Adam Werbach: the youngest Sierra Club president is aiming for the Grassroots and MTV - Sierra Club, environmentalist group - Cover Story - Interview

E: The Environmental Magazine, Sept-Oct, 1997 by Anne W. Wilke

Overall, air quality is improving, yet there is a growing number of asthma cases, especially among young children. Why do you think that is?

Sure, overall air pollution has improved. I grew up in Los Angeles, where we had to open up the L.A. Times every day to see if there was a smog alert. If there was one - about every three weeks - then I couldn't play T-ball. If I go to L.A. now, I can play ball almost any day. It has gotten better there. That's progress, and we've done a very poor job of celebrating success. People think that we've lost, and we're always complaining. I'm not a dour naysayer.

But at the same time you have to look at the facts. Asthma has doubled among children in the last 20 years; it's the leading cause of hospitalizations among children. There are other factors involved, like dust and cockroach repellants, but you have to take care of the things that you can control - like air pollution.

For example, at the Geneva Steel Plant in Provo, Utah, there was a labor strike, and the plant was closed for 30 days. At the end of the 30 days, after the plant went back on line, an epidemiological study showed that hospitalizations for asthma went up 50 percent. The connection is really clear - asthma and unclean air are a threat to America's children.

Critics charge that the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed air quality standards are too strict and burdensome on industry.

The industry is saying that they have no responsibility to public health if it costs a lot of money. But my sense is that you can't put a dollar value on asthma or cancer. If someone gets cancer, is that worth $1 million, $2 million? It's not acceptable for industry to say we'll sacrifice people because it's too expensive for us to change.

You've talked about wanting to remove the Glen Canyon dam and drain Lake Powell. Your critics on the right say that this proves your naivete. The dam provides electricity for 500,000 people and the lake is a popular recreation area.

The dam should never have been built in the first place. More water seeps out and evaporates - over a million and a half acre-feet a year - than is held for water use. Getting rid of Glen Canyon makes sense, not only environmentally but economically, too. If we stopped losing that water we could easily pay for energy conservation measures that would take care of those 500,000 people. We'd also create more water for the arid southwest.

Because you're the youngest president in the Sierra Club's history, there's a great deal of attention focused on you as a spokesman for your generation. How do you feel about being in that spotlight?

I am the least impressive person when we talk about this movement. My success is totally related to the Sierra Club. It's really a tribute to the club itself. Here's an organization that is 105 years old, with a huge budget and 300 to 400 staff people, that trusted a 23-year-old to take over.

My message to young people is this: Turn your energy outward. Young people can lead us because they know how. They've been sold all their lives. And if Nike can sell me a pair of shoes that I can't afford in five seconds, then I better be able to sell substance in three seconds. The environmental movement right now is content rich but signal poor. We are full of great ideas which sit on the shelf. We are full of inspiring stories. Now we need to take that signal and say this is who we are.