Movement

MOVEMENT BUILDING

building a stronger, more inclusive movement

Movement building is key to advancing the goals and values of the Sierra Club Foundation. It lies at the core of all of the work that the Foundation supports—from promoting clean energy to getting kids outdoors. In order to advance our vision for the world, we need to build a broad and inclusive network. That means welcoming brand-new activists who want to stop dangerous pipelines or defend laws like the Endangered Species Act. It also means partnering with Tribes, young people, labor unions, and frontline communities, who make campaigns smarter, stronger, and more ambitious.

Low-income communities and people of color are already on the frontlines of the fight for a healthy future. Polluting industries have been pushing them to the brink for years—invading their land, poisoning their water, and endangering their children. Before we can create lasting change, we need to repair this damage. The Sierra Club Foundation actively looks for opportunities to support these communities and incorporate their experiences and wisdom into our work.

3.8 million Sierra Club members and supporters took action

24 Sierra Student Coalition leaders organized
climate protests

75 organizations signed on to advance a just and equitable climate platform

joining forces with frontline communities

The Sierra Club’s Healthy Communities Program works closely with people on the frontlines of pollution and climate change. In Puerto Rico, local Sierra Club activists organized residents in low-income areas to demand a transition from coal to solar power. In Louisiana, the Sierra Club fought for access and transparency as the New Orleans City Council considered a proposal for a polluting gas plant, and partnered with Communities Against Death Alley (CADA), an African American-led group fighting petrochemical pollution along the Mississippi River. In Chicago, staff worked closely with neighborhood groups to shape cutting-edge clean energy policy. In Detroit, organizers fought to bring air-filtration systems to people breathing pollution from the Marathon refinery. In July, the Sierra Club joined 75 other environmental groups in committing to advance a just and equitable climate platform that prioritizes the health and well-being of frontline communities.

ORGANIZING

PARTNERING

partnering with young climate activists

As young people lead the fight for climate action, we are learning from them and elevating their voices. In Utah, the local Sierra Club chapter provided training and partnership to UYES (Utah Youth Environmental Solutions)—a group of high school and college students—as they led the effort to secure clean energy commitments from school districts, advocated against drilling in national monuments, and joined Fridays for Future in weekly climate strikes. In Illinois, young climate activists played a critical role in securing a historic commitment to a just, clean energy transition. The Sierra Club Foundation and the Sierra Club have supported climate strikers and emerging youth leaders across the country as they call for a clean energy economy.

COLLABORATING

teaming up

with tribes

The Sierra Club Foundation and the Sierra Club have worked hand-in-hand with Tribes in a number of regions, from the Standing Rock Sioux, who are leading the fight to shut down the dangerous Dakota Access Pipeline on their homeland, to the Gwich’in in Alaska, who are protecting the Arctic Refuge. Sierra Club organizers joined Indigenous leaders throughout the Southwest in defending their ancestral lands, including the Ruby Mountains, Chaco Canyon, Bears Ears National Monument, and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Sierra Club campaigns are partnering with the Northern Cheyenne and Crow nations as they transition from coal to clean energy economies, and are working with several Northwest Tribes, including the Lummi Nation, to fight coal export terminals.