This series covers twenty-five subjects of interest to the Atlantic Chapter, most of which are divided into several secondary topics. The subjects are defined below.
Adirondack Park: All materials relating to the Adirondack Mountains, particularly in regards to land use and economic development in the Park in the early 1990s.
Air Quality: Items about atmospheric pollutants and their impact on the environment and public health.
Catskill Forest Preserve: Materials relating to the Catskill Mountains.
Communications and Media: Materials documenting efforts by the Sierra Club to communicate its message to the general public through film, radio, T-shirts, and calendars.
Earth Day: Materials documenting the Sierra Club's celebration of Earth Day (April 22).
Economics: Economic issues that affect the environment, such as free trade agreements and the labor movement.
Electricity: Materials documenting the electric industry in New York State, traditional energy sources such as nuclear power, alternative sources of energy such as solar and wind power, and federal legislation of concern to the Sierra Club.
Global Warming: Materials about human-induced changes to the world's climate.
Hazardous Wastes: Industrial by-products that are a danger to the environment and public health, such as dioxin, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and radioactive waste (particularly low-level radioactive waste), as well as efforts at cleaning/reducing such wastes, such as Superfund.
Land Use: Materials about the various activities that take place on (mainly) public lands, both economic (gas and oil drilling, logging, mining) and recreational (hunting, fishing, skiing), as well as efforts to control the development of land through easements and greenways.
Local Government: Items regarding county and municipal governments in New York State.
Miscellaneous: Items, usually hand-written, whose purpose or context is obscure.
National Organization and Other Chapters: Materials produced by the Sierra Club's headquarters in San Francisco, and by other state chapters.
Other Organizations: Documents produced by other environmental organizations.
Pesticides: Materials about the environmental and health effects of pesticides, in particular about contamination of drinking water on Long Island.
Press Coverage: News clippings about various topics at the state and national levels.
Public Health: Materials about environmental risks to public health and organizations focusing on public health. Contains extensive documentation of the Comparative Risk Project.
Recycling and Solid Waste: Materials about the control/disposal of trash through composting, incineration, etc., and about efforts at recycling items such as batteries, beverage containers, paper, and tires.
Sewage and Sludge: Materials about the disposal of sludge (treated sewage) such as through application onto farmland ("biosolids") and assessment of the health risks this may pose.
State Bonds: Bonds proposed or issued by New York State for the funding of environmental, transportation, and general projects.
Storm King Mountain: Documents submitted to the Federal Power Commission by Consolidated Edison, the Sierra Club, and Scenic Hudson in 1967-1968 in regard to Consolidated Edison's plan to build a nuclear power plant at Storm King Mountain on the Hudson River.
Takings (Eminent Domain): Materials about whether environmental regulations that limit economic activities on private property can ever be construed as eminent domain (i.e., a "taking" as defined by the US Constitution).
Transportation: Materials about alternative forms of transportation such as electric or hydrogen cars and maglevs (magnetic trains), low emission vehicles, public transportation, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), New York and Ohio transportation policies, and the proposed Westway Highway in Manhattan.
Water Quality and Use: Materials about water pollution, drinking water, coastal areas, dredging, rivers and streams, structures built on bodies of water, and industrial use of water.
Wildlife and Habitat: Materials about the Sierra Club's efforts at preserving particular species (e.g., bald eagles, moose) and entire ecosystems/biomes such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Great Lakes, and the Great Northern Forest. Also includes information on state habitats such as the Albany Pine Bush, the Long Island Pine Barrens, and the Hudson River Estuary, and legislation such as the Endangered Species Act.