IPLog

Big Day for the Future of God’s Creation

UPDATE: The bill passed! Thanks to all who made phone calls and sent emails to your representatives. Stay tuned for what’s coming next for this legislation.

Today, we are following the debate on the American Clean Energy and Security Act is being debated live on the House floor. A final vote is likely around 2 p.m. We will keep you updated on what happens.

Want to know what’s happening in real time?

You can follow the action on C-Span, watch live streaming video online, or you can follow the #aces hashtag in the Twitterverse.

Call Your Representative Today to Support ACES

UPDATE (6-26): The bill passed! It was very close. Thanks to everyone who took action!

The American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) will head to the House floor for a vote by the end of the week. This bill brings us close to the clean energy revolution that we have been working and praying for, but we still need your help to push this legislation through! Call your representative today to express your support for this bill. Here’s how:

1. If you do not know who your representative is, click here and enter your zip code in the top left corner of the page.
   
2. Call the Congressional Switchboard and ask to be connected to your representative: (202) 224-3121
3. Ask your representative to support HR 2454. What you can say:

Please pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act, HR 2454. I am calling as a person of faith (and/or as a member of ___________ congregation in _______). This bill will help launch a clean energy future and avert the worst impacts of climate change.

Your Congressional representatives have been inundated by calls and letters from the opposition. Please take a few moments today to call your representative and tell him or her that global warming is a moral issue people of faith care deeply about.

Kansas IPL Hosts “Cool Congregations” Workshop

Kansas IPL is making headlines for its stewardship of creation. In May, St. Andrew Christian Church in Olathe, Kansas, hosted a “Cool Congregations” workshop to educate the community about going green. Participants, which included people of faith from 14 different congregations, learned how to calculate their carbon footprints and start environmental stewardship programs in their own churches. Attendees also learned more about our moral responsibility to care for the earth. Eileen Horn, the statewide coordinator of Kansas IPL, explains the connection between faith and ecology in a recent article in DisciplesWorld:

All the world’s faiths and texts call us to care for creation and to be good stewards of our environment. We are also called to love our neighbors, and to care for the poor among us…Climate change threatens the rich diversity of species on this planet, and its impact will be borne by those least able to adapt — namely the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society.

Congratulations to Kansas IPL for hosting a successful and informative workshop on creation care.  To read more, click here.

Alison Amyx is our 2009 Beatitudes Society Summer Fellow. She’s a student at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. We look forward to hearing more from her on the blog!

Baptists Sign Letter Supporting ACES

The Baptist Center for Ethics gathered 140 signatures from Baptist leaders across the country in support of H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act. The letter urges Congress to strengthen and pass the bill.

The letter states:

We understand that this bill is a comprehensive one that promises to create millions of clean energy jobs, to advance American security from foreign oil, to protect the planet by capping global-warming gases, to increase electricity from renewable energy sources and to improve energy efficiency.

What they want to strengthen:

We wish the bill provided more funding to help the marginalized and those most at risk — those least responsible for climate change.

Nonetheless, an imperfect bill will not keep us from speaking up and encouraging our fellow church members to support this legislation. We are determined that the tyranny of moral perfectionism will not block the urgency of moral realism.

IPL shares their view of the bill, and we invite you to take action if you haven’t, urging your congressperson to pass this important legislation.

Have You Urged Your Congressional Representative to Pass ACES Yet?

UPDATE (6-26): The bill passed! It was very close. Thanks to everyone who took action!

Earlier this week we sent out an action alert asking people of faith to urge their representatives in Congress to strengthen and pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act (Download IPL’s Fact Sheet on ACES), which is making its way to the House floor after a trip to the Ag Committee. Here is what the alert said and how you can take a minute to send a message to your representative. If you haven’t signed up for our action alerts, you can sign up here. more »

An Interview with Bill McKibben of 350.org

This video has been published online for over a year but it’s a great overview of Bill McKibben’s work and the importance of the number 350. Bill McKibben is an active Methodist, which comes through in some of his writings and lectures. He’s written many books, including the bestselling Deep Economy, and he’s the founder of 350.org. The interviewer and filmmaker is Rob Kinslow of Hawaii IPL.

Get Your Copy of Claiming Earth as Common Ground by Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener

with a foreword by the Rev. Canon Sally Bingham

We’ve been passing this book around the office all day. Connecticut IPL’s Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener and all of the brilliant contributors write poetically, and hopefully, about the opportunity for people of faith to come together to heal creation. Get your copy today!

“The people and ideas captured here are at the heart of transforming our tired and broken relationship with the planet we live on. It’s a vital book.”

—Bill McKibben, author, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future more »