The Sierra Club Foundation Annual Report 2011

THE SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION | ANNUAL REPORT 2011
Climate change and pollution are not equal opportunity threats. People of color, indigenous
communities, and low-income families bear disproportionate environmental and health burdens,
including asthma, certain types of cancer, cardiac problems, and heat-related deaths. In 2000, the
Sierra Club launched its Environmental Justice and Community Partnerships program to address this
national crisis. The Club carefully nurtures relationships and provides people with assistance, training,
and resources to ensure all people a healthy environment—where they live, learn, work, play, and pray.
Over the past year, the Club worked across the country to help communities fight polluters, green their
neighborhoods, and create environmental leaders for the future.
HELPING A COMMUNITY MAKE ITS VOICE HEARD
Since 1965, the people and land of the Moapa River Indian Reservation have endured emissions of toxic pollution
from the Reid Gardner coal-fired power plant. The tribe invited the Sierra Club to partner with them in tackling
this issue, and together they have spurred government regulators, media outlets, and clean energy businesses toward
the transition from coal to clean sources of energy. Over the last year, the tribe and the Club joined a coalition
to work on campaign planning, media strategy, and communications materials. Moapa activists have now been
featured in a wide variety of newspapers, a two-part investigative television news piece, and a short film which has
been seen by thousands at film festivals and on YouTube. “We look forward to continuing our relationship with the
Sierra Club and successfully ending coal pollution on our land,” says Moapa leader Chairman William Anderson.
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