News, Boost, Updates
July 23rd sum-up climate news and events, Faiths4Future, Climate Cafe Multifaith, JustCreation
Conversation Bookstart! A conversation around an uplifting book read, Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation by Paul Hawken. Barak Gale will lead the conversation. Read some or part of the book if you can. More info here. Thursday, August 10th 11:00am Pacific / 2:00pm Eastern Time. Register.
New Follow ups! It took me far too long to get these up on the site, but the info could not be more important.
When your neighbor says no: green colonialism and Indigenous consent In Goldendale, WA, the Yakama Nation raised a clear ‘no’ when the land they use for first-food gathering, life practice, and ceremony was sited for construction of a hydroelectric pumped-storage energy project. Journalist B. Toastie Oaster joined us for an in-depth discussion.
Sacred Sanctuary: The Fight to Save Oak Flat. Sarah Augustine will lead our conversation as we talk about Oak Flat, in the Tonto National Forest, and the efforts of the San Carlos Apache and other tribal leaders to stop a proposed open pit copper mine. (Shout out to UM-Insight who picked up this article!)
Our conversation with Jorge Rodriquez, Guatemalan environmental science journalist and storyteller, up soon.
Action!
Last day to leave a comment! Tell FERC: Deny Mountain Valley Pipeline’s Southgate extension
Boost - Events
If you missed it:
Solar for Congregations. Interfaith Power and Light webinar was July 18th, if you missed it, find the recording here: Climate and Energy Resources for Faith Communities: A Briefing with the U.S. Department of Energy. Slides are here.
Extreme Heat: How Congregations Can Respond. This Creation Justice Ministries webinar was June 29th, but as it just keeps getting hotter, it’s still so timely. View the recording here, speakers represent the NRDC, NOAA, and more.
Disaster Response and Just Resilience. The July offering from the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement Cafe. Find the recording here, and more info here.
Interfaith Power and Light. Grant money is coming! As funding boosts the green transition, organizations are working to disperse those funds. One funding avenue for nonprofits will be through Prime grants. It’s complicated, but Interfaith Power and Light is going to apply to administer some of this money. If your faith community is seriously looking at electrification and efficiency improvements, consider learning more about the IPL effort and filling out this survey by July 28th.
Jewish Climate Rally. Dayenu is organizing a Jewish Rally for Climate Pollution Solutions, July 31st. This virtual rally will include song, study, and steps for action. Learn more and register.
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.
United Methodist Movement Cafe. The next Movement Cafe from the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement will feature worship materials and offerings and conversation with those who created the latest Seasons of Creation worship liturgy for the UMCJM and more. August 16th Register.
Be a UM Earthkeeper! Global Ministries seeks U.S.-based United Methodists to lead grassroots environmental projects that are action-oriented, antiracist, bold and entrepreneurial. Is this you? Find the application and more information here. The next training begins in October.
Resources
A Multifaith Climate songbook from GreenFaith.
Liturgy - Season of Creation. As the Season approaches, expect more resources to pop up. It is indeed really good news to google ‘season of creation 2023’ and get so many hits!! New from the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement worship team is a full liturgical resource including prayers, communion, sermon starters, hymns and children’s ministry. Download here.
Season of Creation. Season of Creation began as an Orthodox and Catholic effort and is now celebrated across the world and in many denominations. The Season begins September 1, find the central movement page here.
Reports
Find more reports on the reports page.
Benzene and Gas Appliances. Air pollution is a real consequence of gas in the home as well as what spews and seeps from wells, storage, and transport. Yet another study. Read an article about the study in Yahoo News New study reveals the home appliance that spews more benzene than secondhand smoke: ‘You’re at an elevated risk [of cancer]’ Read an article from NPR Gas stoves pollute homes with benzene, which is linked to cancer Read the study.
Vegan Diet & Climate Impacts. A new study shows a v Read about the study in The Conversation Vegan diet has just 30% of the environmental impact of a high-meat diet, major study finds, and the New York Times (gift link) Save the Planet, Put Down that Hamburger. Read the study, Vegans, vegetarians, fish-eaters and meat-eaters in the UK show discrepant environmental impacts
A few from last week - find the rest on the reports page.
Global Crop Failure Risk. A new report in Nature Communications, read an article about the report in Vice Scientists Raise Alarm Over Risk of 'Synchronized' Global Crop Failures. Read an essay about the report from one of the report authors in Carbon Brief: Scientists Raise Alarm Over Risk of 'Synchronized' Global Crop Failures. Read the report.
Exponential Growth for Renewables. Some good news! A surge in renewable energy projects keeps the planet on track for net-zero. Read an article from CleanTechnica about the report One-Third Of All Electricity Will Come From Renewables By 2030. Read a summary of the report from report author RMI: Global power system on track for the IEA’s ambitious net-zero pathway. Read the report.
Unlivable Planet. This report looks at the cost of burning fossil fuels in human lives as temperatures humans cannot survive burst through the ‘climate niche’ and force climate migration. An article about the report from ProPublica: Climate Crisis Is on Track to Push One-Third of Humanity Out of Its Most Livable Environment Read the report.
Environmental Faith Perspective - Hindu:
An adviser to Center for Earth Ethics and Hindu teacher Gobal Patel was a faith voice at a recent TEDTalk in Michigan with a conversation that centered climate change. The Talk isn’t published online yet, but you can learn via this video, Hindu perspectives in addressing the global environmental crisis| Gopal D. Patel(Gopal Lila das)
Deep Dive - Migration
Climate change is a threat amplifier. It pushes the scales to destabilize communities and ecosystems. Migration is partly a result of this destabilization, though there are many contributing factors including (and especially) the consequences of decades of extractive economics. Texas has been at the center of not only migration, as migrants cross the border north into that state, but also enforcement of violent anti-migrant policies and practices.
Faith groups are and have been raising a moral hue and cry at cruel and deadly tactics at the border. Then last week, from whistle blower witnesses, news broke widely of drownings due to buoys and razor wire Texas recently loaded into the Rio Grande, a river crossing for migrants. The story has exploded internationally with headlines like this one Texas trooper says they were told to push children into Rio Grande and deny migrants water. (This deep dive ran a little long, read more here about this and the action and advocacy of the faith community.)
Good News
Find our news archive (including the good news!) here.
Frog love! Nature positive solutions - more cuteness! This article is from the Atlantic is paywalled, but I could not resist: You Should Build a Frog Pond “People are adding bee hotels and bat houses, and planting milkweed ... Our cities can be wetlands too...” This could be a super fun activity, also, for all ages! A quick google search turns up a lot of ideas for frogs, toads, and bees…
Rainforest Restoration! An effort to leverage carbon credit revenue to support farmers in restoration efforts means trees are being planted, and forest ecosystems protected. Good news from Mongabay From cardamom to carbon: Bold new Tanzanian project is regrowing a rainforest
Stopped! No LNG in Florida Panhandle. Efforts of organizers resulted in a much welcome victory for the planet this week. “Nopetro had called for the LNG plant to be constructed on 60 acres adjacent to the historically Black community of Port St. Joe, a rural coastal town.” That town and others pushed back and stopped the project. After Litigation and Local Outcry, Energy Company Says It Will Not Move Forward with LNG Plant in Florida Panhandle
Renewables! A bunch of good news so a quick round up here. A rural English village switched—all of them!—to heat pumps. Touting necessary rural initiative and resilience, they are Pumping hot: inside Britain’s first heat pump village. EV battery recyclers are using IRA incentives to design closed-loop material recycling, Dead EV batteries turn to gold with U.S. incentives. And recycling for wind turbines gets a prize-incentive boost, Wind Turbine Recycling Gets $5.1 Million Boost, $5.1 Million Competition Aims To Strengthen a Circular Wind Energy Economy in the United States
Species Preservation. Two good news efforts to share, from the BBC First white-tailed eagle in 240 years born in south of England, and from Electek In an industry first, artificial ‘bird nests’ have been built near an offshore wind farm.
Clean Energy. Geothermal really doesn’t get the press I think it deserves. A reminder that this is a really promising technology. From Engadget, 'Breakthrough' geothermal tech produces 3.5 megawatts of carbon-free power
Mixed News
Vegan Diet & Carbon. This may be good news or bad news, depending on what is in your fridge. But, Vegan diet has just 30% of the environmental impact of a high-meat diet, major study finds.
Not-good News
Burning, Burning, Fossil Fuels, heat, fires. It seems incomprehensible, yet The Guardian reports G20 countries fail to reach agreement on cutting fossil fuels. Meanwhile, Heatwave set to be Greece’s longest as extreme weather continues in Europe …as firefighters battle 79 forest blazes; and ‘It’s brutal’: Europeans tell of sleepless nights and dizzy spells in heatwave and ‘A horrible way to die’: how extreme heat is killing Italian workers.
Women & Rising Temperatures. We know that when stressors come, it is the most vulnerable who suffer most. A new study in nature shows that over 61,000 people died across Europe in the summer of 2022, many of them were women. From Carbon Brief, Heat-related deaths ‘56% higher among women’ during record-breaking 2022 European summer, study.
Disinfo & Lobbying Campaigns. Three reports from DeSmog, Revealed: Media Blitz Against Heat Pumps Funded by Gas Lobby Group, Gas-linked companies’ attack on electric heating confuses consumers and another US Oil-Linked Pressure Group Attacks EU Green Policies, Breaks Lobbying Rules. These revelations have led to inquiry, Transparency Watchdog Calls on EU to Strengthen its Lobbying Rules After DeSmog Investigation
Setbacks in ‘Cancer Alley.’ Many people of faith have been following the story of ‘Cancer Alley’ in Louisiana, and the work especially of Sharon Lavigne, founder of the local activist group Rise St. James, as they deal with legacy pollution and the proposed Formosa Plastics plant in St. James Parish. New from the Washington Post, EPA closes civil rights investigation into Louisiana pollution
Find the news archive here.
Prayer this week - Prayers for the migrants seeking refuge, shelter, and a safe home across the world. May we meet them with compassion, welcome, and new hope.
Richenda