In the Thick of It

My Life in the Sierra Club

In an age when many of the major environmental policies established over the past four decades are under siege, Michael McCloskey reminds us of better days. . .days when conservation initiatives were seen not as political lightning rods, but as opportunities to cope with disturbing threats to the quality of our environment.

In 1961, a young let's-get-it-done McCloskey was hired as the Sierra Club's first field representative for the Northwest. From there, for nearly forty years, he rose to guide the oldest and mpowerful environmental organization in the world. He helped to pave the way for the original Wilderness Act in 1964, and successfully lobbied for the creation of new national parks and wilderness areas, the North Cascades and Redwood National Park among them. As executive director, he was presat the creation of Earth Day in 1970, directed lobbying for the enactmof over 100 environmental laws, and watched Sierra Club membership rise from about 70,000 to more than 500,000. Under less than ideal political circumstances, McCloskey helped to keep the environmental agenda moving steadily forward, even in the face of Ronald Reagan's virulently pro-developmInterior Secretary James Watt.

In the Thick of It describes not only McCloskey's life as an environmental activist; it reveals the inner workings and politics of one of the nation's minfluential environmental nonprofit organizations during an era of groundbreaking environmental legislation. In addition to sharing the details of battles exhilaratingly won and disappointingly lon the environmental front, he demonstrates how it is indeed possible to turn idealism and hope into practical action that can make an impact at the national level. With this book McCloskey offers not only invaluable insight into the past, but also inspiration to carry into the future.