The 2023 Interfaith Power and Light National Conference was wonderful and packed!

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(Clara Sims and Sister Joan Brown, osf, represented Interfaith Power & Light New Mexico and El Paso at national IPL’s annual conference and lobby day in Washington, D.C., earlier this month)

By Clara Sims

Our first full day of programming focused on the conference theme of “Climate Solutions Through Truth, Justice and Reconciliation,” with a Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Training. This training was led by the wonderful leaders of the Spark Mill and Innerwork Center. We spent time sharing our personal experiences and learning together about the many intersecting identities and concerns of IPL and different state affiliates who hold both shared and distinct concerns about pathways to greater racial equity and justice.

In representing New Mexico, we lifted up the need to continue to work closely with our indigenous siblings and partners especially, and we must continue to center how the impacts of colonial legacies and worldviews remain so present in the extractivism and dumping our communities experience as “sacrifice zones.” As a minority majority state we know NM IPL holds unique work in racial justice and reconciliation, and we wholeheartedly affirm the need to move into ever deeper work at state and national levels to reckon with the many ways racial injustice and climate vulnerability powerfully overlap and reinforce one another.

Our day ended with the extraordinary keynote speaker, Jacqui Patterson – Founder and Executive Director of the Chisholm Legacy Project: A Resource Hub for Black Frontline Climate Leadership. Jacqui shared so much wisdom, grit, and inspiration with us – lifting up the voices of many prophetic artists, musicians, and poets in her remarks. The opening poem Jacqui shared, “Hope Isn’t A Vacant Lot,” is worth spending time with especially…

Lobby Day

The next day we got to prep for our lobby days at the Capital with panels on target legislation as well as “best practice tips” from veteran advocates, including our very own Sr. Joan Brown.  Joan acted in a role play about visiting with legislative representatives, displaying *excellent* acting skills in her role. No surprise, when it comes to getting the non-committal staff member of a moderate Iowan congressman to listen to the climate concerns of small family farmers, you know which Kansas-born Sister to call!

Our legislative focus this year at the national IPL level centered on the Farm Bill, Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA), and Permitting Reform. For the first time ever the Farm Bill, which is updated every five years, has the potential to include comprehensive climate-conscious  legislation. We are thrilled to report that our New Mexico congressional representatives are championing this legislation and others and were so engaged in our raising of concerns for New Mexico communities, especially for those in southeast and Permian Basin where much more accountability is needed for methane pollution and set-backs from oil and gas wells and so much more. Above all, we offered gratitude to our congresspeople for all their hard work and service and persistence. They recognize how much we are also offering dedication and persistence in our service to New Mexico communities.

The challenges are many and multiplying but there is also such hope in our working together and dreaming of what can still grow in goodness for all.

Joan and I are both grateful to be returning home to keep persisting with you, and, as a parting thought – these words from Rasheena Fountain:

 

“Home is where footprints survive and all life thrives

In my dream, Chicago blues join the songbirds in melodies of hope,
a vision I imagine as skyscraper promises to you, the skies

I wish in new heights, in treetop rebellions the oaks and maples offer
to the children, from our ancestors, for the continuation of breaths
I love beyond white picket fences into avenue streets
I reenvision vacant lots as forests—spaces where we can plant new seed

Home is where footprints survive and all life thrives”

Sister Joan: Acting for the Common Good, Addressing Climate Challenges is not Optional

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On Thursday, March 16, four organizations held a virtual press conference decrying the lack of climate action in the 2023 legislative session and outlining how climate change is already affecting their communities through wildfires, floods, drought, and asthma and other health impacts. Shortly after the press conference, representatives of the organizations gathered at the Roundhouse to deliver a petition with nearly 900 signatures from people across the state calling on the legislature to act, a letter signed by 75 faith leaders calling for climate action, and postcards calling on legislators to act.  Here is the contribution from Sister Joan Brown osf, executive director at New Mexico & El Paso Interfaith Power & Light.

“On behalf of faith leaders across New Mexico, we continue to be very concerned about the lived realities that climate change poses in our state,” said Sister Joan Brown . “We have an ethical and moral responsibility to care for our communities who are suffering and sacred creation and future generations. Acting for the Common Good to address growing climate challenges is NOT OPTIONAL. Our time is one of a spiritual crisis; a moment of conversion and choosing life for the future. We humans have failed in our responsibility as ‘earth keepers’ in caring for Our Common Home. The clock is ticking, communities, those most vulnerable, and Earth are suffering, and our souls call us to act now for change.”

Here comments from representatives of other organizations

“We need climate action as our landscapes must heal from fossil fuel extraction for half a century,” said Wendy Atcitty, Indigenous energy manager at Naeva. “We know the sacredness and relationships of our natural elements, and we can’t waste a moment. Climate resiliency is now.”

“True environmental equity and justice for communities impacted by the climate crisis could help to restore the unbalanced systems of fossil extraction and man-made pollution, and address how the climate crisis has overshadowed generations,” said Ahtza Chavez, executive director at New Mexico Native Vote. “Indigenous people have the traditional knowledge and community power to produce a safe regenerative economy for the future. We as directly impacted communities and earth protectors must be at the forefront of finding solutions and good policy that addresses the needs of our people and of the Earth itself.”

“Families in New Mexico are feeling the impacts of climate change and air pollution on our health and the health of our children,” says Ana Rios, New Mexico State Coordinator for Mom Clean Air Force and Ecomadres. “New Mexico suffers from numerous ongoing impacts of the climate crisis; extreme heat, wildfires, and drought are some of the most noticeable. Our families urgently need climate solutions, and as always, communities of color, indigenous and low-income communities are the most impacted– this time by legislative inaction.”

“The state has made significant progress over the past four years, but the legislature this session failed in establishing statewide climate action,” said Ben Shelton, political & policy director at Conservation Voters New Mexico. “Legislators need to understand that their constituents want meaningful climate action to fully and swiftly meet the climate crisis we are facing in New Mexico. There is a lot of work left to do, but the process leading up to and during this session has revealed a broad and diverse movement that is ready for economy-wide climate action.”

Join Us for Climate Justice Day at the Roundhouse

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Thursday, February 23, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm

Interfaith Power & Light- New Mexico and El Paso, 350 New Mexico, Sierra Club -Rio Grande Chapter, Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, Audubon Southwest, Public Power New Mexico and several other organizations are hosting Climate Justice Day at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe on Thursday, February 23, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. 

Join your fellow climate advocates to learn about this year’s priority legislation and issues, hone your skills at lobbying your representatives, checking out the great organizations who work for climate justice in New Mexico, make friends and hear from our elected climate champs!

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The crush of the global climate crisis was never more clear than this summer when warming driven fires ravaged our state.  Unparalleled floods followed.  And recovery has only just begun as spring nears once again. New Mexico’s current 60-day legislative session is central to our New Mexico response to the climate crisis, and you are a key part of that. Your kids and grandkids, your special places, your rivers and wildlife are all at the heart of the stories we have to tell that also drive our advocacy. Turn your fears and concerns into action and change.