Thursday, 14 Mar 2002

HIAWATHA, Iowa

This has been a big week for our work with the Interfaith Climate Campaign. The Iowa Campaign has been active for three years, and we’re now coordinating our efforts with campaigns in 20 others states.

As part of our own campaign, we sent emails to religious people throughout the state who’ve expressed interest in environmental issues. We asked them to call Iowa Sens. Charles Grassley (R) and Tom Harkin (D) to request that they raise the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency standards and set a 20 percent renewable portfolio standard (which ensures that some of the nation’s power comes from renewable resources like wind and solar energy). Sadly, last night the Senate voted against raising CAFE standards.

This is the first time I’ve been actively involved in trying to affect legislation, and I’m a little surprised by how sad I feel about the loss. We worked so hard on this, and it’s disappointing that we weren’t successful.

Last month, more than a thousand religious leaders nationwide signed a letter to the Senate outlining the moral and ethical dimensions of climate change and asking for several specific energy policies: no drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, strong CAFE standards, the 20 percent renewable portfolio standard, and more funding for the low-income heating assistance program.

In Iowa, we got 19 leaders to sign the letter, including Episcopalians, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Baptists, and Catholics. The national campaign is coordinated by the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Working Group, and the Coalition on Environment and Jewish Life. In Iowa, we also got signatures from Buddhists and the Inter-Religious Council of Linn County, which includes Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Baha’is, and Unitarians.

Later today I’ll meet with my co-coordinator on this project, Bob Gronski, who works for the National Catholic Rural Life Conference. We need to debrief, figure out the next steps in the project, and go over our budget.

For the past three years, Iowa’s Climate Campaign has been supported by the W. Alton Jones Foundation. When the foundation restructured, we were left with only funding from the Pew Charitable Trust for our advocacy work — not enough to continue the basic education and energy-efficiency programs, which is where we have historically found people interested in being advocates.

In order to motivate Iowa’s Bishops, Head Presbyters, and other religious leaders to increase their commitment to the project and support it with their own resources, we decided to invite them to a seminar with a high profile speaker — environmental advocate and author Bill McKibben. The event is April 12, and I need to go over some details today with the Rev. Ben Webb, who is helping us put this event together using his contacts as the author of Fugitive Faith: Conversations on Spiritual, Environmental, and Community Renewal

I also need to check in with Cathy Livingston, a volunteer who presented her first climate change workshop to a church last weekend. We’ve given more than 50 of these workshops at churches across the state in the past few years. After showing a short video outlining the science of climate change and the reasons faith communities are concerned about caring for creation and promoting justice, we ask the church to implement a number of energy conservation and efficiency practices within the facility, and to encourage members to take similar steps at home.

Matt Schulz — and kids — with the lighting display.

Karla Sibert.

Some churches have done impressive work. Matt Schulz, who’s a member of the Zion Environmental Stewardship Team at Zion Lutheran in Iowa City, put together a terrific display called “Energy Efficiency is Good Stewardship” to show that compact fluorescent lighting looks great and saves money.

Harry Manhart, the custodian at St. Pius X School in Cedar Rapids, replaced all of the building’s incandescent exit sign lights with LED strips, installed more efficient fluorescent lights, and converted to longer-lasting, greener lighting in the gym.

I’m always inspired by Bob, Ben, Cathy, Matt, Harry, and all of the people who feel called upon to care for creation. They help me get through setbacks, like the Senate not passing higher CAFE standards. They help me remember that, while we have to be as effective and strategic as possible in our work, our efforts are part of a larger power — whether we call it God, spirit, the divine, the universe, or nothing at all. We’re not required to be successful; we’re only asked to be faithful to the task.