WELCOME FROM OUR CHAIR
It is a great joy to welcome Peter Fargo to Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon! Peter brings extensive organizing experience and a heart of faith to EMO in his new role as Creation Justice Coordinator and with Oregon Interfaith Power and Light. We are excited for the opportunities ahead and invite you all to get to know Peter better! This is the perfect time to join in creation justice efforts at EMO as we lift up the good work of people of faith and all people across Oregon.
Rev. Richenda Fairhurst
Creation Justice Committee Chair
Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon and Oregon Interfaith Power and Light
A MESSAGE FROM PETER
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Hello friends! I’m deeply honored to join you in this sacred work and to serve as the new Creation Justice Coordinator at EMO.
EMO’s mission can be summarized in three words – “love in action” – and you will find that love reflected in this newsletter. There are actions to take, dates to put on your calendar, updates to keep you informed, and resources to support your work. Last but not least is a closing prayer to sustain our spirits.
Whether you have been involved in the faith-based environmental movement for a day or for decades, you know it is a labor of love. That is especially true when we are confronted with the hard facts of our multi-faceted environmental crisis. When we zoom out, we see the big trends, including human-caused climate change and mass extinction on our watch. When we zoom in, our personal experiences speak for themselves: we feel the heat, see the wildfires, and breathe the smoke.
Love calls us to take courageous action on behalf of our families, neighbors, communities, and generations to come. When we step forward to act, and ask others for help, we discover that we are surrounded by good people who are ready to stand with us. EMO’s Creation Justice Program is here to help us find each other and take effective, collective action. With your support, we can build a program that not only meets the urgency of the moment but also sustains the long-term needs of our movement across Oregon.
This is my fourth week on the job, and honestly there is nothing I would rather be doing, and nobody I would rather be doing it with. However, I need your help to keep doing this work at EMO, because the Creation Justice Coordinator position is only funded through mid-2025 and on a part-time basis. Today will you make a donation to build up our Creation Justice Program? Please click here to set up a monthly donation now.
Many blessings, and here's to courageous love. And action!
Peter Fargo
Creation Justice Coordinator
Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon and Oregon Interfaith Power and Light
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TAKE ACTION
Submit a comment in support of CPP: Please support the restoration of Oregon’s Climate Protection Program (CPP). Submit a comment now to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) through our partner, the Coalition for Climate & Economic Justice. Also, stay tuned for a group letter from Oregon faith communities, which you can sign as a congregation, organization, or individual.
Sign a petition to Stop GTN Xpress: EMO is an active member of the Stop GTN Xpress Coalition, which is working to oppose a dangerous methane pipeline. Are you a customer Cascade Natural Gas? Please sign the petition to end the contract between Cascade Natural Gas and GTN Xpress. Methane is an explosive gas and a potent climate pollutant – up to 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. When fully operational, the GTN Xpress pipeline would be equivalent to adding more than 750,000 cars to the road every year, for 30 years. That’s not to mention the unfair price increases for Oregon ratepayers that come with this project. (Read more below.)
Submit a comment to protect National Forests: “The U.S. Forest Service is working to amend every national forest plan in the country to protect old growth, which could become one of the most meaningful safeguards for federal forests that we have seen in decades. The agency is looking for public input on how they will manage our public forests for generations to come.” (Interfaith Power & Light)
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MARK YOUR CALENDAR
September 12: Faith Votes webinar with Interfaith Power and Light. Sign up here or zap the QR code below.
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September 15 and 28, Go Electric! ElectrifyPortland is hosting a home-electrification fair that will run Noon-4pm on Sunday, September 15. Lake Oswego Sustainability Network's Electric Home & Vehicle Fair is September 28. Learn more about electrification at ElectrifyOregon.org.
September 1 - October 4, Season of Creation: A new ecumenical Season of Creation worship series is available through the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement. The series includes preaching notes, children's materials, prayers, slides, and an accompanying five-week devotional study guide. Rev. Richenda Fairhurst, a member of Oregon IPL, is a contributor to the series.
September 22-24, Faith in Place Annual Summit: Faith in Place is the Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin Affiliate of Interfaith Power and Light. The organization is dedicated to empowering people of diverse faiths and spiritualities to be leaders in advancing environmental and racial justice, providing resources to educate, connect, and advocate for healthier communities.
October 9, 11am - 12:30pm Pacific on Zoom, “Be 2 Weeks Ready” Community Host Training: EMO is looking for Community Hosts to be trained in Oregon Emergency Management's “Be 2 Weeks Ready” program. This program will help prepare our communities to have an emergency plan and enough supplies for themselves and their households to survive at least two weeks following a disaster. The Community Host training will prepare you to educate members of your community through an eight-unit toolkit, facilitate conversation regarding levels of preparedness, and help build confidence to survive after a disaster. To register, email Taylor Silvey at tsilvey@emoregon.org.
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October 30, 5:30 - 8:30pm Pacific, Love In Action Gala: Celebrate EMO’s 50th anniversary at the Sentinel Hotel Portland. Tickets are available now! The gala supports EMO’s vital services for the most vulnerable in our communities. We will also honor extraordinary individuals and organizations whose courage, moral vision, and commitment to action have contributed profoundly to making Oregon, and the world, a better place. | |
February 23, 2025, 2:30-5:30pm: EMO’s 2025 Interfaith Earth Summit: Connect with people of faith & goodwill across Oregon to learn and take action together! This is a hybrid event, with a plenary session on Zoom plus local hubs hosting in-person gatherings for the community. Would your congregation like to serve as a local hub? Contact pfargo@emoregon.org. To learn more, visit our 2024 Summit web page. You can also watch the recordings of 2024 and 2023 plenary sessions. | |
LEARN MORE
How congregations can get paid for clean energy upgrades: This fact sheet from Interfaith Power & Light walks through how to use the tax credits authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act for rooftop solar system installation or community solar, purchasing electric vehicles, installing electric vehicle charging stations, back-up battery storage, geothermal heat pumps (but not air source heat pumps).
Pathways 2050: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommends that the global community become carbon neutral no later than 2050 to avoid the worst effects of climate change. What would a community like NE Portland look like if it transformed to meet that goal? To show us, Frank Granshaw, member of the EMO Creation Justice Committee, created the 3D Pathways 2050 Model. Email fgransha@gmail.com about showing the model at your next community gathering.
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The GTN Xpress pipeline is an unnecessary and dangerous expansion of an aging pipeline that transports fracked methane gas from Canada to natural gas utilities and other users in the Northwest and California. The Canadian firm, TC Energy (the company behind the failed Keystone XL oil pipeline) realizes it would not receive approval for a brand-new pipeline, so they have decided to add more compressors to an existing pipeline system called GTN Xpress to dramatically increase the flow of methane gas.
How much new gas? TC Energy, admits that expects the new gas will provide the greenhouse gas equivalent of adding 754,000 gas-powered cars to the road every year for 30 years! That’s an awful lot of gas to be piping into a region that is clearly moving away from its reliance on fracked methane gas. In fact, our state climate and energy laws require reducing fracked gas consumption to reach our climate targets. Methane is an explosive gas and a potent climate pollutant -- up to 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Nobody knows if the pipeline system built over 60 years ago, will be able withstand the added pressure coming from this amount of new gas.
Unfortunately, FERC, the federal regulatory agency responsible for approving interstate pipelines, approves nearly every proposal. They did so again here, despite the vigorous and widespread opposition from many Northwest leaders, including a letter signed by over 400 leaders of diverse religious and spiritual communities across our region.
The fight is not over. The states of Oregon and Washington are pursuing a legal challenge, focusing on FERC’s refusal to consider their state climate and energy laws in its analysis. Columbia Riverkeeper and Rogue Climate are also appealing FERC’s decision on a variety of grounds.
Meanwhile, TC Energy has admitted that the project is “financially not viable” unless it is allowed to spread its costs among all the region’s natural gas utilities, including those that are not interested in the additional fracked gas. Currently, TC Energy only has contracts for the additional capacity with two Northwest utilities – Cascade Natural Gas and Intermountain Natural Gas. Unfortunately, if the expansion proceeds, customers of those utilities are likely to experience a massive rate increase to help pay for this unnecessary project. It is unclear if FERC will allow TC Energy to spread the costs to the region’s other gas utilities and their customers.
Our next step is to encourage customers of Cascade Natural Gas to urge their local utility to stop financing this destructive and dangerous project. Instead, it should terminate its contract with TC Energy and its GTN Xpress expansion when its contract comes up for review in November.
If you are a Cascade Natural Gas Customer, please sign the petition to stop the GTN Xpress pipeline. This petition is led by our coalition partner, 350 Deschutes. Since Cascade Natural Gas also serves some communities in Washington, our partners to the north are also collecting their own signatures. While we encourage individual customers to sign the petition, we are particularly interested in soliciting the support of faith community leaders, especially if their church facilities are currently being served by gas supplied by Cascade Natural Gas.
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A PRAYER FOR A FOREST FIRE
Protector God, stay with me today, be near me in the night. The heat pushes in. Calm the hair rising on the back of my neck. Keep the little ones close in, let us be fed, let us find water, O Lord, in your mercy, keep the children and their mothers safe from harm this day.
Storming God, bring the rain to cool the fire in the forest, we call to you! Soothe the flames, let the water sink deep through the moss and lichen, under the roots, let the trees draw it up, let rain quench the fire.
Sheltering God, the air is hot, the fire-wind pushes us down, the animals scatter, no bird sings, only the heat has voice. Lead us to water, to safety, to cool fresh air.
Creator, save your forest! Defend the fire fighters who swelter, dig ditches, and hack at undergrowth. Bring them safe home again. Let us find home again.
Almighty God, we are your people, this is your forest! Defend it from the crisis, from the greed, the oil, the wicked ones who will not stop the drilling, extracting, and flaring, even when the world is burning.
Cleansing God, let the tears in my eyes clear out the smoke. Let me find a pool where I can draw in a clean breath. Hear my lament for the trees turned to ash. There is ash on my clothes, my shoes, my hands…
Restoring God, how long will you let the oil and the fire burn! Refresh us with rain. Restore us with new growth. Let the flowers come. Let the branches grow, each reaching for the sun! Let the cool mist live again in the forests, your forests.
God of all! In your name, hear your people pray for relief, for safety, for shelter, for renewal, and for your good earth. For you are the everlasting God of Glory, of heaven and earth. In you, every foundation is laid, and every promise kept. Amen.
Rev. Richenda Fairhurst
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