Interfaith Power & Light

IPL leader gets Carson Award

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:37:06 +0000

One of the faith community’s leading advocates for the environment will receive a Rachel Carson Award from the National Audubon Society at the Women in Conservation Luncheon May 22 in New York City.

The Rev. Canon Sally Bingham will be recognized for her work in starting and leading The Regeneration Project, which seeks to deepen the connection between faith and ecology, and Interfaith Power & Light (IPL), a national campaign with more than 14,000 U.S. congregations and 39 state affiliates working to mobilize a religious response to global warming.

The Audubon Society gives the Rachel Carson Awards to women who are influential leaders in the conservation movement. Past winners include architect Maya Lin; entertainers Laurie David, Bette Midler, and Sigourney Weaver; philanthropist Teresa Heinz Kerry; Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Suzanne Lewis; and oceanographer Sylvia Earle.

The award carries special resonance this year since 2012 marks the 50^th anniversary of the publication of Carson’s Silent Spring, a book that heralded the modern environmental movement and led to a ban on the pesticide DDT.

“It’s an honor to be recognized by one of the leading conservation groups in the nation,” Bingham said. “The prophetic voice of Rachel Carson lives on in the work that our congregations are doing to respond to the threat global warming poses to the integrity of God’s Creation.”

In addition to her leadership of The Regeneration Project and Interfaith Power & Light, Bingham is Canon for the Environment in the Episcopal Diocese of California. She was named one of the top 15 green religious leaders by Grist magazine and is a winner of the Purpose Prize. She also serves on the boards of the Environmental Defense Fund and the Environmental Working Group.

Faith leaders meet to grow impact, lobby lawmakers

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:19:32 +0000

More than 70 state Interfaith Power & Light leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., April 29-May 2 for IPL’s 2012 National Conference. “Growing Our Impact” was the theme as faith leaders and staff members explored how the network of 39 state affiliates and more than 14,000 congregations can become even stronger in our collective work to mobilize a religious response to global warming. Participants also spent a day lobbying on Capitol Hill, asking lawmakers to support the Environmental Protection Agency’s new standards to reduce carbon pollution from power plants and pass energy efficiency legislation this year.

Highlights of the conference included:

A stirring opening service with words from several faith traditions

Updates on the major IPL campaigns including Cool Harvest, Cool Congregations, the Preach-In on Global Warming, and Carbon Covenant

Workshops on messaging, fundraising, and “power-mapping” networks of influence through social media

A Religious Environmental Resources Expo featuring tables from more than a dozen national religious environmental initiatives. The expo also included a rousing welcome for three cyclists from Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light who arrived at the conference after riding more than 200 miles to spread word of the importance of caring for Creation.

Updates on the federal farm bill and the ongoing shale gas and oil boom, as well as a presentation on “Coal – Current Threats and Opportunities” from Mary Anne Hitt of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign

A keynote speech from Eric Pooley, author of The Climate War, who quoted David Orr in urging participants to embrace resilience and hope (Orr: “a verb with its sleeves rolled up”) to continue working for a healthy Earth

A message from EPA Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe, who said his agency’s aims “are consistent with the values of our country: that food should be free of chemicals that are harmful to people and that the air should be clean.”

The conference wrapped up with a day on Capitol Hill, where participants made more than 100 visits to lawmakers’ offices to ask for support for the Energy Savings & Industrial Competitiveness Act (S.1000) and the Smart Energy Act (H.R. 4017). Participants urged additional sponsors to sign on in anticipation of a House-Senate conference that will merge the bills and pass the strongest possible legislation to reduce energy consumption and protect God’s Creation.

Participants also emphasized the faith perspective on the EPA’s newly proposed New Source Performance Standards, which would ensure that all new power plants are built with the most modern pollution control technology available, ensuring a balance of clean air and good jobs. Fossil fuel-burning power plants currently emit more than two billion tons of carbon pollution and other toxic pollutants into the air each year. The new proposal would cut these currently unlimited emissions by 60 percent and lead to cleaner air and fewer harmful health effects, while stimulating new construction and utility jobs. Help us support the proposal and reach our goal of sending 10,000 comments from the Interfaith Power & Light community by sending your comment today.

Save forests and livelihoods

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:50:07 +0000

Is your faith community looking for a meaningful way to reach out to developing nations? Do you want to honor a loved one by giving a gift of life? Interfaith Power and Light’s Carbon Covenant program helps communities in the Global South work to reverse deforestation and build sustainable livelihoods.

Deforestation is responsible for almost 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and takes a grave toll on communities living in or near these ever-shrinking forests. Our partner communities are reforesting degraded lands, protecting existing forests, empowering women and youth through sustainable livelihood trainings and eco-clubs, and building crucial interfaith alliances.

Your congregation can empower people in Cameroon, Tanzania, Ghana, or Cambodia by adopting a Carbon Covenant project. Consider a split plate offering, special collection, or ongoing partnership. Individuals can choose a Carbon Covenant gift to honor someone with the gift of life. Whether large or small, your donations will support tree planting, alternative livelihoods, food security, and forest protection. Join us in planting trees through Carbon Covenant.

Let the EPA hear from you

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:19:48 +0000

Fossil-fuel burning power plants currently emit more than two billion tons of carbon pollution and other toxic pollutants into the air each year. This pollution fuels global warming and increases the number of unhealthy air days, resulting in more respiratory ailments, heart attacks, heat-related deaths, and other harmful health effects. The EPA has proposed historic new safeguards to limit carbon pollution from fossil fuel burning power plants. Power plants are the largest source of global warming pollution in the country, and there are currently no limits on the amount of greenhouse gases they can emit.

Your voice is needed now to support the proposed protections and to counter big polluters who are spending millions to get Congress to block the EPA’s action. Thank you for helping us reach our goal of sending the EPA 10,000 comments from the Interfaith Power & Light community by June 25.

Chicago Business: Fracking’s impact on economy, environment should not be ignored, Op-Ed

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:56:53 +0000

The Rev. Clare Butterfield, director of Faith in Place and the Illinois Interfaith Power & Light Campaign, and Henry Henderson, director of the Natural resources Defense Council and Chicago’s first environmental commissioner write on the fracking business in Illinois.

Full Article

Henry Henderson and the Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield, 18 April 2012

Oskaloosa News: Local Pastor Wins First Place In The 2012 “Earth Words”

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:51:34 +0000

Rev. Liz Colton, Pastor of St. Paul Congregational United Church of Christ in Oskaloosa is the first place winner of the 2012 “Earth Words” Sermon Contest, which was sponsored by Iowa Interfaith Power & Light and held in conjunction with a national “Preach-In” the weekend of February 10-12, 2012.

Full Artucle

23 April 2012

Radio Iowa: Group of religious organizations signs document on climate change

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:49:05 +0000

On Sunday, April 21, 2012, Iowans from a host of religious groups are uniting to sign a document that focuses on the impact of climate change. The statement reads, in part, “Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges facing our world today and as religious leaders…we are called to reaffirm our commitment to be responsible stewards of Earth’s resources.” For people of faith, director of Iowa Interfaith Power & Light Susan Guy says, the subject of climate change has a much deeper importance than politics.

Full Article

Matt Kelley, 20 April 2012

The Starpress: EARTH DAY, Faith group responds to global warming

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:46:01 +0000

Hooiser Interfaith Power & Light is working with various faith communities in the “Task of the Month” program to cut household energy use. Those monthly tasks include washing clothes in cold water, air drying clothes in summer, turning up the air conditioning thermostat, installing low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators, and cutting “phantom electricity” consumed by appliances or devices when they are not actively being used or are in the “off” mode. Founder of Hooiser IPL, Jennifer Rice-Snow says, “we have so many reasons to work on this issue aside from carbon levels. Jesus talks a lot about not loving money, having a more spiritual life and being less focused on what we have.”

Full Article

Seth Slahaugh, 21 April 2012

Tell Senators clean air counts

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:51:00 +0000

E-mail a letter to your Senators telling them to protect pregnant women and children from mercury and toxic air.

The Boston Globe: A grant to help houses of worship become more energy efficient

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:30:12 +0000

HEET and Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light MIP&L have just received a two-year grant from the Barr Foundation to help thirty-five houses of worship in Cambridge, Boston and Somerville reduce their energy bills and planetary impact. Members of the congregation will earn money toward the efficiency upgrades at the house of worship based on the energy upgrades done at their private homes. The more energy and money the congregation saves in their homes, the more money raised for the house of worship upgrade.

Full Article

Rona Fishman, 06 April 2012