May 2011 to April 12 ranked as the warmest 12-month stretch over the U.S. since records began in 1895 (NOAA NCDC) As far back as records go (1895), never has the U.S. strung together 12 straight months warmer than May 2011 to April 2012 according to new data released today by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) .

The record-setting 12-month period edged out November 1999-October 2000, the 2nd warmest 12-month period, by 0.1°F. The average temperature was 2.8 degrees F above the 20th century average.

In the last year, the U.S. has experienced its second hottest summer, fourth warmest winter (December through February) and warmest March on record. And NCDC announced April 2012 was third warmest on record.

Twenty-two states experienced their warmest May 2011-April 2012 (12-month) period, including Maryland, much of the Northeast and the Upper Midwest. Virginia and several other states had their second warmest May-April period on record.

To read original article click here.

“The Clean Air Act is designed to protect people’s health from emissions of harmful pollutants,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Today’s settlement will protect residents living near the facility and ensure that the necessary pollution controls are installed to protect the residents of southeastern Kansas in the future.”

“This settlement puts CRRM on a level playing field with the more than 100 petroleum refineries that have agreed to implement aggressive pollution control measures, thereby reducing the threats posed by harmful emissions to area residents,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice. “The agreement reaffirms our commitment to ensure that the petroleum refining industry complies with the nation’s Clean Air Act.”

The settlement resolves alleged violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), and Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). Coffeyville allegedly made modifications to its refinery that increased emissions without first obtaining pre-construction permits and installing required pollution control equipment. The CAA requires major sources of air pollution to obtain such permits before making changes that would result in a significant emissions increase of any pollutant. The settlement also resolves violations in which CRRM failed to timely notify state and local emergency responders of releases of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide from the refinery, as required by the CERCLA and EPCRA.

Once fully implemented, the pollution controls required by the settlement will annually reduce an estimated 200 tons of NOx emissions and more than 110 tons of SO₂ emissions. The settlement will also reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and other pollutants that affect air quality. CRRM has also agreed to perform a voluntary environmental project at the refinery valued at more than $1.2 million. The project will benefit the environment and surrounding communities by reducing emissions of volatile organic compounds and hydrogen sulfide, reducing the frequency of future acid gas flaring incidents, and conserve 15 million gallons of water each year that would previously have come from the Verdigris River.

The settlement with CRRM is the 30th under an EPA initiative to improve compliance among petroleum refiners and to reduce significant amounts of air pollution from refineries nationwide through comprehensive, company-wide settlements. The first of EPA’s settlements was reached in 2000, and with today’s settlement, 107 refineries operating in 32 states and territories – more than 90 percent of the total refining capacity in the United States – are under judicially enforceable agreements to significantly reduce emissions of pollutants. As a result of the settlement agreements, refiners have agreed to invest more than $6 billion in new pollution controls designed to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants by more than 360,000 tons per year.

CRRM’s refinery has the capacity to refine more than 115,000 barrels of crude oil per day, producing gasoline, diesel fuels, and propane.

The State of Kansas has joined in the settlement and will receive a portion of the civil penalty.

The consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court approval.

More information on the CRRM settlement:
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/cases/civil/caa/coffeyville.html

More information on other petroleum refinery settlements:
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/cases/civil/caa/oil/index.html

via EPA press release

Our Call and Our Purpose:

People of faith are called to be bold advocates for environmental justice for all God’s people and all God’s Creation. We are called to protect the most vulnerable members of society and to ensure a thriving earth for future generations of all species. The purpose of earth advocacy is to give the natural world a strong voice in human affairs.

Education and Advocacy:

Education provides information, raising people’s consciousness and stirring their conscience so that they might incorporate creation care into their daily living. Advocacy promotes action, including political action, which includes encouraging people to respond to issues in the public sphere. As Advocacy dovetails with Education, our hope is to move people from denial to awareness to hope to action.

There is an expression “If we each do a little we can all do a lot; if we all do a lot, we can do a lot more.” But there is only so much that individuals can do. Ultimately we must change systems and infrastructures, which means changing the group practices of businesses, schools, all levels of government, and even faith communities. And we must change laws, which means getting political, taking a stand, and engaging in issue advocacy.

Education without Advocacy is insufficient to make a meaningful difference for the well-being of the earth community.  If we are to confront the fierce urgency of now, we must speak, write, and act boldly without delay.

The Law:

Most faith communities are non-profit, tax-exempt entities with a 501(c)3 status. Legally this means they can engage in:

• Direct lobbying: Within generous limits, individuals and organizations can express their position on legislation.
• Grassroots lobbying: Within generous limits, individuals and organizations can tell the public their positions and ask them to communicate that position to elected representatives.
• Voter education: Non-profit faith groups are permitted to educate voters about important issues, even if it means influencing campaign issues. (They cannot support or oppose candidates by name!)
• Voter registration: Non-profit faith groups are permitted to register voters and urge them to vote.

(Adapted from How to set up an advocacy group with your congregation by Rev. Linda Hanna Walling.)

Ways for individuals and groups to be an Earth Advocate:

• Identify opportunities to do Earth Advocacy on local, state, and national issues.
• Be selective in picking which of the many environmental issues to address. Be focused on a few where the congregation can become well informed and active. (“Lifting up too many issues as matters of advocacy can lead to confusion and burnout,” advises Rev. Peter Sawtell of Eco-Justice Ministries.)
• Communicate these issues to individuals, ministers, and faith groups, encouraging them to speak out and act in a timely manner.
• Prepare and distribute resource materials, such as fact sheets, talking points, email templates, email addresses, phone numbers, and links to relevant web sites.
• Network and collaborate with secular as well as faith-based advocacy groups that are already organized.
• Send emails, sign petitions, and write letters—letters to the editor, letters to legislators, and letters to leaders of your faith community (including and sometimes especially to ordained staff).
• Prepare flyers and bulletin and newsletter notices.
  Maintain an Environmental Bulletin Board for the dual purposes of Education and Advocacy.
• Seek creative ways to be a faithful, prophetic, and effective witness that provides a voice on emerging or urgent environmental issues.

The Perspective of History:

Historically, religion has played a central role in social and political change. Every continent offers examples of faith-based and faith-motivated individuals, groups, and institutions. Recent examples include the African church and its leaders who spearheaded the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, and the liberation theologians of Latin America who engaged in social reform and political action in response to the human need and social injustices they observed around them.

In the US, since the mid 1800’s, three instances of major social change have been fueled by religion and people of faith: the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, and the civil right movement. Will slowing, stopping, and reversing climate change be the fourth time?

Some Quotations:

“Advocacy may be defined as active support of an idea or cause, especially on behalf of justice for the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, or the voiceless. It involves the uncomfortable challenge of speaking truth to power. And it calls for the ongoing work of teaching, inviting, urging. Not only do we work for justice for neighbors suffering consequences of environmental waste, abuse, and degradation, we speak for creation itself. Advocacy requires persistence, patience, partnerships, relationships, and the agility to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.”
~ Rev. Heather Entrekin, former senior pastor of Prairie Baptist Church.

“If we’re not doing advocacy, then why are we here?”
~ Dr. Myron McCoy, president of St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, spoken at the first SSC Board meeting on October 25, 2010.

“A church that does not provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, a word of God that doesn’t touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed–what gospel is that?
~ Archbishop Oscar Romero

“A time comes when silence is betrayal.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking out publicly for the first time against the Vietnam War, Riverside Church, New York City, April 4, 1967

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

Faith communities can play the unique role of taking us beyond our enlightened self-interest down an ethical, moral, and spiritual path that other institutions do not. They are key in addressing the moral imperative of the environmental crisis, leading by example, by education, and by inspiration. They can influence people to transform their way of thinking and believing, which can transform their way of living and acting.

Advocacy by religious groups and institutions is predicated on their willingness to engage the public sphere at every level. The commitment of leaders can be a galvanizing force within and beyond the religious community. Their influential positions are evidenced by the fact that mere association with a particular cause will provide high visibility. Conversely, the apathy of religious leadership can weaken advocacy efforts.

Internal Advocacy occurs within the walls of our faith communities. Earth Advocacy can be top down, but usually it is bottom up, fueled by grass roots efforts to make contemporary faith relevant to contemporary issues. Its premise is that our values are the basis for effective political change. It means letting our theology inform our social ethical norms as we promote earthkeeping based theological and ethical reflection. We need to find creative new ways to challenge tradition bound thinking that obstructs creation based norms.

External Advocacy is faith speaking to Power beyond the walls of our faith communities. We advocate with secular partners as well as ecumenical ones. We join their cause, educate our members about the issues, and equip them with tools to do Earth Advocacy. For example, 350.org and The Center for Biological Diversity recently petitioned the EPA to regulate green house gases by setting emissions limits based on informed science. Currently, Interfaith Power & Light is one of several organizations asking people to lobby Congress to protect the Clean Air Act by fully funding the EPA. Regional issues include Mountain Top Removal, Shale Hydro-Fracking, Off Shore Drilling, Coal-fired Power Plants, and Tar Sands extraction in Alberta, Canada, and its transportation through a 1700-mile pipeline across the central US.

Another way to care about people is to care about the environment. Another way to advocate for people is to advocate for the natural world that surrounds and sustains us. In sub-Saharan Africa, people are 200 times as likely as Americans to die from climate-related disasters, and 300 times more likely to be left homeless. Unchecked climate change has been compared to a world war or a great depression. According to the UN, “There are at least 20 million environmental refugees worldwide–more than those displaced by war and political repression.” This number is projected increase many fold.

May this bulletin and the activities it inspires help your on your path of spiritual growth and greener living!

It’s been a couple of years since the Clean Energy Days sponsored by environmental groups in Kansas, which Kansas IPL was part of and which brought hundreds of concerned Kansans to the Capitol. There’s a very busy legislative schedule this session and environmental issues aren’t really on it. But our elected representatives still need to know that there are many people of faith from all over Kansas who care about our environment and a clean energy future!

The Steering Committee of Kansas IPL will be going to the Capitol building on the morning of February 7 to introduce ourselves to our legislators and share with them some of the issues of most concern for us: incentives for renewables; low-interest loans for energy efficiency improvements for homes, businesses and houses of worship; extending net metering to rural electric coops and BPUs, and more. Our Advocacy Committee is developing the talking points now and will share them with participants before the event.

If you care about these issues and want to help Kansas IPL build a presence in Topeka, advocating for the issues that are vital to us and to the environment, please make plans to join us on “Legislator Education Day”. Send an email to Kansas IPL Director Rabbi Moti Rieber (rebmoti<at>kansasipl.org) letting him know you’re interested in coming, and we’ll make sure you’re kept in the loop before the event.

“This is good news for the religious community across America. The finalization of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards shows us that the 40-year old Clean Air Act is still an invaluable tool to carry out our call to be stewards of God’s Creation and to serve the least among us.

“Clean air is something people of faith have a responsibility to maintain. Thousands of clergy and communities of faith representing Interfaith Power & Light’s network of 14,000 congregations turned out at public hearings or wrote postcards to the EPA urging them to adopt these safeguards. We are delighted that our voices have been heard. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are long overdue, and we commend this Administration for making clean air a priority. These safeguards are an important and critical step in reducing harmful pollution and protecting human health. Not only will they keep us healthier, but additionally they will help to stabilize the climate that we most certainly need to protect.

“Addressing emissions of mercury and other toxics will help prevent as many as 17,000 premature deaths, 11,000 heart attacks and 120,000 asthma events every year . These safeguards will mean significantly less human exposure to toxic mercury, which poses particular risks to children. Each year, more than 300,000 children born in the U.S. have levels of mercury in their blood high enough to impair performance on brain development tests and permanently affect intelligence. The finalization of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards is welcome news and upholds the commandment to love God and love our neighbor. Loving our neighbor means extending care and concern for our children and future generations who have, as yet, no voice of their own. We applaud you, Administrator Jackson and President Obama, for doing the right and moral thing.”

• Denomination-specific liturgical and thematic notes to help in the preparation of sermons, reflections, devotionals, Bible studies, and youth activities
• Ready-to-go sample sermons on global warming
• Global warming fact sheet and bulletin inserts
• Valentine’s Day postcards for policy makers
• Preaching for the Planet 30-minute film in DVD format

All materials are free-of-charge to those who wish to give a sermon or hold an activity. Resources will be sent in January to those who register. Simply fill out the form on the national IPL website. Download the Preach-In on Global Warming Flyer to print and share with others.

By Kate Sheppard / Mother Jones

What a difference two years makes. Heading into the 15th Conference of the Parties, the annual United Nations confab on climate change, hopes were high in Copenhagen, Denmark, that world leaders would hash out a new international agreement on how to address rising temperatures. Now, two years later, many of the same questions remain as negotiators arrive in Durban, South Africa, this week.

Will the United States and leaders of major developing nations like China and India agree to legally binding emission reduction targets? What will come of the Kyoto Protocol, the current pact that guides climate goals set by industrialized nations? (Excluding, of course, the US.) Where will the promised $100 billion in long-term financing to help the poorest nations deal with climate change come from? All of these questions loom as negotiators meet in Durban from November 28 through December 10.

To read more of this article click here.

by Catherine Woodiwiss | November 16, 2011 / Center for American Progress

A small tinfoil dove on a wooden pole waved above the orange safety jackets, snappy signs, and a mock pipeline carried by thousands of demonstrators encircling the White House on November 6. Meanwhile, a group of protesters in yellow shirts emblazoned with ‘”Standing on the Side of Love” gathered around as clusters of youth chanted, “Hey Obama, listen to the Dalai Lama” and “No XL pipeline, I’m gonna let it shine.”

As promised in the weeks leading up to the Keystone XL protest at the White House, faith voices had joined the cries against the construction of a controversial oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast.

To read more from this article click here.