From Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light (http://www.paipl.org):
As we in the northern hemisphere approach the summer solstice, we invite you to let the long hours of sunlight inspire you to celebration, contemplation, and action on behalf of our Common Home.
Celebrate! with Daylight Hour is today, June 16th, a campaign organized by the Building Energy Exchange to raise awareness about using natural daylight in lieu of electric lighting in offices. Launched in 2014, participating offices around the word turn off their lights in day-lit spaces for one hour on the Friday before the summer solstice to show the power of sunlight in our built environment — and to cut carbon emissions for the day. Offices around the world share their involvement on social media, engaging their communities and showcasing their environmental commitment. (Note: due to internet hiccups here, you may need to mark Daylight Hour the Friday after the solstice this year.)
Contemplate! with the annual Global Earth Exchange tomorrow, June 17, organized by Radical Joy for Hard Times. Once each year, people all over the world go to damaged places they care about and make a simple gift of gratitude or sympathy. Since the first Global Earth Exchange in 2010, women, men, and children have made simple, spontaneous gifts of beauty at gas fracking sites, clear-cut forest, the polluted rivers running through their communities, and hundreds of other places. It’s a day when we can learn that dropping deeply into the Earth’s not-so-lovely spots, we then find a way to embrace that ugliness and love the place for what it is: one sacred spot of our Common Home.
Act! to shine illumination into some murky legislation being contemplate by the US Senate. The House has already passed their version of the Regulatory Accountability Act. The Senate version, S.951, is due for action now. This act applies very broadly — well beyond climate issues, and it’s pretty wonky. The Natural Resources Defense Council has done a good job summarizing the impacts in their letter. Essentially, the act puts a thumb on the scales by considering potential costs to industry, but not public costs or benefits, and by allowing for almost limitless delay by litigation and appeal (which industries can afford in a way that citizens and communities cannot). The bill also covers food safety. Find a local newspaper. Find your Senators.
Follow our events calendar and blog posts at paipl.org (many also posted on our Facebook page) — and share your faith-and-climate events and reflections with us to spread the word and inspire others. If you’re interested in keeping up with climate-linked public policy, give our monthly Policy Update calls a try.
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