A Religious Response to Global Warming
Climate Ride is a fully-supported, five day charitable bike ride that supports groups working for a sustainable future, including the national Interfaith Power & Light movement. Join other committed riders for an unforgettable adventure from New York City to Washington, D.C. this September 21-25, 2013
For details, click here.
What: New York Crossroads: Rally to Stop Fracking and Demand Renewable Energy
When: Monday, June 17th, 12pm-3pm
Where: Rally and March in East Capitol Lawn, Albany, NY
My name is Joseph Varon, and I live in West Hempstead, Long Island.
I’m an environmental activist, retired teacher, and native New Yorker, who volunteers with Food & Water Watch.
I’m also an Orthodox Jew, whose faith inspires a reverence for our Earth. On June 17, I’ll be taking the bus to Albany for New York Crossroads, the rally against fracking and for renewable energy.
I love nature and the outdoors, and I’m terrified that fracking could destroy some of our beautiful state’s most precious landscapes. And, of course, I’m worried about the threat of climate change and how fracking could poison our water, air, and food.
I hope you’ll join me in making New York Crossroads an amazing event.
If you want to arrange a car pool, email Corinne Rosen.
Thank you so much for helping protect our state.
– Joseph Varon
Sunday, June 23, 2013, 2-4pm
Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan (Broadway and Wall Street)
Join prominent religious, spiritual, and social leaders, authors and activists to explore how we can work together to foster peaceful, just and sustainable relationships with one another and with Earth. The panelists will offer insights from the world’s great religious traditions and spiritual teachers, science, and their daily experience.
Together they will explore a unifying spiritual narrative grounded in the sacredness of the earth. The panelists are David Korten, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Acharya Judith Lief, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, and the Rev. Richard Cizik. Please RSVP to SacredEarth@trinitywallstreet.org to attend in person at Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan (Broadway at Wall Street) or via webcast at www.trinitywallstreet.org.
This event is organized by the Contemplative Alliance and Trinity Institute®.
For more information, call 212-602-0871 or email SacredEarth@trinitywallstreet.org
Your Church, Temple, or Synagogue will likely qualify for a free energy assessment and a low-interest loan for energy improvements.
Once you have done an energy assessment, NYSERDA has two financing options:
For specific questions or to sign up for a free energy assessment, please call NYIPL at (315) 256-0078 or email jswatkins@nyipl.org.
A recent groundbreaking study demonstrates how New York State can move to an entirely renewable platform by 2030!
Renewable NY
Local Energy Today and Tomorrow!
On Monday evening, May 13th, come hear the authors of this study explain the technical capacity, economic feasibility and benefits of a renewable energy infrastructure that can transform our state by eliminating dependence upon fossil fuels.
6:30 – 9:00 p.m. at the Mount Kisco Library, (http://www.mountkiscolibrary.org) in Mount Kisco New York. Free.
Speakers:
Marc Z. Jacopson PhD (via Skype), Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Director, Atmosphere/Energy Program, Stanford University
Anthony R. Ingraffea, PhD, PE Professor of Engineering, Cornell University, and President, Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy, Inc.
Jannette M. Barth, PhD
Pepacton Institute LLC
Moderator – Paul Gallay, President, Hudson Riverkeeper
Westchester Update – Herb Oringel, Northern Westchester Energy Action Consortium (NWEAC)
Space is limited and pre-registration is required.
Click here to register!
For more information please call Ellen Weininger at Grassroots Environmental Education (914) 422-3141 or email renewableny2030@gmail.com
This program is co-sponsored by New York Interfaith Power & Light.
Want to connect with other, like-minded congregations? We are pleased to announce that we have a new listserv that will allow you to interact with congregations across the state. Ask other congregations for practical ideas on environmental stewardship. Or share your own wonderful ideas and experience.
For those unfamiliar with listservs: this is an invitation-only email list (there will be no spam). It works kind of like an interactive bulletin board, where one can post a question or comment, and others can respond. Messages are received in your email inbox.
To register, you need to belong to a congregation that is a member of NYIPL. To see if your congregation is a member, click here. If your congregation is not a member, WE WANT YOU! Click here to sign your congregation up. Then, to sign up for the listserv, click on this link and enter in your email address. You will be confirmed shortly.
NYIPL sponsors free webinars for congregations wanting to improve their energy efficiency.
To register, or for more information, call (315) 256-0078 or email jswatkins@nyipl.org.
It has come to our attention at NYIPL that our member parishes have varying degrees of knowledge in the area of reducing our carbon footprint. Some are early in the process of “greening” their church spaces while others may be well on the way to sustainability. In keeping with NYIPL’s mission to assist our parishes in these efforts, we would like to develop a method by which you can share information with each other – sort of a computer based “clearing house”.
We’re considering two different possibilities to accomplish this:
In order to move ahead with this idea, we are requesting feedback from all of you. Please forward your input to NYIPL via e-mail, phone (315-256-0078), or Facebook post. We look forward to hearing from you.
The Keystone tar sands pipeline proposal is back, and we need your help to stop it. This pipeline could transport the dirtiest oil on the planet from Canada all the way across America’s heartland to Gulf Coast oil refineries.
Last year, thanks to pressure from you and thousands of others, President Obama refused to issue the pipeline permit and directed the State Department to conduct a thorough study on its environmental impacts, including climate change.
Now, that report is out, and, incredibly, the State Department reviewers say Keystone XL will have no significant impact on climate change because Canada will exploit the oil with or without the pipeline. This is a dubious argument. Urge President Obama to reject the pipeline today.
Thirteen federal government agencies have just released a comprehensive climate assessment that describes disastrous impacts on our ecosystems, infrastructure, and human health if we don’t quickly reduce fossil fuel consumption. This is not the future our children deserve, or that President Obama spoke of in his inaugural address when he promised to preserve the planet “commanded to our care by God.” Tar sands oil emits three times the carbon of regular oil.
We believe the voice of the faith community can make the difference. We must remind the president of our moral responsibility to leave a habitable climate and a sustainable future for the next generation. Fuel efficiency, alternative fueled vehicles, and investments in transit are the solutions we need to pursue.
Let the president hear from you today.
RESOURCES:
It would be safe to say that the legal battle over hydrofracking in New York State is a confusing one. Having said that, Governor Cuomo has stated that he will make a decision on this polarizing issue within the next few months. A recent Quinnipac pole found New Yorkers against hydrofracking by a 46 to 39 percent rate. This points to a trend in this direction over the past two to three years since hydrofracking became an issue in this state.
Hydrofracking for natural gas came into being in 1947 but took its present form in 1997. Proponents say that in its current form it helps extract natural gas from shale formations that would not be otherwise accessible. New York State is home to two of these shale formations. The Marcellus Shale formation extends from northern Pennsylvania northward into New York State and extends to approximately Rt. 20 across the state. The Utica Shale formation extends north from the Marcellus formation to the Canadian border and the western part of New York State. Pennsylvania began drilling in their portion of the Marcellus Shale in 2008.
Since that time, there has been a statewide moratorium in New York State so that the long-term health/environmental consequences can be studied. Gas companies have made preliminary leasing agreements with landowners pending the governor’s decision. At this time, the decision whether to allow hydrofracking in New York State lies solely with the governor. While the State Assembly has been willing to introduce legislation banning the practice, the State Senate has indicated they would not support such legislation, so none has been forthcoming.
The statewide New York moratorium was due to expire during February 2013. Prior to that, Governor Cuomo had requested the New York State Department of Health to analyze the possible health hazards and make a recommendation based on their findings. The Department of Health stated it could take two to three years to make a knowledgeable analysis of these consequences. In that Pennsylvania has only been fracking for approximately five years, possible long-term health and environmental consequences are not all known yet. Opponents of hydrofracking point to possible contamination of the water table and increased incidents of stillbirths among dairy animals in areas adjacent to existing gas wells in Pennsylvania as just a two of the possible negative consequences of fracking. Despite these concerns, Governor Cuomo recently announced that he feels he will have enough information to make a decision within the next few months. At this time, it is felt that the governor has three possible rulings available to him. He could ban the practice statewide, issue limited “test well” sights, or grant across the board approval.
While the governor has the final decision on a “statewide” policy on gas hydrofracking, each individual municipality has the power to pass their own local policy relative to hydrofracking in their jurisdiction. At the present time, there are four different categories as they pertain to a particular municipality’s status: 1) Ban in place, 2) Moratorium in place, 3) Movement towards one of those, or 4) No action being considered. An excellent source of information on this process throughout the state as well as the location of the two shale formations is the web sight “fractracker.org”. One note of explanation regards the term “fracking ban”. This is actually a misnomer. While this is the term used informally, those areas that have imposed “bans” have actually imposed zoning restrictions that prohibit fracking as well as certain other industries that those locales feel is not in their best interest. While this seems to be a semantic distinction, it could be an import distinction should the gas companies bring suit against those locales.
Regarding the possibility of litigation between a gas company and a locale, the New York State Supreme Court recently upheld the Town of Avon’s local ordinance in a suit brought by a gas company that had purchased conditional leases in that town. Opponents are confident that local ordinances will stand up in court and there is state legislation pending to strengthen the “home rule” stipulation that reinforces the local ordinances. However, opponents are also quick to say that any gas well in New York State is a dangerous proposition – as water and air are unaware of municipal boundaries. Pollution of the water or air in one area will soon contaminate the water or air in a contiguous area.
We at NYIPL ask that all of our members pray that our governor make the right decision in this crucial matter! And if you’d like to tell the governor how you feel, click here.
Thanks to John Pick, NYIPL volunteer, for this report.