Photo by Sierra Club California
Rachel’s Network Funder Member Emily Engel has been deeply involved as a volunteer with the Sierra Club in Santa Barbara for over a decade. Over that time, she has played a key role in successful campaigns to protect the region from corporate polluters. Now a board member of the Santa Barbara-Ventura Chapter and leader of the Santa Barbara Group, Emily shares her inspirations and keys to success.
What are the top issues the Santa Barbara-Ventura Chapter has been focused on?
Lately, we have been on overdrive because we have not had any staff for several years and we have been facing the Trump administration head on. Our Central Coast in California is under threat from the fossil fuel industry, in particular Sable Offshore. This Exxon spinoff has been emboldened by Trump administration support, and they have restarted offshore oil production in our region using dated, damaged, dangerous equipment.
As the lead clients of the Santa Barbara-based Environmental Defense Center, we have engaged the indefatigable Linda Krop and her team to defend our coast. Our volunteers are relentlessly organizing against federal actions that take aim at our local wildlands and wildlife from the Roadless Rule rescission to unprecedented attacks on the Coastal Zone Management Act. At the same time, we have been expanding our grassroots base through community outreach and building a paid staff from the ground up.
Your chapter has had several recent successes. Can you talk about those?
Our chapter’s primary strength is our resilience. Our region has been the epicenter of the environmental movement since the 1960s and we always keep going. In the last year, our volunteers and partners saw two key openings for action that could make big impacts. First, we reached a settlement with three companies over harmful runoff in Santa Barbara. The settlement requires the companies to install better stormwater management and donate to local nonprofit Heal the Ocean to support its water quality initiatives. After countless volunteer hours in this legal fight, East Beach and the Mission Creek Watershed will be cleaned up, industrial pollution halted, and the community compensated for damages. Our efforts have protected our collective public health, natural resources, and spectacular coastal environment.
Second, our former chair Katie Davis observed that the county had the opportunity to phase out fossil fuel production county-wide. Months of lobbying, engaging local and national allies, and relentlessly rallying community engagement resulted in Santa Barbara County passing historic votes to phase out oil and prohibit the drilling of new oil and gas wells. We continue to advocate for the end of fossil fuel production in our county, and we are expanding our efforts to increase renewable energy access and production across the county.
Is there a local woman leader who inspires you?
Gosh, where to begin! In Santa Barbara, I am so fortunate to be surrounded by inspiring women of all ages and backgrounds. Katie Davis and Linda Krop are of course lodestars. The Fearless Grandmothers show up and show out everywhere all the time, especially Maureen Ellenberger and Irene Small. My professional mentors like Barbara Lindemann and Jeanette Peterson, and my incredible peers and friends all lift me up and keep my spirit going. I am particularly inspired by our Santa Barbara Sierra Club founder Kathleen Goddard Jones who started the club in 1949. She was a consummate community organizer and relentless activist who personally shaped the environmental movement in its earliest days while nurturing a beautiful family and finding peace in nature.
How has being an activist changed your approach to funding?
As a grassroots activist leader and volunteer, I see firsthand how consistent, reliable supporters who are willing to put their trust in the work can truly fuel the movement. At the same time, windfalls from inspired one-time donors can also infuse an organization with fresh energy that can propel them to the next victory. Donors and volunteers are not separate categories! We can all give our time, talent, and treasure in meaningful ways.
A lot of people think they can only take certain types of action. But really, we can all do whatever moves us personally to help the planet at this critical moment. It’s collective action that is our true superpower. So get out in your community as often as you can and JUST KEEP GOING!
Emily Engel is an independent art historian based in Southern California specializing in Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture. She is also an active philanthropist in the Santa Barbara community with a focus on addressing the challenges that emerge at the intersection of climate and women’s issues.