The Sierra Club's Long Trek to Marxism
I haven't followed the Sierra Club for a long time. As an environmentalist of sorts and 20 year member, I was heavily involved for ten years, starting in the mid 1990s. I was a leader in the internal club movement to return the club to its traditional, long standing population policy that acknowledged mass immigration as a significant contributor to population growth, and that population growth is a predominant factor driving environmental impact.
For some mysterious reason, the club abruptly and arbitrarily abandoned its traditional, rational population policy in 1996. Later, we found out the reason: a $100 million donation predicated on abandoning mass immigration as a component of population growth. (More information at SUSPS.)
The Beginning
The Sierra Club was founded in 1892 by naturalist John Muir. It defeated reducing the size of Yosemite National Park, and supported the National Park Service and California State Park Commission. During the 1960s and 1970s, the club furthered conservation efforts in the Grand Canyon, Alaska, Everglades, and Great Lakes.
The Transition
1996 marks the beginning of the slow transition of the Sierra Club from an environmental organization to a social justice organization. Today, it's a Marxist-based organization which prioritizes Leftist issues over environmental preservation.
The transition is epitomized by these contrasting photos. One is of a group of hikers taken in 1915. The other is of social justice warriors protesting racial issues.
Indeed, the Sierra Club blatantly chronicles their transition:
1940s First person of color approved for Sierra Club membership (need to confirm).
1964 Grand Canyon Dams stopped; the Sierra Club did not oppose the construction of coal-fired power plants on Navajo lands that would replace power to be generated by the new dams.
1970 Sierra Club promoted the first Earth Day, which led to landmark environmental laws to reduce pollution and protect species.
1976 Inner City Outings was founded; later renamed "Inspiring Connections Outdoors."
1979 City Care Conference in Detroit was held jointly with the National Urban League; local chapters and groups worked on joint projects with local Urban Leagues.
1986 First Person of Color elected to the National Board of Directors.
1987 Sierra Club formed the Native American Sites Committee to advocate for Native American Religious and Historic sites.
1991 Sierra Club formed Ethnic Diversity Task Force (EDTF), provide mini grants to chapters working with people of color leaders.
1993 Sierra Student Coalition founded and Environmental Justice National Policy adopted.
1994 Sierra Club published Unequal Protection: Environmental Justice and Communities of Color, by Robert Bullard.
1996 Sierra Club members rejected efforts to push it to adopt a restrictive immigration policy.
1999 New Environmental Justice Program established in five low-income BIPOC communities.
2002 First Sierra Club Dismantling Racism Training for staff and volunteers.
2005 Military Family Outdoors program launched and Sierra Club Board of Director adopted a Farmworker Rights Policy.
2006 The BlueGreen Alliance (BGA) was founded by Sierra Club and United Steelworkers.
2013 Sierra Club endorsed a "Path to Citizenship" immigration policy [which violated their 1996 policy of neutrality on immigration]
2014 Sierra Club Board of Directors adopted the Jemez Principles.
2015 Sierra Club Board of Directors adopted a Multi Year Equity, Inclusion and Justice Plan.
2017 Sierra Club published Deeper Shade of Green, an analysis of the Sierra Club’s history on race and environmental movement.
2019 Sierra Club updated the Multi-Year Equity, Inclusion and Justice Plan.
2020 Sierra Club engaged in developing the Equitable and Just National Climate Platform.
2021 Biden signed Justice40 executive order to direct 40 percent of federal climate investment benefits to disadvantaged communities.
On the same web page, the club calls founder John Muir a racist, touts their abandonment of the immigration - population - environment connection, and then discusses the Sierra Club today:
The Sierra Club is owning how white supremacy and racism have shaped the founding and history of the Sierra Club and the environmental movement. The Sierra Club is committed to becoming an anti-racist leader and building the type of all-inclusive movement needed to improve global environmental health for all. We acknowledge that we have work to do to become the inclusive and anti-racist organization we want to be.
What an utterly unpalatable statement. It alludes that the club and the environmental movement is founded on White supremacy and racism. What unmitigated, woke hogwash. It then champions the cause of anti-racism, and to hell with environmental issues.
For those who have been numbed by the onslaught of racist hyperbole which began during the Obama years, fighting "White supremacy" is code for fighting Western Civilization - the civilization invented and perpetuated by Whites. A civilization which, by the way, embraces environmentalism.
Related
John Muir: Taoist and Founder of the Modern Environmental Movement
The Sierra Club devours its own
The inanity of the social justice Sierra Club
Sierra Club sells out on immigration - again
The Sierra Club Embraced Social Justice. Then It Tore Itself Apart, New York Times, 7 November 2025:
The Sierra Club... has lost 60 percent of the four million members and supporters it counted in 2019. It has held three rounds of employee layoffs since 2022, trying to climb out of a $40 million projected budget deficit...
"Sierra Club is in a downward spiral," a group of managers wrote in a letter... to the club's leadership in June...
By 2022, the club had exhausted its finances and splintered its coalition...
More than half of members also said they were worried that the club's shift toward social justice "will detract from its core mission of protecting the environment" and alienate conservatives...
... the Sierra Club has shown no signs of reverting to its focus on strictly environmental issues...
Sierra Club Equity Language Guide
As an example of how far woke, leftist, and out of touch the Sierra Club has become, consider the Sierra Club's 2018 Equity Language Guide, which was developed "with support from the executive team, Equity department, Justice Cluster, the Gender, Equity, and Environment program, and many others." The "Justice Cluster" sounds like a malignant tumor, which it is.
The guide usges Sierra Club representatives to adopt the idiotic and obfuscating language of the left, stating for example:
"So when referring to someone with HIV, for example, refer to 'a person living with HIV' rather than an 'HIV patient'.. This also applies to common socially stigmatized identities; for instance, 'formerly incarcerated person'... as opposed to reductive terms like 'inmate' or 'felon.'"
It also states:
"When writing about a specific individual, always confirm with them their gender and pronouns..."
And of course, "Use gender-neutral terms whenever possible."
Regarding overpopulation, the fundamental cause of pressure threatening our sustaining ecosystems, the document states that:
"... many members and leaders of the Sierra Club, have used concern about 'overpopulation' as a pseudo-scientific justification for racist and xenophobic policies to limit both immigration and reproductive freedom. The Sierra Club has made an intentional shift away from this legacy with our current focus on gender and rights."
It continues, stating:
"Never use the term 'illegal' to describe a person... Avoid using the term 'Americans' generically for a group... Avoid referring to 'citizens' when possible...
And of course, Terms and Phrases to avoid include: "alien, an illegal, illegal alien, illegal immigrant, legal citizen, legalized, migrant, naturalized", and "second-generation."
The Sierra Club has demonstrably abandoned its foundational charter to protect and preserve our wild lands for all Americans, choosing instead to trek with breakneck speed into the dark quagmire of Hegelin Marxism.