Faith responses to global warming in the news
Congratulations on making a difference
Jonesville UMC Wins 2007 Energy Star Small Business and Congregations Award!
Jonesville United Methodist Church in Clifton Park, NY was one of only three congregations nationwide to win this prestigious award. The award recognizes success in energy efficiency and a commitment to energy savings. The congregation's efforts are recognized on the Energy Star website. Learn about Jonesville's work on lighting and exit signs. Congratulations, Jonesville UMC!
Jonesville UMC part of a 1-2-3 sweep of IPL congregations winning the award. The two other national winners are also IPL congregations. Besides the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (see "Nuns Go Green" video), Texas IPL's Prestonwood Baptist Church was the third winner.
Rev. Sally Bingham, founder of the Interfaith Power " Light movement wins the Purpose Prize
This video features Rev. Bingham and is also a good introduction to the IPL movement and goals. The Purpose Prize honors an inspiring new group of role models for "engaged retirement." Unwilling to stuff envelopes or go off quietly to the sidelines, these change-makers are taking matters into their own hands and fashioning a new vision of the second half of life, one in which the expertise and talent of a lifetime is refocused on finding solutions to challenges in our communities, our country, and the world. They are living proof that aging does not equal stagnation and decline, that later life is a time of innovation, productivity, and creativity as rich as the younger years.
If you want to make a difference, too, take action on global warming in your congregation and community!
Faith and environment news from around the world
Here's a summary of news articles about all faiths and all countries.
Interfaith Power and Light on YouTube
The Regeneration Project - the coordinating organization of the Interfaith Power and Light movement - has its own YouTube channel. Check it out to learn more about our movement. And here's one that includes two of NYIPL's leaders - Ed Bennett and Susan Bues!
Jan 08 - Convene a yearlong dialogue about energy, climate change
The Rt. Rev. Alan Scarfe, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa: "We are obliged under God to be the voices in the corridors of power for those who may not have equal access. That is why we have a moral and a spiritual obligation to encourage a deep conversation in 2008 about this state's energy future. Read the article...
Jan 08 - Rhode Island: Saving God's Green Earth
This article describes a recent conference featuring keynote speaker Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, an Episcopal priest at Grace Church in Amherst, Mass. In recent years she has become an advocate of a faith-based approach to dealing with global warming. Her presentation asked the audience to look to their faith as an impetus to make changes in their personal life and in their congregation. Read the rest of the article...
Dallas: Methodist churches unite to buy green energy
In an apparently unprecedented move for a large religious group, 180 United Methodist churches of North Texas have joined forces to buy green electricity generated by windmills in the western part of the state. For the article...
The Green Gospel in Oregon
Oregonians of all faiths respond to global warming, unified in a belief that we must nurture the natural world, not conquer it. To read the article...
Providence: Churches uniting to fight global warming
Religious organizations across Rhode Island see damage to the planet as an offense to God’s creation. Throughout the year, congregation after congregation joined the newly established state chapter of Interfaith Power and Light, part of a national campaign to mobilize worshippers to help fight global warming. Maybe it’s the unique nature of this crisis — one that threatens economic security and the quality of life for the next generation — that brought Rhode Island’s faithful into the fold, with more than 20 houses of faith statewide signing up to intensify their role as environmental stewards.Providence Journal - Nov 23, 2007, The Providence Journal
Meltdown: Running out of time on global warming by Bill McKibben
Christian Century, February 20, 2007
February 2, 2007: Global Warming Report Urges Prompt Action
The report issued by the world's foremost climate scientists concludes that the heat-trapping gases that result from burning fossil fuels like oil and coal are causing global warming. More importantly, the report makes it clear that we are already experiencing the effects of global warming and points to even more dire consequences unless we act soon to reduce our heat-trapping emissions. Learn more about the report ...
Science and religion unite on climate
Read the op ed by Rev. Sally Bingham, leader of the national Interfaith Power & Light movement, and Dr. Stephen H. Schneider is a professor of biological science at Stanford University.
Urgent Call to Action: Scientists and evangelical leaders unite to protect creation
January 17, 2007
Evangelical leaders and scientists agreed "... not only that reckless human activity has imperiled the Earth—especially the unsustainable and short-sighted lifestyles and public policies of our own nation—but also that we share a profound moral obligation to work together to call our nation, and other nations, to the kind of dramatic change urgently required in our day." Read the whole statement...
Climate change and the poor
Ask Congress to be sure to consider the impact of climate change on those in poverty. Read more…
July 2007 - Michigan IPL's Father Charles in the news!
"BACK IN 1988 we had a very hot summer, over 90 degrees for several weeks in a row, and I had a personal conversion experience--I realized we needed to do something about global warming. We are a part of, not apart from, creation. The vision in the book of Genesis is that humans are put into the garden to till the garden, not to cover it with asphalt." To read more...
February 2, 2007: Global Warming Report Urges Prompt Action
The report issued by the world's foremost climate scientists concludes that the heat-trapping gases that result from burning fossil fuels like oil and coal are causing global warming. More importantly, the report makes it clear that we are already experiencing the effects of global warming and points to even more dire consequences unless we act soon to reduce our heat-trapping emissions. Learn more about the report ...
Pope Benedict XVI on the 20th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol
Honoring the Montreal Protocol (an international agreement that phased out ozone-depleting chemicals), the Pope declared, "In the last two decades, thanks to an exemplary collaboration in the international community among politics, science, and economics, important results have been obtained with positive results for current and future generations."
Religious leaders convene for a floating climate change symposium
Leaders from Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Shiite, Shinto, and Sunni traditions are cooperating to close the perceived gap between religious and environmental interests. For more info...
Science and religion unite on climate
Read the op ed by Rev. Sally Bingham, leader of the national Interfaith Power & Light movement, and Dr. Stephen H. Schneider is a professor of biological science at Stanford University.
