Take Action:
The Unfinished Path Ahead

by Jason Boehm, Chapter Chair

Ways you can help: Conservation programs Chapter development Volunteer Survey Contacting elected officials Lifestyle choices

Want to volunteer for the Sierra Club, but aren’t sure how to start? Sierra Club 101 can tell you how. Sierra Club 101: A Primer for Volunteership

On a hot day in late July, I joined about 25 other people for our chapter Transportation Committee's bike ride on the Metropolitan Branch Trail in Northeast Washington. The trail is still a work in progress with additional land acquisitions and trail development work ahead, but when it is complete, it will offer cyclists a continuous path – both on street and off – from Union Station through Takoma Park and on to Silver Spring, Maryland.

Early in the ride, we biked up a ramp to one of the nicest and newest segments of the trail. It was constructed as part of the new New York Avenue MetroRail station, and runs parallel to, but set off from, the rail line. This wonderful stretch of trail has won smart growth awards.

For the time being, however, it dead-ends just north of the station. The District is expected to break ground on the next segment to the north in the fall, and when it is complete, it will provide a safe bridge over Florida Avenue, avoiding dangerous road crossings at the busy intersection of Florida and New York avenues. On this ride though, we had to retrace our path down the ramp and carefully venture through the intersection on the street.

This juncture in the trail struck me as a metaphor for where we stand in environmental progress in the District. Our goal in the Sierra Club is to achieve our vision of a Washington, D.C., with cleaner air for us all to breathe, cleaner rivers and creeks in which we can swim and fish safely, and bountiful parks and green spaces we all can enjoy for recreation. In short, we believe that our nation's capital should be a leader in environmental protection, setting a positive example for the nation. While we've made great strides in recent years toward this goal, there is a lot more we can and must do. We cannot afford to remain at a dead end gazing ahead at unfulfilled dreams.

To name just a few examples of our successes, we in the Sierra Club have helped put cleaner burning natural gas buses on our streets. We have fought for a strong public transit system, The Unfinished Path Ahead funded to meet future needs and committed to better serving its riders. We have protected our residents from the threat of a devastating terrorist attack by blocking the shipment of ultra-toxic cargoes through the heart of our city.

On the other hand, the District's recycling program is performing way below expectations, and we need to work hard to ensure that the law is fully implemented and enforced across the city. We need to continue to work to eliminate raw sewage from overflowing into the Anacostia River when it rains. We must remain vigilant to ensure that redevelopment of the Anacostia waterfront is done in a way that preserves green space and protects water quality. And we need to pass "green" building legislation requiring new development in the District to meet higher energy efficiency standards along with other environmental performance standards that will reduce rainwater runoff and energy use and fight global climate change.

We find ourselves at a crossroads, about to elect a new mayor, a new D.C. Council chairman and several other new council members. We all need to make sure we let them know – both while they are running as candidates and afterward when they have been elected to represent us – that we need their leadership and support in continuing to make progress toward our vision of a cleaner, greener and more livable Washington, D.C.

To find out how you can help us do this, please contact me at jason_broehmearthlink. net or 202-299-0745.