NC Sierra Club--Headwaters Group

The Trump Administration’s new proposal for smog pollution is to literally do nothing -- another botched response during a time that demands radical change. Smog -- pollution caused by emissions from everything from coal plants to cars -- is choking too many of our communities. When you look at the communities most impacted by bad air quality, almost all of them tend to be Black, Indigenous, or Latinx neighborhoods -- a remnant of decades of redlining and environmental racism which continues today. While our country is being ravaged by a respiratory disease, we’re seeing how the impacts of breathing pollution has increased the suffering and death in these same communities. But the Trump administration wants to keep in place the current, weak smog standard that medical and scientific experts say does not adequately protect public health. President Trump and EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler should be listening to scientists, doctors and other health experts around the country, not the big polluters who get left off the hook by a weak smog standard. Sign the Sierra Club petition: https://addup.sierraclub.org/campaigns/stop-trumps-do-nothing-plan-for-smog/petition More information and to comment directly to EPA: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/08/14/2020-15453/review-of-the-ozone-national-ambient-air-quality-standards

Curious about what is really at stake for the environment in this fall’s election? Ken Brame our WNC Sierra Club Political Chair, will present our Oct. 1st program. He will talk about what races will be the most competitive, what the chances are of taking back the NC General Assembly, and what we can expect next year based on the results this fall. And what you can do! Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4awU4ptYR6Cb1-3YWV84Dg After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. This virtual meeting is the monthly of the Sierra Club group in Asheville.

If you want to help plan upcoming events and activities, please come. Tentative agenda 1. Approve minutes 2. Events (upcoming, past) 3. Conservation issues -- New Hope Creek / corridor plan -- Ready for 100 -- Pipelines in Durham -- Carver Street Development -- Transportation -- Trees -- Other (coal ash, local bag bill, comprehensive plan, etc.) 4. Political 5. Membership / computer tools for contact / nominating committee 6. Next meeting We will get a link out to those who register.

The Big Sweep has been an annual Fall cleanup of North Carolina's beaches, parks and waterways for at least 30 years, but because of safety concerns due to the coronavirus, the official Big Sweep has been cancelled. However, because of increased use of our parks and other natural spaces, the need for a clean-up is bigger than ever. So a solution: Sometime between October 1st and October 11th: 1) Get a garbage bag, gloves, hand sanitizer, boots if you have them, perhaps a mask and some kind of "grabber" 2) Go to your favorite park, waterway or other natural area and, if you want to, take a "before" picture 3) Fill your bag with trash 4) Take an "after" picture 5) If you can, bring the trash home -- we don't want to overwhelm parks maintenance with trash to pick up 6) Weigh the trash 7) Post your pictures and brag about how much trash you collected in the comments here A history of Big Sweep: https://ncseagrant.ncsu.edu/coastwatch/previous-issues/2011-2/autumn-2011/a-really-big-sweep/