My last day at the Sierra Club: Leaving but not saying goodbye

Editor’s note: April 30 was Jeff Tittel’s last day as the director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. He served in this position for 23 years and has been involved in every major environmental legislation passing in New Jersey for more than two decades. After today, he can be reached via his personal Facebook and Twitter accounts or at jeff.tittel@verizon.net. He released the statement below.

I want to thank everybody for all their kind words and outpouring of support. Today is my last day and I just want to wish everyone health and happiness. I will continue to stay active and work on the issues that I care about. Hopefully, we can stay in touch and work together on the challenges facing us, like climate change, preventing new fossil fuel infrastructure, protecting Liberty State Park, protecting overburdened communities, and promoting renewable energy.

In the 23 years that I have been with the New Jersey Sierra Club, we’ve had many accomplishments. We’ve been involved in writing and lobbying for most major environmental legislation, from the passage of the Highlands Act to the Global Warming Response Act. We worked together to help pass the private well testing law, the bear feeding ban, the indoor smoking ban, and the ban on smoking in our state parks and beaches. In the past few years, we helped pass the Plastic Bag Ban and get the DRBC to ban fracking in the Delaware River Basin.

This is not a goodbye, it is a transition to the next phase of activism and involvement. Instead of sitting on Zoom meetings, I can actually hike and enjoy nature. I can teach my grandchildren about nature and the environment. I can now be unbridled and unfiltered to do the work that I want to do. In the words of John Lewis, I will continue to ‘make good trouble and necessary trouble’ as I work on the issues that I care about.

Over the past 20 years, I have learned a lot about how to be a successful environmental activist in New Jersey. I hope to help train the next generation of activists, teaching them how to get more engaged and the tools that they need. Activism isn’t just about organizing, rallies, and email alerts. It’s also the hard work of reading all of those documents and educating yourself on the issues. You need to understand regulatory strategy, legislative strategy, and legal strategy as well as media and outreach. You also need to know how to approach each environmental fight and develop the strategies and techniques in order to stop a bad project, pass a law, or save a park.

I want to thank you all for your support, your interest in the environment, and your dedication. Although I am closing this chapter of my life and career, I am also opening a new chapter with endless possibilities. I look forward to mentoring a new breed of activists and leaders, and learning what they can teach me in return. I look forward to writing, teaching, and spending more time with my grandchildren and my family. But most importantly, I look forward to continuing to fight to protect New Jersey’s environment for years to come.

Jeff Tittel