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Kentucky's highest peak, Black Mountain, straddles the border with Virginia and offers a stark contrast between the two states. Look to Virginia from the summit, and you'll see a landscape devastated by mountaintop-removal coal mining. The Kentucky side, though, is still protected, and The Sierra Club is working with local organizations like Kentuckians for the Commonwealth to keep it that way.
To see what's at stake, watch the men of Black Mountain tell their stories. Stanley Sturgill, Elmer Lloyd, and Carl Shoupe are former coal miners who don't want to see their side of the mountain destroyed forever.
Seattle's city hall got a bit greener yesterday as not just one but two former Sierra Club leaders officially took office. Congratulations to new mayor Mike McGinn and new city councilmember Mike O'Brien, who are both former chairs of the Club's Cascade Chapter as well as strong proponents of light rail, public transit, and bicycle commuting.
As Executive Director Carl Pope noted in his blog after last November's election, "In the Pacific Northwest, it turns out that the pathway to political success lies through the Sierra Club."
Cold winter nights are a tempting reason to light a fire for heat and comfort. But whether you throw a log in the fireplace or use a modern EPA-approved stove, it pays to know the pros and cons of wood-burning. Sierra magazine's Mr. Green has the particulars on particulates in fireplaces, which usually aren't efficient heating sources anyway.
Wood stoves, however, are another matter. Under the right circumstances, a modern one can be a cheap, relatively low-carbon home-heating source. Sierra Club Green Home's guide to wood and pellet stoves has everything you need to know about the modern home fire.
Longtime Los Angeles resident Jamie Simons fell in love with Yosemite on her first visit and convinced her husband and daughter that they should live there -- for a year. Her daughter attends the one-room schoolhouse in Wawona while Jamie writes and her husband longs for noise, fast food, and big city living.
In her posts every Tuesday on Sierra Club Trails, Jamie shares the lessons and treasures that come with her decision. In today's post, Jamie writes that she fears her city friends are staging an intervention after hearing her wax eloquent one too many times about the thrill of seeing a deer wandering by her window.
Whether it's a reflection, golden rays streaming from a cloud, or bright sun sparkling on a snowy slope, it all has to do with light, which is the theme of January's photo contest on Sierra Club Trails.
Anyone can submit a photo -- you just need to join the Trails Monthly Photo Contest group (if you haven't already) and upload your one shot that fits the theme best. This month's prize is a Nikon Coolpix P90 12.1 MP. The deadline for submissions is January 15, so join the group and show us your "light" stuff. Need some inspiration? Here are the winning photos from previous contests.
Know someone who might be interested in the Sierra Club Insider? Help spread the word by using our online form to tell your friends, family, and co-workers about the Insider or simply forward this Insider on. (Some email clients strip the links out of emails when forwarded. If your email does this, you can also direct friends, family, and co-workers to our online version.)
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Blue Skies and Green Leaders
Keep a Home Fire Burning? 
A Year in Yosemite 
Photo Contest Keeps It "Light"