In an article appearing in The Best of New Orleans, Becky Gillette was quoted as saying "People are literally being embalmed alive" as she described the living conditions in emergency shelters produced by the RV industry.
This environmentalist wacko is the president of the Mississippi Sierra Club. She is also the chairman of the Sierra Club's "formaldehyde campaign." And, in a press release issued by her May 16, 2006, she claims to have been one of the people who tested trailers in the Gulf Region to determine they indeed emitted unusually high levels of formaldehyde.
In that release, Gillette claims RV manufacturers put profit above people, and that nothing will work to eliminate formaldehyde from products these companies manufacture.
In an article she wrote that appeared on the front page of The Planet, Sierra Club's Activist Resource, Gillette boldly announces that she "stayed at home in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, for Hurricane Katrina."
Not only does that admission prove this woman lacks the intelligence to lead anything, it makes me wonder why she's able to garner the media attention she does. After all, smart people know to leave their homes when a major hurricane bears down on their neighborhoods.
Gillette has been referred to as "The Erin Brockovich of Formaldehyde" in an article where she is listed as a "freelance writer and photographer," which are code words for "I can't hold a full-time job." That same article proclaimed:
"Gillette convinced the Sierra Club's national office to give her the money to order dozens of test kits and have them analyzed. 'At the time, we thought there might be one brand of trailer that had high formaldehyde,' Gillette says. 'We had no idea how widespread it would be or how big it would become.'
"Formaldehyde soon took over Becky Gillette's life. She spent her days testing trailers and her nights talking on the phone with sick and worried trailer residents — all as an unpaid volunteer. 'I was waking up in the middle of night thinking about the people I had talked to that day about formaldehyde.'
"Gillette remains the Sierra Club's expert on formaldehyde, finally paid part time, just as the group has petitioned the EPA to adopt federal air standards for formaldehyde that mirror California's new limits."
So, the Sierra Club's paid "formaldehyde expert is a part-time freelance writer and photographer. So much for science. But even unpaid volunteers need to eat, which leads me to wonder where Gillette gets her money? A quick google of "Becky Gillette, freelance writer" brings up listings of dozens of stories written for environmental publications, many of which are non-profit associations themselves. She has tackled everything from factory pig farms to herbal remedies for the common cold to how aromatic products pollute indoor air.
Hell of an expert this freelance writer/photographer is, with broad expertise in multiple industries regarding multiple topics.
Every Sierra Club press release that Gillette has issued closes with this statement, "The Sierra Club's 750,000 members work together to protect communities and the planet. The Club is America's oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. The Delta (Louisiana) chapter of the Sierra Club has more than 3,500 members and has been active in local conservation projects for more than 30 years.”
Therein lies the problem with the Sierra Club. In order to rope in unsuspecting contributors, they publicly claim to be a grassroots environmental organization actively involved in conservation projects. But, behind the scenes, they tap freelancer writers/photographers and dress them up as experts, then give them laptop computers and printers to churn out as many press releases as they care to issue in a day all for the purpose of destroying companies and seeking even more government intervention in the lives of people.
It’s the same modus operandi used by the Humane Society. They use cute pictures of puppies and kittens to convince gullible givers to help fund their mission of caring for abandoned pets. But, then they use that money to destroy the farming industry. I find it very ironic that Gillette has been writing articles advocating positions for the Sierra Club and the Humane Society.
An online article appearing at Counterpunch (which you can read by clicking here), suggested the Sierra Club received more than $100 million in anonymous donations in 2000 and 2001. The article was an indictment against the secrecy behind Sierra Club funding:
"When angry, reform-oriented, incumbent members of the Sierra Club Board of Directors asked executive director Carl Pope, who gave the money -- he wouldn't say. When it was suggested that law required him to share the information with his Board -- he couldn't remember. So they asked again -- and he wasn't telling," the article read.
"To the intense discomfort of many members, the Board of the Sierra Club was told to tell no one and to ask no questions. Most of the directors of the Sierra Club have no knowledge of who is giving this money or for what purposes, even though the vast sum represents a major portion of the organizational budget of the Club. The lack of information prevents the Board from fulfilling its fiduciary duty of proper oversight," it added.
The Sierra Club is a very dangerous group. Operating as a "non profit agency," it can skirt many mandatory reporting laws. Yet, it invests hundreds of millions of dollars given by people seeking to "protect the outdoors" into advocacy programs that actually destroy business and prevent people from using public lands for recreation.
You can read a recent Sierra Club charitable report prepared by the Better Business Bureau by clicking here. In it, you'll discover than the group enjoys income of $90 million a year, but spends $28 million to raise it. Of its $53.5 million in expenses, 65 percent of the money was spent "studying and influencing public policy."
Perhaps as Congress launches an investigation into the RV industry regarding the construction practices employed to create travel trailers, the legislative body can invest a few hours into determining who is actually providing the muscle behind Sierra Club.
Until then, I will extend the offer to Becky Gillette that I made several months ago. I will gladly spend a week in any FEMA trailer just to prove how safe these units really are.