What Can You Do Now?

2009-04-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

California Interfaith Power & Light is a theologically-based effort to reduce our energy usage as congregations and individuals. There are regional working groups in Sacramento and the Peninsula/Bay Area.
Email Jennifer@interfaithpower.org if you are interested in getting involved.

By becoming a member congregation of CIPL, you are eligible for discounts on energy-saving light bulbs and appliances. There is also information on the rebate programs utility companies across the state offer to encourage the conservation of energy, as well as resources for all types of congregational action. Read about their 2007 successes in the Annual Report:
http://www.interfaithpower.org/CIPLAnnualReport2007.pdf

Read the testimonials and guide to getting rebates and funding for your solar panels here: http://www.interfaithpower.org/programs.htm#solar

California Interfaith Power & Light also has a carbon footprint calculator for congregations; figure out yours, and then how to make it even smaller!!
A quick guide to the information you will need to get started is listed here:
http://www.coolcongregations.com/_files/checklist_cool_congregations_calculator.pdf

Then go to Cool Congregations, plug in your answers, and get your results! http://www.coolcongregations.com/

Don’t know where to start? Interfaith Power and Light has a collection of DVDs, books, and testimonials from different faith communities to inspire you. There are some truly remarkable stories. You can sign up to screen Fighting Goliath, a film about a grassroots movement in Texas to end the development of 12 new coal-based power, at your home church by clicking here: http://www.theregenerationproject.org/?tr=y&auid=4682969

The story of Interfaith Power and Light, and other efforts by people of faith to love and serve the Earth, can be found here: http://renewalproject.net/

-Sally

Most Endangered

2009-04-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

Did you hear the news? I woke up to it this morning, listening to KXPR, the classical music station at the low end of the dial. They usually just mention things like how bad the traffic is, the weather, and which direction the DOW Jones is moving (down). But this morning the DJ announced that a report released by America's Rivers, a nationwide environmental group, claimed that the Sacramento and San-Joaquin river systems are the most endangered in the nation. These rivers allow the Delta to flourish, they irrigate our farm land, and they are also an essential part of our watershed and flood plain systems, not to mention being beautiful! When our rivers are in danger, we begin to have to worry about many other things: salmon, smelt, almonds, rice, people...that's the short list!

Read the report here: America's Most Endangered Rivers

Want to do something wet and local? Learn more about Creek Week, a project of the Sacramento Area Creeks Council. Activities are going on April 12th - 26th: Creek Week!

Learn more about what our government is doing about one part of our water system:
Here is where to find the reports submitted by the Delta Vision Committee.
Here is the Department of Water Resources site, where environmental impact reports can be found, as well as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan.

These reports came out of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Task Force's Delta Vision Strategic Plan.

Water is a part of all of our lives; the more we know about it- where it comes from, where it flows, how it connects everything together- the better decisions we can make about how to be good stewards of ALL our natural resources.

-Sally

Sierra Pacific Synod Green Team

What Can You Do Now?

Most Endangered