I have worked with my colleagues on this curriculum for months, and yet I often still take what I eat for granted. When I’m driving to the store, it’s easy to forget that there are many who cannot easily go shopping for fresh food. When I’m buying fruits and vegetables, it’s easy to forget that someone had to work long hours to harvest them. When I’m going back for a second helping of my dinner, it’s easy to forget that there are many in our state and in our world who do not get enough.

As a student of social work, I know that awareness is the first step towards action. It’s time to stop forgetting. It’s time to stop taking for granted our food and how it impacts all of God’s creation. It’s time to be aware.

Look for the curriculum to be available online in April. In addition, those attending the 2012 Critical Issues Seminar on April 19 in Winston-Salem will have a chance to hear about the curriculum from the authors and discuss ways to use it.

– Leslie Forrest, NC State School of Social Work Intern

Well, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and First Lady, Michelle Obama, recently announced their success at raising the nutritional standards of school lunches for the first time in 15 years, but they were also forced by the food industry to make some concessions.  For example, they were unable to limit french fries on the cafeteria line, and pizza can still be counted as a vegetable.

By and large, the public health community is pleased with the outcome of this battle over healthier school lunches but will undoubtedly continue fighting to make the foods served to our nation’s children healthier still.

To read the full article, please click here.

-Willona Stallings, Program Coordinator, Partners in Health and Wholeness

Partners in Health and Wholeness wants to reward your congregation’s healthy actions.  By being PHW Certified, you will also be a model for other churches.  Find out more here.

Remember, signing the PHW online Endorsement Resolution is a first step to committing to a healthy lifestyle for your community!

- Joy Williams, PHW Regional Consultant

Embedded within the Pastoral Teaching, the Bishops state clearly and powerfully the causes for their concerns:

“Science confirms what we already know: Our human footprint is changing the face of the earth and because we come from earth, it is changing us too. We are engaged in the process of destroying our very being. One of the most dangerous and daunting challenges we face is global climate change. This is, at least in part, a direct result of our burning of fossil fuels. Rising average temperatures are already wreaking environmental havoc, and if unchecked, portend devastating consequences for every aspect of life on earth.“

The Rev. Thomas Droppers, Leader for the Chartered Committee on Environmental Ministry, provided this explanation for the need for action of the Episcopal community of faith:

“The House of Bishop’s issuance of a teaching on the environment speaks to their concern for the future of the planet and their belief that people of faith have a responsibility to study the issues and to respond in any way possible to heal the earth. The Bishops have set forth specific ways in which churches and individuals can make a difference, and this resolution supports their call to all of us to respond to what they have designated a crisis.”

The Environmental Ministry Committee for the Diocese also called for all congregations to report back to the Convention next year on the progress they have made.

Dr. Carl Sigel, Chair of NC IPL Steering Committee urges everyone to read, study and act upon the Bishop’s Pastoral Teaching, saying, “At a time when powerful forces in government, business, and the media divert our attention from an environmental crisis that threatens human civilization and all life on Earth as we know it, as people of faith, we need to be mindful of and thankful for our religious leaders, who look to both faith and science to develop a worldview based on reality and provide clear guideposts for us to take action.”

–Kathy Shea and Susannah Tuttle, NC IPL Co-Directors

As a “twenty-something,” the first thing that struck me was age. Recently graduating from school, I found myself uncovering a misconception formed in my own head. Classrooms full of young people delving into climate science and solutions led me to think that climate change was a “ young verses old” issue. Elder generations mostly contributed to these problems and we youngsters were working to solve them. Wow, did my first Earth Sabbath Celebration correct that misunderstanding. The years of activism, the memories of environmental successes and failures were evident in people’s eyes. They had clearly seen so much change in our country, for the better and the worse. Their smiles revealed great compassion for the world but also great sorrow concerning it. Their arms offered an embrace only found through kinship. I had found my family. And they were not all in their twenties. At that Celebration, I realized that the community of faithful people, concerned about the state of our planet was wise, diverse, and welcoming.

That and all Earth Sabbath Celebrations seem to be the space for which so many of us have been longing. They are essentially designed to gather, nurture, and sustain people of any and all faiths who are concerned about climate change and the pain of the Earth. As anyone in that group knows, climate change can be a pretty overwhelming  matter. Many climate-change events leave you feeling angry, depressed, or perhaps worst of all, afraid.  But the Earth Sabbath Celebration is something different. It combines grief with celebration; there is after all so much to celebrate during this simultaneously changing climate. Participants, particularly due to the diversity in faith, age, and ethnicity, each have so much to offer and to gain.

As a Durham resident myself, I am thrilled to have such a service coming to my home town, and cannot wait to see how the newly planted services go!

Looking for an Earth Sabbath Celebration in your area? If you live near Asheville, Chapel Hill, or Raleigh, click here.

Live elsewhere and are interested in helping start a local Earth Sabbath Celebration program? We have resources to help make it happen! Email us at info@ncipl.com for more information.

–Allison Scherberger, NC IPL Volunteer Coordinator

Perhaps even more exciting is the opportunity for us to benefit beyond just participation, and we’ll need your help.

Please take a minute to visit the Inspired website and click on the image associated with our work. (You will find my picture at the bottom of the page in the center.)  Watch our story and then share it via Facebook, Twitter or e-mail using the icons on the site. Each time you share our story or any of the others, BCBSNC Foundation will invest $1 into the work of the featured organizations, including ours.

So, I encourage you to help spread the word, to learn about and tell others of the great work that is happening all across North Carolina.

Be well.

–Willona Stallings, PHW Program Coordinator

Since 2001, North Carolina taxpayers have spent $14 billion on the war in Afghanistan. The meeting will shed light on the cost to the state’s communities in terms of jobs lost and other economic issues.

Other sponsors for the event are NC Peace Action and the American Friends Service Committee — Carolinas. Visit the Peace Action website or call 919-381-5969 for more information.

–Sandy Irving, Volunteer Program Associate

National Interfaith Power & Light’s President, The Rev. Canon Sally G. Bingham applauded the President’s decision:

“…for demonstrating leadership in deciding against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. His actions today will help to ensure a clean, healthy and safe world for our children. Transporting dirty tar sands oil through the heartland of America will unnecessarily risk catastrophic damage to ecosystems and aquifers that millions of people depend upon for their livelihood. People of faith are called to be good stewards of God’s Creation, and to love our neighbors and take care of the vulnerable among us.

People of faith strongly believe that we need an urgent response to the climate crisis through continued implementation of better clean air safeguards, construction of a renewable energy grid, and more robust energy efficiency and renewable energy standards. The Keystone XL would only slow the pace of this clean energy transition, continue with business worse than usual, and hasten global warming. We can and must model a way forward for the world, create jobs, and care for God’s Creation. “

The battle over tar sands oil is not over by any means, as the oil industry will continue to push for development of another route across the US and also Canada.

We understand that while we celebrate this victory today, we must recognize that the fight must continue in the halls of government to preserve the beauty and integrity of creation.

National IPL’s policy statement  on tar sands is a quick introduction to the reasons why people of faith are opposed to exploitation of the Canadian tar sands in the unique and beautiful boreal forests of Alberta, Canada. A more detail analysis can be read in Tar Sands Invasion by the Sierra Club, Corporate Ethics International and others.

If you wish to learn more and engage in NCIPL’s policy work, contact Richard@ncipl.org.

–Richard Fireman, NC IPL Public Policy Advisor

A toolbox will soon be available for people of faith who want to work against the amendment, and we will keep you updated and informed on the Council’s website as the election approaches. We hope you will join us as we work for a North Carolina where the law is about insuring equality, not enshrining bias in the Constitution.

–George Reed, Executive Director

Ms. Mary Swann and Yvonne McGraw are working on a similar calendar for Richmond County and the Pee Dee Baptist Association.

If you are a church and you want a health organization to come to your area or if you are a health organization and you want to be connected with a church, please contact Joy Williams at 919-357- 8625 or jtwilliams@nccouncilofchurches.org.  We look forward to working toward a healthier lifestyle with you in 2012.

View Health Calendar Here.