Periodic news items and alerts about global climate change justice, energy efficiency, energy conservation, and sustainable energy alternatives for congregations.
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Blessings!
Tim Kautza
Coordinator
Contents:
A REMINDER: MATCHING GRANTS UP TO $500 AVAILABLE FOR WEATHERIZATION – APPLY BY NOV. 1
NEWMEMBER JOINS IIP&L
EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS MOVE GLOBAL WARMING TO FRONT BURNER
REFUGEE CRISIS EXPECTED FROM CLIMATE CHANGE
NASA’S HANSEN UPDATES DIRE PROJECTIONS AT LEICESTER
INTERFAITH CLIMATE AND ENERGY CAMPAIGN TO HOLD CONGREGATIONAL GATHERINGS
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING IOWA INTERFAITH POWER & LIGHT
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A REMINDER: MATCHING GRANTS UP TO $500 AVAILABLE FOR WEATHERIZATION – APPLY BY NOV. 1
Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) Chair John Norris told participants Oct. 8 at the IIP&L Conference The Religious Response to Global Warming that the IUB will provide matching grants of up to $500 to help congregations and other qualified community organizations weatherize homes for Iowa’s low-income families, elderly, disabled individuals, and others needing assistance in their communities. Applications should be submitted by November 1 and projects completed by November 30.
A sample grant application has been completed to assist groups in filling out the grant application form. Upon award of a grant, each applicant will be required to execute a contract with the Iowa Utilities Board. A sample contract is available for applicant review. Visit www.state.ia.us/government/com/util/IWC.html
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NEWMEMBER JOINS IIP&L
St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, Des Moines, is the newest inaugural congregational member of Iowa Interfaith Power & Light! Welcome! You and your congregation are welcome, too. Visit www.ncrlc.com/1-pfd-files/IIPL_Brochure_final.pdf
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EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS MOVE GLOBAL WARMING TO FRONT BURNER
Last week Rev. Joel Hunter, president of the Christian Coalition and Peter Vander Meulen, social justice coordinator for the Christian Reformed Church and a board member of the National Assn. of Evangelicals announced Call to Action, an effort to make global warming a front-and-center issue over the next few weeks in states with pitched election campaigns. "We're not abandoning our previous positions: We're still pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, pro-morality. But one or two issues can't adequately express the Gospel," said Hunter when announcing the campaign. The campaign will urge Christians to view protecting the environment as a religious and moral issue every bit as urgent as opposing abortion and same-sex marriage. For a complete article, visit www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-warming19oct19,0,7028600.story?coll=la-home-headlines
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REFUGEE CRISIS EXPECTED FROM CLIMATE CHANGE
Mass movements of people across the world are likely to be one of the most dramatic effects of climate change in the coming century, suggests a report from the United Kingdom and Ireland based aid agency Tearfund. The report, "Feeling the Heat," raises the specter of hundreds of millions of environmental refugees and says the main reason will be the effects of climate - from droughts and water shortages, from flooding and storm surges and from sea-level rise. The report calls for governments at the UN Climate Change conference, beginning in Nairobi in November, to move towards a global framework for cutting climate-changing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that goes beyond the existing climate treaty, the Kyoto protocol, and to commit billions more to help poor countries adapt to the coming changes. For more from Tearfund, visit www.tearfund.org/Praying/Urgent+prayer+news/Climate+change.htm
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NASA’S HANSEN UPDATES DIRE PROJECTIONS AT LEICESTER
"Further global warming of 1 °C defines a critical threshold. Beyond that we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet than the one we know." So says Jim Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and native Iowan from Dennison. Earth is already as warm as at any time in the last 10,000 years, and is within 1 °C of being its hottest for a million years, says Hansen's team. Another decade of business-as-usual carbon emissions will probably make it too late to prevent the ecosystems of the north from triggering runaway climate change, the study concludes (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol 103, p 14288). For a complete article, visit www.ncrlc.comhttp://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125713.300-one-degree-and-were-done-for.html For a paper presenting an earth history perspective on global warming visit www2.le.ac.uk/ebulletin/features/2000-2009/2004/12/nparticle-vkt-hgf-t4c
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INTERFAITH CLIMATE AND ENERGY CAMPAIGN TO HOLD CONGREGATIONAL GATHERINGS
Beginning in November, Iowa Interfaith Climate and Energy Campaign will conduct, at not charge, congregational gatherings at more than 30 congregations around the state over the following seven months. If your congregation is interested in finding out more about hosting such an event, contact Tim Kautza, ncrlctk@mchsi.com; 515.270.2634. For more about Iowa Interfaith Power & Light, visit www.ncrlc.com/IIPandL-webpage.html
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THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING IOWA INTERFAITH POWER & LIGHT
Thank you! Membership in IIP&L is steadily growing. If you are not a member of IIPL&L at this time, we ask you to consider joining us at a contribution level you think is appropriate. Contributions can be sent and made payable to IIP&L, 4625 Beaver Ave., Des Moines, IA 50310-2145. For more about congregational membership, visit www.ncrlc.com/1-pfd-files/IIPL_Brochure_final.pdf Your support is greatly appreciated and will put to good use.
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