Editor's Note: The e-newsletter mailed on Oct 2 contained an error in the statistic around savings from energy efficiency in Virginia. It has been corrected below.
Join Us - Building a Sustainable Future: GWIPL Summit 2008
GWIPL's annual summit will help you be an eco-justice leader in your faith community. Let's come together to celebrate and learn how we can all answer the call to be good stewards of the planet. We will share our successes, discuss our challenges, and receive tools to implementing solutions to global warming.
When: Sunday, October 12, 2008 from 2:30-5:30pm
Where: Charles Borromeo Catholic Parish at 3304 Washington Blvd in Arlington, VA. (Clarendon Metro Station)
Learn more and register at www.gwipl.org/summit.asp
Highlights from Last Month
Wise Energy Tour
Thank you to everyone who joined us for a stop on the Wise Energy Tour. Together through direct conversations with policymakers, we will save our mountains, address climate change, protect consumers and build a clean energy economy. Now it is time for Virginians to schedule meetings; and we are here to help. To register you meeting or join a meeting, visit: http://wiseenergyforvirginia.org/take-action/#register
And check out this independent report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, which states that Virginia can cut electricity use at least 20% in the next 20 years using affordable and already available efficiency measures that will save ratepayers money.
"Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation."--Martin Luther King, Jr. ("Letter from Birmingham City Jail," April 16, 1963)
Green Jobs Now!
On Saturday, September 27 at the DC, Get Going, Go Green: Green Jobs Now event in Anacostia, Van Jones (pictured at left) inspired the crowd with his explanation on how the shift to a clean, green economy can improve the health and well-being of low-income people, who suffer disproportionately from cancer, asthma and other respiratory ailments in our current pollution-based economy. Such a shift can also create and expand wealth-building opportunities for American workers who need new avenues of economic advance.
Weren't able to come to the rally? DC residents can still take action and let the DC City Council know that you want green jobs now! Write a letter today.
Also, check out a reflection with pictures on our website or listen to a report on the rally on WAMU radio (third story on the page)
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Congregation in the Spotlight
Each month we highlight one congregation who has made extraordinary steps towards answering the call to be a good steward of our planet. This month we want to let you know a little more about the congregations who will be sharing their stories at our summit on Oct. 12 - learn their full stories and ask questions by coming on the 12th.
All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, DC: Since 2003, All Souls has been working on making their congregation zero-trash. In 2006, they moved their weekly lunch to a zero-trash lunch. Every week they keep 150 plates, cups, forks, and knives from the landfill.
Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill in Alexandra, VA: With leadership from their Creation Stewardship Committee, the congregation has engaged in a Green Living Challenge - a great way to inspire and assess how much CO2 individuals are saving at home. By adding a green living pledge to their stewardship cards, tabling at coffee hour, and their creative display, they have galvanized church involvement.
Dayspring Church in Germantown, MD: Their retreat site features two sustainable cottages that include passive solar heating and cooling, well-insulated walls and roof, grid-tied and grid-independent photovoltaic panels, solar hot water, masonry heater, oak and cherry trim from trees on the land, earth plaster and milk paint wall finishes, stained concrete slab floors, bamboo and linoleum floors, fiber-cement composite siding and trim, roof water collection, and landscaping with native plants. A solar strawbale greenhouse with roof water-collecting internal cistern is an auxiliary feature on site.
Support GWIPL today
You can make a secure online donation at http://www.gwipl.org/support_us.asp. Every dollar helps us to protect creation.
