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>Recent press stories, most notably one in the Los
> Angeles Times, have
> misrepresented the Club's position on the issue of
> possible war with Iraq.
> We have received a large number of complaints from
> members and others
> regarding this issue, and we want each of you to
> have the facts, both for
> your own information and so that you can set the
> record straight with other
> friends of the Club who may be concerned.
>
> It is important to note that the Club resolution
> calls for a peaceful
> resolution of the crisis, calls on all parties,
> including Iraq and the
> United States, to adhere to UN Security Council
> resolutions, and
> specifically identifies the need to reduce American
> dependence on oil to
> diminish the risk of future conflicts. We are
> attaching a letter to the
> editor of the LA Times written by Sierra Club
> President Jennifer Ferenstein
> which includesd the full text of the Club's policy
> in the Iraq situation:
>
>
> To the Editor:
>
> Your article today ("Sierra Club Rift Opens Over
> Stance on Iraq") was flat
> wrong in claiming the Sierra Club has "avoid[ed] a
> formal stance on the war
> issue" in Iraq. In fact, our volunteer leaders had
> a lengthy, open and
> intense debate on the issue. Our Board of
> Directors, elected directly by
> our 700,000 members, passed the following
> resolution:
>
> "The Sierra Club is concerned about the global
> dangers presented by
> possible Iraqi aggression and about the dire
> environmental consequences of
> war. The Sierra Club supports disarming Iraq of
> weapons of mass
> destruction. The Sierra Club commends the US and
> the other United Nations
> Security Council members for their unanimous
> resolution calling for the
> restoration of the disarmament inspections process
> as a means of achieving
> a peaceful resolution of the Iraq issue, and it
> urges all nations to work
> through the UN to achieve this objective. The
> process of inspection should
> go forward immediately with, and pursuant to,
> international consensus as
> expressed in the UN Security Council resolution.
>
> "Even if the UN succeeds, however, this process will
> be incomplete if the
> US and other nations fail to recognize that their
> continued dependence on
> oil and other fossil fuels is, itself, a significant
> de-stabilizing
> influence in international affairs. The Sierra Club
> therefore, reaffirms
> its urgent call for the US to move to a clean energy
> economy, greater
> efficiency, and use of renewable sources of energy."
>
> Sincerely,
> Jennifer Ferenstein
> Sierra Club President
>
> II. The Club position on war in general
>
> Some of the letters have also questioned whether the
> Club failed to
> understand the environmental destruction caused by
> war. The Club's overall
> stance on the environmental impacts of warfare is
> set out in a resolution,
> passed by the International Unions for the
> Conservation of Nature, and
> later endorsed by the Club, which is excerpted here:
>
> "Concerned that man's future and that of his
> environment is endangered by
> war and other hostile actions that negatively offset
> the economic and
> ecological situation, including
>
> * diverting large quantities of monetary and
> natural resources for
> armaments,
> * discharging toxic and radioactive waste in
> the human environment,
> * destroying the habitats that are necessary
> for species
> conservation;
>
> ...
> The General Assembly of IUCN, at its 15th Session
> in Christchurch, New
> Zealand, 11-23 October 1981:
>
> Affirms that peace is a contributory condition to
> the conservation of
> nature, just as conservation itself contributes to
> peace through the
> proper and ecologically sound use of natural
> resources;
>
> Calls upon all States to pursue diligently
> international discussions in
> the United Nations and other fora dedicated to the
> maintenance of peace
> and security within and between all States;
>
> Further calls upon all governments to give full
> effect to existing
> international agreements that contribute to the
> maintenance of peace and
> the reduction of global armaments."
>
> III. The Press statement from the Glen Canyon Group
>
> A third element in this controversy is that four
> leaders of the Glen Canyon
> Group issued a press release in which they
> criticized the Club's resolution
> for not going far enough, and asserted that the
> Board's guideline that Club
> entities wishing to speak on the issue of Iraq
> should do so in a manner
> that was consistent with the Club's policy
> constituted a "gag order." They
> claimed that the Club was trying to prevent Club
> members from speaking out
> in accordance with their consciences on Iraq, and
> declared they were acting
> to "defy" the Board resolution.
>
> The Board's resolution does not attempt in any way
> to gag individual Club
> members from speaking on Iraq in any fashion they
> desire. It simply says
> that any Club entity -- a chapter or group -- which
> wishes to express the
> Club's position on Iraq, must do so accurately and
> in a manner consistent
> with the Club's adopted policy. Many outsiders do
> not understand that the
> Sierra Club is not a federation, but one Club, and
> that chapters and groups
> do not adopt independent and conflicting positions
> on issues, but work to
> shape the position adopted by the entire Club.
>
> These four individuals, are, of course, free to
> adopt whatever personal
> posture they desire on Ira. We have informed them,
> however, they are not
> free to have their Group adopt a different position
> on Iraq than the rest
> of the Club, any more than a Group whose leaders
> might be in favor of
> immediate invasion of Iraq as more likely to avoid a
> larger war later would
> not be free to take that position in the name of the
> Club.
>
> This is simply a matter of how the Club works, how
> its members, in adopting
> its basic structure, have chosen for it to work.
> Other organizations may
> work differently, but the issue here is not freedom
> of speech or censorship
> -- all Club members are free to speak their mind --
> but the use of the
> Club's name. The Club's name can only be used to
> advocate the Club's
> positions, to avoid having the Club be presented
> publicly as being on both
> sides of an issue.
>
> If you see further examples of this misunderstanding
> of the Club's
> position, please use this memo to help set the
> record straight.
>
> Sincerely yours,
>
> Carl Pope
> Executive Director
>
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> To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions,
> see:
> http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp
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