A fierce ideological struggle within the Sierra Club is pitting moderates against radicals and polarizing some chapters of the group. For decades, the Sierra Club has been guided by moderate enviros who sometimes take the pragmatic approach of making compromises with industry and government agencies over such issues as logging. But a more radical coalition of club members that calls itself the John Muir Sierrans, after the club’s founder, is gaining power within the group, and now holds seven of 15 board seats. David Brower, former director of the Sierra Club and now a board member leading the John Muir faction, said, “We should stand for something we believe in and hang in with it.” For their part, moderates warn that the group risks losing credibility as its politics get closer to those of groups like Greenpeace and Earth First!.
