I found the selection of questions asked by the Nominating Committee revealing, especially the one which asks:

"Do you believe that removing George Bush from the White House should be the Club's main mission in 2004? How would you contribute to this goal as a Club director?"

Yikes. If the Sierra Club is simply a front for the Democrats, maybe it should just say so.

So, as a new member of the Sierra Club, I sat down and read the piles of tree fiber products which are quickly stacking up around me.

The March/April 2004 Sierra Magazine includes an interesting two-page interview with the patron saint of the Club, Yvon Chouinard, who founded synthetic clothing company Patagonia.(1) Chouinard became rich selling "eco-fleece" garments to the Sierra Club masses who appear to spend a lot of time enjoying life, as does Chouinard, who is constantly on vacation, skiing, sailing, surfing - you name it - what a life this man leads!

However, Patagonia's products, which are made from synthetics, are not recyclable, biodegradable or sustainable - they come from oil.

Chouinard uses his interview to promote giving money to NGOs, what he calls "an Earth tax, for being part of the problem." Perhaps one of those NGOs will start a recycling program for all that eco-fleece out there. It will still be out there long after Chouinard has scaled his last mountain and surfed his last wave. Sigh.

Down with Dubya

Page after page of Sierra Magazine is dedicated to Bush-bashing.

Even though this is an election year, the Club lays it on a bit thick. Is this an "outdoor" club or a political front group?

The Sierra Club is a 501(c)4 which allows it to get political and so it does. Any land use or management policy promoted by the Bush administration gets attacked, even though it means supporting working people, including loggers who cut the trees for the paper the Sierra tirade is printed on, and miners who produce the oil needed for Sierra Clubbers to take the many vacations promoted throughout most of the magazine. This audience appears to have lots of time and lots of money and it appears they assume none of their readers could possibly be Republican, involved in food or fiber production or, gasp, an oil worker or logger!

The last page of the magazine takes a parting shot at Interior Secretary Gale Norton who had the audacity to pose outdoors for an article in Vanity Fair Magazine (even though the great outdoors is the domain of the Department of the Interior).

The Sierra Club complains that Norton's outdoorsy pose is misleading since the Bush administration is "allowing oil, gas, and coal companies to conduct a 'massive, irreversible land grab' of America's wilderness."

Sierra Magazine, however, doesn't see any irony in the interview with a synthetic (oil-based) clothing mogul, the hundreds of "ecotourism" ads (which all require one to take a car, train or plane to get there) and the front inside cover and back cover ads which feature Japanese car companies burning, you guessed it, oil.

NOTES:

(1) For more on Patagonia, see "A Day at the Races : The Fur Trade Is So Far Ahead of Politically Correct, Others Are Racing Just to Keep Up," FCUSA commentary. (July 2000)