Greetings and best wishes for a New Year of good health and happiness for you and your loved ones.​ This will be my last “Notes from the Chair” in the monthly Sierra Club Connecticut Chapter newsletter.

 

I joined the Executive Committee in January 2020, and became Chapter Chair the following year. I’ve served three terms, so I’ve reached our term limit and must step down. But I am excited to leave the Chapter with a great mix of experienced leaders and enthusiastic new members, as well as a strong team of new officers to lead us. I know they will bring new ideas and energy to our work. And I appreciate all those who have stepped up to dedicate their time and efforts to our groups, teams, campaigns, and committees. 

 

It has been a great honor to serve as Chapter Chair and to work with Samantha, our talented staff, and with all of you! It’s been a real pleasure and deeply meaningful to me. 

We have a great team here in Sierra Club Connecticut, and I want to thank all of our volunteer leaders for their passion and dedication to our work – work which, I believe, is essential to the future of humanity. This is a time of existential crisis for our planet. We know that the only way to mitigate the climate crisis is to “keep it in the ground”, but, at this point, we also need to plan to adapt to a sharply changing world. I believe that the only way to reach our goals is to work together. 

 

We have gone through some dark times in the last few years. A worldwide pandemic kept us locked in, but we kept working. Political divisions in our country have rolled back crucial environmental protections and slowed the transition to a clean, renewable energy future. But we keep on working. This is not a fight we can win as individuals, but it is one that we can win together. And we will.

 

Working with you all has been a joy and an inspiration. And I want to thank you for your support and hard work to grow our Chapter in new directions and accomplish so much along the way.

 

So, while I am very sad to be leaving this role, I am happy to have had the chance to serve with you all. I plan to stay involved and look forward to focusing my efforts in new ways. 

 

Here are a couple of upcoming events that I’m looking forward to:

 

Greater Hartford Group meeting on January 14, 7:30 p.m. at The McAuley, 275 Steele Rd, West Hartford, and on Zoom. This month Julianna Larue, an organizer at the Sierra Club's Connecticut Chapter will speak about our campaign for a Climate Superfund. Following the lead of New York and Vermont, numerous states across the nation, including Connecticut, are introducing bills that establish a Climate Superfund to hold major polluters accountable for climate damages being incurred. Julianna will present on how a Climate Superfund works, and the process to pass legislation here in Connecticut to establish a CT Climate Superfund.

 

Rally to Make Polluters Pay is on January 28, 12 – 2 p.m. on the north side of the Connecticut State Capitol. Connecticut families are paying the price for climate disasters while a handful of fossil fuel executives and corporate elites rake in record profits. Join Sierra Club Connecticut, Sunrise New Haven, and other environmental groups at the Capitol to demand accountability, climate justice, and an affordable future  one where people, not polluters, call the shots.

 

I’ll see you there!

 

In solidarity,

Susan

 

Susan Eastwood is Chapter Chair of Sierra Club Connecticut.

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Image by Mark Martins from Pixabay