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We March to End Fossil Fuels

By Ren Martin, Eco-Justice Connection Program Coordinator

The energy in the air on Sunday, September 17th, was palpable. That weekend, I joined the March to End Fossil Fuels.  North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light was one of […]

We March to End Fossil Fuels

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The energy in the air on Sunday, September 17th, was palpable. That weekend, I joined the March to End Fossil Fuels. 

North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light was one of the sponsors that empowered over 55 Duke University students to attend this historic event. After driving up with the students, we were met with over 75,000 people who marched alongside us down the streets of New York City.

As a young climate activist working at the intersections of faith, energy, and environmental justice, I knew I needed to contribute where I could: I volunteered as marshal, guiding many more than the expected 4,000 people inside the youth section of the march. I acted as a concerned citizen, seeking a better future for frontline communities, younger generations, and people of faith and conscience. I marched to end Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate, the Willow Project, and the climate crisis that’s perpetuating Canadian wildfires, filling the air from where we stood with toxic fumes. I marched to have President Biden listen to the people he has sworn to serve… We marched to end the era of fossil fuels.

Our demands were simple:

  1. President Biden should declare a climate emergency.
  2. Stop all federal approvals for new fossil fuel projects.
  3. We must phase out production of fossil fuels on federal public lands.
  4. We need to create a just transition with a clean energy future.

The sheer magnitude of the climate crisis sends shockwaves through our natural systems. 

We have fought the sinking reality of our situation, like a dying man in quicksand, as we increasingly begin to feel its effects in our communities each passing day. This is why we march. I kindly urge President Biden to take the actions needed to properly prepare for the climate emergency. It’s time for the United States to take more responsibility. We can no longer sit in silence and shroud ourselves in ignorance, as hurricanes and heatwaves devastate our nation.

On Sunday, it is likely over a million people witnessed or participated in this demonstration. This will serve as the catalyst for the change we so desperately need. Moreover, it didn’t end with just the demonstration. When the march was over, a congregation of people had gathered from all over the country. We were greeted with some of the most powerful voices in our lifetimes: Congresswoman AOC, UN representative Vanessa Nakate, and North Carolina’s very own Amber and Danger with Seven Directions of Service. Each speaker touched on the urgency of now and the insanity of the situation we have put ourselves in. The climate crisis is not something we can ignore. Frontline communities know that, young people know that, and as we marched on one of the high holy days of the year, Rosh Hashanah, so too do people of faith and conscience. 

The urgency to end fossil fuels is felt everywhere, and this weekend, tens of thousands of people were there to prove it.

North Carolinians Deserve Updated Building Codes

By Susannah Tuttle, Eco-Justice Connection Director

On Friday, July 7th, Governor Cooper vetoed HB 488. As people of faith, we applaud his leadership and understanding of how this piece of legislation will negatively impact the people […]

North Carolinians Deserve Updated Building Codes

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On Friday, July 7th, Governor Cooper vetoed HB 488. As people of faith, we applaud his leadership and understanding of how this piece of legislation will negatively impact the people and environment of North Carolina.

The impacts of HB 488 will hinder the progress of crucial updates to the state’s building energy conservation codes, which have been under consideration by the North Carolina Building Code Council for the past two years. Currently, the Council is deliberating an update that would align the codes with the 2021 standards, representing a significant improvement over the existing codes established in 2009. Regrettably, certain members of the N.C. General Assembly are actively attempting to impede these much-needed updates through House Bill 488.

NC Interfaith Power & Light, the NC Council of Churches energy justice program, has collected signatures from individuals and congregations endorsing an expert editorial opposing HB 488. We are now praying that those members of the N.C. General Assembly, who possess a deep sense of conscience and genuine concern for our communities, will sustain the veto and allow the NC Building Code Council to complete the necessary and overdue update to the NC Building Codes. 

According to independent analysis and results from homebuilders who are already incorporating provisions of the proposed code, these updated Codes will save new residential homeowners an average of $399 (18.7%) a year in utility costs. Updating the codes in line with the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code will create thousands of new jobs, boost the North Carolina economy, and result in $5.3 billion in savings to residential consumers over a thirty-year period.1

If the Governor’s veto is overturned, House Bill 488 will throw out these savings and two years of work by the NC Building Code Council.  Instead of new codes taking effect in January 2025, they would be delayed until 2031. This would mean new homes in North Carolina would be built to 20-year-old code standards that are less efficient and more expensive for occupants to operate during a time of significant utility rate increases and lead to our state missing out on federal FEMA funding.

If the current Building Code Council is allowed to finish its work, the economic benefits to the 10 million people of North Carolina will be: $5.3 Billion in utility bill savings over the next 30 years2, plus increased tax revenues, more manufacturing jobs, and job training programs that will give more North Carolinians a living wage, and homes that are more likely to survive hurricanes.

This bill is truly a justice issue that impacts the people and environment of North Carolina. Please use your “power & light” from within and help protect the Veto on HB 488 and contact your members of the North Carolina General Assembly today!

1Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of the 2024 North Carolina Energy Conservation Code, Page 2, PNNL-180509. March 24, 2023.
2Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of the 2024 North Carolina Energy Conservation Code, Page 2, PNNL-180509. March 24, 2023

COP 27: Together for Implementation on Loss and Damage

By Susannah Tuttle, Eco-Justice Connection Director

As you have hopefully heard in the news, the 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) is currently taking place in […]

COP 27: Together for Implementation on Loss and Damage

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As you have hopefully heard in the news, the 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) is currently taking place in Egypt. The theme for COP 27 is #TogetherForImplementation. Of the many years of global meetings that have taken place since the 2015 Paris Agreement, this “implementation summit” of 2022 is the year nations are expected to demonstrate that they are in a new era of implementation by turning their commitments into action. Walking through the maze of the COP 27 campus you can see the branded theme everywhere from massive banners and big screens to the plant-based paperboard water bottles handed out daily to participants.

The general view of COP 27 is to build on previous successes and pave the way for future ambition to effectively tackle the global challenge of climate change. We recall that the main aim of the Paris Agreement is to keep the global average temperature rise this century as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Every minute that we delay implementation of real action we see that number rise and so we know we must move beyond the “talk” of negotiations into the commitments of climate finance in very real and equitable terms. That said, the discussions around the creation of a loss and damage (L&D) financial facility are of highest importance at COP 27.

Last week, Bobby Watson wrote a Texas Impact blog on L&D  highlighting some of the overall tensions around the issue. This week, along with many others from American Civil Society, I attended a meeting with Senator Schumer’s staff to discuss how they might help us move this critical issue forward. We discussed our concerns that although US climate envoy, John Kerry, has said his country was “totally supportive” of moves to address loss and damage and is “100% ready” to discuss the issue in detail, the U.S. State Department has not yet agreed to support the creation of a L&D financial facility. Directly after the meeting with Schumer’s team a group of us headed over to the Climate Justice Pavillion to hear more about the demands for the L&D finance facility from a panel moderated by Manish Bapna, President and CEO of Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Because we are well aware of the political challenges of allocating funds via U.S. Congress for climate action, we should be willing to listen to those in the negotiation space representing our country and hear their hesitations to make promises to developing countries that they do not feel confident they can deliver in the form of finances.  However, this is no excuse to be an obstacle by blocking the rest of the world’s ability to move forward in creating this L&D financial facility which is so desperately needed. 

Today, in support of the letter House Democrats sent to President Biden, a press release was distributed globally titled: US & Global Activists call on the United States to Stop Blocking a Loss & Damage Fund which includes quotes from our colleagues that we are working with in Sharm El-Sheikh, amplifying the call for a L&D financial facility. 

It is becoming more clear by the day that if the implementation launch of a loss and damage facility at COP 27 does not take place this will be a huge loss for humanitarian empathy. This is exactly where I turn to my faith and prayerful hope that it will happen in time, it just has to.

PRAYER: 
During these last days in Egypt, may the U.S. delegation let go of all inhibiting and paralyzing fear to be guided by the moral compass of compassion in the name of justice for all God’s children. We are all in this #TogetherForImplementation!

The Importance of Community and Climate Week NYC

By Ren Martin, Eco-Justice Connection Program Coordinator

Once a year, environmental leaders from around the United States and around the world come together to meet in New York City. On my first big solo trip as an […]

The Importance of Community and Climate Week NYC

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Once a year, environmental leaders from around the United States and around the world come together to meet in New York City. On my first big solo trip as an organizer, I too was blessed with the opportunity to attend, representing the North Carolina Council of Churches. My main aspiration was to connect with other environmental justice advocates and learn about the work others are doing in their own communities.

Being there in the space of organizers, I felt energized to continue on in the work of advocacy, mobilized to use my own voice to speak to the masses, and uplifted in my understanding of Eco-Justice and in my confidence that the role that we play is critical. However, another idea was also reinforced: we cannot do this work alone, for our job is only part of a much larger picture.

At the end of the day, all it really comes down to is people. People coming together to form communities, which can create collaborations, which can create coalitions. Energizing that movement is what keeps us together and growing strong, and that is where I personally would like to come into play. 

Through my art, my words, and my actions, I feel called to breathe life into the people around me, especially those whose lives have been disproportionately affected, targeted, and overwhelmed by systematic oppression. People who oftentimes look like me. 

In NYC, I had the great fortune of going to the Black Climate Leadership Summit, where I was able to engage in a space that was not only informing, but inviting, and invigorating in itself. It reminded me that we need to create spaces where Black passion can grow, flow, and be unapologetically free.

I was also reminded that environmental justice was born from the idea that we should all be free to live a life free of toxins and pollutants. That people of color shouldn’t have to suffer injustices at the hands of those with wealth and power (which often go hand in hand). 

Instead of living in a toxic environment that makes thriving impossible, we are called to create a system of our own that will be conducive towards growth, change, and transformation. This is what Climate Week NYC was for me. A space where I was able to step away from the normal pace of life and focus on what matters. To be able to connect and create a sense of community. THAT is environmental justice. Not forgetting that we can never be free until ALL the people are free. 

While we have a long way to go on our journey towards creating the climate future we want to see, for the first time in a while, I was able to feel a powerful presence wash over me—to get a glimpse of the light.

The Earth is our home

It ebbs and flows
Through the seas and the trees, 
the Earth actually breathes.
The mycelium network of mushrooms 
Connects our forests to one other
They provide for each other
Like the cells in our veins
They carry nutrients & warnings of the pain
We have afflicted onto our common home.
We are not only hurting a single tree or bird,
We’re destroying a network of love
The screams left unheard.

Let our faith guide us towards a new path
Lest we face climate devastation & Gaia’s wrath.
When we care for creation, we care for ourselves
If our body is our temple
The Earth is our village, our protective shell
From the ocean of the unknown 
This is where we were raised and where we have
grown up for generations.

All of our nations
were started started around a river, an ocean, a lake.
A fertile crescent of hope 
Where we could eat, rest, and wake
That’s what we have to lose and what’s at stake
This beautiful world the Lord has created and makes.

We lost the garden of Eden in a single day
But we are losing inches of the Earth in new ways,
every month, every year, every decade 
By 2050 it is projected there may be no more coral reefs
By 2050 there could be no relief for island
nations that could’ve been protected, 
because so many of them will already be affected and underwater.

Think of your daughters, your sons, your
children who have grown up in a world that
could’ve been powered by wind & sun
But is instead run on hatred, greed, and fossil fuels
The rich and powerful sit behind closed doors
Delegating death sentences for the poor,
for minorities, people of color
At the end of the day all we have is each other.
Jesus and Martin Luther King Jr both wanted us to love thy neighbors
To unite with our sisters, siblings, & brothers
Let us rise up! Bring hope and faith to the world
to know that nature cannot be ignored
That the people cannot be ignored
That those most impacted by climate 
DESERVE. TO. LIVE.
and not only to survive, but thrive!

Let us live in a world where the voices of Black
and brown communities no longer hide
Where indigenous peoples are not pushed out,
but can live and lead with pride.

We all deserve to breath clean air
Let us come together in prayer… 

Dear lord, I understand now 
We cannot care for creation without action
Without knowing, acknowledging, and feeling
compassion for the history we share
Some of us have had our past, present, and
futures irreparably broken
But there are still things we can do to try
and repair our relationship with one another
To LOVE thy sister, sibling, and brother.
Lord, give us the strength to carry on
The wisdom to hear the Earth’s quiet songs
The power to confront and right so many wrongs
And the compassion to be there with those
whose homes, friends, and families are gone.

Oh lord, may you provide living waters
In a world where rivers & lakes are drying out as oceans rise.
Where island nations are being wiped out by rising tides.

At the end of the day, 
After you have thought, after you pray
Remember there’s still actions and words left to say.
Through connecting our communities like the fungi and trees, 
Let us all stay together in unity!
Let us not stray from our goals
But reenforce our roles
Where we can take collective action 
To enrich the Earth and our souls.
Amen.

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:

People of Faith Petition to Biden

By chris

Climate can’t wait. Every day of inaction costs us dearly. Many of our communities have experienced the severe impacts of climate change: wildfires, superstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and increasingly intense […]

People of Faith Petition to Biden

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Climate can’t wait. Every day of inaction costs us dearly. Many of our communities have experienced the severe impacts of climate change: wildfires, superstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and increasingly intense weather phenomena that cause damage, injury, and loss of life. We are running out of time to avoid even more serious consequences. 

Add your name to our petition to President Biden calling on him to keep his promise to take meaningful action on climate, justice, and clean energy.

The Build Back Better Act includes the most significant climate and clean energy investments ever- and it will create jobs and protect clean air and clean water for all. 

We need to pass the most comprehensive version of the Build Back Better Act possible, including the $550 billion in investments that will deliver on climate, justice, jobs, and clean energy. 

Tell President Biden he must do all he can to convince the Senate to swiftly approve the Build Back Better Act that will protect our health, cut dangerous pollution, advance environmental justice, reduce energy costs for families, and create good-paying clean energy jobs.   

Our climate, our communities, and our faith compel us to call for bold and just action. We have a moral responsibility as a nation, and a sacred task as people of faith, to care for our climate and to leave a safe and thriving world for future generations. 

Thank you for helping encourage bold climate action for our neighbors and our common home.