Sierra Student Coalition
Encyclopedia
The Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) is the national student chapter of the Sierra Club
. Founded by Adam Werbach
in 1991, it now has about 14,000 members and is likely the largest student-led environmental group in the United States
.
The SSC is governed by a seven-member volunteer Executive Committee (Ex-Com). The Ex-Com sets the national campaign priorities of the SSC and is responsible for allocating the annual budget, prioritizing national campaigns, and serving the volunteer membership and Chapter structure of the SSC. Every ExCom member also actively serves on a subcommittee, the venues where the rest of the SSC’s national activities are organized
The current SSC Ex-Com, for 2011-2012, consists of Maura Friedman, Joseph Manning, Cara Cooper , Bo Ra Kim, Matt Wyatt, Claire Meints, and Adam Moskowitz.
The other major committees include:
The Campaign Committee (CampCom). Camp-Com is responsible for planning and developing the SSC’s national campaign priorities, including development of relevant campaign resources in coordination with SSC staff. The SSC’s current priority campaign is “Campuses Beyond Coal”. The campaign is designed to be run on college campuses or in local communities.
The Trainings Committee. Trainings-Com teaches the skills that the SSC’s member activists use to organize. In coordination with the SSC Trainings Director, the Trainings-Com is responsible for conducting Summer Environmental Training Programs (SPROG) during the summer. They also run workshops at regional and national conferences and train students who want to become trainers themselves.
. These two positions are probably the most important role that one can serve in the SSC.
Campus Organizers are charged with the responsibility of organizing effective SSC groups that run local campaigns on their high school or college campus. These local campaigns are usually consistent with SSC priority issue focus at the national and state-level.
Community Organizers are charged with the responsibility of bringing together existing SSC campus groups and group leaders and/or recruiting non-SSC groups to the SSC that are within a close geographic proximity (say for instance all of the campus groups in one city, like Seattle, WA or one county, like Montgomery County, MD). As one community these groups pursue a local campaign that is usually consistent with the SSC’s national issue focus. A community organizer position only becomes available once there are at least two functioning and registered SSC campus groups within a community to organize and coordinate. Community Organizers often utilize Sierra Club as a recruitment partner.
A Chapter Organizing Team (or State ExCom) is formed when there are multiple campus groups or community campaigns that have a compelling reason to work together on a common state-wide campaign. The Chapter Organizing Team is simply a collection of the Community Organizers throughout a state. The team is charged with the responsibility of mentoring Campus Organizers by planning state trainings or conferences and assisting in the implementation of national or state level SSC campaigns in their community. The Chapter Organizing Team consists of up to 7 Community Organizers (representing communities in states) who each run the state-level campaign in their respective community.
A Chapter Organizing Chair is elected by the Chapter Organizing Team to serve as its representative to SSC National and to coordinate state level organizing efforts. In lieu of a Chapter Chair, a Community Organizer may serve as the representative to the SSC National. A chair position will only become available once there are at least two community organizers in a state and six active campus groups that want coordination.
, including the Sierra Student Coalition. The Challenge leverages the power of young people to organize on college campuses and high schools across Canada and the U.S. to win 100% clean energy policies at their schools. The goal of the Challenge is to grow a generation-wide movement to stop global warming
, by reducing carbon emissions from their high schools and colleges down to zero, and leading society to a clean energy future.
Campus Climate Challenge Website
During the summer of 2007 the Sierra Student Coalition worked in partnership with the Sierra Club
and the US Steelworks Union, in New Hampshire
and Iowa
to reach out to citizens to call for action to cut carbon emissions 80% by 2050 and to create 2 million new jobs in a clean energy economy. With the ReEnergizeUS campaign, the SSC held two major five-day marches of hundreds of people which culminated at rallies in Des Moines and Concord
.
ReEnergizeUS Website
training program. High school and college students learn the essentials of grassroots advocacy, build community, and learn the skills to be a force for change. SPROGs are held in several locations throughout the United States
each summer. In 2010, they were held in Alabama
, Louisiana
, Puerto Rico
, Virginia
, and Washington.
SPROG Home Page
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
. Founded by Adam Werbach
Adam Werbach
Adam Werbach is an environmental activist who was elected as the youngest-ever national president of the Sierra Club in 1996 when he was 23 years old. He is the author of Strategy for Sustainability: A Business Manifesto, published by Harvard Business Press, and named one of the top business books...
in 1991, it now has about 14,000 members and is likely the largest student-led environmental group in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
National-level
The Sierra Student Coalition is directed by a paid National Director. The current director of the SSC is Quentin James.The SSC is governed by a seven-member volunteer Executive Committee (Ex-Com). The Ex-Com sets the national campaign priorities of the SSC and is responsible for allocating the annual budget, prioritizing national campaigns, and serving the volunteer membership and Chapter structure of the SSC. Every ExCom member also actively serves on a subcommittee, the venues where the rest of the SSC’s national activities are organized
The current SSC Ex-Com, for 2011-2012, consists of Maura Friedman, Joseph Manning, Cara Cooper , Bo Ra Kim, Matt Wyatt, Claire Meints, and Adam Moskowitz.
The other major committees include:
The Campaign Committee (CampCom). Camp-Com is responsible for planning and developing the SSC’s national campaign priorities, including development of relevant campaign resources in coordination with SSC staff. The SSC’s current priority campaign is “Campuses Beyond Coal”. The campaign is designed to be run on college campuses or in local communities.
The Trainings Committee. Trainings-Com teaches the skills that the SSC’s member activists use to organize. In coordination with the SSC Trainings Director, the Trainings-Com is responsible for conducting Summer Environmental Training Programs (SPROG) during the summer. They also run workshops at regional and national conferences and train students who want to become trainers themselves.
Chapter-level
The lifeblood of the SSC is our nationwide network of Campus and Community Organizers. These organizers are the students on the ground who win the victories that advance the SSC and the student environmental movementEnvironmental movement
The environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues....
. These two positions are probably the most important role that one can serve in the SSC.
Campus Organizers are charged with the responsibility of organizing effective SSC groups that run local campaigns on their high school or college campus. These local campaigns are usually consistent with SSC priority issue focus at the national and state-level.
Community Organizers are charged with the responsibility of bringing together existing SSC campus groups and group leaders and/or recruiting non-SSC groups to the SSC that are within a close geographic proximity (say for instance all of the campus groups in one city, like Seattle, WA or one county, like Montgomery County, MD). As one community these groups pursue a local campaign that is usually consistent with the SSC’s national issue focus. A community organizer position only becomes available once there are at least two functioning and registered SSC campus groups within a community to organize and coordinate. Community Organizers often utilize Sierra Club as a recruitment partner.
A Chapter Organizing Team (or State ExCom) is formed when there are multiple campus groups or community campaigns that have a compelling reason to work together on a common state-wide campaign. The Chapter Organizing Team is simply a collection of the Community Organizers throughout a state. The team is charged with the responsibility of mentoring Campus Organizers by planning state trainings or conferences and assisting in the implementation of national or state level SSC campaigns in their community. The Chapter Organizing Team consists of up to 7 Community Organizers (representing communities in states) who each run the state-level campaign in their respective community.
A Chapter Organizing Chair is elected by the Chapter Organizing Team to serve as its representative to SSC National and to coordinate state level organizing efforts. In lieu of a Chapter Chair, a Community Organizer may serve as the representative to the SSC National. A chair position will only become available once there are at least two community organizers in a state and six active campus groups that want coordination.
Priority Campaign: The Campus Climate Challenge
The Campus Climate Challenge is a project of more than 30 leading youth organizations throughout the U.S. and CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, including the Sierra Student Coalition. The Challenge leverages the power of young people to organize on college campuses and high schools across Canada and the U.S. to win 100% clean energy policies at their schools. The goal of the Challenge is to grow a generation-wide movement to stop global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
, by reducing carbon emissions from their high schools and colleges down to zero, and leading society to a clean energy future.
Campus Climate Challenge Website
During the summer of 2007 the Sierra Student Coalition worked in partnership with the Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
and the US Steelworks Union, in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
and Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
to reach out to citizens to call for action to cut carbon emissions 80% by 2050 and to create 2 million new jobs in a clean energy economy. With the ReEnergizeUS campaign, the SSC held two major five-day marches of hundreds of people which culminated at rallies in Des Moines and Concord
Concord, New Hampshire
The city of Concord is the capital of the state of New Hampshire in the United States. It is also the county seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2010 census, its population was 42,695....
.
ReEnergizeUS Website
Summer Environmental Leader Training Program (SPROG)
SPROG is a week long youth leadership and grassrootsGrassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
training program. High school and college students learn the essentials of grassroots advocacy, build community, and learn the skills to be a force for change. SPROGs are held in several locations throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
each summer. In 2010, they were held in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, and Washington.
SPROG Home Page