We now meet on the fourth Thursday of each month, and we gladly welcome the public, new, and transferring members who

are interested in our efforts to protect the environment.

JULY 24 MEETING IN BREVARD

“CLIMATE CHANGE: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE GLOBAL WARMING DISCUSSION “

AppleMark Global warming and climate change have become a political issue in recent years and there is heated debate in scientific circles. Government censorship of climate scientists has even been alleged. What's going on with global warming? Why is there so much controversy? Mr. Richard Heim of the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) will address these issues by discussing how climate has changed in the past, why man-made greenhouse gases are so important, what the climate is doing now, and what these changes will mean to us.

Richard Heim has a Bachelors Degree in Math and a Masters Degree in Meteorology and Climatology from the University of Nebraska. He joined the National Climatic Data Center in 1985 and has been involved in drought and climate monitoring for the last 20 years. He has been program manager for the U.S. Snow Climatology project and the 1961-1990 U.S. and Global climate normals. He is also an author of the U.S. Drought Monitor and North America Drought Monitor and coordinates putting current drought conditions into a multi-century historical context by combining weather observations with tree-ring data.

Mr. Heim is currently acting branch chief of NCDC's Climate Monitoring Branch, which has the mission to put current climate anomalies into historical perspective.

MEETING PLACE: We now meet at the Unitarian/ Universalist Congregation on South Broad Street, (West US64) and Varsity Streets across from the Cardinal Drive-in. The meeting begins at 7 pm for socializing and light refreshments; the program at 7:30. Information on Sierra Club activities will be available. We welcome all visitors and encourage you to ask questions about us.

A door prize will be given to a lucky person.

FOUR SEASONS SIERRA CLUB COMMITTEE OF hendersonville

The 4SSC Study Group will meet on July 9th, 1:45 at the Terra Nova Restaurant on 4th Street in Hendersonville. The topic is Henderson County Water Resources and the focus is the relationship between rapid population growth and the impact on the quantity of the water supply. Drought is the problem. Members are welcome. Call Barbara Barnett at 694-3738 for more information.

PISGAH GROUP LEADERS

+CHAIR Len Griffiths, 883-3751; olputnas@citcom.net

+VICE CHAIR Bill Fisk, 338-2644; Fiskw@bellsouth.net

PROGRAMS Elmer Ollikkala, 884-8611; eeo@citcom.net

+TREASURER Amye McCallie, 862-8890; Mamccallie@citcom.net

#SECRETARY Donna Fisk, 338-2644; Fiskw@bellsouth.net

CONSERVATION Bill Thomas, 885-8229; Billthomas@citcom.net

NEWSLETTER Shirl Thomas, 885-8229; Billthomas@citcom.net

#POLITICAL Leslie Chepenik, 877-5721; Chepenik@citcom.net

HOSPITALITY/HISTORIAN Beth Rogers, 883-3048; Sbrogers@citcom.net

MEMBERSHIP Rebecca Sewell, 884-3974; Rsew@citcom.net

TRAIL MAINTAINER Kemp Davis, 884-3974

FOUR SEASONS COMMITTEE OF HENDERSONVILLE

Barbara Barnett, 694-3738; maubar53@bellsouth.net

PUBLICITY Bob Hynett, 693-1975; Kodiac@cytechcis.net

# Speed Rogers, 883-3048; Speedrogers@citcom.net

# James Keenen, 883-3013; Jkeenen@citcom.net

Executive Committee leaders are volunteers elected to 2 year terms; +Terms expire 12/31/09; #Terms expire 12/31/08

Yes, I want to join the Sierra Club! My check is enclosed.

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Contributions, gifts and dues to the Sierra Club are not tax deductible; they support our effective, citizen-based advocacy and lobbying efforts. Your dues include $7.50 for a subscription to Sierra magazine and $1.00 for your Chapter newsletter.

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Sierra Club, PO Box 52968, W3120

Boulder, CO 80322

Explore, enjoy and protect the planet

Next newsletter deadline is JULY 20

LOOK FOR UPDATES ON THE PISGAH WEBSITE

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Changes? Mail address changes to Sierra Club – Pisgah Group Non-Profit Org.

Sierra Club Member Services, PO Box 52968 PO BOX 272 U.S. POSTAGE PAID

Boulder, CO 80322-2968 CEDAR MOUNTAIN, NC 28718 PERMIT NO. 111

BREVARD, NC 28712

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ONE MORE REASON TO DRIVE LESS

In the old growth boreal forest of Canada’s Alberta Province, a sprawling network of bogs, lakes and rivers provides a pristine breeding ground for millions of North America’s songbirds and waterfowl. Lynx and caribou roam undisturbed among the forest’s dense stands of aspen and poplar.

But in recent years, soaring demand for oil has driven energy companies to strip bare thousands of acres of this thriving wildlife habitat to produce fuel from buried tar sands – an immensely polluting and energy-intensive process even by oil industry standards.

AppleMark To protect the boreal forest’s diverse wildlife from this assault, there is pressure on major U.S. and Canadian airlines to publicly oppose the use of jet fuel made from tar sands and to support investment in cleaner fuels throughout their industry. As one of the biggest corporate consumers of fuel, the airline industry is well positioned to lead the way in stemming demand for dirty fuels.

The tar sands found deep beneath Alberta’s vast old-growth forests are made up of 90 percent sand, clay, silt, and water and 10 percent bitumen, a tarlike substance that can be converted to oil. Currently, most tar sands production relies on open pit mines, some as large as three miles wide and 200 feet deep. Because less than 20 percent of the oil-producing bitumen deposits are close to the surface, the rest of the deep reserves must be extracted by injecting steam underground and pumping out the melted bitumen.

The amount of natural gas used daily during these processes could heat about four million American homes. Once separated from the sand, clay and silt, the bitumen is still of low grade and must undergo yet another energy-intensive process to turn it into a crude oil that more closely resembles conventional oil.

AppleMark Over the past ten years, oil production from Alberta’s tar sands has doubled to more than one million barrels per day. Seventy-five percent of that oil is bound for the United States (it is now 8% of our oil supply). Driven by skyrocketing U.S. demand, the tar sands rush has spawned a rapidly expanding web of pipelines, roads and wells that threatens to destroy and fragment more than 55,000 square miles of boreal forest habitat – an area the size of Florida.

Just a few square miles of these wildlands can support as many as 600 breeding pairs of migratory birds, many of which are now at risk of losing critical habitat from the logging and toxic pollution that go hand in hand with tar sands extraction.

For indigenous peoples, mining in the region is reducing local water supplies, increasing water pollution and heightening their exposure to dangerous toxic substances.

But the staggering environmental impact of this dirty fuel boom extends well beyond the boreal forest. The massive amount of energy needed to extract, upgrade and refine tar sands oil generates three times the amount of global warming pollution as conventional oil production. In fact, global warming pollution related to tar sands development is projected to quadruple from 25 megatons in 2003 to as much as 126 megatons by 2015, the equivalent of putting 15 million new cars on the road.

One more reason to do what we can to reduce the use of oil in our lives.

- Excerpts from Nature’s Voice, May/June, 2008

HEY MR. GREEN

My brother keeps laying a guilt trip on me about clothes dryers wasting energy. I can see his point, but I would feel uncomfortable hanging my skivvies out on a line. – Embarrassed in Erie, Pennsylvania

Look, it’s not like you have to hang your skimpy little underthingies out for all to see. They’re gauzy and will dry quickly inside.

Clothes dryers use the equivalent of 58 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year nationally, so there’s no question about the virtues of solar clothes-drying. Hang up a clothesline now; hardware stores carry plenty of clothesline gadgets. And in winter, dry your stuff inside, using that quaint device known as a clothes rack.

- Bob Schildgen, Sierra Magazine’s Answer Guy

ANOTHER WAY TO REDUCE CATALOGS IN YOUR MAILBOX (and the trees that are cut to make them)

The 19 billion catalogs mailed to Americans every year consume 3.6 million tons of paper and 53 million trees. If you want to stop the deluge at your house, check out Catalog Choice, a new online service that will tell merchants “thanks, but no thanks” on your behalf. The service is free and it’s simple. Just register at www.catalogchoice.org to search and decline. You can also add an entry. The site, endorsed by the Ecology Center in Berkeley, Calif., the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Resources Defense Council, launched Oct. 9. As of April 1, 694,478 people had opted out of 9,181,316 catalogs.

- Cathie Gandel, May 2008 AARP Bulletin

8 SIMPLE THINGS YOU CAN DO

TO REDUCE GLOBAL WARMING

The problem is daunting, but we are not helpless! Do what your can with the following:

CHANGE A LIGHT – Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light saves 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year (up to 730 pounds over the life of the CFL). By replacing four bulbs, you’ve saved 600 pounds of carbon dioxide.

DRIVE LESS – You’ll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don’t drive! Walk, bike, carpool more often.

ADJUST YOUR THERMOSTAT – Move your thermostat down 2 degrees in winter and 2 degrees up in summer and save about 2000 pounds of carbon dioxide.

RECYCLE MORE – By recycling half of your household waste you can save 2400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

REDUCE WASTE – Avoid products with a lot of packaging. You can save 1200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.

USE LESS HOT WATER – It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Use less by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of carbon dioxide) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds per year).

TURN OFF ELECTRONIC DEVICES – Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer when you’re not using them will save thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

PLANT A TREE – A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.