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On May 11^th NCIPL hosted the 2^nd Annual Faith Voices for Clean Energy Advocacy Day. Members of faith communities from across the state met with representatives of the NC General Assembly to hear their vision for North Carolina’s energy future and to express our support for new and existing clean energy policies.

Throughout the legislative session you can participate virtually in the Faith Voices for Clean Energy campaign by sending emails to your members of the NC General Assembly through NCIPL’s online system.

Clean energy policies in NC are generating billions of dollars for the economy and creating thousands of full time jobs across the state. There are currently over 26,000 full time equivalent (FTE) clean energy employees in NC who are generating $7 billion (45% increase since 2014) in gross revenues for our state’s economy. North Carolina’s clean energy policies are also saving ratepayers money. A 2015 study by RTI International and ScottMadden found that North Carolina’s Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS) policy has saved customers $162 million since 2007 and will save them an estimated additional $489 million by 2029.

North Carolina’s clean energy polices help to care for Creation by significantly reducing pollution across the state, which contributes to healthier communities and a better quality of life for all North Carolinians.

CLICK HERE to let your legislator know you support new and existing clean energy policies in North Carolina.

#AllAreCalled
#ActOnClimate
#FaithInAction

On this Earth Day 2016, let us celebrate the fact that the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has left out the mid-Atlantic region from its final draft proposal for new offshore oil leasing. This was due in no small part to the grassroots activism by coastal communities from Delaware to Florida where town and county councils passed 110 Resolutions against offshore oil drilling and many businesses signed letters to President Obama and their Governors asking that the Mid-Atlantic be removed from this five-year plan.

One effort to educate and advocate about the impact of offshore oil drilling and seismic blasting on coastal communities and the marine ecosystems is a movie called Shore Stories produced by Working Films in Wilmington, NC, which will be shown in dozens of venues across the state this spring. Penny Hooper, Leadership Council Chair of NC Interfaith Power & Light, helped coordinate the event held Tuesday night, April 19, at Carteret Community College in Morehead City. Following the showing of the film, more than 100 people in the audience found out how to stay engaged around seismic blasting and offshore oil drilling as it continues to be practiced in other parts of the country and the world. These events demonstrate through the movie and the panel discussions, why we must continue to press for a permanent ban on coastal drilling and stop the seismic testing until further study determines its effects on fish and marine mammals, like the endangered Right Whale population.

The local sponsors of the event in Morehead City, were a non-partisan “Concerned Citizens” group made up of a consortium of business leaders, local politicians, environmental groups, and faith groups. Our motto about offshore oil and seismic testing continues to be “All of the risks and none of the rewards”. On Saturday, May 21, at 11:30 AM the groups will rally again against dirty fuels and in favor of clean energy at the Hands Across the Sand event at Fort Macon on Atlantic beach and Emerald Isle. See www.handsacrossthesand.org for more details. It is clear in our great state of North Carolina, that we must continue to push our position of supporting clean, renewable energy like wind and solar.

Shore Stories is a project of Working Films, created in collaboration with Environment NC, Surfrider Foundation, Oceana, and Blue Frontier.

Local Hosts include: Concerned Citizens of Carteret County, Oceana, Environment NC, NC Sierra Club, NC Interfaith Power and Light, Carteret County Crossroads, and Crystal Coast Waterkeeper.

NCIPL is hosting Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, world-renowned climate scientist and educator with a deep faith in God, the first week of April 2016. We are honored to share the information below about the wonderful events planned with Dr. Hayhoe in Charlotte, Asheville, Greensboro, Durham, and Raleigh.

Transforming Our Energy Future: Energy Equity & You
Mon. April 4, 7pm-9pm
Odell Building – 7^th Floor
525 N. Tryon St. Charlotte, NC
NC Interfaith Power and Light, Clean Air Carolina, Medical Advocates for Healthy Air, and Union of Concerned Scientists are pleased to host this event featuring Dr. Katharine Hayhoe – Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, and Jim Rogers – former CEO of Duke Energy and author of Lighting the World: Transforming Our Energy Future by Bringing Electricity to Everyone. This event will explore how the energy sector is transforming energy production as the global energy markets shift to a low carbon economy, why this transition is occurring & possible barriers, what role clean renewable energy plays in this new energy future, and examine how to ensure this transition is done in an equitable way that ensures everyone access to affordable choices. Click here to RSVP.

Prayer Breakfast 
Tues. April 5, 7:30am-10am
Billy Graham Library
4330 Westmont Dr. Charlotte, NC
You are invited to join Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, Young Evangelicals for Climate Action, Evangelical Environmental Network, and NC Interfaith Power & Light in prayer on this year’s Global Day of Prayer for Climate Action. Click here to register.

Prayer Gathering
Tues. April 5, 3pm-4pm
First Baptist Church
5 Oak St. Asheville, NC
You are invited to join Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, Young Evangelicals for Climate Action, Evangelical Environmental Network, and NC Interfaith Power & Light in prayer on this year’s Global Day of Prayer for Climate Action. Click here to register.

Collaborative Communities Reception
Tues. April 5, 5pm-6:30pm
Lenoir-Rhyne University
36 Montford Avenue, 2nd Fl. Asheville, NC 28801
Climate Scientist, Dr. Katharine Hayhoe will lead us as we share in creative conversation about the future of Western North Carolina and our planet. Named to TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World list for 2014, Katharine is an atmospheric scientist who studies climate change, one of the most pressing issues facing humanity today. But Katharine may be best-known to many people because of how she’s bridging the broad, deep gap between scientists and Christians— work she does in part because she’s a Christian herself. Register here.

Science, Faith and our Changing Climate
Tues. April 5, 7:00pm-8:30pm
First Baptist Church
5 Oak St. Asheville, NC
Creation Care Alliance of Western NC and MountainTrue will host Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, a Climatologist, Professor in the Political Science Department of Texas Tech University. One of Time Magazine’s Most Influential People, Katharine has appeared in the Showtime series Years of Living Dangerously, and Bill Moyers Climate Change: Fact & Faith. Dr. Hayhoe is an incredible educator with a deep faith in God. Sponsoring organizations include Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Climate Listening Project, and NC Interfaith Power & Light.

Faith Leaders Breakfast with Dr. Hayhoe
April 6, 8:30am-10am
Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church
789 Merrimon Ave. Asheville, NC 
Join Creation Care Alliance, NC Interfaith Power & Light, local faith leaders, and Dr. Katharine Hayhoe as we discuss “A New Climate for Social Justice: A faithful approach Spiritual Leadership.” Breakfast sponsored by GreenSage Cafe.

Getting Real about Climate Change
April 6, 12pm-1pm
Scuppernong Books
304 S Elm St. Greensboro, NC
Environmental Stewardship Greensboro, a regional partner group of NCIPL, will host a meet & greet with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, a Climatologist & Professor in the Political Science Department of Texas Tech University. One of Time Magazine’s Most Influential People, Katharine has appeared in the Showtime series Years of Living Dangerously, and Bill Moyers Climate Change: Fact & Faith.

An Evening w/ Dr. Katharine Hayhoe
April 6, 6pm-8pm
Duke University – Nicholas School of the Environment
450 Research Dr. Durham, NC 27708
Young Evangelicals for Climate Action, Duke Divinity, Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy, UNC Institute for the Environment, and NC Interfaith Power & Light will host a community conversation with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe about the scientific and faith basis for acting on the climate crisis.

Meet, Eat, & Discover:
Health Benefits of Clean Renewable Energy
April 7, 11:30pm-1:00pm
Nature Research Center
121 West Jones St. Raleigh, 27603
A lunchtime panel moderated by Dominique Browning – Co-founder and Senior Director of Moms Clean Air Force, with guest presenters: Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, Climatologist & director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University; Greg Fishel, Chief meteorologist WRAL-TV; and Jennifer Caicedo, MD Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Relief of Charlotte. Sponsored by NC Interfaith Power & Light, Environmental Defense Fund, and the newly formed NC Healthy Air Alliance, a collaborative by Moms Clean Air Force NC, Mothers & Others for Clean Air, Medical Advocates for Healthy Air, and Clean Air Carolina. RSVP required.

Town Hall: Changing Climate, Uncertain Future
April 7, 7:00pm-8:30pm
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
11 W. Jones St. Raleigh, NC
WRAL’s Chief Meteorologist Greg Fishel talks Climate Science with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, Associate Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas Tech University, and Walter Robinson, Professor and Head, Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, NC State University. Introduced by Emlyn Koster, Director of the Museum followed by questions from the audience and networking over coffee and dessert. If you are unable to attend we hope you will join us on for a broadcast to be streamed live online. Contact info@ncip.org for details.

No drilling off North Carolina’s coast… It’s time to celebrate!

NCIPL recently presented a statement opposing offshore oil drilling unanimously approved by the NC Council of Churches Governing Board.

As a faith based organization we are called by God to preserve and respect the earth. As Governing Board members of the NC Council of Churches, we represent hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians as we take a moral stand against opening North Carolina’s coast to offshore oil and gas drilling.  Read full statement here

NCIPL brought the Council’s statement to the attention of Governor Pat McCrory and Donald Van derVaart, head of the NC Department of Environmental Quality, with the notice that the statement had been sent to the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Our faithful acts of have helped make a difference!

Obama’s announcement today of the cancellation of plans to offer leases for offshore oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic coincided with the release of the Administration’s Proposed Five Year Program for offshore oil and gas, which determines the areas for which lease sales will be held. Last year, the Administration initially proposed opening a huge area off the coast of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia in its draft proposed program released in January 2015.

Click here to thank the President: http://bit.ly/AtlanticOffshoreDrillingCancelled

In response to today’s announcement, Chris Carnevale, Coastal Climate and Energy Manager for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, made this statement:

The voices of the people have spoken louder than the influence of Big Oil, and this decision shows that the White House sincerely listened to local voices along our coast. Over the past two years, more than 100 local governments, 100 members of Congress, 1,000 small businesses and hundreds of thousands of people have voiced a bi-partisan call to protect our quality of life and booming tourism economy, rather than risk these assets with the impacts of offshore drilling. Our focus should now be on developing responsible offshore energy solutions compatible with our coastal resources, such as offshore wind energy. Read full blog here

Please take a moment to say “THANK YOU” to President Obama
for standing with citizens and protecting the coast!
http://bit.ly/AtlanticOffshoreDrillingCancelled