June 5, 2021
Blessings in Solidarity Water Protectors for our Earth:
New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light, hundreds of faith communities, and thousands of people of faith and conscience, in the Land of Enchantment stand in solidarity with you to stop the building of the Line 3 replacement pipeline. We send prayers and continue to pray with you these days and into the future. However, our prayers also motivate us to sacred action with you and in our own state, which is one of the largest producers of oil and gas in the Permian Basin in South East New Mexico and in the San Juan Basin in the Northwest of our state.
We have been working alongside frontline communities, including many of our Native American brothers and sisters for many years to address extractivism, legacy clean up, water, and related economic transition and health concerns in our state, which suffers with many sacrifice zones.
All of our diverse spiritual traditions hold water as sacred and as life. The pipeline is destroying so much, which cannot be recovered. We stand at a moral juncture facing a different future with oil and gas extraction. For too long pollution has compromised the lifeways of us all and especially our Native American brothers and sisters in Minnesota and beyond.
The days of tars sands are over, we must stand with you to protect the treaties, to protect sister water, and to protect the climate in order to sustain life to all on this is earth and nation. As written to President Biden on May 26, this is a battle for the Soul of Our Nation. We rise with you for the treaties, for climate and for water.
We rise together for one another and all creation, to stand for justice and dignity for our sacred creation and humanity—against a backdrop of long years and many lifetimes of colonial terror, injustice, and broken trust. We join ourselves with all who are here to stop the pipeline, knowing that in standing united we are powerful enough to change the tide of greed, waste, and profit, which can no longer govern the hearts of those who govern us. We believe that the spiritual foundations of our paths empower us for this hard work.
NM IPL believes that we have an ethical, moral and spiritual responsibility to address this injustice from spiritual roots to make alive spiritual activism. President Biden is a devote Catholic and a spiritual man and we call upon him from his spiritual foundations and the Catholic Social teachings to not ignore the cry to stop the pipeline.
Thank you for inviting us to join in this gathering of resistance to stand for life and for all you have done to protect all that is sacred for all generations of life here now and to come.
With peace, good and prayers of solidarity,
With peace, good and prayers of solidarity,
Sr. Joan Brown,osf, Executive Director, NM IPL
Emily Syal, staff team
Carlos Navarro, staff team
Terry Sloan, Board member, Catholic, Navajo/Hopi
Stephen Picha, Board member, Presbyterian, Catholic
Ann McCartney, Board member, Spiritual
Ruth Striegel, Board member, United Church of Christ
Judy Smith, Board member, Jewish
Tom Stark, Board member, Unitarian Universalist
Necip Orhan, Board member, Muslim
Arcelia Isais-Gastelum, Board member, Catholic Young Adult
Charlotte Smith, Board member, Bahai
Larry Rasmussen, Author, Advisor
Rev. Anita Amstutz, Mennonite, Advisor
Sr. Rose Marie Cecchinni, mm, Advisor, Office of Life Justice Peace and Creation Stewardship, Gallup Catholic Diocese
UCC Church in Albuquerque to Host Environmental Forums in June
/in Earth & Faith, Featured Articles, NEWS /by adminBy Ruth Striegel
The Green Justice team at First Congregational UCC in Albuquerque is hosting a special series of online environmental forums during June, and all are welcome to attend over Zoom. There will be forums every Monday evening, 7:00 to 8:00 PM.
On June 7, we’ll be watching an abbreviated version of the documentary, “Kiss the Ground,” and learning about the history of industrial agriculture, the problems created by it, and the movement to embrace regenerative agriculture, healing the soil and sequestering carbon.
On June 14, 21, and 28, we will watch and discuss Climate Solutions 101 from Project Drawdown, an educational program focused on solutions to the climate crisis.
Climate Solutions 101 is the world’s first major educational effort focused solely on solutions. Rather than rehashing well-known climate challenges, Project Drawdown centers game-changing climate action based on its own rigorous scientific research and analysis.
Green Justice is also working with the FCUCC Racial Justice committee to host a forum on Sunday, June 27 at 3:00 PM, where we will learn about how Environmental Racism has impacted New Mexico from Dr. Myrriah Gomez of the UNM Honors College. Myrriah’s current book project, Nuclear Nuevo México: Identity, Ethnicity, and Resistance in Atomic Third Spaces, examines the effects of the nuclear industrial complex on Nuevomexicanos.
All are welcome to attend the forums. Please contact Ruth Striegel at ruth.striegel@gmail.com for a Zoom link.
NM-IPL Supports Efforts Against Line 3 Replacement Pipeline
/in Actions, Earth & Faith, Featured Articles, NEWS /by adminJune 5, 2021
Blessings in Solidarity Water Protectors for our Earth:
New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light, hundreds of faith communities, and thousands of people of faith and conscience, in the Land of Enchantment stand in solidarity with you to stop the building of the Line 3 replacement pipeline. We send prayers and continue to pray with you these days and into the future. However, our prayers also motivate us to sacred action with you and in our own state, which is one of the largest producers of oil and gas in the Permian Basin in South East New Mexico and in the San Juan Basin in the Northwest of our state.
We have been working alongside frontline communities, including many of our Native American brothers and sisters for many years to address extractivism, legacy clean up, water, and related economic transition and health concerns in our state, which suffers with many sacrifice zones.
All of our diverse spiritual traditions hold water as sacred and as life. The pipeline is destroying so much, which cannot be recovered. We stand at a moral juncture facing a different future with oil and gas extraction. For too long pollution has compromised the lifeways of us all and especially our Native American brothers and sisters in Minnesota and beyond.
The days of tars sands are over, we must stand with you to protect the treaties, to protect sister water, and to protect the climate in order to sustain life to all on this is earth and nation. As written to President Biden on May 26, this is a battle for the Soul of Our Nation. We rise with you for the treaties, for climate and for water.
We rise together for one another and all creation, to stand for justice and dignity for our sacred creation and humanity—against a backdrop of long years and many lifetimes of colonial terror, injustice, and broken trust. We join ourselves with all who are here to stop the pipeline, knowing that in standing united we are powerful enough to change the tide of greed, waste, and profit, which can no longer govern the hearts of those who govern us. We believe that the spiritual foundations of our paths empower us for this hard work.
NM IPL believes that we have an ethical, moral and spiritual responsibility to address this injustice from spiritual roots to make alive spiritual activism. President Biden is a devote Catholic and a spiritual man and we call upon him from his spiritual foundations and the Catholic Social teachings to not ignore the cry to stop the pipeline.
Thank you for inviting us to join in this gathering of resistance to stand for life and for all you have done to protect all that is sacred for all generations of life here now and to come.
With peace, good and prayers of solidarity,
With peace, good and prayers of solidarity,
Sr. Joan Brown,osf, Executive Director, NM IPL
Emily Syal, staff team
Carlos Navarro, staff team
Terry Sloan, Board member, Catholic, Navajo/Hopi
Stephen Picha, Board member, Presbyterian, Catholic
Ann McCartney, Board member, Spiritual
Ruth Striegel, Board member, United Church of Christ
Judy Smith, Board member, Jewish
Tom Stark, Board member, Unitarian Universalist
Necip Orhan, Board member, Muslim
Arcelia Isais-Gastelum, Board member, Catholic Young Adult
Charlotte Smith, Board member, Bahai
Larry Rasmussen, Author, Advisor
Rev. Anita Amstutz, Mennonite, Advisor
Sr. Rose Marie Cecchinni, mm, Advisor, Office of Life Justice Peace and Creation Stewardship, Gallup Catholic Diocese
Faith Leaders Needed to Sign Letter Calling on Congress to Support Climate and Clean Energy Infrastructure
/in Faithful Citizenship, Featured Articles, NEWS /by adminInterfaith Power & Light (at the national level) is asking faith leaders around the country (including New Mexico) to add their name to this sign on letter to Congress calling for critical investments in climate and clean energy as we rebuild our economy.
Click Here to Add Your Name
The deadline is June 9th.
Here is the text of the letter
Dear Members of Congress,
As leaders from many diverse faith traditions, we are united in our call for a bold economic recovery and infrastructure package that creates family and community sustaining jobs while caring for our climate and our neighbors. It is the moral responsibility of our nation, and our sacred task as people of faith, to protect our ecosystems, work for environmental justice and public health, and address the climate crisis.
We urge you to support historic levels of investment that will safeguard Creation, address the impacts of climate change and pollution from fossil fuel extraction and related industries, and fulfill our moral obligation to leave a habitable world for future generations. Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and low-income communities have been hit the hardest by the triple health, economic, and environmental crises we face. The needs of these communities must be at the center of any infrastructure package.
As we move from COVID relief to economic recovery, this moment offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in the clean energy future while addressing the injustices of the past. We can achieve that by:
We can accelerate the transition to clean energy by passing a national Clean Energy Standard that achieves 100% renewable, pollution free electricity by 2035, while also expanding investments in wind and solar power.
Now is the time to invest in American-made electric vehicles, build charging stations across the country, and make sure they are affordable to all. We can also connect our communities and reduce pollution by electrifying and expanding public transit.
Too many communities, especially in low-income urban neighborhoods and in Indigenous communities, don’t have access to clean water. We must invest in lead pipe remediation, as well as programs that provide clean water to rural communities.
BIPOC and low-income communities have been harmed the most by both this pandemic and our centuries of investment in fossil fuel infrastructure. Our understanding of justice demands that these communities must be at the center of our investments going forward. Specifically, we call for these communities, forced to bear an unequal burden of pollution and pandemic, to receive at least 40% of the investments. Additionally, to ensure a just transition, we must support dislocated workers and investment in communities historically dependent on fossil fuels.
Sincerely,