Club advocates awareness, safety
Campus Times
November 6, 1998
An environmental group with more than 16 geographic chapters in the
Los Angeles area, the Sierra Club, does a variety of work to promote environmental
awareness and safety throughout the United States and the world as a whole.
Originally, the Sierra Club was established by Naturalist John Muir
as a way of preserving the Sierra Nevada territory. However, since its foundation
in 1892, the efforts of the club have expanded to "try to protect different
parts of the planet," said Robin Ives, vice chair of the Angeles Chapter
of the Sierra Club and 40-year member.
"It's a very effective environmental organization," said Ives.
"I'd been active with mountaineering and was impressed by the club.
"Some of those interests included preserving the animal habitat
and the endangered species, to preserve public lands and to end commercial
logging on public lands."
Ives, whose Claremont home serves as the regional office for the club,
said other goals of this national organization are to preserve the air quality,
water quality and the overall conditions of life. In the Angeles Chapter
alone, an estimated 50,000 members help with these efforts; of that number,
some members are as young as 6-7 years old, while some of the members are
about 80 years old.
Featured as some of the activities in which the Sierra Club participates
throughout the year are both night and day hikes, bus trips, bike tours,
wilderness classes and lodge events in the mountain areas. Ives and his
wife, Lori, initially gave birth to some of these activities, as they began
teaching a mountaineering training course for the chapter in 1961.
"People who participated learned basic mountaineering and wilderness
travel skills," said Ives. "They would learn how to travel safely
in mountains and deserts."
Ives said he has stayed involved in the Sierra Club for a number of
reasons, those of which include that the organization "does important
work," and he wants to be involved in such tasks. To fulfill some of
these duties, Ives said members of the club do a great deal of legal and
political work to get their message across the world. Ultimately, they seek
to protect areas of the environment "by whatever means possible."
The Sierra Club is open to the public, and requires both an application
and fee to register as a member. For students, fees are set at $15 a year
per individual or $23 a year for joint groups. Other categories list the
required fees for members, including a senior discount fee, and introductory
rate and a limited income fee.
To learn more about the Sierra Club, contact the Ives at 621-7148, or
write to the Angeles Chapter at 3435 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 20, Los Angeles,
CA 90010.
