Brune to Students: Occupy the Sierra Club

By Andrew Christie, Director, Santa Lucia Chapter

Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune came to the Central Coast on November 4 for an address at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's Chumash Auditorium that focused on climate change and a shift to a clean energy economy.

Brune told the several hundred attendees — roughly half students and half central coast residents – that while the pace and scale of climate change is cause for alarm, it is not a cause for despair.

"The message doesn't get out there," he said, "but we are seeing dramatic progress" in the fight against climate change. He cited California's torrid pace in clean energy generation, on track to supply 40% of its energy needs from wind, solar and other renewable sources by 2030. Xcel Energy, once of the biggest utilities in Colorado, has announced it will be significantly increasing its renewable energy portfolio because wind and solar now make more economic sense than coal, gas or nukes. One-sixth of all the coals plants in the country have been retired or will be retired in the next few years.

"We don't need faith-based hope," he said. "Every week, every month, we're getting stronger. In the last eight years, the U.S. reduced carbon emissions more than any other country."

Brune's other major message of the evening was "Occupy the Sierra Club. Take it and make it your own." Anybody with ideas about how to address environemental issues of urgent concern can run for leadership positions in their local chapter. "The beauty of the Sierra Club is we're democratic," he said. "If you want to kick ass and focus on a clean
energy economy that doesn't destroy wildlife habitat, this is the group for you."

After his speech, Brune attended a reception where he met with local activists and Cal Poly students, and taped a video message for the November 9 convergence of the California Student Sustainability Coalition at Humboldt State University in Arcata.

"Pessimism limits our ability to think big," Brune told the crowd. "It's the idea that we can't achieve great things that we have to fight."

The evening was hosted by the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Empower Poly Coalition, and Cal Poly's Green Campus Program and Biomimicry Club.