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April 19, 2007
Periodic news items and alerts about global climate change justice, energy efficiency, energy conservation, and sustainable energy alternatives for congregations.
Please share this with your friends and ask them to subscribe by contacting Tim Kautza at ncrlctk@mchsi.com. As you know, it’s free!
Please let us know what you are doing to address climate change as a justice issue and what your congregation is doing to improve energy efficiency, reduce energy consumption, or use alternative energy sources.
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Blessings!
Tim Kautza
Coordinator
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Rachel L. Anderson
Editorial Assistant
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CONTENTS:
IOWA CALL TO LEGISLATIVE ACTION
UN PANEL DETAILS EXPECTED IMPACTS OF GLOBAL WARMING
EASY-TO-DO LETTERS TO THE EDITOR NEEDED
HELP SUPPORT IOWA INTERFAITH POWER & LIGHT
Prospectus Health Consequences of Global Warming: Exploring the Links, Breaking the Chains
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IOWA CALL TO LEGISLATIVE ACTION
This is a call to action for Iowa's people of faith, environmentalists, smart land use advocates, energy efficiency experts, promoters of local food economies, public health activists, renewable and community energy developers, recycling and cycling enthusiasts, and anyone who might have inklings in those directions.
As we near the end of this legislative session, we are surprised by what we see. We have been defeated on many of our priority issues:
Local Control is dead.
Sustainable Funding isn't sustainable yet.
The Bottle Bill has been reduced to rubble.
The Power Fund is all about ethanol instead of energy efficiency.
The Merchant Power Language and Climate Change Commission are on their last legs.
We have issues that should interest both political parties, issues that will both protect our environment and move our economy forward.
We have one last chance to let the State Legislature and the Governor know how we feel about this session, and what it means for them in future elections. Come to the Capitol on April 23rd, the Day After Earth Day. Let's use the momentum built by Step It Up 2007 and a solid weekend of Earth Day events to push us forward into the last few days of the Legislation session and the interim period. The Iowa Environmental Council's Legislative Roundtable will meet from 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM that day, followed by tabling opportunities in the Rotunda (thanks to Representative Donovan Olson, who has requested our presence) from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.
IF YOUR CONGREGATION OR ORGANIZATION WOULD LIKE A TABLE IN THE ROTUNDA ON APRIL 23RD, please contact Mark Kresowik at Kresowik@gmail.com or 319-621-7393 as soon as possible. We look forward to hearing from you soon. If you can't make it, give a call to the Governor and your State Legislators this week and on Monday: http://www.legis.state.ia.us <http://www.legis.state.ia.us . Give them an Earth Day message the day after Earth Day!
We look forward to seeing you on April 23rd. Contact Mark at 319-621-7393 with any questions. SPREAD THE WORD! Thanks!
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UN PANEL DETAILS EXPECTED IMPACTS OF GLOBAL WARMING
The earth’s climate and ecosystems are already being shaped by the atmospheric buildup of greenhouse gases and face inevitable, possibly profound, alteration, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report issued on Good Friday.
The new report, focusing on the effects of warming, for the first time describes how species, water supplies, ice sheets and regional climate conditions are already responding to the global buildup of heat. While the report said that assessing the causes of regional climate and biological changes was particularly difficult, the authors concluded with "high confidence" — about an 8 in 10 chance — that human-caused warming "over the last three decades has had a discernible influence on many physical and biological systems."Some of the impacts predicted are:
* By 2050 more than 1 billion people in Asia could face water shortages and by 2080, 1.1-3.2 billion people around the world will face water shortages.
* By 2080, 200-600 million people could be hungry as a result of global warming effects.
* By 2030, global warming related illnesses (malaria/ dengue fever) will cause of higher death rates for the world's poor.
* By 2080, approximately 100 million people each year could be flooded by rising seas.
For a New York Times article, visit HYPERLINK " http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/07/science/earth/07climate.html?_r=1&oref=slogin "
For more about the report, visit HYPERLINK " http://www.ipcc.ch
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EASY-TO-DO LETTERS TO THE EDITOR NEEDED
We need to draw the public’s and our legislative representatives’ attention to the need for urgent, dramatic legislative action at the national level. Iowa Interfaith Climate and Energy Campaign and Iowa Interfaith Power & light has organized in-person meetings with Congressmen Braley, Loebsack, Boswell, and Latham and have also met with their Washington, DC staff and staff of Senators Harkin and Grassley.
Please write a letter to the editor of your local paper. By doing so you will let others know the urgency of this situation and the possibility that lies ahead of us. You will also be calling on your elected officials to take action now that will ensure a just and sustainable world for all of God's children.
Click on the site below to write a letter to the editor of your local paper! It’s really pretty easy…select our state, select the paper to which you want the letter to be sent, then select the content which you’d like to include in your letter, then send it off. It may take 3-5 minutes. Please give it a try; and let Tim Kautza know if you do; ncrlctk@mchsi.com
www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/NCCEcoJustice/pickMedia.jsp?letter_KEY=700&t=clean.dwt
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HELP SUPPORT IOWA INTERFAITH POWER & LIGHT
This electronic newsletter now reaches more than 700 Iowans; religious leaders, people of most every faith, readers, and activists concerned about global warming and the resulting impacts of global climate change on creation and poor and vulnerable people. We receive kudos weekly from many who are pleased to receive the newsletter and who praise the work of our two organizations. Iowa Interfaith Power & Light is a membership organization. Congregational membership (church, syn agogue, mosque, center, school, hospital, or organization) is $50. You can become a member with any contribution you feel is appropriate. Contributions can be sent and made payable to IIP&L, 4625 Beaver Ave., Des Moines, IA 50310-2145. For more about membership, visit www.ncrlc.com/1-pfd-files/IIPL_Brochure_final.pdf Your support is greatly appreciated and will help maintain the integrity of God’s sacred creation, Earth.
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