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90 Years Rooted in Faith: Journey through Time

By Susannah Tuttle, Eco-Justice Connection Director

As we celebrate 90 years of faithful work for justice and equity this year, we’re sharing stories of 90 Years Rooted in Faith that reflect the heart of the North Carolina Council […]

90 Years Rooted in Faith: Journey through Time

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As we celebrate 90 years of faithful work for justice and equity this year, we’re sharing stories of 90 Years Rooted in Faith that reflect the heart of the North Carolina Council of Churches. Each month, you’ll hear from staff and long-time friends of the Council as they highlight the transformative impacts we’ve had on our community and our vision for the future. Stay tuned for these inspiring reflections throughout the year!

I’ve been part of the North Carolina Council of Churches staff since 2011, where I design programming and advocacy efforts centered around our ‘Call to Care for God’s Creation.’ This work is guided by the principle that addressing the causes and consequences of global climate change is a moral imperative. The Council’s Eco-Justice Connection framework is ‘rooted in faith,’ seeking to connect people of faith and conscience with both the natural ecological world and the human-constructed, financially driven economic system—two realms that currently seem disconnected from the responsibilities God calls us to uphold.

As humans among millions of species, our lives are part of an interdependent web, intricately woven with existence and the experience of the Divine. My faith rests in the belief that all of God’s creation is a dynamic, spiraling force of communication that extends throughout the Universe and beyond. I hold that time is both a profound illusion and, and simultaneously, one of the deepest truths.

Could the people living at the time of Jesus’ birth have ever imagined that Earth and all its species—including humanity—would evolve into the world we know today? The Magi, the wise men who followed celestial signs, may have had some insight into what the future held, even centuries ahead. As scholars deeply versed in astronomy and perhaps early mysticism, they were trained to interpret the stars, believing that celestial events could foreshadow earthly transformations—such as the rise of great figures or the dawn of new eras.

Thoughts and questions like these inspired me to enter seminary in the 20th century and still occupy my mind today, 25 years into the 21st century, marking the first quarter of the third millennium since Anno Domini—”in the year of the Lord.” The socio-political struggles during Jesus’ lifetime resonate with the challenges we face today, highlighting the profound question of where each of us are standing in the wilderness at this moment as we face tyranny and the collapse of democracy across the United States. This question takes on many layers in the context of the global climate emergency, which affects all peoples and transcends any single religion or group.

As the North Carolina Council of Churches reflects on the past 90 years, we are also called to creatively envision what the world will look like 90 years from now, in 2115. While it’s difficult to imagine that far ahead, there are babies being born today who may still be alive then—if we faithfully answer the call to protect the people and places we love. 

This is our mandate—spanning from the past to the present and into the future: to love God and ourselves enough to heal what has been harmed, and to follow the teachings of Jesus, as well as those of the great Magi who came before, who walk among us now, and those yet to be born.

To be a part of the North Carolina Council of Churches is a tremendous blessing. The work we do to educate, inspire, and mobilize our congregational network—and all those they reach—is the vital work of our time. May we honor it and continue to nurture and grow it so that it may endure, in the name of peace, love, and justice for all.

Join us in continuing this legacy of justice and courage.
Click here to donate directly to Susannah Tuttle’s fundraising page!
Your gift supports the Council’s equity and compassion work across North Carolina.

The North Carolina Carbon Plan

By Ren Martin, Eco-Justice Connection Program Coordinator

In the past few months, for better or for worse, the climate crisis has come to the forefront of the conversation. The Senate recently passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which […]

The North Carolina Carbon Plan

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In the past few months, for better or for worse, the climate crisis has come to the forefront of the conversation. The Senate recently passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which could potentially have major impacts on national policy and funding around climate resiliency. Additionally, the West Virginia v EPA United State Supreme Court decision was released just last month, stripping away needed regulations to limit pollution and protect public health. 

There is also a particular environmental policy discussion closer to home that could significantly affect our ability to regulate pollution. Here in North Carolina, we are in the midst of yet another momentous decision on climate: the N.C. carbon plan. Last year, North Carolina passed a historic piece of legislation that seeks to respond to climate change by reducing carbon emissions. This energy bill, known as HB 951, calls for carbon emissions to be reduced by seventy percent by 2030, and to net zero emissions by 2050.

Duke Energy, the energy provider for our state, has been given free rein by the utility commission to write the first iteration of potential plans. In preparation for creating the final version of the carbon plan, four public hearings have been held to gather community testimony and opinion. During these meetings, the commission overwhelmingly received public testimony in favor of a more robust carbon plan. Several environmental nonprofits–including members of our very own Eco-Justice Connection (EJC) program–were present to give testimony. 

Although many have spoken out at the hearings, there is still more public outreach work and engagement that needs to be done. This is one of many reasons why the North Carolina Council of Churches has become an official intervener in this planning process. Through our collective voice, we aim to have the utility commission incorporate community input with low-income ratepayers, focus on investments in renewables and energy security, and decrease energy burden. As a commitment to community engagement, our staff has been present during each hearing to listen to the voices of North Carolinians. Environmental organizations across the state not only participated in the hearings but have been driven to action. Right before the last in-person hearing in Charlotte, our EJC staff worked in collaboration with other nonprofits to organize a rally, where Ren Martin spoke during the press conference. Multiple environmental organizations have also come together to form collaboratives intended to provide the public with information on the carbon plan, and why Duke Energy’s plan is lacking.

In short, we are at a pivotal moment in history. If the utility commission were to create an ambitious carbon plan, North Carolina could be at the forefront of clean energy in the United States and set a standard that other states could follow. However, Duke Energy’s proposed plans leave much to be desired. Their plan contains no mention of environmental justice nor the real costs that climate change has had on our most vulnerable community members. This cannot stand. Corporations who benefit from the current status quo must not be allowed to control the narrative around climate progress, for the consequences of our inaction grow larger day by day. As the deadlines for major environmental decisions loom before us, we must come together as people of faith to lift up the voices of those most impacted by the climate crisis. 

Come this December, the utility commission is expected to vote on a finalized version of the carbon plan. There are still actions you can take to have your voice heard! Although the in-person hearings are over, on August 23rd there will be two virtual hearings. If you wish to testify, you should register before 5 p.m. on August 16, by emailing the Commission at ncucpublichearing@ncuc.net or by calling 919-733-0837. Learn more about how to attend this hearing by clicking here. If you cannot attend the hearing or you wish to participate in another way, written comments can also be submitted at the NCUC website.

If you would like to advocate and learn more about the Carbon Plan, check out the resources below:

Reflecting on the Climate Strike

By Michelle Peedin, Program Coordinator, Partners in Health and Wholeness

On Friday, September 20, 2019 NC Interfaith Power and Light participated in the biggest climate strike in North Carolina history. Raleigh’s event was only one strike in the hundreds that […]

Reflecting on the Climate Strike

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On Friday, September 20, 2019 NC Interfaith Power and Light participated in the biggest climate strike in North Carolina history. Raleigh’s event was only one strike in the hundreds that happened all over the world for the Global Climate Strike. It was the largest worldwide climate mobilization ever and the largest youth-led mobilization on any issue in history. It was estimated that 1500 youth climate leaders and adult allies came out to Raleigh striking to demand transformative action be taken to address the climate crisis.

The photos below are just a snapshot of the passion and energy that was seen and felt at the Raleigh Climate Strike. Don’t miss our youth-made video of participants sharing their reasons for striking! We hope the photos and video below inspire you to take action in your own faith communities!

Rishi Ranabothu, Youth Leaders Initiative Founder
Sarah Ogletree, NCIPL Program Coordinator
Rev. Dr. Jennifer Copeland, Executive Director of the NC Council of Churches
Susannah Tuttle, Director of NC Interfaith Power and Light
Michelle Peedin, NCIPL Youth Leaders Coordinator

Gary Smith, Chair of NCIPL Energy Working Group, with his group Community United Church of Christ in Raleigh.

Gary, Connie, Diana from Pittsboro Presbyterian Church

Sue Barnett from Unitarian Universalist PEACE Fellowship, Raleigh with NCIPL Program Coordinator, Sarah Ogletree

Rev. Pat Watkins and Rev. Dr. Denise Honeycutt from the United Methodist Church Caretakers of Gods Creation Community

Michelle Peedin, NCIPL Youth Leaders Coordinator

Phill Wilson from United Church of Chapel Hill

Becca Lamb, Michelle Peedin, NCIPL’s Youth Leaders Coordinator, and Avery Davis Lamb, previously with IPL DMV

Rishi Ranabothu, Tristan Peedin, Zeke DeGette

NCIPL Team: Michelle Peedin – Youth Leaders Coordinator, Sarah Ogletree – Program Coordinator,
and Susannah Tuttle – Director of NC Interfaith Power and Light

NCIPL Youth Leaders Initiative – “For The Love Of” Video

Here is a video that one of our youth made. Tristan Peedin, 16 years old, interviewed and edited this compilation video of strikers at the Climate Strike last Friday in Raleigh, NC. At NCIPL we recognize that storytelling is a powerful way to educate, inspire, and mobilize this climate justice movement.

We asked each interviewee to share with us their “For the love of” reason for striking! The ages range from 7-61! An intergenerational movement led by the youth – the generation who will carry the most weight of this climate crisis.

To learn more about NCIPL’s Youth Leaders Initiative or our newly forming network, Click Here. 

More Photos from the Raleigh Climate Strike








Meet NCIPL Intern Daniel Perrin, Youth Leader

By Michelle Peedin, Program Coordinator, Partners in Health and Wholeness

Daniel Perrin has been interning with North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light this summer. He describes below what led him to this work and how he got connected to NCIPL. […]

Meet NCIPL Intern Daniel Perrin, Youth Leader

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Daniel Perrin has been interning with North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light this summer. He describes below what led him to this work and how he got connected to NCIPL.

I’m Daniel Perrin, and I am now, at last, a summer intern with North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light. From the time that I first started learning about this world, I cared about many things, but climate change always seemed to be the all-encompassing issue to me. As I  introduce myself to this community, I want to talk a little bit about myself and how I became involved with NCIPL.

To do that, let me start out with the basics. I am now a rising 9th grader and will be attending Carrboro High School in the fall. Three amazing years at Smith Middle School helped forge my interest in the environment and made it stand out among a crowded field of other issues pressing our world. I currently live in Chapel Hill with my family and my relationship with them has only furthered my interest in the environment. After all, environmental justice is one of the few issues that affect everyone, though no doubt some more than others. There is nothing to do but solve it! That is the only way to get past this and share the same world with every future generation.

In 2017, I was in 7th grade, the usual year for going through the Bar or Bat Mitzvah process for young people of Jewish faith. At my synagogue, Judea Reform Congregation in Durham, the tradition is for every person becoming a Bar or Bat Mitzvah to complete a social justice or Mitzvah project in accordance with your studies. The portion of the Torah that I chanted was B’reishit, the very first section. To give you a sense, B’reishit translates literally to “in the Beginning” and makes a very clear connection to the environment. This portion of the Torah talks about the earth being created and then passed on to Adam and Eve to care for it. To go along with this theme I tried to create an ambitious project centered around bridging religion and environmental action. Enter NCIPL.

The first part of my social justice project was to spearhead and help conduct an energy savings analysis of our synagogue and campus. We worked to coordinate it, and soon thereafter a volunteer auditor from NCIPL — little did I know in a short amount of time, I would be a volunteer with NCIPL — came to our synagogue. That day, we walked around the campus for more than an hour and were led by the auditor, a retired electrical engineer, who taught us ways to reduce our carbon footprint with low or no-cost solutions. What resulted? 11 pages of real, tangible solutions to help our synagogue and help our world.

This project experience introduced me to NCIPL and they stayed on my mind as we coordinated the next part of the project: installing a solar panel at the synagogue to power the Ner Tamid or Eternal Light. The Eternal Light is a symbol of God’s presence that illuminates the sanctuary. On February 19, 2019, a 50-watt photovoltaic solar panel was installed outside the synagogue as well as an AGM battery. The battery stores and supplies energy to the Eternal Light even during the night and several cloudy days in a row. I see powering the Eternal Light with solar energy as a great symbolic act for our community. It represents God’s presence as an eternal source of light. We finally finished that part of the project in February of this year. It was a long process that involved jumping through many hoops, but I learned a lot from the project. Overall, the work that I helped accomplish at my synagogue really struck me as momentous and important because the symbolism can be applied anywhere. I thought at the time, and I think even more now, that NCIPL’s work takes a unique angle to a crucial issue. In some ways, it’s a better angle, because it resonates with people now and emphasizes the personal affect climate change is having on people.

And now, here I am, writing this blog post as an intern with NCIPL, and I am looking forward to continuing this great work.

For more information about NCIPL’s Youth Leadership Initiative contact: michelle@ncchurches.org
For general inquries about NCIPL’s programs contact: programs@ncipl.org

Praying in Opposition to Fracked Gas Pipelines

By chris

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline met more opposition last week. This time in the form of a prayer gathering by faith leaders outside the Department of Environmental Quality office. DEQ and […]

Praying in Opposition to Fracked Gas Pipelines

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The Atlantic Coast Pipeline met more opposition last week. This time in the form of a prayer gathering by faith leaders outside the Department of Environmental Quality office. DEQ and the Cooper administration are currently considering a 401 water quality permit application that the pipeline must have before moving ahead with construction later this fall.

Susannah Tuttle, Director of NC Interfaith Power & Light, brought word to the assembly of a resolution adopted by the NC Council of Churches Governing Board condemning the construction of pipelines such as the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The Council of Churches, a statewide ecumenical organization spanning eighteen different denominations, counts more than 1.5 million North Carolinians as members of its participating bodies.

Tuttle read from the resolution entitled “Statement Opposing Fracked Gas Pipelines”. The statement read in part, “We resolve that any new investment in energy infrastructure based on the extraction of fossil fuels is morally reprehensible and, as people of faith, we believe it is an abuse of the God-given gift of creation for which we are charged to care.”

Greg Yost, a pipeline opponent from Madison County, also spoke. Yost was on day nine of a two week, water-only fast, sitting each day in front of the DEQ entrance. Yost explained that his presence there is meant to signal that the Cooper administration’s pipeline decision is at root a spiritual issue. “During this period of waiting,” Yost said, “we are physically passive, but spiritually active. We are helping the Governor and [DEQ] Secretary Regan understand that bold leadership on their part will be met with support by North Carolinians across the state, no matter what [pipeline developer] Duke Energy may want.”

The Reverend Mac Legerton, a United Church of Christ minister from Robeson County, facilitated the service. Legerton, who still works daily to help his community recover from the devastation of Hurricane Matthew, opened a time of prayer for victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Legerton brought with him a native flowering plant that he says will now be passed from county to county in eastern North Carolina to be watered by rivers, creeks, and wetlands that the proposed pipeline would cross. The flower will then be returned to DEQ and offered as a living sign of the importance of its duty to see that North Carolina’s water resources are protected.

On Friday, September 15th DEQ announced a decision will be delayed – likely until mid-December – on whether to permit the controversial project.

Without fanfare or press release late yesterday, the state issued a four-page “request for additional information,” part of its duty under the federal Clean Water Act to ensure the natural gas pipeline won’t harm the over 320 rivers and streams and hundreds of acres of wetlands in its path.

We must continue our prayers that this pipeline will be permanently rejected by the strong leaders of North Carolina. Blessed Be!

Special Places and Sacred Pursuits

By chris

Sportsmen, sportswomen, and wildlife conservationists are not couch potatoes. We get outside. The ones that are as old as I am have seen many, many years of change. When you […]

Special Places and Sacred Pursuits

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RichardMode
Casting on the cold water portion of the Catawba River

Sportsmen, sportswomen, and wildlife conservationists are not couch potatoes. We get outside. The ones that are as old as I am have seen many, many years of change. When you spend your time outdoors it’s easy to see the impacts of climate change on the natural world.

As a dedicated trout angler I have observed trout streams warming, streams that are marginally cold enough to sustain trout are warming to a point that they will not sustain trout in the future. Scientists predict that a very small temperature rise will dramatically reduce the range of southern Appalachian brook trout, North Carolina’s only native freshwater trout.

As an avid duck hunter I’ve tracked duck migrations for 40 years.  We hunt local wood ducks during the early part of the season. Then a glorious thing typically happens, the big migratory birds come in from up north.  Last year they didn’t come.  It was “the season that wasn’t.”

Conservative estimates of sea-level rise on the coast of eastern North Carolina show that we are going to lose 1500 square miles of prime estuarine habitat. This is incredible wildlife habitat and it also supports robust seafood nursery habitat and migratory bird habitat.

2.25 million North Carolinians hunt and fish and watch wildlife.  We spend 2.6 billion dollars a year and we create 46,000 jobs. What’s good for sportsmen is good for North Carolina.  Additionally, outdoor recreation related tourism is a major economic driver in the state. This business relies on robust natural resources base to attract visitors.

I have been blessed with three granddaughters and I want them to be able to experience wild North Carolina like I have. I want them to know the holiness of these special places and sacred pursuits.

Addressing climate change as a moral imperative resonates deeply to my core. The value of NCIPL’s mission is one that all sportsmen, sportswomen, and wildlife conservationists must appreciate. I believe outdoor enthusiasts must partner with people of faith in leading the charge to activate our communities and educate our decision makers. Future generations of all species are calling upon us to protect what we love most, so they can experience the magic of life too.

Fish
Stream born brown trout from one of the special places – public lands in the mountains of North Carolina. A gift earned from good water, land and air management.

I hope you will join me in supporting NC Interfaith Power & Light’s great work.
A tax-deductible donation today will help create a future of tomorrows.
Now Go Get Outside!

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Richard Mode has served as a Trout Unlimited volunteer leader in positions from local chapter President through National President and Chairman of the Board. He currently serves as the NC Wildlife Federation Affiliate Representative and National Wildlife Federation Sportsmen Outreach Coordinator. He has received all three organization’s most prestige awards. In 2007 Budweiser and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation named Richard “Conservationist of the Year.” He lives in Morganton, NC.