"Faith In Action" Forum!

Special Feature for 2009!
Sunday, August 23rd 1:30-3:30 PM

A special two-hour program featuring a panel of diverse faith community leaders sharing their experiences and successful efforts at 'greening' their congregations and religious organizations, from energy efficiency cost savings to community actions. Learn about the expanding message of Creation Care that is developing across faith traditions, the "Cool Congregations" campaign from Interfaith Power and Light and more! After opening presentations from the panel, a Q&A session offers the opportunity for you learn to about current options to take Action in your own life as a person of faith, in your congregation & in the larger community and region.

 

NC Interfaith Power and Light is one of 29 state programs that conduct education, outreach, and advocacy campaigns to engage faith communities in a religious response to global warming.  We work with congregations of all faiths to help them be good stewards of energy and reduce their carbon footprints through the promotion of energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy.  Over 10,000 congregations are involved in our programs nationwide and 850 in North Carolina.

 

"Faith in Action" panelists currently scheduled include:

Jill Drzewiecki Rios, Director, North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light. Jill hails from Wisconsin where beautiful forests, glacially-carved lakes, and rolling farmland shaped her commitment to protection of God’s creation at an early age. She has served as an educator and organizer inthe US and Mexico, including work with Alaska Wildland Adventures, the Environmental Leadership Center of Warren Wilson College, the Cuernavaca Centerf or Intercultural Dialogue on Development, and Clean Water for North Carolina. She is uniquely trained through the Green Faith Fellowshipprogram, an interfaith program that prepares lay and ordained leaders for religiously-based environmental leadership. She received a BA in International Studies from St.Norbert College (1999) and a MS n Environmental Education from Lesley University (2001).  She lives in West Asheville with her daughter Aja, her husband the Rev. Canon Austin Rios, and of course, their energetic dog Denali.

Richard Fireman, Public Policy Coordinator North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light, a program of the NC Council of Churches.

Presentation Description: Fireman and Rios will introduce the national Interfaith Power & Light campaign,with 29 state programs, that engages faith communities in "a religious response to global warming."  Panelists will share the story of North CarolinaI Interfaith Power & Light's (a program of the NC Council of Churches) work with faith communities to address the causes and consequences of global climate change, and promote practical solutions, through education, outreach, and public policy advocacy.  They will give a brief overview of programs, announce the Cool Congregations Contest, and share success stories - as well as challenges, of their interfaith work in congregations and the larger community.

 

Joanne Kennedy Frazer served for many years at the national, diocesan and parish levels for the Catholic Church and Catholic organizations, where her focus was social justice education and advocacy, and included writing curriculum, training materials and processes, along with conducting workshops/seminars and leadership development in a variety of venues. Retired from “paid” work, she feels led by the Spirit to use her expertise to work on behalf of Creation, and now serves as the chair of the NC Interfaith Power and Light steering committee, where she assists in writing congregation-based materials and giving workshops. She and her husband are new "covenant partners" of Umstead Park United Church of Christ.

Presentation Description: Umstead Park UCC's congregational covenant embraces fostering a committed, mutual relationship with the wider world, which includes "claiming our inescapable connection with the sacred earth and all of creation." This connection led the congregation to articulating a "building theology" when they decided to develop a permanent home for this young church. Frazer will outline their journey to becoming the first church building in North Carolina and the Southeast to achieve LEED Gold certification, as well as their continuing congregational efforts to live out their belief "that how we treat creation is directly related to how we express our love for the creator."

 

Idelle Packer helps people with movement dysfunction in her ongoing 30-year career as physical therapist and teacher of the Alexander Technique. She has participated in the Temple Beth HaTephila (TBHT) Social Justice Committee (SJC) since the committee was formed in 2000 and represented her Temple at the Consultation on Conscience in Washington, DC twice. She initiated the ongoing program with the Asheville Jewish Community Relations Council to educate the Buncombe County and Asheville City Schools regarding Jewish children’s participation in religious observance during the school year. As member of the SJC of TBHT, she participated in the recent effort to interview congregants and build an organizational structure based on the values and interests of the congregation. The result: a two year commitment to a comprehensive "Preserving Our Planet" initiative with sub-committees on Energy, Recycling, Transportation, and Agriculture.

 

Stanley B. Hubbard, Jr. Since 2005, Stan Hubbard has served as the president and chief executive officer of Kanuga Conferences, Inc. in Hendersonville, N.C. One of the largest conference centers in the Episcopal Church and global Anglican Communion, Kanuga serves some 26,000 persons annually through a year-round conference center, two summer camps, and a residential science and environmental education center. Prior to joining Kanuga, Stan served for 35 years in a variety of executive positions in the financial services industry. He is married to the Rev. Carol M. Hubbard, Assistant at Trinity Church in Asheville, N.C. They have two adult children and a remarkable cat, Max.

Presentation Description: Stan Hubbard will describe how the 81-year old conference center came to install one of the region's largest solar-thermal water heating systems in early 2009.  Solar energy captured by 131 panels on 11 buildings now heats the 1.5 million gallons of water used annually in two of Kanuga's kitchens, its laundry, 62 guest rooms, a dormitory, camp cabins and staff residences across Kanuga's 1,400-acre campus. Through an innovative arrangement with FLS Energy, investors and utility and banking partners, Kanuga was able to convert to solar energy without a big up-front capital investment. The benefits: over the 25-year life of the project, Kanuga projects savings of more than $700,000 - and the reduction in Kanuga's carbon footprint is comparable to planting 20,000 trees.

 

Julie Lehman, Coordinator at Presbyterians for Earth Care & Director of Church and Interfaith Relations at Warren Wilson College ,she maintains partnerships between the college and faith-based groups, including its founding denomination, visiting partner churches and individuals to facilitate a grassroots network for people and communities of faith to be responsible in their use of resources and treatment of the natural world. 

 

Mallory McDuff, Environmental Studies Professor at Warren Wilson College, GreenFaith Fellow, & author of BOOK.

 

Dan Figgins, Congregant of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Raleigh, NC.

 

Please Note: Panel participants subject to change, pending schedule confirmations.

 

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