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02/20/2004 Archived Entry: "A 'hostile' takeover bid at the Sierra Club"

Posted by steve @ 03:04 AM EST [Link]

IT COULDN'T HAPPEN TO A NICER GROUP: The Christian Science Monitor reports today that the Sierra Club is the target of a "takeover" attempt by animal-rights and anti-immigrant activists.

A combination of animal-rights and anti-immigrant activists is aiming to take control of the organization - and change its philosophy and direction - by getting their slate of candidates elected to the group's board of directors. They already control several seats, and more are up for grabs. The dispute gets to two core questions among environmental activists.

The first is whether population growth (which in the US mainly means immigration) is a key contributor to environmental degradation because more people mean more pollution and greater consumption of natural resources. Some critics say this country's liberal immigration policy acts as a safety valve for high-population countries, making it easier to avoid dealing with their environmental problems, and adding to the problems here.

But for many environmental activists, it's hard to take a tough stand against those immigrants - especially when such a platform could dissuade other progressives from joining or contributing. Some critics say national environmental organizations have become too elite, ignoring the needs of the urban poor, many of whom are immigrants.

Read on.