The Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) is the national student chapter of the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

, a

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

environmental organization An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces. In this sense the environme ...

. Founded by Adam Werbach in 1991, it now has about 14,000 members and is almost entirely student-led. The SSC is led by Executive Director Ben Jealous.

National-level

The SSC is under the leadership of an executive director. 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 serves on a subcommittee, the venues where the rest of the SSC's national activities are organized. The other major committees: 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 Beyond Coal movement is a campaign by environmental group the Sierra Club to promote renewable energy instead of coal. Their primary objective is to close coal power plants in the United States, including at least one-third of the country's mo ...

." The campaign is designed to be run on college campuses and local communities. The Trainings Committee (Trainings-Com). 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. The Anti-Oppression Committee (AO Com). AO Com works to establish Anti-Oppression as an integral part of the SSC to encourage

diversity Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce *Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers * ...

, inclusivity, and the open exchange of ideas. In addition, AO Com also creates an open and safe space for the SSC; through the implementation of the AO curriculum in SSC gatherings, including SPROG. AO Com creates and/or adjusts any projects, policies, or initiatives to integrate AO principles within the SSC at both a

and national level. Collaboration and input from all those in SSC get used to accomplishing these goals.

Chapter-level

The major work of the SSC is performed by a nationwide network of Campus and Community Organizers. These organizers are the students who advance the SSC and the student

environmental movement The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement) is a social movement that aims to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create sustainable living. In its recognition of humanity a ...

. Campus Organizers organize 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 state and national level. Community Organizers bring together existing SSC campus groups, group leaders, and/or recruiting non-SSC groups to the SSC that are within close geographic proximity. These groups pursue a local campaign that is usually consistent with the SSC's national 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 work together on a statewide campaign. The Chapter Organizing Team is a collection of the Community Organizers throughout a state. The Chapter Organizing Team mentor Campus Organizers and plan state trainings or conferences.

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

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

which includes the Sierra Student Coalition. The Challenge encourages young people to organize on college campuses and high schools across Canada and the US to promote 100%

clean energy Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Definitions of sustainable energy usually look at its effects on the environment, the economy, and s ...

policies at their schools. The goal of the Challenge is to grow a generation-wide movement to minimize

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

by reducing

carbon emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

at their high schools and colleges. During the summer of 2007 the Sierra Student Coalition worked in partnership with the

and the US Steelworks Union in

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

and

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

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 5-day marches which culminated in rallies at

Des Moines Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

and Concord.

Summer Environmental Leader Training Program (SPROG)

SPROG is a week-long youth leadership and

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. Six programs take place every summer, and SPROGs are regularly held in the Southwest, Southeast, Northeast/Mid-Atlantic, Northwest regions, and Puerto Rico.SPROG Home Page
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References

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External links