Boost, News, Updates
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Boost, News, Updates
October 2nd Climate news and events, Faiths4Future, Climate Cafe Multifaith.
Quick nav links for this week’s weekly(ish):
JustCreation prior weeks of this Weekly and other articles.
Upcoming events, webinars & opportunities (scroll)
Faith voices and Good news this week, and the News Archive.
Reports, resources and actions (scroll for current this week, links to Faiths4Future and Climate Cafe for prior weeks.)
Boost - Events
Congregational Solar Webinar. On October 18th online the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement Cafe hosts experts from Collective Sun and the Interfaith Solar Campaign, organizations working with churches, temples and synagogues to determine what is the best approach to get solar energy flowing to the church. Learn more and register. Check out also the UMCJM’s October newsletter, focused on solar and ready to inspire you.
Fossil Free UMC. With new denominational legislation being considered in 2024, United Methodists concerned with moral investment are again calling for the denomination to divest. A new Just and Free, Fossil Free UMC movement is launching. Check this space for more information as it comes up, meanwhile contact Fossilfreeumc@earth-justice.org. The renewed website will soon be live at fossilfreeumc.org.
Fellowship Celebration. Creation Justice Ministries celebrates its 40th anniversary with prayer and fellowship, streamed. Learn more and register. October 26th.
Green Team Summit. The Green Team Summit returns this year October 8-11 hosted by Faith In Place & Interfaith Power and Light. A great line up of speakers, and it looks like it will be both online and in person.
Plum Village Online Course. A seven week course through Plum Village drawing from the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh starts October 15th. Registration now open. More info: Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet.
Season of Creation
So much going on! I put faith updates for Season of Creation and faith voices in the news into their own posts. It’s a good opportunity to shine a little extra light on what people across faith traditions are getting up to:
The round-up #1 Stories of the Season from the local church out
The round-up #2 Festivals, Appeals, Season of Creation & Beyond.
The round-up #3 Voices of Faith for Creation, Unity & Resilience
THIS WEEK Round-up #4 Season of Creation, a call for great thanksgiving
Query
Writers’ groups - Your thoughts? Is there interest in writer’s groups—workshopping groups—for writing congregational and group study curriculum across the faith spectrum? It seems clear that devotional resources are needed across the board and at every level. We need a new integration for the creation. Somehow, God’s good world got extracted from our texts—just as we have been extracting God’s intended goodness from the planet. The remedy is multifold, but part of it must be lots of new work. If you are interested, please reach out to me Richenda at CircleFaithFuture.org
Resources
The Resource archive is on the Reports Page.
Environmental Justice Grants. From Inside Climate News. We will keep hearing about this effort as it is rolled out, finds grantees, and helps mobilize communities. Keep up with the latest on the Justic40 aligned effort. EPA Rolls Out Training Grants For Environmental Justice Communities. Sixteen technical assistance centers, created jointly by EPA and the Department of Energy, are expected to play a key role in helping facilitate funding under the Biden administration’s Justice40 initiative.
Direct Pay. If you’ve been following news on the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) and all the tax rebates & incentives, you know that another tool in the tool kit is ‘direct pay.’ This is a special type of tax rebate especially for organizations like churches and 501 C3s that don’t pay taxes. This special program means you get money anyway. I like a good explainer to keep up with whose doing what, and this article from Environmental and Energy Study Institute has great examples, Direct Pay: Nonprofits Can Now Benefit from Clean Energy Tax Credits.
Eco-Church Net-Zero resources and more. This really deserves it’s own whole post, but THANK YOU to the UK churches for tremendous leadership when it comes to Climate. They have developed fantastic resources—webinars and booklets—you can find them on these pages: From The Church in Wales a page that offers number of pdf publications that address net-zero both as a denomination and congregation. There are also webinars through the Church of England, these will encourage you!! They are doing the work and net-zero has a clear path of achievement.
Reports & Studies
Find more reports on the reports page.
Newest 1.5 Roadmap. Yes. We can still make it. But we must focus, focus, focus. This was the takeaway from a new study released by the IEA this week. Read an article about the study in The Guardian, ‘Staggering’ green growth gives hope for 1.5C, says global energy chief. IEA’s Fatih Birol says uptake of solar power and EVs is in line with net zero goal but rich countries must hasten their broader plans. Read an exploration of what we need to do from The Conversation, The green energy surge still isn’t enough for 1.5 degrees. We’ll have to overshoot, adapt and soak up carbon dioxide. Read the study.
Forests benefit from human activities. Many faith traditions note the importance of human stewardship and caretaking of the living earth. A new study brings some measurables around that truth. Read about the study from Mongabay, Forest restoration can fare better with human helping hand, study shows. Studies like this one bring hope to the conversation so many are engaging around forest restoration and protection, from Phys.org, In Shawnee National Forest, a debate swirls around how to best protect trees amid climate change and wildfires. Read the study.
Fracking, Water & Aquifers. A report from the New York Times (gift link). Monster Fracks’ Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier. Giant new oil and gas wells that require astonishing volumes of water to fracture bedrock are threatening America’s fragile aquifers.
Planetary Limits Exceeded. From the AP, Earth is outside its ‘safe operating space for humanity’ on most key measurements, study says. From Smithsonian Magazine, Humans Have Exceeded Six of the Nine Boundaries Keeping Earth Habitable. Scientists find we are “well outside the safe operating space for humanity” in a new study meant to assess the health of our planet. Read the study: Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries.
Extraction needs Community Consent. A new report out from Oxfam tackles the imperative that communities give consent before mineral mining is allowed on their lands. Mongabay has great reporting on this, with two articles. Both from Mongabay, How Canada’s growing presence in Latin America is hurting the environment and Rechargeable battery industry needs better mining regulations, report says. Read the report, Recharging Community Consent: Mining companies, battery minerals, and the battle to break from the past
Action
(Is it okay for people of faith to sign-on to general/secular petitions? I put together a quick page to think about this Sign-ons & Petitions, are they faithful?)
Climate Cafe goes to Parliament. Congratulations to Jess Pepper and members of Climate Cafe in the UK who have succeeded in getting the need for Climate Cafe efforts in front of the Scottish Parliament. Read more: Members Business Debate about Climate Cafés® in the Scottish Parliament
Forgive us our debts. When it comes to global debt, real questions need to be asked around who has caused the debt in the first place. In a world where the super rich charter private flights for their dogs while children go hungry, we must take a good, hard Luke 16:19-31 look at ourselves. From Earthbeat, Catholics ask Biden to deliver debt relief to countries most at risk from climate change Sign on letter: Forgiveness of debt and the restructuring of debt must be included on the US agenda for COP28
Rewild your garden. Thank you, Better Homes and Gardens, for this great ‘just go do it’ article. It couldn’t be simpler, more important, or more rewarding. Rewilding May Be the Most Low-Key Gardening Trend Out There—This Is All It Takes. Focused on restoring the natural state of your outdoor space, this technique is as sustainable as it is effortless.
Faith Voices in the News This Week
See also my posts linked above celebrating the events and resources of the Season of Creation, including this week: Season of Creation, a call for great thanksgiving.
Young people bring Interfaith Relief. This is the future of faith, people! I love everything about this, and am so grateful to the organizers who are ensuring a faithful response to those in need. From the Williams Record, Students organize bake sale to benefit Morocco, Libya in show of interfaith unity.
Congregations in action. This is the kind of congregational work that will make the difference in the effort to renew our earth. From the Greenfield Recorder, Faith Matters: Uniting to protect our sacred earth: An invitation to an autumn open house, hosted by the Interfaith Council of Franklin County. Big ups to the Interfaith Council of Franklin County and a deacon at First Congregational Church of Ashfield/UCC.
Necessary Conversations. Shout out to Indian Creek Community Church in Wyoming this week for hosting the essential conversations we need across the board in every community. From 59 News, Community outreach meeting for environmental concerns in Wyoming County.
Profiles in Leadership and Faith. Two profiles this week of Jewish leaders whose work has moved us to a better world, and continues to do so. From the Jewish Chronicle, remembering the life and work of Neville Sassienie. From Jewish News of Northern California, After 50 years, pioneering female rabbi is still practicing peace — and protesting.
Good News
Find more news in the news archive (including good news!) here.
Conservation can be fluffy! A story of a little anteater new to science and busily charming everyone. From Hakai Magazine, This Fluffy Little Anteater May Very Well Be a New Species. Thousands of kilometers from their nearest relatives, these silky anteaters eke out a living in a pocket of mangroves on Brazil’s Atlantic coast. Click the link for photos and your daily dose of ‘awwww! It’s so fluffy!’
Climate Corps, It’s happening! From Inside Climate News, Biden Creates the American Climate Corps, 90 Years After FDR Put 3 Million to Work in National Parks. The new workers will remove wildfire fuel in forests, install EV chargers in cities, retrofit thermostats in low-income homes and, it is hoped, move on to union jobs in the clean energy economy. from Earthbeat, New American Climate Corps aims to boost clean energy, jobs for young people
Land Restoration, Resilience, and Land Back. From Native News Online, LA's Largest-Ever Land Back an 'Important Step' in the Movement. The 12 acres were restored to the Gabrielino Shoshone Nation of Southern California and will become the Chief Ya’anna Learning Village for land management and resilience. Native people’s involvement with resilience goes beyond forests and food, also, with Native owned businesses and mentorship in green industry on the rise. From Minnesota MPR News, A vision for green energy — and jobs in underserved communities
Bumble Bees. Yes, there is a bumble bee atlas. And yes, as of right now half of bumble be species in the Pacific Northwest are at risk. For the good news, here, look for those shouldering the effort to change all that for the good. Reported in High Country News, To protect wild bumblebees, people have to find them first. For six years, hundreds of volunteers have counted bumblebees across the Northwest. Their data is shaping pollinator conservation nationwide.
Green Transition. New things to share as innovation continues, two from Elektrek, Honda unveils $10K electric N-Van e with 130-mile range that can power your home, and US solar is booming – here’s the newly released data. The wind industry is also booming, and proving it can be responsive to quality of life concerns, such as when Kansas then Washington State legislated the dimming of lights on turbines. Another from Elektek (on a roll!) A new wind farm in Kansas trailblazes with light-mitigating technology.
Find the news archive here.
Praying this week for those suffering on the periphery. For those directly dealing with flooding and heat, yes. But especially for those who are displaced, whose crop is poor this year, whose water is drying up. Prayer for those in communities disrupted and struggling because of climate change. May God comfort and provide for you. May we stop burning fossil fuels. Prayers up.
Richenda
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Just to say… my updates are not endorsements, and links are usually third party. Please make your own determinations. My goal here is to amplify the conversation and encourage engagement, learning, and resilience. And of course, to bless your efforts!