The Diocesan Dialogue
Current Issue
June 2007

Group Finds Power

By Connie Gordon

At Diocesan Convention, a steering team was formed to bring Interfaith Power and Light to Utah. This team included members from all around the Diocese. We are now at the mid-year point from convention and so it seems like a good time to give everyone an update of what we've been up to.

The team from the Diocese of Utah began meeting immediately. We were soon joined by other interested parties from around the diocese as well as representatives from Utah Clean Energy.

The Rev. Sally Bingham, who founded Interfaith Power and Light, came from San Francisco to present to a large group gathered from the Interfaith Roundtable. Her presentation included information about religious and ethical responses to global warming and information about supporting renewable energy and energy conservation. She was successful in generating interest among representatives of several faith groups who wish to deepen their connection between faith and stewardship of creation.

A group of interested parties from the Interfaith Roundtable began to meet. The first order of business for the group was to draft what is known to other IPL groups as a covenant for congregations.

Due to the degree of diversity in the Interfaith group in Utah however, this group will be forging a statement that is agreeable to those whose beliefs do not allow the signing of covenants and those who do not identify themselves as congregations. Some of the next business will be to design educational pieces for places of worship and the communities, write for grant money, and develop a website.

A logo for the IPL was designed to illustrate the organization of the IPL. The logo is a picture of a tree with Utah being the trunk of the tree and each branch of the tree is a locally organized group, such as the Episcopal Branch of the IPL. The group is currently working on a website where the different branches become links to the local groups.

The group formed in the Diocese of Utah continues to meet about twice a month and is developing our own mission statement or covenant, sorting through the generous amounts of information, and preparing to put together an educational piece that can be presented in congregations that wish it.

What can you do right now to reduce carbon emissions and help the planet? You can change your light bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs, you can volunteer to be the person in your congregation that takes light bulbs (if they ever burn out) to be recycled; you can sign the www.LessCoal.com campaign to encourage the State of Utah to diversify the sources of power to not use to much coal to produce electricity; you can conduct an energy audit of your home, and you can volunteer to work with the larger interfaith community at community events.

If you are interested in more information either about the Interfaith Power and Light, visit the regeneration project at: www.theregenerationproject.org or contact one of the co-conveners of the Episcopal Branch: The Rev. Connie Gordon, or Dale Ann Peterson.

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