Here’s hoping yours was a clean, green, and celebratory Earth Day. Thanks for all that you do.

We're a little late getting this e-mail out -- those of you who still get the Planet by mail have probably already received the May/June issue. As always, we welcome your feedback.

--Tom Valtin, senior editor, the Planet

How Cool Is Your City?

Mayors Take the Lead in Tackling
Global Warming

As you may know, last year Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels initiated the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, pledging to reduce local global warming emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Supported by the Sierra Club’s Cool Cities campaign, more than 220 U.S. mayors have now signed on to the agreement. Check out our Cool Cities Guide and find out how Charlotte, St. Paul, Salt Lake City, and other cities are becoming cool. And how your city can, too.

Shifting Into High Gear on Energy

Tough Choices Ahead as Club Develops Comprehensive National Energy Strategy

It’s easy to be against energy projects. Most pollute to some degree. Wind turbines can kill birds and bats. Gas is better than coal but still contributes to global warming. And we use too much energy so we’re feeding an insatiable addiction and therefore...

But, but...if the Sierra Club doesn’t take a deep breath and make hard choices to support specific energy alternatives, we’re likely to end up with more of the same oil, gas, and coal, and maybe nuclear, too.

Of course, the Club will continue to enthusiastically promote energy efficiency, but as Conservation Director Bruce Hamilton says, "We’re not going to be able to supply all of our future energy needs by energy conservation alone -- any realistic strategy for supplying the country’s energy needs is going to include some compromises."

Could that mean supporting liquified natural gas? That's the kind of questions Club leaders wrestled with this spring, as they ranked available available energy choices in their state or region -- not someone else's back yard—over the next 25 years. The results of that survey will help the Club formulate a comprehensive national energy strategy. MORE

New Offshore Drilling Threats

But Virginia Governor Rejects Plan

In his State of the Union Address in February, President Bush admitted that America was "addicted to oil." Unfortunately, the following week his administration released new offshore drilling plans that would begin chipping away at the offshore drilling moratorium that has enjoyed strong bipartisan support for the last 25 years.

First in line was Virginia, which the oil and gas industry hoped would be the first domino to fall. But happily, Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine announced in early April that he would strip offshore drilling from a recently passed energy bill for the state. MORE

Forging New Partnerships

Anglers and Club Hook Up in Michigan

Joining Indian Tribes to Fight for Responsible Trade

Meanwhile, the administration's onshore drilling plans proceed apace. But an attempt to drill less than a mile from northern Michigan's Au Sable River -- considered by many to be the Lower 48’s premier trout stream -- has thus far succeeded only in bolstering the burgeoning alliance between the Sierra Club and Michigan’s hunter/angler community.

And that's not the only partnership that's brewing. In March, galvanized by the threats NAFTA poses to indigenous lands and environmental protections, Sierra Club activists joined members of the Quechan and Mayan Indian tribes for a 2-day conference and solidarity event, pictured at left, organized by the Club's Responsible Trade Program. Read more about that event MORE

Who We Are - Tom Libby • Marty Peale • Yochi Zakai

ClubBeat

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