wfn.org | Interfaith Climate Change Campaign Extends to 18 States

[carolf@ncccusa.org]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact NCC News: 212-870-2227; news@ncccusa.org

	March 30, 2001, NEW YORK CITY - An interfaith movement to educate and act 
on global warming - including work to support the Kyoto Protocol and enlist 
local congregations in energy conservation - now reaches into 18 states.

The Interfaith Climate Change Campaign is designed to help people of faith 
see global warming as a religious issue and to encourage individuals, 
congregations and governments to do something about it.

The National Council of Churches' Eco-Justice Working Group, consisting of 
Protestant and Orthodox communions, is partnering with Catholics, 
evangelicals and Jews in this strategy that was kicked off in August 1998 
to organize faith-based support for initiatives on climate change.

Following is additional background and contact information for campaign 
coordinators in four states.  If you need additional contacts, call the 
National Council of Churches News Department at 212-870-2227.

* TEXAS: Bee Moorhead -- Texas Impact, 4300 Rosedale Ave, Austin, TX 78756; 
Phone at office: 512-472-3903; Phone at home: 512-467-9738; Cell: 
512-636-3124; E-mail: bee@texasimpact.com

* MICHIGAN: Kim Winchell -- 10514 Webster Road, Freeland, MI 48623; Phone: 
517-695-2402.  E-mail: kwinch5940@aol.com

* WEST VIRGINIA: Fr. Chris Bender - 966 Southpointe Circle, Morgantown, WV 
26501; Phone: 304-292-8670.  E-mail: chbender@westco.net

* OREGON: Jenny Holmes -- 2325 N.E. 44th Ave., Portland, OR 97213; Phone at 
office: 503-244-8318; Phone at home: 503-281-8175.  E-mail: 
inec@emoregon.org

BACKGROUND: INTERFAITH CLIMATE CHANGE CAMPAIGN

"The momentum to proclaim global warming a religious issue has caught on," 
said the Rev. Richard Killmer, Environmental Justice Director for the 
National Council of Churches.  "People are realizing this is not a dry or 
irrelevant policy issue.  It is about what we will give to our children and 
grandchildren.  It is also about practicing life and about justice for the 
most vulnerable all over the world."

An initial campaign was tested in Ohio in 1998 including educational, 
lifestyle, public policy and media strategies.  In 1999, with the Ohio 
campaign as a model, the effort was expanded to four additional states - 
Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Iowa.

With campaigns still ongoing in those five states, 11 new states began 
organizing around the climate change issue early in 2000: Florida, Georgia, 
Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South 
Carolina, Washington and Wisconsin.  Early in 2001, Colorado and Texas 
joined them.

The 18-state initiative is being carried out through state ecumenical 
agencies.  In each state, local religious leaders form an interfaith 
planning committee, hold a two-day training event, develop a Religious 
Leaders Statement and implement an ongoing climate change campaign.  The 
campaign, after the training events, involves educating in congregations 
and judicatories, enabling congregations to use less energy, educating the 
public through the media, and organizing visits with elected officials, 
including U.S. senators.

Here are a few examples of activities/achievements of state campaigns:

OHIO: "Members of the Ohio Interfaith Global Warming Campaign, organized 
through the Ohio Council of Churches (based in Columbus, Ohio), testified 
in the Ohio State legislature against a bill calling upon members of the 
U.S. Congress from Ohio to vote against the proposed Kyoto Protocol of the 
Framework Convention on Climate Change - a treaty ratified by 160 nations 
including the U.S. Senate," Killmer said.  "Much to the surprise of 
legislators, these people of faith ended up being the strongest voice in 
support of Kyoto."

MICHIGAN: In Michigan, the interfaith campaign has offered energy 
efficiency seminars for members of the faith community, partnered with the 
Michigan Environmental Council and the World Wildlife Fund and placed five 
regional coordinators throughout the state. "Though Michigan is a big and 
challenging state, we're being noticed more," said Kim Winchell, of 
Freeland, Mich., coordinator of the Michigan campaign and an Evangelical 
Lutheran Church of America layperson. "We will sit down face-to-face with 
our legislators to try to convince them that this is a time for bold action 
on the issue," Ms. Winchell said. "Also, it's an ongoing challenge to be 
heard by all corners of the religious community in Michigan, but those of 
us involved in this work plan to keep up a steady, and growing, drumbeat, 
until we are heard."

WEST VIRGINIA: "Since our training event in December, 1999, we have had 
good success in getting congregations to do a Bible study on the issue and 
to become 'energy stewardship congregations,'" said Marcia Leitch, from 
Talcott, W.Va., a Presbyterian educator who coordinates the West Virginia 
Interfaith Global Warming Campaign. Members of the campaign met with U.S. 
Representative Robert Wise and with Senator Bird's state staff person in 
Charleston, W.Va., and West Virginia religious leaders have done letter 
writing campaigns around significant issues in the state.

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