MISSISSIPPI CHAPTER

The Mississippi Sierra Club, as part of its Outdoor Adventures program, is sponsoring a master naturalist class next spring. The master naturalist class will be taught by Mississippi State University. The Master Naturalist Program provides natural resource training to individuals in exchange for outreach and service educational efforts in natural resources and environmental awareness programs in their communities.

SIGN UP TO REGISTER FOR THE EVENT! The Mississippi Sierra Club is sponsoring our second kayak trip of the year October 8th. This time we will be traveling from the Reservoir down to LeFleur Bluff State Park, and we will be providing a guide to tell us about the river and the surrounding habitat.

THIS INFORMATION COURTESY OF MDEQ
There are two upcoming public meetings related to Deepwater Horizon oil spill restoration. The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (Council) has released a proposed update to its 2013 Comprehensive Plan that provides important additional strategic guidance for the Council to follow as it makes decisions on funding future projects and activities.

Please JOIN US for a panel discussion on how communities, homeowners, and businesses can benefit from solar energy and what we can do to ensure its availability for all Mississippians.

This month we start the second half of our Outdoor Adventures program. Join us at the Natural Science Museum where Dr. Brent Hendrixson of Millsaps College will teach us about arachnids as we explore their habitats along the trail. The event is free. Please register for the event here.

Our friends at the Garden Club of Jackson are sponsoring the first annual Jackson Weed Wrangle, and we are happy to support and partner with them on this effort. Cheryl Welch is the president of the Garden Club of Jackson and sent us the following information about the event.
JOIN US at the first-ever Weed Wrangle Jackson event, set for Saturday, September 17th from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at LeFleur’s Bluff State Park on Lakeland Drive in Jackson.

FROM THE CLARION LEDGER
BY ANNA WOLFE
(File Photo/The Clarion-Ledger)
CDT August 20, 2016
A former official responsible for protecting Mississippi's environment is representing two companies accused of contaminating a Grenada community’s groundwater. A former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officer is representing the company that serves as the face of the contaminated site, which the EPA has overseen for years.

Now, the community is expressing skepticism about the players, including those at the state and federal regulatory agencies, who are tasked with keeping them safe and healthy. "They’re like hand in glove with the polluters," said Ted Lyon, the residents' attorney. "There’s a lot of you scratch my back, I’ll scratch your back."
See the rest of the story HERE

The mind-boggling amount of food Americans throw away is the kind of problem that seems ripe for nationwide reform. But while federal legislation lingers in Congress, some states have found promising ways to keep edible items out of the trash.
FROM THE HUFFINGTON POST: THESE FOUR STATES ARE DOING SOMETHING TRULY REVOLUTIONARY WITH FOOD

July 29, 2016
By Sierra Club Media Team
On July 27, nearly a decade after Sierra Club volunteers used testing to show high formaldehyde levels in FEMA trailers supplied to Gulf Coast residents after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule to protect people from formaldehyde in wood products.

READ ALL ABOUT IT!
How a Big Coal Blunder Gave Mississippi a Chance for Cleaner Air
(from Yes! Magazine)