Ah, the Sierra Club. The self-proclaimed “force of nature” that now sounds more like a force of foot-stamping toddlers in its melodramatic press release, “We Will Be A Force Of Nature Defending Our Communities and Our Planet From Trump.” Brace yourselves, folks—this isn’t just virtue signaling; it’s virtue shouting, complete with a tambourine and a megaphone. Let’s break this down, shall we?
Trump, The Supervillain
The Sierra Club opens by declaring that Donald Trump is basically a climate supervillain, twirling his metaphorical oil-soaked mustache while plotting to destroy the planet. Their evidence? Well, they don’t actually provide much. Instead, we get vague claims about him prioritizing “profits over people.” Shocking, I know. Imagine a politician caring about the economy.
“Donald Trump was a disaster for climate progress during his first term, and everything he’s said and done since suggests he’s eager to do even more damage this time. Trump has put profits over people time and again, prioritizing the bottom line of the Big Oil CEOs who bought and paid for his campaign above communities across the country who face the threat of pollution and the devastating impacts of the climate crisis, and seeking to keep us hooked on fossil fuels rather than investing in a clean energy economy.
But here’s the kicker: during Trump’s presidency, U.S. carbon emissions actually dropped. Yes, you heard that right. The dreaded fossil fuel-loving administration presided over real, measurable environmental progress, largely thanks to natural gas replacing coal. Did the Sierra Club mention this? Of course not. Facts have no place in a theatrical rant.
Litigation Addiction
The press release brags about filing more than 300 lawsuits against Trump’s administration. Three hundred. Let that sink in. This isn’t environmentalism; it’s a legal hobby gone wild.
“During Trump’s first term, we fought relentlessly to defend against his administration’s attacks on climate progress and clean air and water, and we are ready to fight again. We will challenge Trump’s dangerous proposals in court, keep the pressure on banks and big corporations to clean up their act, and mobilize our 64 chapters and millions of members and volunteers nationwide to continue to make progress at the state and local levels.
Imagine the Sierra Club’s office: stacks of legal briefs, overpriced lattes, and interns furiously Googling “How to sue the EPA.” And for what? Many of these lawsuits were less about protecting the environment and more about grinding the gears of government. They claim credit for coal plant retirements, but those closures were driven by economics, not lawsuits. It’s like showing up to a parade, jumping in front of the band, and claiming you led the march.
Fantasy Economics 101
Let’s talk about their love affair with the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The Sierra Club waxes poetic about the “millions of new clean energy jobs” it’s supposedly creating. Translation: temporary gigs propped up by taxpayer subsidies. Call me cynical, but I’d prefer jobs that don’t vanish the moment Uncle Sam shuts off the cash faucet.
And about clean energy being “cheaper” than fossil fuels? Sure, as long as you ignore the subsidies and the occasional inconvenience of, say, nightfall or a calm day. Meanwhile, your utility bills are climbing, but don’t worry—that’s just the cost of saving the planet, one unreliable solar panel at a time.
“We’re Diverse, So We’re Right”
The Sierra Club couldn’t resist throwing in a bit of virtue signaling, boasting about their movement being “bigger, bolder, and more diverse.” Because nothing screams effective climate policy like a diversity statement. Look, diversity is fine, but it doesn’t make your ideas less ridiculous. You can assemble a rainbow coalition of activists to chant slogans, but that won’t keep the lights on during a windless winter night.
The Grand Finale of Overwrought Nonsense
Finally, we’re treated to the climactic rallying cry: “We will be a force of nature…to defend our democracy and critical environmental protections.” This is peak melodrama. A “force of nature”? Really? Forces of nature don’t whine in press releases or clog up courts with frivolous lawsuits. They actually accomplish things.
What we have here is not a force of nature, but a force of sanctimony—a group more interested in shouting slogans than solving problems. They’re too busy congratulating themselves on being righteous to notice that their policies are driving up energy costs, undermining reliability, and doing precious little to change the climate.
Conclusion: Less “Force of Nature,” More “Force of Nonsense”
This press release is less a call to action and more a call to fundraising. It’s a stew of hyperbole, half-truths, and empty posturing, served with a side of smug self-satisfaction. If this is the Sierra Club’s idea of fighting for the planet, we’d all be better off if they went back to their roots and just stuck to hiking.
H/T Mike Lorret
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The Sierra Club has been a “renewable energy” lobby more than an environmentalist lobby for the past fifty years.
77 million of Americans voted for Trump. How many members does the Sierra Club have?
64 chapters, so probably at least 64 members.
“77 million of Americans voted for Trump.”
Roughly 244 million Americans were eligible to vote in 2024.
Therefore, 167 million registered voters didn’t vote for Trump,
he got in with less than 1/3 of the vote.
It’s worse in the UK; ‘Queer Stammer’ got an effective working majority of 165 with just 20% of the vote.
So, neither country has a democracy.
If voting was fair, they wouldn’t allow it
This statement should be sufficient for the Trump Administration to get the Sierra Klub labeled a vexatious litigant.
The Trump climate mania hiatus has set the US apart from Europe, Canada and Australia that have continued their steady economic decline. Biden has done some damage but nothing like what is happening in Europe.
Another 4 years of Trump will provide the necessary contrast for the rest of the west to ditch their insane notions about climate change.
Europe has been forced to reduce dependence on Russian gas only to become increasingly dependent on Chinese coal.
Yes, Trump did slow down the destruction, and now he’s going to slow it even more.
The United States got very lucky with the election of Trump. Any one of a number of things could have derailed his election, but none of them did.
Somebody Up There likes us.
Let’s hope the “Trump Effect” makes a difference throughout the Western World. Trump will certainly stir up the Leftists in the Western World, and let’s hope this ends with them Waking Up to reality and changing their ways with regards to trying to control the Earth’s climate.
Trump Effect = Common Sense
Very nice Charles, this tells you all you have to know about the Sierra Club. It is strictly a political organization masquerading as an environmental organization. They have spent billions of dollars, have disrupted individuals and organization nationwide and for what? The CO2 concentration hasn’t gone down one bit, to the contrary it is rising the same as always. The average global temperature hasn’t gone down a lick. I don’t know what they think their purpose is but they look like total failures to me. I have no respect for them, I think they suck.
“and for what?”
The percentage of the “billions of dollars” that they gave to themselves. Plus they also got to cover themselves with the fake halo of phony-virtue.
Fortunately enough people woke up on this and the other scam issues in time for the election.
Numerous lawsuits are apparently being prepared by AGs of so called blue states. One name that has popped up is Rob Bonta of California. The previous AG Xavier Becerra filed more than 30 lawsuits against the previous Trump administration.
The Sierra Club’s lawsuits are nothing new from left wing nut zero lunatics.
Time for SC to be closely investigated in return.
Who is funding these organizations?
My bet is it is Radical Leftwing Billionaires. They are using their billions to undermine and destroy the United States. Somebody ought to look into this. Little Soros has spent a LOT of time at the Biden Whitehouse. And, of course, Little Soros isn’t the only Radical Leftwing Billionaire. There are lots of them who are politically active and whose spending needs to be investigated.
The Seriously Deluded Club are a farce of nature.
Nature or nurture?
Probably the latter.
“The dreaded fossil fuel-loving administration presided over real, measurable environmental progress,”
Reducing CO2 emissions is not real progress. Transitioning to more efficient or cheaper energy sources is progress. We have to stop accepting the “Environmentalist” definition of progress and use our own to show how theirs is false.
we fought relentlessly to defend against his administration’s attacks on climate progress and clean air
The result of this relentless fight in Europe appears to be an increase in surface temperatures.
Unintended consequences??
No, intended consequences.
SCS!
I love the lead photo, Captain Green standing on a pile of COAL, and trumpeting his virtue, all the while using fossil fuels every day.
I thought it was the Wallet Wizard, but he seemed to be grasping for cash. 😉
Adopting climate-industrial-complex nonsense propaganda terms doesn’t help.
we get vague claims about him prioritizing “profits over people.”
Pretty easy to see the Sierra Club is more like your local Communist Party than like the Sierra Club I joined as a kid more than 60 years ago. How quickly they forget that without the profits they all personally reap from their sinecures as government ’employees’, they might have to work for a living, perhaps digging ditches or otherwise defiling the environment.
“Pretty easy to see the Sierra Club is more like your local Communist Party”
All the Radical Leftists look like Communists.
If it walks like a Communist, and quacks like a Communist, then it’s a Communist.
Donald Trump was a disaster for climate progress
I’d love to see their measurement of the “climate progress” they accomplished before Trump, and from 2021 to now. There is none of course, because we know that nothing they have done has made any measurable difference to Earth’s climate, nor would the implausible scenario of every nation on Earth uniting in a concerted effort to “combat” climate change; the so-called RCP2.6 scenario, and the even more preposterous “Paris Agreement” RCP1.9 scenario. There are some things (or many things) that are beyond human ability to change. But we can adapt. Humans are magnificently successful at adapting to Earth’s ever-changing weather and climate when our resources and time aren’t diverted by zealots tilting at windmills.
To the Radical Left “climate progress” means there is a Radical Leftist running the show.
Carter, L. J. 1970. Galveston Bay: Test case of an estuary in crisis. Science. 167:1102-1108.
Back when oysters had an oily taste, you couldn’t drive through Houston without smog and the Houston Ship Channel was as dead as possible through most of its length. Then–
Ward, G. H., Jr. and N. E. Armstrong. 1997. Alterations in the water quality of Galveston Bay on a time scale of decades. Proceedings State of Bay. Texas Nat. Res. Conservation. Commission. III:13-18.
Guillen, G. P. , et al., 1994. Characteristics of demersal nekton populations inhabiting an industralized coastal bayou. American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting. Abstract:95.
Smith, S. L. and G. Guillan. 1994. Untilization of a field necrosy based health assessment index in southeast Texas estuarine systems. American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting. Abstract:62. Fish swimming the length, still were some pollution effects with fish tumors. Even better now but don’t have handy references of which there are many.
There are credible problems left, ask them for their list. They still must have their crises.
Bini, L. M., et al. 2005. Lomborg and the litany of biodiversity crisis: What the peer-review literature says. Conservation Biology. 19(4):1301-1305.
“Although the literature did not paint a picture of universal gloom, the empirical evidence clearly showed growing environmental crises.”.Five whole pages!
Wasn’t it some clown from the Sierra Club that said Guam was going to tip over.??
This group of bumptious little self-appointed prats, seem to have the combined scientific knowledge of a three-toed-sloth !
Guam tip clown:
25 March 2010, Rep. Hank Johnson, a Democrat from Lithonia, Georgia,
Did Rep. Hank Johnson Jr. Say He’s Afraid Guam Could Become Overpopulated and Tip Over? | Snopes.com
Hank is likely a nice guy. However, he is from south Georgia USA, about 200 miles NW of the Okefenokee Swamp, a shallow, 438,000-acre, peat-filled wetland with floating islands. The floating peat islands can be walked on but they shake some as you go. Maybe Hank has been there. I have and I have never lived nearby. Nor on Guam. 🤠
But he was endorsed by the Georgia Chapter of The Sierra Club
Nice guy or not, it was the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard from a congressman.
25 Dumb Statements given by US politicians | KickassFacts
In 1974, this Yankee was driving through Dixie- and stopped at the Okefenokee with a friend. We rented a fishing boat at the state park just inside the swamp. I was concerned because it looked like it might rain and I didn’t want to be out there in a storm. I asked the ranger and he said “it’s gonna clear up”. So, we got into the boat- not far from some resting ‘gators on the shore of the Swanee River which drains the swamp. We got out maybe 10 miles when a nasty lightning storm started. We didn’t know what to do- no place to get out of the storm so we headed back out- which took a few hours. We saw many lightning bolts hit trees- every time I saw that I cringed thinking I’d be cooked in the metal fishing boat. I was steering the boat- which had a very small motor- but I could hardly see with my thick eyeglasses in the heavy rain. When we got back to the state park I was looking for that ranger to explain to him my dissatisfaction with his weather forecast- but couldn’t find him. Our clothes were drenched.
It was a memorable trip even without that experience in the swamp. Went to Disney World, which was a blast- got down to Key West and there went on a glass bottom boat ride. Heading north we stopped in DC and attended the Watergate Cover Up Trial where we saw all the key figures other than Nixon himself.
The swamp is a special place. Good story – happy ending.
The Sierra Club was founded by a group of wealthy sportsmen who wanted to “protect” wilderness areas from the general public so that only those who could afford it would have access. Much like the Adirondak Park in New York.
Yet they go full-tilt for wind turbines, ..
.. which are probably the most destructive thing ever invented when it comes to wilderness areas.
And wildlife.
The Sierra Nevada Mountains will look good with wind turbines on all the highest peaks where the wind is. It’s “climate progress”.
And all the power lines running down to the cities.
It’s 18,702 square miles and most of it is locked up forever from any “exploitation” like routine logging which wouldn’t hurt it at all if done right. Then people wonder why the price of wood is so high.
And when asked about the damaged lands and National Parks caused by migrants over the years and the unhoused under highway bridges, their garbage, waste, trampling of the parks, dumping into waterways, dedicating on the streets? The word from the Sierra Club and most of the other “Big Green” organizations? (Crickets).
These groups are only in it for the Big Bucks for Big Green and little else.
Yes, dedicating on the streets is very bad. 😉
Climate progress can only be defined as a reduction in global atmospheric CO2.
Since that has never happened in 175 years of record keeping and unlikely to happen in the next 100 years or longer, there is no progress at all.
The Sierra Club is wasting everyone’s time
From the article: “Trump has put profits over people time and again, prioritizing the bottom line of the Big Oil CEOs who bought and paid for his campaign”
Is there any evidence that Big Oil bought and paid for Trump’s campaign? Answer: No, no evidence at all.
This is just more lies from the Radical Left. If the Radical Left didn’t have lies, they wouldn’t have anything at all.
From the article: “Let’s talk about their love affair with the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).”
I heard yesterday on the News that there was still over $500 billion from the IRA bill that has not been allocated yet, so when Trump comes into office in a few weeks, he can save the United States a cool half a TRILLION dollars right off the bat by not wasting this money on trying to control the Earth’s climate.
Isn’t the Sierra Club like the FBI? The leadership of both organizations have gone off the rails. Yet the individuals at the local level are decent people. Yes, the local organizations and members are concerned about CO2 and some drive Tesla’s. But these are the same local groups that sponsor and lead local hikes and outings. These are the same local groups that sponsor trash pick-up outings. These are the same groups that make presentations to the local people about numerous topics of interest to “nature lovers”. There is a difference between the local branch and the national leadership.
Why would a sensible person wish to belong to such an organization? One could perform the same local goodness without joining an organization that shouts out that you are stupid,
Where I used to work, a drinking water plant, our source water was from a drinking water reservoir about 5 miles upstream. From the plant we released about 10 MGD more than we drew from the dam. (We controlled what the dam released.) We pumped what we needed from a pool behind a low-head dam at the plant, letting about 10 MGD pass to maintain the creek.
There had been a plan in place to build a “raw pipeline” to send what the plant needed directly to the plant while still releasing the water to maintain the creek from the main dam on down.
That raw water line would have cut or eliminated the need for almost all of our “low service” pumps and the power they used. It would also have severely reduced our need to deal with turbidity events from rain event runoff in those 5 miles from the dam. (They was also a bridge across the creek plus many road whose storm water drains ran into the creek above our plant. A chemical spill from an accident?)
That raw water line was close to being approved but guess who stepped in to help stop it?
I remember reading a letter to editor where the leader of local Sierra Club railed against the pipeline and, as a sort of “PS”, he added the main water supply dam should never have been built to begin with.
(Our plant only supplied safe drinking water to about 750,000 people. We could do that without that dam.)
PS I was in a meeting or two with those who objected to the raw water pipeline. A Sierra Club rep was there.
I wish I could find the story, but a decade or so one of of biggest wigs of the Sierra Club, back when anti-logging seemed to be it’s main focus, owned a large tract of forested land.
He allowed loggers to come in and pay him for the trees removed.
Not every hypocrite flies in a private jet.