Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/604020
B M & T ••• September/October 2015 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 10 U.S. TRAVEL PRAISES A4A ANNOUNCEMENT ON CARRY-ON BAGS U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow issued the following statement on the announcement from the trade group Airlines for America that it will not support proposed new international standards restricting the size of carry-on bags: "We've had our differences recently with A4A, but when they get it right I want to make it a point to say so. The crackdown on the size of carry-ons that was proposed by international carriers would have been unnecessary and yet another slap in the face to travelers. "We strongly believe that steps to improve the flyer experience are not only the right thing to do, but just plain good business and good economic policy. We look forward to broadening the dialogue with our friends in the airline industry on how to address infra- structure problems that are frustrating passengers and preventing the U.S. air travel sys- tem from keeping pace with the rest of the world. We concur with them on the issue of air traffic control reform and have found a way to address their objection to an adjustment in the Passenger Facility Charge, so we see an opportunity for partnership."s the exercise of confronting climate change and building a movement to alter man's response – and in so doing we can shift the world. Back in 1992, I attended the second annual National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., which the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, and the Ford Foundation sponsored. The Sierra Club was coming under fire for its lack of environmental justice leadership, but I saw the Club's organizational commitment to this work. Over the years I've worked with many, many Club leaders who are committed to making this happen. The Club sought real inclusion, starting in the early 21st century – you can absolutely see a break in how fast and aggressively the Club moved toward inclusiveness and diversity, more than any other green group. The Club's EJ program has transformed this organization, and the Club is stronger and more powerful as a result. Our climate work is key to this paradigm shift as we take on the biggest threats to the U.S., and the planet. Hurricane Katrina was a crystallizing moment when we all saw what needed to change – how tepid the response was as we watched a Category 5 storm destroy a major American city where the vast majority of victims were African-American. Contrast that with the reaction of the nation to Hurricane Sandy. Because Sandy hit wealthy white areas of Long Island and New Jersey – not to mention Wall Street – victims received immediate aid, care, and assistance. They weren't put in FEMA trailers or denied basic food assistance. They didn't have to surrender their dignity by submitting a wel- fare benefit card, as was the case for Blacks after Katrina. Planet: What would you like to see the Club accomplish under your presidency? Mair: Building a strong, diverse, and inclusive environ- mental movement. We were able to bring a major corporate polluter, General Electric, to account with the Hudson River campaign. To achieve real progress on climate change, we need to bring together all groups. No green group by itself, no EJ group by itself, no political faction by itself, can bring about lasting changes or solutions to our cli- mate challenges. It is only by creating a large, diverse, equi- table, and inclusive environmental movement that we can bring about lasting change to save not only the planet but our species. Planet: You are the first African-American to be elected Sierra Club president. Can you say a few words about this and elaborate on its significance? Mair: Nature is the great equalizer. Nature knows no dif- ference between black and white, or the size of one's wallet. The disparate responses to climate change occur at the human and political level. These are things the Sierra Club can help influence and change: the resource allocation, the response, the equal treatment of all humanity and nature. This can only come from a point of respecting diversity, when people see other people as fellow human beings and not as competitors sharing the planet. More than 100 years ago, a president of the United States and the president of Sierra Club came together to save and preserve the last unprotected and unspoiled green spaces of the United States. That image (of two white males) came to define the environmental movement.