Five Years of The Planet - Sierra Club newspaper - Brief Article

Sierra, Nov, 1999

Tree-huggers. Hunters. Schoolkids. Grandmothers. If you want to know who Sierra Club activists really are, read The Planet, the Club newspaper that puts a face on the 585,000-member organization with profiles and victory tales.

"We're painting a picture of a movement and helping to create it at the same time," says managing editor/designer John Byrne Barry. "For example, by reading The Planet month after month during the Clean Air Act campaign in 1997, you got a sense of the Sierra Club movement growing over time, as opposed to just watching the progress of a particular bill."

The Planet's launch in 1994 helped the Sierra Club refocus its activism from inside-the-Beltway lobbying to community-based grassroots action. "We want to be as useful a tool as possible for activists," says senior editor Jenny Coyle. The eight-page tabloid is packed with primers on the Club's most important campaigns, as well as stories heralding local conservation victories and explaining how readers can take action on environmental issues. The Planet's staff prides itself on sharing practical activist skills--what to say when you meet with your senator, how to craft a press release or organize a "Tour de Sprawl"--that can be applied nationwide.

"We want to celebrate, support, and nurture the grassroots by telling what they do, how they do it, and who they are," Barry says. "By telling their stories, we contribute to their success and help build the movement."

The Planet goes out ten times a year to more than 5,000 Club leaders, as well as 25,000 members of the Sierra Club activist network. To subscribe, see "Express Yourself," below.