Roa. Group Election for the 2022-2023 Term

Incumbents Michael Bentley, Bob Egbert and Jimbo Harshfield have been nominated to serve on the Executive Committee (our Group's board) for a two-year term beginning January, 2022. Their candidate statements follow. (Sierra Club members may cast 3 votes.)

PROCEDURE: The Virginia Chapter (Sierra Club) will conduct the election by e-mailing ballots to members (three times, beginning October 28, 2021). Voting deadline is November 22, 2021.

CANDIDATES

Michael Bentley

Having been a Sierra Club member for many years, I've been secretary of the Roanoke Group going on two years. I helped our Group co-sponsor our monthly Climate Watch with Plowshare and have been a frequent participator, as well as being active in tabling at events, lobbying legislators, marching in Washington, DC on April 29, and testifying at DEQ's Mountain Valley Pipeline hearing in Radford in August. I published a book, Connecting Children to Nature (2014, Wood 'N' Barnes), which I'm scheduled to speak on at the November EFF. I have felt good about my association with the Roanoke Group over the past two years, especially in our efforts to stop the MVP and promote wind energy and the Rocky Forge Project. With the current anti-science government, it is imperative that we keep the heat on our legislators and educate the public such as we can on climate, while connecting climate to many other environmental issues, such as species extinctions, deforestation, degradation of soils and habitats, etc. I hope to continue serving on the ExCom to contribute to such efforts as best as I can.

Bob Egbert

I've been a Sierra Club member since 1996. I accepted my first leadership role in 1999. Since then I've served as the Roanoke Group Chair, Group Political Chair, and in various other roles including the Virginia Chapter Membership Chair. The Sierra Club is now, and should continue to be a leader in the environmental movement in the Roanoke Area and Virginia.

Jimbo Harshfield

I was raised in Northern Virginia and always had a “woods” or natural area in which to escape.Trees and creeks and ponds were always a comfort and a big part of my upbringing.Today, I have come to appreciate how important human connections are with the environment.The environment gives so much to us, and it is clearly incumbent upon us to protect it for the present generation and the next seven or seventy generations to follow.Further, I have seen the environment from the other side, from the vantage point of a profit-based big corporation.This experience reinforces my confidence that we, the human beings of this planet, need to be good stewards of our big blue ball.