Over 50 Faith-Based Actions Urge Congress to "Step It Up on Global Warming" This Weekend
Thursday, April 12, 2007
People of faith around the nation concerned about the catastrophic effects of global warming will rally this weekend at more than 50 events to urge Congress to cut carbon emissions 80% by 2050. The faith-based events are part of the Step it Up campaign, the largest day of citizen action focusing on global warming in our nation’s history, and emblematic of the growing creation care movement.
Events are being held in churches and synagogues from Tennessee to Hawaii, New Mexico to Mississippi, and Illinois to Colorado. Rallies have been organized by churches, synagogues, faith-based organizations and individual people of faith from all walks of life who faithfully agree that the time has come for our elected officials to take bold and immediate steps to combat global warming.
Here are just a dozen examples of faith-based actions taking place across the country:
• Partnership for Earth Spirituality and New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light will co-sponsor a rally and light bulb exchange in Albuquerque, NM where people will walk through local neighborhoods to offer residents compact fluorescent bulbs in exchange for incandescent ones.
• Church of the Crossroads in Honolulu, HI will host a "Teach in On Climate Change" followed by a rally at a major city intersection.
• Catholics for the Climate in Jupiter, FL will host a town hall meeting on the science of global warming and the religious and moral significance of the issue.
• OC Interfaith Coalition for the Environment will deliver letters to each mayor of each city in Orange County, CA requesting support for programs to reduce our carbon footprint.
• People of faith will gather on the church steps of University United Methodist in downtown Chapel Hill, NC to witness to their calling as stewards of Creation.
• A Bar Mitzvah will double as a Step It Up Rally in New Hartford, CT.
• Local pastors, scientists and activists will discuss caring for God's creation at Yorkville Congregational Church in Yorkville, IL.
• Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis, TN will sponsor a “Faithful Response to Global Warming” worship service and rally.
• Earth Keepers, in Marquette, MI, will mobilize their network of 130 churches from nine different faiths across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
• The homily at all four masses at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Hattiesburg, MS will address global warming; there will be hands-on displays of ways parishioners can conserve and generate energy.
• First Plymouth Congregational in Denver, CO will hold a People of Faith Step It Up Rally to demand strong climate legislation, and to strengthen congregations in their ongoing work for the healing of creation.
• Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in New York, NY will hold a climate-protection-infused Shabbat morning service.
LOCAL CONTACTS:
Peter Sawtell, "People of Faith Step It Up" in Denver, CO at the First Plymouth Congregational: ministry@eco-justice.org or 303.715.3873.
Carl Lindquist, "Earth Keepers" in Marquette, MI: carl@superiorwatersheds.org, 906.228.6095.
Robert Bates, "Catholics for the Climate" in Jupiter, FL: rbates@scripps.edu 203.962.3412.
Liz Galst, "Step It Up Shabbat" in New York, NY: liz.galst@mac.com 212-780-0828.
Participants in every event will be photographed displaying their message: “Step It Up Congress! Cut Carbon 80% by 2050!” The photographs will be sent to Washington, DC so Members of Congress can see for themselves that their constituents are demanding bold action.
“The groundswell of support for this effort is incredible. This is truly a viral grassroots movement, organized mainly through word of mouth, email outreach among friends, and the online community.” said Step it Up Organizer, Bill McKibben. “The enormous participation in this movement is a wake-up call to legislators from across the country. Their constituents are urgently demanding that America get on the path towards reducing carbon emissions before it is too late.”
“Climate change is moral values issue,” said Jennifer Butler, Executive Director of Faith in Public Life, an organizing and communications resource center for faith leaders. “The robust participation of churches and synagogues in Step It Up 2007 is more evidence of the vibrant creation care movement.”
For more information please visit the Step It Up campaign website: www.stepitup2007.org
CONTACT: Katie Barge, kbarge@faithinpubliclife.org or 202-481-8147 or 202-243-8289
