Inspiration from the Sierra Club Borderlands Campaign

Walking through the desert, I was amazed by the striking sharp beauty of the unfamiliar landscapes, filled with spirit-like cactuses, strong, spiny plants, and bright yellow and blue skies becoming brighter in contrast to earth tones. We realized the beauty and fragility of the desert landscapes even more as we heard from Dan Millis of the Sierra Club, the largest and oldest environmental organization in the U.S. Dan gave us a presentation about the Sierra Borderlands Campaign.
This campaign was started by a group of volunteers in Tucson, Arizona who were disturbed by wall construction in protected national wildlife refuges. The Borderlands cross mountain ranges, 2 of North America's 4 deserts, and host many threatened & endangered species. The Borderlands include rare coastal habitat and one of the last big saltwater marshes in California. The Sky Islands form a unique desert border landscape marked by mountains rising out of big, open plains. Desert dunes hold centuries of alluvial deposits. The Lower Rio Grande River Valley is a vital ecological link. Horned lizards, diamondback rattlesnakes, mountain lions, roadrunners, sonoran desert tortoises, jacarundi, extremely rare jaguars & ocelots, quails, javelinas, desert deer, and many more species live in these lands.
We learned how in the mid 1990s, walls began being built in San Diego and urban areas. The walls shifted where migrants cross, but didn't stop them from crossing. The Border Patrol themselves have said that the wall is not made to stop immigrants from crossing, but to slow them down so they can be detained. The Border Patrol estimates that the wall slows a migrant down by 5 minutes. Yet, billions of dollars have been poured into wall construction and maintenance. In addition, roads, towers, and high voltage lighting all take a toll on the environment, especially noctural animals, and migrating species. The wall itself is approximately 650 miles long with 350 miles of 15 foot walls and 300 miles of 6 foot high vehicle barriers. The wall costs taxpayers an average of 4 million dollars per mile. The cheapest sections of the border fence cost about $700,000 per mile. The most expensive at $16,000,000 per mile can be found in the Otay Mountain Wilderness, California, an area which many say forms a natural barrier due to steep, dangerous terrain.
The Sierra Club is against the environmental degradation that has occurred because of Border policy and wall construction. The wall is an impenetrable barrier to many species of wildlife. The presentor we heard, Dan Millis, explained that for many creatures, large areas of desert are like their house. They roam to one large area to eat, another to mate, another to sleep. What if someone built a wall in your house and suddenly you were stuck in the kitchen? Where would you sleep, go to the bathroom, mate? The Border wall not only affects animals, it has also changed land contours and caused sediment and water drainage problems.
The Sierra Club is for following the laws, with special attention to environmental laws. Yet, in 2005, Michael Chertoff, the former secretary of Homeland Security, signed the Real ID Act, in which Section 102 gave those constructing and maintaining the border permission to waive all local, state, and federal laws. Waiving 40 years of environmental law is an abuse of power and a danger to the environment, according to the Sierra Club. This disregard for these law has taken away border communities voices, many of whom are impacted most by these policies. Another issue is that sometimes border patrol have intended to resolve problems caused by lack of ecological understanding, and caused more harm and wasted more money. Many are concerned that very little has been invested in monitoring the effects of wall construction on the environment. The Sierra Club advocates a border policy that works for the environment, tribal nations, and local and global communities, with attention to the laws meant to protect, preserve, and build sustainably in harmony with the environment.
The Sierra Club Borderlands Campaign grew out of pure environmental concern, but as the issues have evolved, Dan explained that the campaign needed to take a political stand. This is an example of how human rights and environmental justice are inextricably linked and highlighted through human migration. The Sierra Club's position is that we need to address the root causes of migration and see migration as part of a larger web of interconnected issues, as an ecologist looks at the interconnectedness in the environment.
To learn more, visit www.arizona.sierraclub.org/border. You can also watch a 5 minute short version of a longer video on youtube called, "Wild Vs. Wall," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vIx0h8njok which highlights some of the environmental issues with current border practices/policy. You can also look up www.sierraclub.org/borderlands/googleearth in order to get a better sense of the geography in the borderlands. Write to U.S. senators and representatives, and hold them accountable to follow environmental and civic laws especially in relation to border policy. Urge them to repeal section 102 of the Real ID act. Its important to follow through on doing studies of the environment impacts of border policy.