Interfaith Environmental Network (IEN) of Austin invites you to attend this month's speaker series on Tuesday, March 1, 2011, 7:00 p.m. at Congregation Beth Israel. The Coordinator of Texas Interfaith Power & Light, Amanda Robinson, will deliver a presentation: Our Voices Matter: The Importance of Religious Witness in Environmental Justice Work.

IEN encourages people of faith in Central Texas to link religious values and spirituality with environmental stewardship concerns and actions. Following the speaker's presentation and a question and answer period, there will be a brief IEN meeting to discuss the sharing of resources and plans for inspiring local faith communities to live out the common call to caring for creation.

A minister, a rabbi and an imam walk into a radio station... and have a meaningful conversation about religion and the environment. On Monday, January 31st, the "Open Journal" program on KPFT 90.1 in Houston featured Reverend Dr. Jeremy Rutledge, minister of Covenant Church; Rabbi Steve Gross, rabbi of Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism; and Imam Muhammad N Haq, President of the American Society for Islamic Awareness. You can listen to the 30-minute interview here.

Please join us on Tuesday, February 22nd at 10:00 a.m. for our next monthly interfaith conference call. In this month's call, we will focus on rolling electricity blackouts and learn about Austin's Interfaith Environmental Network (IEN).

Call in to explore with us what happened with Texas' electric grid on February 2nd (the "rolling blackouts" day). Mike Sloan, a Texas Interfaith Power & Light Advisory Committee Member, will provide an overview of that situation and an update about the hearings that have followed. Then we will hear from Reverend Bo Townsend, a founding member of IEN, about how this interfaith group got started, what they've been up to and their plans for the future. We will also allot time for callers to ask questions, share ideas and connect.

February Interfaith Environmental Conference Call

     Tuesday, February 22, 2011, 10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.

     Dial-in number: (712) 432-3030

     Conference Code: 424548

In our monthly environmental calls, we seek to connect faith leaders around the state who are engaged in the work of caring for creation; provide updates about environmental legislation and opportunities for involvement in the legislative session; keep you current on new programs and initiatives; and create a space for sharing hopes and frustrations, plans and ideas, stories and prayers.

To RSVP for the call, receive a copy of the call's agenda or request notes from the call, please e-mail Amanda.

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Dates and times for all our 2011 calls are below. (Note: all calls are on a Tuesday, except for the April call, which moved to Wednesday to respect Passover.)

February 22, 2011 - 10:00 a.m.

March 22, 2011 - 10:00 a.m.

April 27, 2011 - 10:00 a.m. (Wednesday)

May 24, 2011 - 10:00 a.m.

June 28, 2011 - 10:00 a.m.

July 26, 2011 - 10:00 a.m.

August 23, 2011 - 10:00 a.m.

September 20, 2011 - 10:00 a.m.

October 18, 2011 - 10:00 a.m.

November 15, 2011 - 10:00 a.m.

December 13, 2011 - 10:00 a.m.

Please join us on Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 11:30 a.m. for the first Texas interfaith environmental conference call of 2011.  On this first call of the year, we will recognize new things: a new year, a new legislative session, and – in honor of the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shevat – the new year for trees.  Also, we will talk about new opportunities to work together. 

In this one-hour call, we will:

·       Explore some themes of Tu B’Shevat—the holiday that some refer to as “the Jewish Earth Day.”  

·       Hear an update on the Sunset review process of TCEQ (the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality).

·       Get a short briefing on what environmental legislation we might expect from this year’s legislative session. 

·       Learn about upcoming opportunities to engage our religious communities in caring for creation, including the Valentine’s weekend National Preach-In for Earth Care. 

·       Open the call to hear from you!  We will make time to share ideas, hopes and enthusiasms as we begin a new year of work together.

     January Interfaith Environmental Conference Call

     Thursday, January 20, 2011, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

     Dial-in number: (712) 432-3030

     Conference Code: 424548

Please e-mail Amanda for more information or to receive a copy of the agenda in advance of the call.

Join religious leaders around the country this Valentine's Day weekend, February 11-13, in calling for a religious response to global warming.  When you register for the Preach-In, you will gain access to a variety of resources including sample sermons, reflections, and prayers from a number of different religious traditions.

Valentine's Day weekend is a great time to celebrate the gifts of creation with renewed calls of love for all people and for the planet.  Pollution, environmental degradation and global warming disproportionately affect poor and disadvantaged people in our country and around the world.  Our religious traditions offer teachings about stewardship, balance and justice in our relationships with the earth and with other people, and the National Preach-In is an invitation to share some of that wisdom in your communities.

For more information and to register, please click here.  You can also e-mail Amanda with your questions, suggestions, and/or inspirational insights.

Religious leaders are among the Texans urging the US Environmental Protection Agency to adopt strong regulations for coal ash. At an all-day hearing in Dallas, leaders of Texas Interfaith Power & Light testified that government must protect all members of the public from harmful impacts of industrial pollution, especially vulnerable individuals such as the poor, who often live in areas subject to coal ash contamination. Texas Interfaith Power & Light is a project of Texas Impact, Texas’ oldest interfaith public policy advocacy organization.

“Economic considerations which do not protect human life and the Creation or which place short-term profits for shareholders above the needs of those who are God’s primary concern—the human and natural stakeholders in a well-tended Creation—are not only short-sighted economically. Such considerations are, to put it in blunt religious language, sinful. They defy God’s intention for the divinely-wrought Creation and the creatures who inhabit that Creation. That is a perilous way to live and act and have our being,” said Reverend Dr. T. Randall Smith, a United Methodist pastor and president of the board of Texas Impact.

The EPA is taking testimony at hearings across the nation as part of its consideration of new rules that would regulate coal ash as a hazardous chemical. A waste product of coal combustion, coal ash may look like dirt, but contains such harmful toxins as lead, arsenic, cadmium, sulfate and mercury. According to tests conducted by the EPA, coal ash leaches arsenic at levels 1,800 times the federal drinking water standard and over 3 times the hazardous waste threshold.

“When a group of people are sailing in a boat, none of them has a right to bore a hole under his own seat. The EPA’s responsibility is to prevent the coal industry from sinking the boat for the entire human community,” said Amanda Robinson, Texas Interfaith Power & Light Coordinator.

Following the hearing, Smith and Robinson led a short service of healing and reflection for participants, many of whom traveled to the hearing from communities affected by coal ash. Smith said it is important for faith communities to ensure that pastoral care is available for victims of man-made environmental trauma just as much as for victims of natural disasters.

Texas Interfaith Power & Light is the Texas affiliate of Interfaith Power & Light, a national organization advancing a religious voice on energy and global warming.