...and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 22:2
NC IPL programs engage faith communities in our religious response to global warming through
EDUCATION, OUTREACH, and ADVOCACY.
EDUCATION
Congregational Energy Efficiency & Audit Workshops
NC IPL’s Energy Efficiency and Audit Workshops are approximately two hours in length and include an informational presentation and a walk-through of your facility. We examine ways in which your congregation can save money on its energy bills while helping to protect the Creation. Although a written report will be provided, we recommend that someone from your facility take detailed notes, especially during the walk-through portion of the event. Most of our free energy audit workshops are performed as a state service by the Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance of the N.C. Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources. We also utilize the volunteer services of an engineer with the North Carolina Industrial Extension Service and the staffs of Building Performance Engineering in Boone and the Western NC Green Building Council in Asheville to provide energy-efficiency workshops for congregational facilities in the western region of the state. See attached PDF for more detailed information. Also, while this workshop is provided to congregations free of charge throughout most of the state—we request that congregations enter data into the Cool Congregations calculator in order to receive this service. To schedule a Congregational Energy Efficiency & Audit Program in your house of worship, please contact Mark Ginsberg.
Climate Justice Tours
In partnership with Warren Wilson College, NC IPL has begun to develop Climate Justice Tours for different cities across the state. These experiential tours will highlight the relationship between energy production and climate change by featuring point sources of carbon emissions from energy production regionally. These tours will offer particular emphasis on understanding the lifecycle of coal—including extraction, transition, storage, processing, combustion and waste disposal. By exploring firsthand the best and worst energy practices regionally, participants will analyze relationships between economic and social inequalities as well as energy production and consumption, taking into account energy conservation and waste. Participants will reflect on key questions that take into account energy use on the congregational and household levels and challenge participants to connect their faith with daily actions in light of the personal connection to climate and social and environmental injustice. With the support of Warren Wilson College’s 2009 Methods & Materials in Environmental Education course, NC IPL has completed the background research for Climate Justice Tours in Asheville, Charlotte, and Wilmington. Through the Environmental Leadership Center’s Internship Program, NC IPL is working to pilot these tours in Asheville and Charlotte this summer. To participate in a Climate Justice Tour or if you’d like to work with NC IPL to develop a similar tour in your part of the state, please contact us at info@ncipl.org.
OUTREACH & other services
Cool Congregations: Carbon Calculator
Use our Cool Congregation calculator to estimate your congregation’s carbon footprint, measuring the carbon emissions associated with: 1) energy use at your house of worship, 2) staff and congregant travel, 3) cleaning products, food, office products and everything else your congregation purchases, and 4) waste you generate at your house of workshop. Go to www.CoolCongregations.org for everything you need to get started.
Project Energize
NC IPL is excited to announce our newest outreach effort, Project Energize, a collaboration with several other community organizations. Those who live 50% below the national poverty level can spend up to 60% of their annual income on energy bills. In fact, the financial burdens of utility bills are substantial for most low-income families in our state. Through Project Energize we will further educate community members about weatherization assistance and engage congregations in the volunteer weatherization of 300 low-income homes throughout NC by June 2010.* Through Project Energize we can make a permanent difference in the lives of the poorest in our communities by reducing the amount of money they are spending on energy while simultaneously increasing their health, comfort, and safety AND reducing global warming emissions and other pollution such as mercury and particulate matter.
*At this time we are finalizing the details as to how congregational volunteers would work with county community action agencies as members of weatherization crews. If you would like to submit an application for weatherization of your home or coordinate a team of volunteers from your faith community to conduct outreach to low-income households in your area, please contact Project Energize Coordinator, Casey M. Burger.
Project Energize Fact Sheet Project Energize Slide Show
Contemplative Practice
People who are passionately engaged in environmental issues often find themselves overwhelmed. This brings to light a need in our community for balance between action and contemplation in the midst of the environmental crisis. At NC IPL we see a natural connection between sustaining the spirit and sustaining the earth. In response, on one Wednesday each month from 4:00-4:45 pm at the park across from St. Mary’s Episcopal Church on Charlotte St. near our Asheville office, we offer an interfaith space for organizers, volunteers and community members involved in the environmental movement to come together in guided meditation in order to help restore balance in the midst of daily environments that are often disproportionately consumer-centered, fast-paced, irrational and violent. Please come prepared to sit silently OUTDOORS (with rain or cold weather moving the contemplative practice indoors at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church). For more information or to develop a similar practice in your local community, please e-mail info@ncipl.org or call our Asheville office at (828) 252-1794.
Shop IPL
This store, through ShopIPL.org, is an online energy efficiency store for faith communities and their members sponsored by Interfaith Power & Light (non-affiliated individuals are also welcome to purchase here). As members of Interfaith Power & Light, you are able to purchase a select set of Sears energy efficient appliances at reduced prices. IPL's pdf lists the appliances that you may purchase through Sears at special pricing. In order to get this pricing, you must call the Sears support number listed on the first page of the pdf. Free shipping is available on orders over $125.00 through this online store.