In 2015, Pope Francis issued an encyclical letter focused on the Earth, the economy and social justice, called “On Care for Our Common Home, Laudato Si.” In conversation with Our Land’s Laura Paskus, Sister Joan Brown, executive director of New Mexico & El Paso Interfaith Power and Light, talks about what has changed (and not changed) since that encyclical letter. The two also talk about the value of interfaith work in building community and adapting to climate change in New Mexico.
Ann McCartney, an attorney and board co-chair for New Mexico and Member of NM & El Paso Interfaith Power and Light, discusses the importance of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials & Safety Administration’s Advanced Leak Detection & Repair Rule and the urgent need for Sec. Buttigieg to issue the Final Rule by Summer 2024 for the climate, her family, and her community in New Mexico.
Ruth Striegel, board co-chair of IPL NM & El Paso , discusses the importance of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials & Safety Administration’s Advanced Leak Detection & Repair Rule and the urgent need for Sec. Buttigieg to issue the Final Rule as soon as possible for the climate and her community.
Judy Brown, board member of New Mexico of NM & El Paso Interfaith Power and Light, discusses the importance of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials & Safety Administration’s Advanced Leak Detection & Repair Rule and the urgent need for Sec. Buttigieg to issue the Final Rule by Summer 2024 for the climate and her community in New Mexico.
Larry Rasmussen, a theologian, author and resident of Santa Fe, joined us for a presentation and discussion of his book, ‘The Planet we Inherit: Letters to My Grandchildren, When Uncertainty is a Sure Thing,”
IPL-New Mexico El Paso and the New Mexico Conference of Churches co-hosted a faith leaders breakfast at First Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque on Wednesday, April 10. Rev. Talitha Arnold from United Church of Santa Fe and Bishop Michael Hunn from Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande led particpants in a conversation on how we deepen our spiritual lives and sustain our commitment to transformation amidst crises of creation.
Pam Roy, executive director of Farm to Table New Mexico, offered the introduction to Our Sacred Land: Farms, Food and Fairness:
Alan Brauer from Indigenous Farm Hub was one of our panelists
Desiree Woodland spoke about the stress conditions facing farmers
Our special guest Sarah Carden from Farm Action Fund visited us from upstate New York. She and Cash Carruth, a farmer from Bloomfield, NM, spoke about the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act, also known as the OFF Act.
In Part 1 of our Webinar: Are There Really Pennies from Heaven?,Tiffany Hartung, national Interfaith Power and Light’s Chief Strategy Officer, discussed how congregations in New Mexico and elsewhere can get money from the federal government for your solar panel installation and other renewable energy projects.
In Part 2 of our Webinar: Are There Really Pennies from Heaven?, we look at a couple of local/state programs, Tierra del Sol’s energy efficiency initiatives and IPL NM/EP’s energy audits.. Tiffany Hartung from national IPL and others answer questions
IPL New Mexico & El Paso hosted a webinar on Wednesday, October 11, featuring comments from experts as we prepare for upcoming hearings on ACC II standards in November. Adoption of these standards is a critical step toward electrification of our state transportation system. Special guests: Lilliana Castillo and Warner Anderson, MD, FACP (Fellow of the American College of Physicians).
.New Mexico has the opportunity to adopt Advanced Clean Vehicle Standards which would reduce pollution from transportation, move us forward on climate goals, and make electric vehicles more accessible to all by increasing production and lowering costs. We need voices of people of faith and conscience (like Rev. Stephen Miller) to help encourage NMED (New Mexico Environment Department) to advocate for strong standards.
A SPECIAL PANEL ON OUR THEME OF HEALING RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN OUR SACRED WORLD Host: Clara Sims
Panelists Ryan Tate, Director of Children, Youth and Family Ministries at First Congregational UCC in Albuquerque,
Eileen O’Shaugnesssy, (she/her) is a fourth generation Irish-American nuclear abolitionist organizer, educator
Bishop Michael Hunn, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande, grew up in New Mexico and Texas.
Sister Joan Brown greets participants at the Interfaith Power & Light New Mexico & El Paso Fall gathering. David Poole leads the congregants in song.
Seed (institutions): Little Sisters of the Poor, Villa Guadalupe Care Facility for elders in Gallup. Sprout (individuals): Judy Smith, Odile Coirier, fmm, Norm Gaume, Caryl McHarney
Led by Rev. Clara Sims, Assistant Executive Director, IPL New Mexico & El Paso
This is the perspective of one member of the Baha’i Faith in El Paso, Texas, on the environment and electric vehicles.
This is our first Seasonal sharing. (We will have a sharing quarterly around at the change of each season}. In the Spring or 2023, we began the evening with Lisa Leahigh, a nurse for students at UNM, who is a Buddhist and studying eco-chaplaincy with Upaya Center in Santa Fe. She offered a short sharing and led us in a meditation. Then Sister Joan Brown, Executive Director of NM & El Paso IPL, offered an overview of our work during the legislative session, National advocacy, educational and Cool Congregation programs.
Here is a preview of the New Mexico State 2023 legislative session. Topics: The Oil & Gas Reform Act, Climate/Just Economic Transition Bill, The Climate and Public Health Resiliency Act ,The Green Amendment, Various Water Protection Bills, Proposal to Prohibit Storage of Spent Fuel or High Level Nuclear Waste Without Permanent Repository in Operation Act, Energy Efficient Appliance/Low Income Bill.
Ruth Striegel, Clara Sims and Kayley Shoup discuss the recent immersion retreat by a New Mexico El Paso Interfaith Power & Light delegation to the Permian Basin in June. The program was hosted on Zoom by First Congregational Church in August, 2022.
A lineup of speakers from the national Interfaith Power & Light shared key takeaways on climate commitments and how they raised the faith voice at COP27 in November 2022 Host: IPL President Rev. Susan Hendershot. Speakers:-Bee Moorhead (Texas Impact); Regina Banks (Lutheran Office of Public Policy – California); Susannah Tuttle, M.Div. (North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light); Madison Mayhew ( Interfaith Power & Light)
NM-IPL celebrated Earth Month by sharing short videos from faith and community leaders throughout April. The nearly one-dozen participants from diverse faith traditions put together a message saying why they love the Earth and New Mexico and how they show this love through various actions.
Emily Syal, young adult adviser to the board and coordinator of several NM-IPL campaigns, offered the Earth Day Sermon at Las Placitas Presbyterian Church – Placitas, New Mexico
Green Team Gathering for April 2021 featured Bruce Hunn, who talked about the ins and outs of his ministry of doing energy audits and upgrade recommendations for congregations in North Carolina and here in New Mexico.
NM IPL was a co-sponsor of this event.
Frontline Communities From Permian Basin and Greater Chaco Region Demand Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Reform and End to Sacrifice Zones in First-Ever Joint Press Conference. Rev. Gene Harbaugh and Kayley Shoup from Citizens Caring for the Future, which is affiliated with NM-IPL, were participants. Press Conference organized by Food and Water Watch
Emily Syal, coordinator of NM-IPL’s Cool Congregations campaign, convened the Green Team to discuss the process of creating a web. (March 2021)
We celebrated World Water Day (March 22, 2021), with reflections from Joan Brown, OSF; Terry Sloan; Dr. Larry Rasmussen; Kathy McCord, Amber Jeansonne, Deirda Velasquez of Valencia Water Watchers; Dodie Hawkins of United Methodist Women; Malcolm Siegel of Water Resources Action Project; Sue Brown from Albuquerque Mennonite Church; and Rev. Vincent Chavez from the Shrine of the Little Flower St. Therese of the Infant Jesus Catholic Church.
February 2021. Members of the Baha’i, Sikh, Christian and Jewish traditions planted eight trees in Graves Park in Albuquerque on Feb. 23, 2021, to reaffirm a commitment to fight climate change through reforestation and to commemorate the more than half-a-million people who have died of COVID-19.
Nick King sees the air he breathes, the water he drinks, and the land beneath his feet as a gift from God. He sees the risks to these gifts all around his hometown of Carlsbad. He wants the oil and gas industry to be better regulated and our economy to rely less on one source of income.
Long-awaited draft methane and air pollution rules are being considered now.
Analysis estimates about 95% of wells would be exempt under the current draft. Reducing oil and gas air pollution is critical to protect our health, air, and our climate.
Sister Joan Brown and Father Sylvester Tan lead a discussion on the Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti in the context of environmental issues in New Mexico. Zoom Event was held on Nov. 23, 2020.
What Inspires Us to Vote? An NMIPL Young Adult Forum
Spiritual Resilience: New Mexico Interfaith Power & Light Annual Virtual Fall Gathering
Seed Awards 2020: UNM-CRS – Acequias Trailer
Seed Awards 2020 Albuquerque Sikh Gurdwara -Forest of Bliss
Seed Awards 2020 Citizens Caring for the Future
Seed Awards 2020 Nahalat Shalom
Sister Joan’s Reflection for the Franciscan Action Network, October 2020
Dodie Hawkins interviewed Sister Joan Brown for United Methodist Women
Sister Joan Brown was the speaker at the Dominican Ecclesial Institute’s program on a Season of Creation, October 4, 2020
The Rev. Canon Cornelia Eaton, the Episcopal Church in Navajoland
Season of Creation: Larry Rasmussen
Season of Creation: Linda Sepulveda
Season of Creation: Emily Syal
University of New Mexico Sociology and Religious Studies Prof. Rich Wood offered reflections on the fifth anniversary of Laudato Si, Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the Environment. This video presentation, sponsored by the Laudato Si Circle in Albuquerque and New Mexico Interfaith Power & Light, also has prayers and questions and answers from the Zoom audience.