Opportunities From: United Way of Dane County

Tar sands pipelines carry some of the dirtiest, most energy intensive and toxic fuels on the planet. We have several of them in Wisconsin, and right now we're fighting to shut down tar sands Line 5 in northern Wisconsin which is threatening the homelands and waters of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa. This is their sovereign territory, yet Enbridge has refused for over a decade to remove the pipeline as asked, and instead are proposing a reroute that would put many more lands and waters at risk. Join our fight to protect indigenous people's and their rights by joining our tar sands team and help organize and generate more public opposition to this dirty pipeline. It's time to put people and the planet ahead of profits!

Join our band of tar sands pipeline fighters and help stop this dirty fossil fuel and restore justice for the Bad River Band.

Concerned about all the environmental threats we're facing? By getting involved at the local/regional level with the Four Lakes Group in south central Wisconsin, you can offer ideas, decide on activities, discuss finances, and set directions consistent with national and state Sierra Club policies and stances.

Four Lakes Group board members discuss what issues we will become involved with or take stances on, conduct various programs and activities to support key issues in this area, and also get involved in elections. It allows you to have input on local issues you care about and want to make a difference on.  We are entirely volunteer led, which means you can play an important role.

We have fall elections, but can contact us at any time you're interested since we may have openings. Sierra Club membership is required, but you can easily join if you are not. We meet once a month - often online. time commitment is generally several hours a month, but depends on your interests and level of commitment that fits for you. Join us to make a difference, learn leadership and organizational skills, or make connections and build your resume.

Especially with so many data center proposals, many utilities want to build new gas power plants, and continue our reliance on fossil fuels. This could result in significant escalation in energy demand, and major hikes in utility bills. Our clean energy goals could also be in serious trouble.

We're also fighting for energy justice. Many people are already burdened by unaffordable energy bills as utilities continue to jack up rates. We're working to get the Wisconsin Public Service Commission to stop permitting fossil fuels and provide affordable bills and programs.

If you want to fight utility greed and stop fossil fuels and new gas infrastructure, join our Beyond Coal to Clean Energy team and help us provide a clean energy future with renewable energy solutions. We meet the third Wednesday of each month at 6 pm online.

There are many ways to get involved and this is a great opportunity to learn from and interact with trained staff and other volunteers, and a fun way to connect with like-minded people who are working for a better and more sustainable future. For more info, contact Don Ferber at d_ferber@sbcglobal.net.

Join our fundraising team to work on fundraising strategies and help plan events. Whether you have experience in fundraising or just want to help our chapter raise funds, we have opportunities for you. There are many skills and interests that can be involved in planning, outreach, and event planning or other skills that are part of putting together events that can be useful. Events are sometimes online as well as in person, and meetings are online. We have a general template that has worked well for us, but we are always open to new ideas and how to improve our efforts. Fundraising is a key element of helping our chapter succeed. 

Tired of trash and waste and want to help us do better? Our Four Lakes Sierra Club Recycling Away from Home (RAH) program is working to create a community culture of less waste. We're at several east side Madison festivals where we help with the trash and recycling to limit landfill trash and maximize recycling, which are also opportunities to bring more attention to our trashy habits. You also get to enjoy fun festivals with the great music, vendors, food and drink. And you'll receive a genuine Four Lakes t-shirt for volunteering.

This summer, we'll be at Atwoodfest on July 26 & 27, and Africafest on August 16. We'd love to have you join us, so please contact us to get involved.

We also have a longer term goal to enact stronger community standards and reduce waste, and we hope to hold some more discussions with the City of Madison to figure out how to reduce use of wasteful items. If you're interested reducing waste or have ideas of your own to share, we'd love to hear from you.

Our Sierra Club Four Lakes Group produces a newsletter 3 times a year, we have a blog on our web site that can be contributed to on an ongoing basis, and we do a monthly Enews. We'd welcome your joining us if you have skills or interests in writing, editing, graphics or social media to help communicate our environmental activities and issues. Our newsletter comes out in early January, May and September each year. We collaborate as a group, but are flexible on content, and include information on our campaigns, activities and volunteers. Access to a computer is required, but you can work from wherever with whatever software you have.

We sometimes need to create information sheets or flyers about some of our campaign work or other activities, so there are intermittent opportunities to help with other communication.

Contact Don Ferber at d_ferber@sbcglobal.net for more information.

If you love the outdoors or have special places or activities you enjoy and would like to share your passion with others, becoming a Sierra Club outings leader provides the opportunity to do that with Sierra Club support and backing. You can choose the location(s) and the activity(s) you enjoy that are within our scope, which can include learning about nature, seeing a special destination, or doing some other special activity you enjoy. Help people explore, enjoy and protect the planet, and the places you love, and we'll promote the outings. It's a great way to share your love of nature and special destinations with others who want to enjoy the outdoors and protect our environment.

There are some minimal training requirements to understand Sierra Club procedures and policies that can be done online, and you have to take a first aid course we will provide or can pay for. Additional training is required if you are interested in longer, overnight outings. For more information, contact Don Ferber at d_ferber@sbcglobal.net.