Colorado’s Sierra Club is under investigation by the national organization for tolerating racism and misogyny and may see the entire leadership of the 20,000-member chapter suspended.
A national meeting was held last week and input has been collected from Colorado members with the deadline for comments closing Saturday.
It turns out not all of those tasked with protecting Mother Nature are fond of women and leaders are overwhelmingly white, which is not acceptable for an organization that defines itself by protecting the environment as a social justice organization.
Former leaders say racist language was used and people were called half-breeds and hybrids, women were marginalized, genders were discriminated against, and those who spoke up here persecuted.
That’s just in Colorado.
Turns out the problems are systematic in the national Sierra Club going back to its founder John Muir, who is said to have held racist views against Black people and Native Americans.
Politico reported that anger and aggression were tolerated in the national organization of tree huggers, as part of its culture of “yelling, berating, shaming, and otherwise demonstrating unprofessional and abusive behavior in the workplace.”
But back home in Colorado, some club leaders have resigned in protest and the national club blames both accused and accusers.
It seems that not everyone was eager to participate in holding an equity moment at every meeting or participating in anti-oppression training and diversity development, or conducting land acknowledgements.
Such efforts were quashed by the systemic misogyny of old white men and indifference by old white women, accusers say.
And caught in the middle was the director who considered himself a feminist, but was forced to resign.
We’re not exaggerating.
A group once dedicated to protecting the environment is now consumed with coddling their own fragile egos.
This is a must-read story produced by E&E News Greenwire. It’s dripping with unintended irony and dishy as a soap opera full of petty and shallow millennials and some bitter boomers.
The Colorado Sierra Club looks like a Kia overflowing with clowns.
Stay tuned.