Cherokee Group
(Chattanooga)
Where we meet:
Greenspaces
63 E. Main Street
Chattanooga, TN  37211


Green|Spaces

Contact Us:
Cherokee Group Organizers:
Group Chair: Elizabeth Tallman
Vice Chair: Jami Brown
Treasurer: Barbara Hurst
Secretary: Barbara Kelly
Communication: Tami Freedman, Elizabeth Tallman

Think Globally Act locally!

The city of Chattanooga had embarked on a mission to reduce its carbon emissions. The city has developed action teams to allow citizens to work in areas of expertise or interest. To learn more about it, follow this link. Chattanooga Green Committee If you want to get involved. Go to the Greener Chattanooga website Greener Chattanooga and join an Action Team!


Ex. Comm:
Mike Bascom mikeb37415 AT lycos.com
Jami Brown jdbrown5188 AT yahoo.com
Lynn Cimino-Hurt
Tami Freedman
Barbara Hurst
Barbara Kelly
Dr. Henry Spratt henry-spratt AT utc.edu
Gayla Strickland
Elizabeth Tallman elizabethjamestallman AT hotmail.com

Tennes-Sierran Newsletter:
Go Paperless!  Sign up to receive the TS electronically.

The September-October 2009 issue of the Tennes-Sierran



Contact Your Elected Officials:

U.S. Legislative Information:

Congressman Zack Wamp

thomas.loc.gov

Tennessee Government:

The Governor

legislature.state.tn.us

State Senators

Senate Environ. Comm.

State Representatives

House Environ. Comm.

TVA Integrated Resource Plan Public Briefing Session

TIME: Monday, November 16 6:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Marriott Hotel, Plaza C in Chattanooga

TVA will hold a public briefing on the Integrated Resource Plan. The presentation will begin with an overview of the planning process and the energy options TVA is considering for meeting the electricity needs of the Valley over the next 20 years. There will be a question and answer session following the briefing.

At 7:30 p.m., there will be a 30-minute listening session with the Stakeholder Review Group. The SRG was created to provide TVA with various stakeholder viewpoints from across the Valley during the Integrated Resource Plan process. During the listening session, audience members can provide comments to the SRG about the process and its outcomes.

For further information about the planning process go to www.tva.com/environment/reports/irp

Special Meeting November 11, 6:00 p.m.

Movie showing: Coal Country
Instead of our strategy meeting this month we will be showing a movie. The movie is Coal Country and it's a new documentary about mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia.

This powerful film reveals the shocking true cost of coal, as it takes us through the personal stories of coal miners, and the residents of Appalachia who have lost their mountains, their homes, and their history to mountaintop removal mining.

Location: GreenSpaces, 63 E. Main Street, Chattanooga


(Green|Spaces is in the first "art district" block after you turn off Market on to Main, last building in the first block on the left. Parking in on the street -- well lit and safe -- kitty corner from fire hall.)

The General meeting is held the last Monday of each month.

Alert! Coal River Mountain

Last week, Massey Energy began blasting Coal River Mountain in preparation of a massive mountaintop removal coal mining operation. Coal River Mountain is one of the last intact mountains in the range, and the site of a proposed 328-megawatt wind farm. With each passing day, Coal River Mountain’s potential to provide 85,000 households in West Virginia with safe and renewable energy, 700 long-term green jobs, and $1.7 million in annual county tax revenue is erased by Massey Energy and their investors like JPMorgan Chase.

The destruction of Coal River Mountain is also endangering lives. Blasting could destabilize a nearby coal slurry pond, unleashing eight billion gallons of toxic sludge on schools, homes, and workplaces. In the case of a dam failure, citizens would have only minutes to evacuate before a 50-foot wall of sludge bears down on their community.

Please contact the Obama Administration and ask them to stop Coal River Mountain from becoming a 6,000-acre wasteland and instead support safe and renewable sources of energy.

Conservation Discussion

Conservation Discussion: November 4, 6:00 p.m., GreenSpaces, 63 E. Main Street, Chattanooga. Conservation, legislation and political topics facing the group will be up for discussion at 6 p.m. before our Program Meeting each month. Come with questions or concerns as ideas are formulated for club action.

Outings!

October 21, Picnic at Renaissance Park @ 6:00 pm is We will be enjoying a wonderful picnic by the river. Please bring your own food and drinks. Also, please bring any tree or plant identification books you may have, as we will be studying our local plant life.

More Outings

House Party!

Coal Country is the stunning new documentary about mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. This powerful film reveals the shocking true cost of coal, as it takes us through the personal stories of coal miners, and the residents of Appalachia who have lost their mountains, their homes, and their history to mountaintop removal mining. Our party will be one of hundreds of Coal Country House Parties (http://www.sierraclub.org/coalcountry) held nationwide by Sierra Club supporters the week of November 10 through 14.


Thousands of people will be gathering in their communities to watch Coal Country and take action against mountaintop removal. You can be a part of this crucial effort to end mountaintop removal mining, and help move America beyond coal, by attending my Coal Country House Party! Join us for a screening, a discussion, and a special celebrity call-in featuring leaders from the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, organizers from the Appalachian coalfield (including those featured in the film), and special guests! After the film, we'll take action together to end mountaintop removal mining.

Help get the word out about this important documentary:  

For more information, visit www.coalcountrythemovie.com.

November General Meeting Nov. 30 7:00 p.m.

Come to the MOVIES: "King Corn" -- a humorous and touching documentary about two friends who move to Iowa and grow an acre of corn, meanwhile learning about the massive problems facing our whole biologic/agriculture/economy/food system from the hold that corn now has.

Free and open to the public; great refreshments served during the movie -- but not popcorn today!


Bring your friends and family!!

The Tennessee Legislature

Important Stuff

  • End Mountaintop Removal (MTR):
    Mountaintop removal is a terrible, destructive method of coal mining in which entire mountains are literally blown up, the resulting rubble is dumped into valleys and huge ponds of toxic sludge are created. Mountaintop removal is devastating hundreds of square miles of Appalachia, polluting the headwaters of rivers that provide drinking water to millions of Americans and destroying a distinctly American culture that has endured for generations.
    http://www.ilovemountains.org/      http://www.sierraclub.org/petition/mountaintop
    http://www.sierraclub.org/wildlands/wildlandsatrisk/mountaintop.asp


  • October 21, Picnic at Renaissance Park @ 6:00 p.m.
    We will be enjoying a wonderful picnic by theriver. Please bring your own food and drinks. Also, please bring any tree or plant identification booksyou may have, as we will be studying our local plant life.

  • Environmental Speakers at Chattanooga Aquarium
    MONDAY, OCT 19 CHARLES MAYNARD , First Director of FRIENDS OF THE SMOKIES
    and MONDAY, NOV 9 DIRK KEMPTHORNE, George Bush's Secretary of the Interior from 2006-2009
    Both events are free and ope to the public.
    Both events will be in the Aquarium Auditorium (lower level of the old aquarium).
    Sponsored by FRIENDS OF MOCCASIN BEND

  • Cherokee National Forest:
    The Tennessee Chapter supports the expansion of wilderness in the Cherokee National Forest.  Take action at: Tennessee Wild.  Also see America's Wild Legacy

  • Wilderness Workshop Saturday October 31
    A Wilderness Workshop will be held from 10 am - 2 pm at the Chattanooga Nature Center, 405 Garden Road, Chattanooga, Tennessee. This interactive workshop will train volunteers in the skills required to pass a wilderness bill for the Cherokee National Forest. Representatives from Campaign for America's Wilderness and The Wilderness Society will be on hand. The event is free and open to the public. Childcare is available. For more information, please visit the Tennessee Wild website, or contact Jeff Hunter at 423-322-7866 or jeff AT safc.org.
    http://tnwild.org/get_involved


  • October Strategy Meeting: oct. 14, 5:45 p.m.
    Location: GreenSpaces, 63 E. Main Street, Chattanooga.

    Our Executive Committee meeting is our business meeting. Come help with the nuts and bolts of the Sierra Club in Southeast Tennessee! All interested people welcome.
    The meeting is the second Wednesday of each month.

  • Directions to our meeting place:

    We meet at GreenSpaces, at 63 E. Main Street, about a block off
    Market Street—it’s on the left after you turn from Market.
    If you get to the fire hall, you just passed it on the left.
    Parking on the street is fine—this is located in the developing
    south side arts district. If you’re lost, call Barbara Kelly
    at 423-718-5009 for directions. We want you to attend!

  • The Cherokee Group and Sunny 92.3 thank our Riverbend Green Giveaway Sponsors!

To subscribe to our listserv:

  • send an email with the following message to listserv@lists.sierraclub.org
    subscribe tennessee-cherokee-news yourfirstname yourlastname - it will add the email address you sent from.
    OR Fill out the form at: http://www.sierraclub.org/memberlists
    OR Send request to TENNESSEE-CHEROKEE-NEWS-request@lists.sierraclub.org

 

 

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