more and plug in.
Outings Leaders Needed
NO Experience Required, Training Provided.
The Greater Baltimore Group urgently needs members interested in acting as leaders for hikes,
tubing trips, backpacking weekends, and other outings. We will conduct an evening workshop to
show you how to lead an outing safely. We will also pay for first aid training. So if you have
ever had a desire to lead a hike, then please contact Outings Committee Chair
Jack Wise at 410-256-3963.
At Home
The most important contribution each of us can make is to look for
opportunities at home and at work to enhance environmental quality. For
the most part this involves changing how and what we consume. Obvious examples
include: driving less to reduce auto exhaust emissions, purchasing products
made with recycled materials, or converting lawn to other landscape types
which need less water, fertilizer, pesticides, and air-polluting mowing.
To learn more visit
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/bay/protect/intro.html
Campaign Work
Want to get involved in the political scene and make decisions about who in the
Greater Baltimore area (Baltimore County, Harford County and Baltimore City) deserves
to be endorsed by the group at election time? Or do you want to volunteer some time to
work in campaigns? Please contact us if you do.
Hikes, Ski & Tube Trips and Other Outings
The Outings leaders within our group are always looking for new people to join
them as leaders. If you love the outdoors and want to help others learn to
appreciate it and enjoy it the way that you do, then call Jack Wise: 410-256-3963.
Baltimore Inner City Outings
BICO needs Outings leaders, too. Activities include nature hikes, camping, canoeing, caving,
initiative and confidence coursework, orienteering, cycling, community service for Baltimore’s Recreation & Parks Dept.
BICO welcomes new volunteers. For more information, please visit http://www.sierraclub.org/ico/baltimore.
Population Stabilization
Are you concerned about how the Earth's population is
affecting its environment and what impact we have on our natural resources?
We have a group with the Greater Baltimore Sierra Club which works and lobbies
on such issues. If you would like to get involved, please contact Cliff Terry: 410-944-9477.
One-Minute Advocacy
Each year thousands of bills are considered by elected officials in Baltimore
City, Baltimore County and Harford County. Our state and federal representatives
must vote on thousands more. Many of these measures go from proposal to law without
little citizen input. And if an elected official hears from more than a half-dozen
people on a particular bill, then that's thought to reflect widespread public concern.
So your letter, phone call, or e-mail can have a big impact. And we're always
looking for more Sierra Club members who will allow us to send them a message
or give them a call when a critical piece of environmental legislation is up
for a vote. Here's how it works. We send you a brief summary of the issue,
which takes about a minute to read. Accompanying the summary is a clear, concise
description of how to contact the officials who will be deciding on the issue and
suggestions about what to say. We also explain how you can obtain additional
information on the issue and how to take a more active role, which can include
helping us to make future decisions on the issue. To become a One-Minute
Advocate contact us.
Action Teams
If you would like to save a particular forest, wetland, or waterway or win a change
with more sweeping effects, then consider joining a Greater Baltimore Group Action Team.
Each team consists of several to a dozen Sierra Club members who focus on a specific
action, such as the adoption of a new law or improving the effectiveness of an existing
environmental protection program. In the past, Greater Baltimore Group Action Teams
stopped logging in unusually sensitive portions of the Gunpowder River watershed, helped
win passage of the Maryland Forest Conservation Act, and helped save 200-acres of
forest that was once proposed for development but is now part of Oregon Ridge Park.
To learn more about current Action Teams or to get one going on an issue of concern to
you, then send a message to actionteams@sierraclub.org.
