Interfaith Power & Light

A Religious Response to Global Warming

Interfaith Power & Light Applauds Confirmation of White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nominee Brenda Mallory 

Press Statement

For Immediate Release: April 14th, 2021

Interfaith Power & Light Applauds Confirmation of White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nominee Brenda Mallory 

Washington, DC– The U.S. Senate voted today to confirm White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair nominee Brenda Mallory.

In response, Interfaith Power & Light’s President Rev. Susan Hendershot released this statement:

“As people of faith and conscience, we are tasked with building a more just world—one that is in line with our calling to care for our neighbors and all of Creation. The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) will play an important role in ensuring that environmental justice is central in our nation’s plans to address climate change. Brenda Mallory’s confirmation is a step forward in making sure that economic, racial, and climate justice is a key consideration at CEQ, and we look forward to working alongside her and others at CEQ to advance this critical work.”

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Interfaith Power & Light is a national nonprofit organization with 40 state affiliates and 22,000 congregations in all 50 states. IPL inspires and mobilizes people of faith and conscience to take bold and just action on climate change. 

Faith Leaders Call on Biden Administration to Step Up Climate Commitments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 6, 2021

Contact: Susan Stephenson
[email protected]
(510) 484-7198

Faith Leaders Call on Biden Administration to Step Up Climate Commitments
Offer examples of religious communities already at zero carbon

Today Interfaith Power & Light released a letter to President Biden signed by 1,000+ people of faith, including hundreds of clergy and other faith leaders, calling for increased U.S. ambition on climate. The letter also highlighted efforts by congregations to reduce emissions substantially, including three that are zero carbon.

At the U.N. climate conference later this year, other nations will want to see what the world’s largest historic polluter has done since we exited the accord, and what we will pledge to do as we rejoin. Internationally, the fact is current pledges are not sufficient to keep global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius — or even under 2 degrees, the upper limit of the Paris accord. A strong and credible commitment from the U.S. will encourage other countries to step up their own ambition.

“Interfaith Power & Light and our network of 22,000 congregations around the country are grateful that President Biden listened to people of faith and conscience and followed through with his promise to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord on his first day in office,” said Rev. Susan Hendershot, president of Interfaith Power & Light, “but this is only the very beginning of what we need to do to get the U.S. and world on track to a truly sustainable future.”

The letter reads in part: “Later this year, at the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, I urge you to make a U.S. commitment that goes beyond the Paris agreement. For the sake of our children’s future and all of Creation, we must achieve at least 50% reductions by 2030 and a 100% clean energy future by 2050, while supporting developing nations.”

The good news is that the U.S has already begun working toward those goals. While the previous administration was rolling back climate protections, Americans were continuing to reduce emissions in our houses of worship, homes, schools, and other institutions. Some have cut their emissions by half or more already.

“The next step is setting ambitious goals and demonstrating real commitment to reduce our country’s carbon pollution, along with support to help the developing world adapt and transition to sustainable clean energy. As the world’s wealthiest nation and largest historical emitter, we have a moral obligation to support communities suffering the most from a changing climate,” said Rev. Hendershot.

People of faith and conscience view the climate crisis as one of the defining moral issues of our time. A recent poll commissioned by Interfaith Power & Light found that almost three-quarters (73%) of voters say they are worried about climate change, including 87% of Black Protestants, 82% of nonwhite Catholics, 77% of white Catholics, 76% of Jews, and 57% of white evangelical Protestants.

More than 8 in 10 of these faith voters see their responsibility to care for God’s creation as a reason to act on the climate crisis. Our country should follow the example of these zero carbon faith institutions, and make a stronger commitment on climate, by reducing our own emissions at home and helping developing nations to rapidly shift to clean energy.

These three congregational signers of the letter are already cutting emissions to zero or near-zero:

Church of Our Saviour in Arlington, Massachusetts

The rectory of this small church is now saving 15 tons CO2 per year with new heat pumps, with of total savings $1,710 in annual energy costs. Read their story here

Unitarian Universalist Society, in Coralville, Iowa

They have built the greenest church in Iowa, a LEED certified, Net-Zero building with geothermal, solar, and electric car charging stations. Read their story here

The Church of St. Martin in Davis, California

This “Cool Congregation” is certified at 100% reduction as a net-zero congregation! Read more here.

The Rev. Megan M. Traquair, bishop of the Diocese of Northern California for the Episcopal Church, blessing the solar panels at St. Martin’s (Photo by Johan Verink).

To learn more or to get a copy of the letter to President Biden, email Susan Stephenson at [email protected]

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With Country on Road to Recovery, Interfaith Power & Light Joins New National Coalition Says We Need to #ACTNow to Build Better Future with More Jobs, Justice, and Climate Solutions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, April 1, 2021

Contact: Tiffany Hartung, tiffany [at] interfaithpowerandlight.org

With Country on Road to Recovery, Interfaith Power & Light Joins New National Coalition — Says We Need to #ACTNow to Build Better Future with More Jobs, Justice, and Climate Solutions

The #ACTNow Campaign, composed of Interfaith Power & Light and 13 other groups operating in 12 states with 10 million members between them, launches campaign in support of a #BuildBackBetter Plan and Infrastructure Investments

Washington, DC — President Joe Biden should invest significantly across the economy to create good-paying jobs, safeguard Creation, address the impacts of climate change on our most vulnerable neighbors, and fulfill our moral obligation to leave a habitable world for future generations. This is why Interfaith Power & Light joined a new advocacy campaign launched Thursday, the day after Biden unveiled his economic vision during a speech in Pittsburgh.

 Interfaith Power & Light joined a coalition of 13 other organizations operating in 12 states and counting 10 million members among them in the launch of the ACT (Accelerate Clean Transition) Now campaign to advance the investments we need to meet the crises we face. The #ACTNow campaign is advocating for a real plan to #BuildBackBetter that promises: 

  • New economic opportunity and jobs for all; 
  • Equitable access to those opportunities, particularly in communities that have long borne the brunt of the impacts from a dirty economy; and
  • Solutions to the climate crisis facing current and future generations by creating a clean economy that can protect us and grow our economy.

“As people of faith and conscience, we are tasked with building a more just world—one that is in line with our moral values of protecting our most vulnerable siblings and being faithful stewards of the Earth,” said  Rev. Susan Hendershot, President, Interfaith Power & Light. “We have an extraordinary and historic opportunity to invest in the future we envision, with a safer climate, an equitable and inclusive economy, and modern clean energy infrastructure that improves our daily lives.”

Targeted investments in clean energy infrastructure will reduce pollution, fix bridges and roadways, greatly expand access to electric vehicles and charging stations, build out equitable housing and public transportation, and improve the health of our communities. These investments will provide millions of good-paying union jobs for workers across the country and elevate the quality of life for all Americans, particularly in marginalized communities that have borne the brunt of fossil fuel pollution and climate disasters.

Along with Interfaith Power & Light, the #ACTNow campaign is composed of the American Lung Association, Center for American Progress, Earthjustice, Environment America, Environmental Defense Fund, League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation, Next Gen America, Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists, US Climate Action Network, National Hispanic Medical Association, and WeAct for Environmental Justice. 

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Interfaith Power & Light is a national nonprofit organization with 40 state affiliates and 22,000 congregations in all 50 states. IPL inspires and mobilizes people of faith and conscience to take bold and just action on climate change. 

MEDIA RELEASE

For Immediate Release: March 17th, 2021 

Contact: Tiffany Hartung, tiffany [at] interfaithpowerandlight.org

More Than 500 Faith Leaders and Clergy Call on President Biden to Stop the Line 3 Tar Sands Pipeline in Minnesota

Washington DC- Faith groups delivered a letter from 520 clergy, faith leaders, and leaders of religious communities in 43 states and the District of Columbia to the Biden Administration requesting President Biden stop the Line 3 tar sands pipeline in Minnesota, and all other fossil fuel projects that have federal jurisdiction.

The letter can be viewed here.

Enbridge’s Line 3 is a pipeline expansion that will bring nearly one million barrels of tar sands oil per day from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin. The new pipeline corridor runs through untouched wetlands, the treaty territory of Anishinaabe peoples, and the Mississippi River headwaters to the shores of Lake Superior. 

The letter from faith leaders applauds the President’s executive actions, including the stopping of the Keystone XL pipeline, and asks him as a devout Catholic to be brave and faithful and to stop the Line 3 pipeline as well. 

It goes on to say “All of our faith and spiritual traditions teach us that we must care for sacred earth. In your inaugural address, you said ‘a cry for survival comes from the planet itself.’ We hear that cry, it is being sung by our Indigenous siblings standing in the cold Minnesota winter against this destruction of the sacred. Join their prayer and stand against Line 3.” 

The letter calls for urgent action by President Biden as Line 3 construction is underway, violating the treaty rights of the Anishinaabe peoples. It also calls for an end to all other fossil fuel projects in the United States, and for the President to build back from COVID-19 in a way that is fossil free. 

Almost 200 water protectors have been arrested since December in nonviolent action opposing the pipeline in the path of construction. Enbridge is on schedule to drill under dozens of major rivers, including the Mississippi River Headwaters twice this spring. Enbridge is the company responsible for the largest inland oil spill in United States’ history in Grand Rapids, MN, in 1991. 

Faith leaders across the country and world stand with water protectors on the ground and are calling for President Biden to reject Line 3 and all other fossil fuel projects. Faith leaders released the following statements in response:

“Bulldozers have begun plowing through sacred wild rice watersheds, eight hundred wetlands, and two hundred plus bodies of water in Ojibwe treaty territory,” said Bishop Craig Loya of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota. “Indigenous water protectors are fighting to protect their land, while the police are militarizing and Enbridge’s drill is preparing to burrow under the headwaters of the Mississippi River with millions of barrels of tar sands oil. We need President Biden to act right now.”

“We have a moral obligation to stand with our Indigenous siblings to stop the Line 3 pipeline in order to protect their treaty rights, to prevent further destruction of this sacred planet, and to avert further climate disasters,” said Rev. Susan Hendershot, president of Interfaith Power & Light. “Our children, grandchildren, and future generations are counting on us to align our values with our policies.”

“Killing the planet is against all of our religions, yet that is exactly what is happening,” said Rev. Fletcher Harper, Executive Director of GreenFaith. “Last week, there were over 400 multi-faith actions across the world calling for an end to fossil fuels and a just transition to a renewable, equitable economy. All eyes are on the Biden administration to see whether he will stand up to the fossil fuel industry and stop allowing destruction of land, water, and climate. We hope he shows the leadership the world needs by stopping Line 3, DAPL, and all other fossil fuel projects.”

“For far too long, our church forebears helped cause the many environmental threats now facing God’s creation, Indigenous lifeways, and the common good,” said The Rev. Nathan Empsall, Faithful America campaigns director. “Faithful America’s grassroots Christian members recognize that our faith calls us to support Native-led healing solutions as a key way of loving our neighbors. That’s why we’re calling on President Biden to build back better by respecting tribal self-determination and rejecting the climate-killing Line 3 tar sands pipeline once and for all.”

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https://www.interfaithpowerandlight.org/2021/03/15753/

Interfaith Power & Light Applauds Confirmation of EPA Administrator Nominee Michael Regan

Press Statement

For Immediate Release: March 10th, 2021

 

Interfaith Power & Light Applauds Confirmation of EPA Administrator Nominee Michael Regan

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Senate voted today to confirm EPA administrator nominee Michael Regan. 

In response, Interfaith Power & Light’s President, Rev. Susan Hendershot, released this statement:

“As people of faith and conscience, we support a science-based approach to climate action in order to build a world in line with our moral values of justice, courage, and love for all of Creation. Administrator Regan has proven that he is deeply committed to environmental stewardship based on current scientific research in order to protect all communities. With Michael Regan at the helm, the EPA will help ensure economic, racial, and climate justice for those who have been disproportionately burdened by pollution and the impacts of a warming planet. We look forward to working with Administrator Regan to ensure the protection of human health and the environment.”

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Interfaith Power & Light is a national nonprofit organization with 40 state affiliates and 22,000 congregations in all 50 states. IPL inspires and mobilizes people of faith and conscience to take bold and just action on climate change.

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