Seattle Group
The Seattle group serves Seattle and Shoreline, and focuses on local issues, including improving public transit, reducing waste, environmental justice, and endorsing and supporting green candidates.
We generally meet the second Tuesday of odd months for Seattle Group planning meetings, and subcommittees may meet more frequently. Please contact our chair Dan Schwartz (dpschwartz at gmail dot com) if you'd like to join us.
We are looking for a new venue for our monthly member/volunteer social gatherings. Got a suggestion? Let us know! See our Meetup page at http://www.meetup.com/Sierra-Club-Social-Events-Seattle-Area, or the calendar at right, for future events.
Group Elections Congratulations to our newly elected members: Adam Goch, Jenny Slemp, Jack Bolton, Josh Osborne-Klein, and Kevin Fullerton! And thanks again to our two retiring members, Brady Montz and Brian Kilgore, for their years of valuable service.
Executive Committee
Chair: Dan Schwartz
Treasurer: Tim Hesterberg
Membership chair: vacant
Political chair: vacant
Outings chair: Jacquie Powers
Committee members: Sara Kiesler, Drew Paxton, Gary Manca, Kevin Fullerton, Jack Bolton, Josh Osborne-Klein, Jenny Slemp, Adam Goch, Dan Schwartz
Would you like to help? Please contact Dan Schwartz (dpschwartz at gmail dot com)
2013 Calendars are available, see our
calendar page. Proceeds benefit local environmental action.
Executive committee member statements
Sara Kiesler As a Seattle Group Executive Committee member, my priorities include zero waste initiatives, funding the bicycle and pedestrian master plans, expanding our coalition to labor and social justice groups, cleaning up the port and communicating our priorities more effectively in the legislature.
My background is mostly in communications work, including my new role as the Washington, Idaho and Alaska Communications Director for Planned Parenthood. Upon moving to King County in April 2009, within six days I began volunteering as the New Media Coordinator, organizing online activistsfor the Green Bag Campaign to pass a 20-cent disposable bag fee in Seattle. I joined the Sierra Club soon after that, sitting on the campaign steering committee to develop communications and elections strategies during the 2010 campaign. I also began spending my time phonebanking and doorknocking for various campaigns, ranging from Referendum 52 and Hans Dunshee's re-election bid to our Cascade Chapter, where I've helped with media (old and new) relations and worked with social justice and union groups to help clean up the port. I've also been a member of the Seattle Group for a year and sat in on numerous political committee meetings to offer input on various ports campaigns.
Gary Manca Born and raised in Seattle, I became a lawyer to help people, advocate for the public interest, and serve the city I love. Six months ago, I left my job at a downtown law firm. I joined the Litigation Committee for the state chapter of the Sierra Club, helping decide whether the Club should join lawsuits to protect our air, water, and forests. I now volunteer at the Housing Justice Project, where I have advised and represented low-income tenants who are facing eviction and homelessness. And, most recently, I served as the attorney for the campaign to stop the underground-highway replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
The Sierra Club Seattle Group is a critical voice. As environmentalists, progressives, and residents of an urban area, we have an important perspective on what it will take to achieve a better future. Fast, reliable transit. Less waste piled in our landfills and poisoning our marine environment. Clean energy. A society that does not unfairly burden the poor or communities of color with pollution and industrial toxins. A green economy. We cannot afford to let short-sightedness or the forces of fear to stop the progress we need.
As the Sierra Club has shown so often, we have the power to achieve the future we all want. The Club has done so much to be proud of, and I want to be part of the work to come-public education, organizing, political campaigns.
Dan Schwartz Dan Schwartz has been volunteering for the Sierra Club for the past four years, currently serving as chair of the Seattle Group. He also sits on the Chapter Political Committee, Seattle ExComm, and the Environmental Justice Committee. He is working to build a career in green infrastructure and urban ecosystem management, and looks forward to continuing to advocate for progressive environmental policy for years to come.
Drew Paxton I have spent the past two years consistently volunteering for many campaigns within the Washington Chapter. From tabling with Beyond Coal campaign to serving on both the Seattle Group and Chapter Political Committees, I have gained a wide breadth of experience with the Sierra Club's local and regional priorities. Most recently, I served as the Chapter Political Committee Chair and am now working to drive volunteer turnout for campaign events for our targeted races this fall. I am looking forward to serving on the Seattle Group Executive Committee and continuing the effort to lead environmental activism here in Seattle.
Jack Bolton Right now, I am working for ways to address the most pressing issues facing us due to the force of anthropogenic climate change. I keep a holistic perspective, as I continue my education in history, science, economics, etc. Over the past few years, I have volunteered with the Cascades Chapter in advocating for rational transportation choices for all. Since 2009, I have volunteered for the McGinn for Mayor campaign, Washington Beyond Coal, and the 2011 Protect Seattle Now campaign. Looking ahead to the increasingly difficult challenges for sustainability, I hope to continue participating in direct action for the planet through education and communication. Currently, I work as a transportation engineer for the state on the I-90 light rail project.
Kevin Fullerton I have served on the Executive Committee since 2003. I chaired the Seattle group's Political Committee until 2008, engaging heavily in Sierra Club campaigns to prevent freeway replacements for the Alaskan Way Viaduct and prevent approval of the regional "Roads and Transit" measure, which proposed expansion of Eastside highways. I have coordinated Club endorsement of dozens of local and statewide elected officials, seeking tougher commitments on climate change, alternative transportation, and urban density. I am executive director of the Renewable Farming Group of Washington, a nonprofit that assists agricultural businesses that develop bio-based alternatives to fertilizers and other agricultural products derived from fossil fuels.
Josh Osborne-Klein Josh Osborne-Klein has been a member of the Seattle Group Executive Committee since 2007. He currently serves as chair of the Chapter Conservation Committee. He is committed to ensuring that Sierra Club works to promote social justice through its efforts to protect the natural environment. In addition to volunteering for the Seattle Group, Josh works as environmental attorney--he has represented the Sierra Club in several cases on a topics spanning from endangered species protections to greenhouse gas emissions controls. He is also a member of the Chapter Environmental Justice Committee and the Chapter Litigation Committee.
Jennifer Slemp An outdoors enthusiast and nature lover, Jennifer Slemp is a new member of the Seattle Group. She is interested in promoting environmental justice, which is the prevention, reduction, and elimination of the known disproportionate environmental burdens primarily on people of color, indigenous, and low-income communities. In addition to volunteering for the Seattle Group, Jennifer works as attorney in the local Seattle area.
Adam Goch I am a new emigre to Seattle and the beautiful Pacific Northwest. I came here to study environmental politics and ecological political theory in the Political Science program at the UW. In moving here and beginning to experience the wonder of the Cascades and the Olympics I must say, I already feel at home. I'm a part of the Sierra Club because of the great respect I have for its history of protecting the splendor of our natural world and for the great hope I have that the SC can be an integral part of transforming our cities into the havens of sustainability and green living they need to be.
