Eco-Justice Connection

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#PutSolarOnIt – National Day of Action

By chris

On June 21, 2014, the longest day of the year, communities of faith from around the country will come together in a coalition of groups for a National Day of Action.

#PutSolarOnIt – National Day of Action

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On June 21, 2014, the longest day of the year, communities of faith from around the country will come together in a coalition of groups for a National Day of Action to show support for switching to clean energy, fighting climate change, and the power of bringing solar power to communities all across the country.

Follow the events stream on Twitter at #PutSolarOnIt.

Solar Congregations and Resources

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North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light recognizes the important and hopeful role solar panel installations play for communities of all faiths.

NCIPL has produced a very useful Financing Solar Clearinghouse that offer many useful suggestions for congregations interested in doing a solar project.

Contact info@ncipl.org  for more information on how you and your congregation can get involved in the solar revolution!

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EPA Takes Moral Action to Cut Carbon Pollution from Power Plants

By chris

On June 2nd, 2014 the EPA acted on our moral obligation to address unlimited carbon pollution coming from the nation’s power plants, the single largest source of global warming pollution in the country. The new standards will help usher in clean energy solutions like improved efficiency and solar power: things that NC Interfaith Power & Light congregations have been using in their facilities for years to reduce emissions and save money. Emerging wind and solar companies have been in a David and Goliath struggle against the well-funded coal and gas industries.

EPA Takes Moral Action to Cut Carbon Pollution from Power Plants

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On June 2nd, 2014 the EPA acted on our moral obligation to address unlimited carbon pollution coming from the nation’s power plants, the single largest source of global warming pollution in the country. Click here to show your support!

The new standards will help usher in clean energy solutions like improved efficiency and solar power: things that NC Interfaith Power & Light congregations have been using in their facilities for years to reduce emissions and save money.

Emerging wind and solar companies have been in a David and Goliath struggle against the well-funded coal and gas industries.

By requiring a 30% reduction in carbon pollution from power plants by 2030, the standards will create a dynamic move toward cleaner energy. IPL and its 40 state affiliates reaching 15,000 congregations strongly support the EPA’s important action.

The Rev. Canon Sally G. Bingham, President and Founder of Interfaith Power & Light, issued the following statement:

We applaud this landmark action that comes at a pivotal time when more people than ever have recognized the threat to their health and safety from unregulated pollution. These rules will safeguard our communities, our climate, and our children’s future.

As people of faith called to care for God’s people and Creation, especially the most vulnerable, we have a moral obligation to address the profound impacts of the way we use energy.

In addition to protecting our climate, curbing pollution from power plants offers many important benefits, including saving lives and reducing health risks to those suffering from heart disease and respiratory ailments such as asthma.

The EPA needs to hear that as people of faith
we support these historic landmark safeguards.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION
to help protect the blessings of clean air and water.

 

 

Support Solar in NC!

By chris

Tell the NC Utilities Commission (NCUC) you support net metering and solar power! Like rollover minutes on a cell phone bill, net metering gives renewable energy customers full credit on their utility bills for the excess clean power they deliver to the grid. This simple credit system is one of the most important state policies for empowering Americans to generate their own power from the sun.

Support Solar in NC!

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Solar Trio Pics

Congregations across North Carolina are installing solar systems and NC Interfaith Power & Light is committed to helping forge this precedent-setting path forward.

Seeing solar panels on a house of worship becomes an iconic marker to the broader community, a demonstration of the congregation’s love of the Creator and creation, and it shows a commitment to change our relationship to energy. It becomes a moral statement, a rejection of our use of fossil fuels and the implications of damages that such use brings to all in our shared earth community, expressing a clear commitment that the broader human community cannot ignore.

It’s righteous, it’s working, and now it’s at risk.

Utilities nationwide are casting a long shadow over communities of faith that are going solar with net metering. For over a century, these monopoly interests have made money from building big, expensive power plants and transmission – and having their customers harness free sunshine and other homegrown resources is a threat to that business model.

Power companies should not be standing in the way of Creation Care practices to protect their old way of doing business.

Share your voice and send a message to NC’s Utilities Commission online.

 

NetmeteringLike rollover minutes on a cell phone bill, net metering gives renewable energy customers full credit on their utility bills for the excess clean power they deliver to the grid. This simple credit system is one of the most important state policies for empowering communities of faith to generate their own power from the sun.

Net metering content Source: http://www.oursolarrights.org/ 

 Click here for more information and resources about solar financing options for congregations.

 

We Can No Longer Sweep the Coal Ash Under the Rug

By nancy

We need to let our legislators know that this is important to us.

We Can No Longer Sweep the Coal Ash Under the Rug

coalClarke Morrison, in a home page article in Asheville’s Citizen Times, “Disasters Prompt a New Look at Coal Ash Handling”, points out that the Dan River coal ash spill near Eden on February 2  was the third-largest coal ash spill in U.S. history.

“I think the spill is a game-changer for the state of North Carolina,” Hartwell Carson, the French Broad Riverkeeper with the environmental group Western North Carolina Alliance said. “Kingston sort of put things on the radar. I think the Dan River brought it home.”

The Dan River was contaminated by the spill of over 82,000 tons of toxic coal ash from a retired Duke plant.  State health officials advised that people not eat fish from the river and to avoid contact with the water. Coal ash contains arsenic, lead, mercury and a host of other chemicals that are toxic to humans and aquatic life.

Toxic waste from coal plants has historically been dumped into what are called coal ash lagoons, which are unlined pits with earthen dams, situated next to freshwater bodies.  Concern has been rising about the possibility of ground water contamination and the potential damage to rivers such as the French Broad if major spills occurred.

It is estimated that North Carolina may have as many as 31 leaking  coal ash ponds.

In South Carolina in 2012, the Southern Environmental Law Center sued the state’s two major utilities, Santee Cooper and SCE&G, over groundwater contamination from their ash ponds.  Both utilities quickly settled, agreeing to move the ash to lined landfills at an estimated cost of $250 million.

However, North Carolina’s response has been very different from SC.  Last year, a civilian group filed notice to sue Duke under the federal Clean Water Act.  NC  Department of Environment and Natural Resources intervened and imposed only a light fee with no provision to halt contamination from coal ash.

Duke still maintains that the ash pond dams at the Lake Julian plant are safe and are regularly inspected by state regulators, that the spill was caused by a break in an underground wastewater pipe, and there are no underground pipes at many of the other ponds.

Governor Pat McCrory said that a task force will be set up to assess all of Duke’s coal ash dumps and what must be done to clean them up.  “We must look to the future of coal ash storage and how we can best protect the citizens of North Carolina and our environment,” McCrory said.

Tom Apodaca (R-Hendersonville) has committed to proposing legislation that will force Duke Energy to clean up every coal ash pit in the state and move the ash to properly lined dry storage locations away from our rivers.

We need to let our legislators know that this is important to us.  We cannot continue to let corporations such as Duke fail to consider their negative impacts on the environment and ultimately on our quality of life.

 

Climate Activists Must Heed the Lessons of North Carolina

By nancy

Joe Wainio begins his wonderful article on TruthOut,  “Climate change activists should look to North Carolina for lessons on how to build a broad and diverse movement powerful enough to […]

Climate Activists Must Heed the Lessons of North Carolina

February 8, 2014: Tens of thousands marched on the capital building in Raleigh, North Carolina, to protest the extreme politics of the current state government. (Photo: James Willamor/ Flickr)
February 8, 2014: Tens of thousands marched on the capital building in Raleigh, North Carolina, to protest the extreme politics of the current state government. (Photo: James Willamor/ Flickr)

Joe Wainio begins his wonderful article on TruthOut,  “Climate change activists should look to North Carolina for lessons on how to build a broad and diverse movement powerful enough to challenge the corrupt status quo on several fronts. Single-issue organizing won’t do.”

To make a difference in our current political climate takes massive numbers of people, and so far the environmental movement has not drawn the numbers and diversity needed.

In the article, he captures what we have been building in our North Carolina “Forward Together Movement.”

He concludes,

That’s the significance of what is happening in North Carolina. People from all different backgrounds are demonstrating their support and solidarity for everyone’s basic human rights and dignity. All those involved in the movement are educating one another about “their” issues and are getting a respectful hearing. That is how to build trust between previously separate groups. That is how to build a mighty force that cannot be contained by the oligarchy. If climate activists are paying attention, we will heed these lessons.

 

Our NC “What do You Love Campaign” dovetails with the February Friends Committee for National Legislation’s call to conscience

By nancy

“The seemingly simple action of communicating with your elected representative is powerful, vastly underrated, and accessible to all.”   In October our executive director, Susannah Tuttle, was featured in the […]

Our NC “What do You Love Campaign” dovetails with the February Friends Committee for National Legislation’s call to conscience

emeals-love-story-contest“The seemingly simple action of communicating with your elected representative is powerful, vastly underrated, and accessible to all.”

 

In October our executive director, Susannah Tuttle, was featured in the Indy Weekly, speaking about her efforts to forge ties between environmentally conscious faith leaders and conservative legislators. Since then, Susannah has been encouraging people of faith to meet with our legislators, to build relationships and share our faith voice on the importance of our quality of life for generations to come.

In February, Faith Street published an article by the Friends Committee for National Legislation (FCNL).   In it, they also ask people of faith to meet with their legislators and hold a simple converse about the legacy we wish to leave behind.  The authors, Jose Aguto and Emily Wirzba set out the goal of the FNCL clearly.

The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) is partnering with other faith- and citizen-based organizations on a call to conscience on climate disruption to affirm the moral foundation for action. We ask that multi-faith delegations share their thoughts on climate disruption with their congressional representatives, discussing their beliefs from the basis of their religious, ethical or moral perspectives. Consistent with the Quaker belief in the Light that exists within every person, we ask that such meetings be based on our shared purpose and uplifting paths forward.

We ask people of faith to meet with their congressional representatives and converse around the following questions: What is the shared legacy we seek to leave for our children and future generations on climate disruption? Will you acknowledge that climate disruption is human-induced, already happening, and a grave threat to both present and future generations? Will you take a leadership role and call upon your peers to join a public, bipartisan declaration of concern about climate disruption and the need for congressional action? What kind of actions should Congress take?

By replicating this action in grassroots districts across the country, people of faith can create authentic political and moral will for congressional solutions to climate disruption. ….The seemingly simple action of communicating with your elected representative is powerful, vastly underrated, and accessible to all. For in a healthy democracy, the people create the political will to which elected representatives respond. If the faith community can come together to issue the moral call to conscience and action on climate disruption, we can work with optimism and resolve toward a thriving future.