Today President Obama delivered a powerful and visionary inaugural address that made fighting climate change a key focus of his next term: "We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations." We applaud the President for his bold words.

Last week, the Sierra Club launched our Obama Climate Legacy and Clean Energy Project. Only the president of the United States can lead a response to climate disruption on the scale we need. The president must fire up our clean-energy economy, challenge Big Oil, and stand up to the political and PR bullies who promote the industry and oil profits above all other American interests. 2013 must be the year of climate solutions, and the first step President Obama must take is to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.

This beautiful movie showcases the stunning scenery of the Peninsula's pristine wilderness and interviews four local voices, including one of the Wild Olympics Coalition's local leaders, author, poet and naturalist Tim McNulty of Sequim. Screenings are in Seattle on Jan. 25 and in Olympia on Feb. 6.

Seattle Jan. 25: The National Parks Conservation Association, Olympic Park Associates, American Whitewater, Olympic Forest Coalition and Seattle Mountaineers Public Lands Program are hosting the screening as a benefit of the Wild Olympics Campaign. It will be at the Seattle Mountaineers Program Center, 7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle. Doors open at 7 p.m., with the film at 7:45 p.m. DVDs will be available for purchase.

On New Year's Day, a Shell oil rig loaded with over 150,000 gallons of petroleum products went aground on an island off the coast of Alaska. This is the latest in a series of incidents proving that Shell Oil can't be trusted to drill in America's Arctic.

Last year, Sierra Club members and supporters like you managed to stop Shell from drilling for oil in the Polar Bear Seas. Now we need to make sure that President Obama doesn't let Shell drill this year, either.

Protect the Polar Bear Seas from disaster. Tell President Obama to immediately cancel Shell's drilling permits before it's too late. Click here to send your message to the President.

This year, join 24 of the state's leading conservation groups and hundreds of citizen advocates to push for the passage of the Environmental Priorities Coalition's 2013 legislative agenda. We need you in Olympia on February 19, 2013, to garner the support of all three of your state legislators by using your power of persuasion as you meet face-to-face with them. Register Now!

NOTE: Pre-registration closes Friday, February 15th at 8pm. Any registration after February 15th, will be considered "Day of Event". If you have not registered by February 15th, we still welcome you to attend the event. The fee will be $20, which does not include a lunch option, and will be collected when you arrive in Olympia. Make sure you go to the "Day of Event" registration line when you get to the church.

Big Coal is beginning to realize the power of numbers.

Two weeks ago, 1,000 people, dead-set on opposing plans to use the Washington coast as a launching point for Big Coal exports, filled the small town of Mount Vernon in solidarity. It was the third in a series of public hearings concerning the environmental review process and the issue of hauling tens of millions of tons of coal each year through Washington State's communities, farmlands, and natural landscapes.

Whatcom County is Ground Zero for the proposed Cherry Point coal export terminal. The terminal would be just 5 miles west of Ferndale. And substantial support has been expressed for the coal terminal by Ferndale's mayor and 42nd District legislators. On November 29, we have a chance to tell the Army Corps of Engineers about the devastating impacts the Gateway Pacific Terminal would have on Ferndale and other communities in Washington.

What: Public hearing on the Gateway Pacific Terminal

On Thursday, November 15, at 7:00 pm, adventurer and author Debbie S. Miller will be at the Mountaineers Program Center in Seattle, WA to share stories of her experience traveling down the wild rivers of Northwest Alaska. Her dynamic multimedia presentation includes photos by her travel companions, two of Alaska's best known nature photographers, and sound recordings made during her journey. Debbie will introduce her new book On Arctic Ground: Tracking Time in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve.

In late September, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber formally announced his commitment to a new, inclusive stakeholder dialogue to recover wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia-Snake Basin. Read his Op-Ed piece in the Oregonian.

This is great news because it's a definitive step towards getting these important talks started.

We need your help: Gov. Kitzhaber needs voices like yours to support his position and aid the recovery of wild salmon and steelhead.

After more than a year of community engagement around the issue of coal exports, the Sierra Club and our partners in the Power Past Coal Campaign are kicking into high gear. The environmental review process is finally underway for the largest coal export terminal proposed in the Northwest, at Cherry Point in Bellingham.

Now is the time to make your voice heard!

From the towering peaks of the North Cascades to the mature forests in Southwest Washington, the Sierra Club's local Resilient Habitats Campaign continues to fight to restore forest health while expanding opportunities for hiking, camping, bird watching, kayaking, and every other kind of low-impact outdoor recreation you can imagine. In this spirit, we conducted a series of excursions this summer into the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and around the Capitol State Forest, visiting marvelous places such as the Mima Mounds, Pete Lake, and Esmeralda Basin. These trips helped us build our activist and volunteer support, while educating participants about our proposals to both safeguard mature forests in Southwest Washington and permanently protect key roadless, wild areas in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.