About Great Waters Group and Other Wisconsin Sierra Club entities
The Great Waters Group of the John Muir Chapter (WI) is a local Sierra Club
member group that serves Sierra Club members who reside a regional boundary that includes zip codes in the Wisconsin counties
of Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, & Waukesha.
Sierra Club's local member groups are run by their own group members who volunteer
to lead and/or chair committees, activities, outings, activism and more while assuring the group maintains an alignment with the Sierra Club's
mission, objectives and policies. In Wisconsin there are a total of eight member groups that are part
of the John Muir Chapter. Each state has a Sierra Club Chapter and staff to represent the local interests of their state and member groups.
Visit Internet Resources for other Sierra Club entities.
Volunteering
Grass Roots
The Sierra Club is the oldest and largest grass roots environmental
organization in the United States.
As a grass roots organization, we rely on our members who must volunteer to make things happen. Group funding is not sufficient enough to have paid staff to do the work that is needed to be effective, so it really comes down to our members who volunteer some of their time. Some of the key areas volunteers provide value includes such things as:
+ Making inquiries of political views.
+ Obtaining facts about issues and helping our members and the public stay informed.
+ Coordinating and/or leading Activities and Outings
+ Partnering on committees or helping others become aware of impacts from their choices.
+ Helping on service projects.
+ Helping children learn the value and importance of the outdoors and the environment.
+ Administrative tasks and much more.
Sierra Club members can choose from a multitude of opportunities to fit their specific interest and availability. The greater number of volunteers, the greater our effectiveness
Group Leadership
The Great Waters Group has two leadership committees as described below.
- Executive Committee is comprised of elected volunteers who provide the group with its direction in accordance to its by-laws and Sierra Club policy. Excom member serve for two year terms.
- Volunteer Leadership Committee is comprised of member volunteers who jointly address issues and needs of our group.
Our group's organization is comprised of a Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and other administrative roles that are all volunteer. No one leader has the total accountability to make decisions affecting the group. All budget and directives of the group require a quorum vote by the Executive Committee before they can be acted on.
Visit Volunteer page to find out more
Conservation
Conservation is a primary objective of the Sierra Club's Mission. Below is a high-level overview of our group's Conservation organization that uses awareness and advocacy to protect the environment and the limited resources the earth has to offer.
Conservation Chair: The Conservation Chairperson is our group's main point of contact for Conservation issues The key role is to keep our group's leaders and conservation committees informed of events that might require action or involvement.
Great Waters Group has
four main conservation focus areas with a designated committee that volunteers can join to help with a particular area of interest as described below:
Global Warming and Energy Committee: Works to help our government representatives, business leaders, and the general public obtain a better understanding about energy use and the choices that are available for reducing the negative impacts to our shared environment.
Parks and Land Habitat Committee: Monitors issues and political decisions about our local parks and proposed changes that could be detrimental to unique green spaces or impact the sustainability of unique living things that might never be replaced.
Transportation and Sustainable Growth Committee: Monitors and identifies issues and political decisions that impact mass transit and the people that rely on it as our local communities continue to grow in population and traffic.
Water Committee: Monitors both issues and improvements needed to protect our most precious resource, water. This includes how our local municipalities deal with water and protection of inland lakes and rivers, and the Great Lakes.
