News, Boost, Updates
September 11th - Climate News and Events, Faiths4Future, Climate Cafe Multifaith
Updates!
Season of Creation week two! So much going on for the Season and beyond! A trip through newsletters, articles, and stories lifts my heart. Find this week’s faith voices here: Festivals, Appeals, & Season of Creation.
Quick nav links for this week’s weekly(ish):
JustCreation prior weeks of this Weekly and other articles.
Upcoming events, webinars & opportunities (scroll)
Good news/Bad news: (scroll for the latest faith and climate news below, link to the News Archive for prior weeks.)
Reports, resources and actions (scroll for current this week, links to Faiths4Future and Climate Cafe for prior weeks.)
Boost - Events
UMCJM Advocacy Webinar on the Farm Bill. From the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement Advocacy Team. From the registration page “Building climate-smart agriculture practices is pivotal for an equitable and more sustainable economy… why people of faith should care, and how we can advocate for just policies. Thursday, September 14th. Register.
Joanna Macy Climate Grief. The School for Great Turning is offering a course on climate Grief focusing the work of Joanna Macy. The Essential Joanna Macy Course starts September 19th and runs for 8 weeks Tuesday evenings.
Faith-Based Investment & Climate. Hosted by the Church Pension Group, connected to the Episcopal Church. From Business Wire, Church Pension Group to Host Virtual Conversation on Global Faith-Based Investors and the Climate Crisis. Webinar title, Global Faith-Based Investors and the Climate Crisis. September 20th. Register.
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.
MIT Climate Storytelling. Connecting with Americans on Climate Change. The MIT Environmental Solutions is hosting an event to get at how journalists can better communicate the story of the reality and urgency around climate change. While this is not a faith-centered event, the presenting speaker will be Dr. Katherine Hayhoe. Wednesday, September 13 · 9:30 - 11am PT
AME Church Trainings and Ambassadorships. The AME Church Calls All Congregants into Climate Justice with a creation justice and social justice effort to encourage congregations to get involved. Check out also the AME is a partner in Blessed Tomorrow, an effort of EcoAmerica, which holds an ambassadorship training. If you are interested in the training, learn more and register.
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.
March to End Fossil Fuels. People vs Fossil Fuels is organizing a March on September 17th in New York City. GreenFaith has promoted this March…online details are few, check with your local GreenFaith circle and see more information here.
In case you missed it:
Interfaith Power and Light & Rewiring America. An electrification webinar with information about rebates, tax incentives and more and directed to home consumers and households happened September 7th. If you missed it, watch the video with Jamal Lewis, Director of Policy Partnerships and Equitable Electrification for Rewiring America. Follow up resources also include a Home Rebates factsheet, and information for congregations: Federal Funding for Energy Work at Houses of Worship, and Energy and Climate Resiliency Funding Opportunities for Houses of Worship.
Season of Creation & Faith Voices
So much going on! I put faith updates from an array of traditions together in one post, find it here Festivals, Appeals, & Season of Creation.
Sharing here also this charming seven minute video from CAFOD featuring the children at Holy Family Catholic Primary School in Bristol, England. The children offer a perspective on the global effort for a good earth, share prayers for the earth, its people, pray for the new school year.
Resources
The Resource archive is on the Reports Page.
Climate Impacts - Presentations by state. EcoAmerica continues to offer great resources for information to-hand. Find here list of ready-to-go presentations breaking down climate impacts for every state.
Net-Zero Toolkit for congregations. The Scottish Episcopal Church has released its new updated Net-Zero toolkit. Here is the announcement about the Toolkit, here is a more detailed article with more information about how local churches can use the toolkit, a more direct link to the brass tacks about the toolkit, as well as the Net-Zero Scottish Episcopal Church action plan (PDF).
Creation Minute. A video resource from Rev. Dr. Bob and Anita Dygert-Gearheart, who last year authored a creation justice curriculum Wake Up World, available online and at Cokesbury. From Anita: “"A MINUTE FOR MOTHER EARTH"! Each month you will receive four free video clips—just 60–90 seconds long—to help your congregation recognize God’s call in the midst of climate-related issues.” Contact Anita to sign up adygertgearheart@hotmail.com See a sample video here.
Reports & Studies
Find more reports on the reports page.
State of the Climate—Latest Report. The a yearly international report and assessment from the American Meteorologist Society, the report analyzes 2022 and it’s not good. Read about the report from Common Dreams, NOAA Finds Carbon Concentrations Highest in 800,000 Years as Sea Level Rise Hits Record. The new global report states that burning fossil fuels is "the main driver of increasing atmospheric CO2." Read an article from NOAA, International report confirms record-high greenhouse gases, global sea levels in 2022. Read the report State of the Climate.
Failing 1.5. A new report shows nations, corporations, and society is/are off-track and failing to make the headway we need to protect the planet and creation. A story about the report from The Guardian, ‘A critical moment’: UN warns world will miss climate targets unless fossil fuels phased out. An article from UN News, Window to reach climate goals ‘rapidly closing’, UN report warns. Read the report.
Private Equity & Environmental Racism. The newest report from the Private Equity Climate Risks Project investigates KKR which substantial fossil fuel portfolio holdings. Read an article about the report from Inside Climate News: Private Equity Giant KKR Is Funding Environmental Racism, New Report Finds. The climate impacts of the private equity industry create significant harm to BIPOC communities in Texas, Louisiana and British Columbia, Canada, it found. Read the report.
7 TRILLION. Subsidies for Fossil Fuels highest ever. When the IMF raises alarms, you know the money problem is way off track. Read an article about the report from Yale Environment 360, Global Fossil Fuel Subsidies Reached $7 Trillion in 2022, an All-Time High. Read the report.
Big Ag and Amazon Deforestation. Read an article about the report from Inside Climate News, Agribusiness Giant Cargill Is in Activists’ Crosshairs for Its Connections to Deforestation in Bolivia. A new report finds that the grain-trading behemoth has purchased soy grown on recently deforested land. Cargill responded that the purchases came from land cleared earlier, and says it investigates all allegations. Read about the report from report author Global Witness (includes a link to the report as PDF download) Empty promises: Cargill, soy, banks and the destruction of Bolivia’s Chiquitano forest.
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?)
Youth Voices
March to End Fossil Fuels. Organizing for this march extends across the country and includes environmental, civic, education, faith organizations and more. This article from Sierra celebrates the youth engagement that is moving and mobilizing people. Meet the Teenagers Helping to Plan the Biggest Climate March Since 2019. Fridays for Future NYC is in charge of the youth turnout for the March to End Fossil Fuels on September 17.
From the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement, check out their September Newsletter and upcoming Movement Cafe which centers youth and young adults.
Farm Bill
UMCJM Advocacy Webinar on the Farm Bill. From the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement Advocacy Team registration page “Building climate-smart agriculture practices is pivotal for an equitable and more sustainable economy… why people of faith should care, and how we can advocate for just policies. Thursday, September 14th. Register.
See last week’s news for more news on the Farm Bill from Civil Eats. See also Presbyterian Mission, they have a great page up with information including the downloadable ‘eaters guide to the farm bill.’
News
Find more news in the news archive (including good news!) here.
Africa Climate Assembly. The Africa Climate Assembly wrapped up last week with mixed outcomes. The Assembly itself was important in bringing people together from across Africa to speak directly to the climate crisis. Frustration, though, was deeply felt. From Nation, Kenya, Youth raise voices for climate justice, demand action From the New York Times (gift link) At Africa’s First Climate Summit, a Clear Call to the World: Invest in Us. The inaugural summit in Kenya’s capital, attended by tens of thousands, was imbued with frustration at Western financial institutions. And from Tuko, African Clerics Blast Global North for Hijacking Africa Climate Summit, Demand for Action, Not Promises
Good News
Pollinator Garden! Gratitude to Bethel AME Church in Wilmington, Delaware, uplifting hearts and the creation by helping build a pollinator corridor. Read about the effort to protect critical pollinator species from the US Fish and Wildlife Newsletter, Save the Pollinators, Save the Planet. The Bethel AME project was also partly funded by the National Wildlife Federation’s Sacred Grounds program. Learn more about helping pollinators from US Fish and Wildlife.
Rewilding. Two great stories of restoring nature and the impact rewilding has for wildlife whether the project is big or small. From Scientific American, Biodiversity Flourishes in Historic Lawn Turned Wildflower Meadow. An experiment at the University of Cambridge highlights the environmental cost of a well-manicured lawn. And from New Scientist, Huge rewilding project will release 2000 white rhinos across Africa. African Parks, a conservation group, has acquired a huge collection of southern white rhinos from a private estate in South Africa and plans to release them into the wild.
Net Zero & Mining. This effort has a long, long way to go, but even so just to begin is really good news. From International Mining, First of its kind Net Zero Standard devised for diversified mining sector. This is an effort of Climate Action 100+ which focuses on investor engagement. Quoted in the article is Laura Hillis, of the Church of England Pensions Board, who says that mining touches many sectors, such as automobiles and steel manufacturing. To address climate, we to be strategic and ambitious about resilience and sustainability in investment.
Clean Energy. Hydrogen, Solar and Wind—oh, my! The tech rollout is a learning and development process, and here’s some good news on that. Hydrogen: From SciTechDaily, Scientists Develop New More Efficient Method to Produce Green Hydrogen, and from Clean Technica, Toyota Plunges Into Crowded Hydrogen Fuel Cell Truck Pool, With A Bang. Solar: Two from Electrek, Largest US community solar panel purchase in history just happened with 1.5 GW order and Greenbacker, which owns nearly 1GW of solar, makes a deal to recycle it all. Wind: From Clean Technica, 20,000 Communities Demand Local Wind Turbines.
Repentance and Reprieve. If to repent is to ‘turn’ away and cease from doing harm, the US has repented twice this week, it repented of drilling in Alaska, and repented of harm to forests. From the New York Times (gift link) Biden Administration to Bar Drilling on Millions of Acres in Alaska. The administration will cancel oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and set aside more than half of the National Petroleum Reserve. From NPR, Judge: Trump-era rule change allowing the logging of old-growth forests violates laws.
Find the news archive here.
Prayer this week - For Greece, Hong Kong, and the many places around the world impacted by catastrophic weather events. Prayers for the helpers, the healers, for those who choose kindness, and who seek wellbeing for themselves, their neighbors, and this good earth. Prayers up.
Richenda
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