Cool Congregations
People of faith across the country are doing their part to prevent global warming in their own homes and places of worship through the Cool Congregations program, while saving thousands of dollars and tons of carbon from entering the atmosphere. Cool Congregations is a stewardship program designed to help congregations engage their members in caring for Creation by reducing their collective (and individual) greenhouse gas emissions. Learn more about Cool Congregations.
Faith Climate Action Week
This events-based program encourages all faith groups to discuss the spiritual side of climate change at services, while also pushing for greater support from local and national policymakers. During the 2015 National Preach-In on Climate Change over valentines weekend, 1,500 congregations across the country signed up to participate. At FaithClimateActionWeek.org, groups have access to downloadable sermons, postcards and other resources. Following religious services, participants signed “Love Creation” valentines addressed to their senators in Washington, urging them to support the Environmental Protection Agency in enacting carbon pollution limits on new power plants. The EPA proposed the new limits in September, after President Barack Obama included them as part of his climate action plan. Congregations take advantage of Faith Climate Action Week resources all year long.
Paris Pledge
As people of faith, Interfaith Power & Light communities from across the United States brought to the table examples of what is possible by taking the Paris Pledge. Signers will strive for a 50% carbon emission reduction by 2030 and will set a goal of being carbon neutral by 2050. Interfaith Power & Light would like to see global nations commit to these levels. Therefore as a community, we must practice what we preach. IPL’s Rev. Sally Bingham hand-delivered a LONG list of congregations and individuals (to UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon in Paris), who are willing to commit to the same carbon reductions we are asking nations to make. It’s a moral imperative to respond to global warming, and we need to work together in the upcoming years to make bigger change happen. Visit ParisPledge.org to sign up your congregation or your household.
Carbon Covenant
Carbon Covenant is Interfaith Power & Light’s program to support faith communities on the front lines of climate change. The number one source of carbon emissions in the developing world is deforestation, and faith communities from Cambodia to the slopes of Kilimanjaro are taking pro-active steps to protect their forests and build sustainable communities. Buddhist monks patrol forests to ward off illegal logging and poaching, and African faith communities are teaching sustainable livelihoods and reforesting degraded lands. U.S. faith communities can become sister congregations and support these conservation efforts, building interfaith and international solidarity and promoting justice. Individuals can support them by making donations or “gifts of trees” in honor of a friend or loved one. Learn more about Carbon Covenant.
