Tennessee Chapter Sierra Club
Energy Updates:

Welcomes energy liaisons!    

CKG -    Nancy Ream
WG -     Dean Whitworth
SOFG - Tom Mozen
UCG -    Josie McQuail
CG -      Bill Reynolds
MTG -   To be announced!
HBG -    David Reister

Thank you all for representing your group concerning energy related issues!  

These are exciting times for Sierra Club members with much happening on the national, state and local levels. After years of being on the defensive now YOU can facilitate shaping Tennessee’s Energy future. 

Mid month conference calls are held to share information and in turn keeping local group members updated. All other interested persons are invited to join the calls. Please contact your group’s liaison or Diane Perschbacher at 615-895-1236, email diane @ propson.com for the phone number, code, day and time.

Green Jobs Conference: Several members of the Tennessee Chapter attended the Green Jobs conference in early February, sponsored in part by the Sierra Club and United Steelworkers.  Check out the article located in this newsletter for member impressions of the conference, or search www.greenjobsconference.org to view conference reports and videos. The majority of keynotes are now posted online and can be found here:
www.youtube.com/bluegreenalliance. 

Carpooling in Memphis:  The local Memphis medical center and several schools use GoLoco’s online matching program to match people for carpooling opportunities.  GoLoco is a service that lets friends, neighbors, and co-workers arrange rides together. It helps match a driver with someone else who wants to go to the same place.  Members post their desired trips. When a match is made, the details of the trip are agreed to online. Businesses can have incentive programs set up to encourage carpooling.  For more details, check out www.goloco.org.

Rain Barrel Festival in Cookeville:  The Sierra Club, City of Cookeville, Caney Fork Watershed Association, Coca-Cola and the Rotary Club are sponsoring a rain barrel festival at Dogwood Park on Sat. April 25th.  Learn how to build your own rain barrel, how to built and plant your own rain garden, buy a ready made, hand painted barrel and attend the many booths which talk about good stewardship of water resources.  

Ready To Go Transportation Projects in TN  - how you can help!:  Ready to Go! projects in Tennessee are those which potentially could be funded under a federal infrastructure stimulus package. The lists, containing 246 transportation projects, totaling $1.69 billion, are based on the assumed criterion that the projects will be ready for contract within 180 days of passage of legislation.  Our state transportation committee would like to provide feedback to TDOT on the spending of the transportation portion of the economic stimulus package, and we need your help in determining which projects truly are important infrastructure needs.  Please review the list at http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/readytogo/default.htm, taking a look at projects within your community.  If you have feedback, contact Brian Paddock, Transportation Committee chair, at bpaddock @ twlakes.net. 

Join us to PROTECT the planet

March 2009