Sierra Club Sangamon Valley Group

Let's get LOUD on Saturday! Join us at the Lincoln Statue at the Capitol at noon for a rally for the POWER Act!. We'll make sure our legislators know we want guardrails around data centers and we want them NOW!

Saturday May 30th. In Springfield. There is a great lineup of speakers and it should be a beautiful day for making some noise!

POWER Act Lobby Day Rally - Poster.pdf

👟 Southwind Park walk in Springfield on Tuesday, June 2nd from 10:30AM to 12:30PM.

While not a Sierra Club event:
“Central Illinois Walking and Hiking Meetup” is hosting an accessible 3 mile meander! 🌲

☀️ Open sidewalks, bring sunscreen as needed. Leashed pets are welcome. Optional lunch afterwards at Motorheads Route 66. If you are interested in participating, RSVP on the Meetup website or app!

meetu.ps

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CYpvvenkS/

April was the second warmest on record in Illinois and one of the wettest as well. What else is in store as we move toward late spring and summer? Join the Mining Issues Team for "Dangerous Acts: High Emissions=Hot Days". State Climatologist Dr. Trent Ford, will talk about climate change in Illinois and we'll also discuss the connection between policy and our changing climate. May 20th, 6:30 pm on Zoom. https://tinyurl.com/Dangerous-Acts

🥾 Lewis Memorial Acres hike on the western side of Springfield on
Tuesday, June 12th from
5:30PM to 7:00PM.

While not a Sierra Club event:
“Central Illinois Walking and Hiking Meetup” is hosting an inaccessible 80 minute (~3-4 mile) adventure! 🌲

🐿️ Mixed hilly wooded trail. Leashed pets are welcome. If you are interested in participating, RSVP on the Meetup website or app!

meetu.ps

Shifting baseline syndrome (SBS) is what happens when we forget how vibrant the natural world used to be. Each generation grows up with a more depleted environment and calls it “normal,” simply because it’s all they’ve ever known.

Think about walking through a park and thinking, “This seems healthy.” But maybe 30 years ago that same park had twice as many birds, wildflowers, or insects. If you never saw that version, you don’t feel the loss — and that quiet forgetting becomes the new baseline. Over time, we start accepting degraded ecosystems as normal.

Researchers warn that this shift lowers our expectations, increases our tolerance for decline, and reduces our urgency to protect what’s left.

What helps:

Intergenerational conversations that reconnect us with what nature used to be.

Direct experiences with nature that sharpen our awareness of change.

Remembering (knowing) the past is the first step to restoring the future.

Data Center Votes Matter