Think you know what an environmentalist looks like? Strike that image from your head. We've come a long
way since the first Earth Day 35 years ago. Now, the most compelling voices for environmental stewardship are as likely to
be a minister, a hunter, a nurse, or a union shop steward.
In an increasingly polarized nation, environmental issues may be a natural way to unite groups across the
spectrum. Recent trends both at the national level and in our own backyard underscore this opportunity.
Take, for example, recent actions by conservative evangelicals who recently sent a letter to President Bush
that said, ''Protection of the global climate is an essential requirement for faithful human stewardship of God's creation
on Earth.''
The National Council of Churches, which represents over 100,000 congregations nationwide, has begun to describe
stewardship of the earth as a critical ''moral value.''
It's not just religious groups. Hunters and anglers are the most vocal allies of wetlands protection and
they represent a formidable obstacle to anyone proposing to weaken existing protections. Unions have also taken up the environment
as a cause; they know better than anyone that developing clean energy technologies will create quality jobs. And Latinos and
African-Americans are also becoming more visibly linked to conservationists because it's their families and communities that
are disproportionately affected by pollution.
The whole notion of environmental politics as a unifying issue is as true in Pennsylvania as it is anywhere.
Perhaps nothing better demonstrates this trend than the Sierra Club's campaign to reduce mercury pollution from coal-fired
power plants in the state by 90 percent by 2007. Sierra Club joins other partners around the state to fight for healthier,
safer communities for our children.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that 630,000 babies are born each year with unsafe
blood mercury levels. Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin that has be linked to serious developmental disorders in children.
Currently, 1 in 6 women have mercury levels in their blood considered dangerous for their unborn babies'
health, and in Pennsylvania, over 2.5 million children live within 30 miles of a power plant — we must do a better job
protecting our children and mothers.
Sierra Club is part of a broad coalition of groups — ranging from Pennsylvania Trout to Pennsylvania
Federation of Sportsman Club to Pennsylvania State Building & Construction Trades Council — that have all come together
to ask the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to do what the federal government and our Sens. Rick
Santorum and Arlen Specter have not: Protect our families and communities by utilizing currently available technology
to put us on the road to reducing mercury pollution from Pennsylvania's coal-fired power plants.
Whether you're liberal or conservative, small-business owner or a worker, all Pennsylvanians can agree on
one thing: We need an affordable and convenient public transit system. What we have learned over and over again is that everyone
has a stake when it comes to protecting our air, water and natural places. The values we are talking about — like fairness,
responsibility, health and safety — are universal. And many of the solutions to our environmental challenges are well
within reach, if we work together.
''When we try to pick out anything by itself,'' Sierra Club founder John Muir said, ''We find it hitched
to everything else in the universe.'' That's more true today than ever.
Elise Annunziata is a senior regional representative for Sierra Club in Pennsylvania, with offices in Narberth.
