In 2022, Read Becoming Rooted

and Advocate with Us

We hope you are enjoying a restful and meaningful holiday season. This time of year in the northern hemisphere, we receive a seasonal reminder to slow down, dig deep, spend some time being dormant or hibernating, to receive the gifts that waiting in darkness can bring. We wait and hope and long for the light. Perhaps we can learn from these seasonal rhythms to trust and rest.

Amidst the holiday activities, we wanted to give you information about exciting events to look forward to early in 2022. See below for more information.

We have an exciting year ahead of us! If you've appreciated the opportunities to care for creation together as people of faith in 2021 and are considering where to make a year-end donation, we invite you to support our work. Thank you! We could not do this exciting and necessary work alone, so we are grateful to have you as companions on the journey.

Starting in January, we encourage faith communities and small groups to read Randy Woodley's new book, Becoming Rooted: 100 Days of Reconnecting with Sacred Earth. We are collaborating with EcoFaith Recovery and Eloheh Indigenous Center for Earth Justice.

Join our monthly statewide gatherings as an individual, or form a green team or book group to read the book together. We meet every third Tuesday from 6:30–8:00pm on Zoom. Randy Woodley will join us for our gatherings in January, February, and April.

The book starts on January 13 and ends on Earth Day, April 22. Order the book and sign up for Green Circles. Follow Randy Woodley's author page for information about a book launch and other opportunities to connect with others on this journey of reading, learning, and taking action.

A Lenten devotional, A Grounded Faith: Reconnecting with Creator and Created in the Season of Lent, will be available soon for Christians to read as a companion to Becoming Rooted during Lent (March 3–April 17). Congregations could promote the devotional and the book as a spiritual practice during Lent, even if not everyone plans to attend Green Circles. We will release more information and a link to purchase after the first of the year.

Join us for our second annual Oregon Interfaith Power & Light (OIPL) Advocacy Team! This year is a short legislative session, running February 1–March 7.

We are setting up meetings with legislators already, so sign up now so we know you want to be involved. We will contact you when we have legislator meetings you can attend with us.

OIPL is currently playing a leading role in advocacy for the Divest Oregon campaign, with a goal of moving Oregon's investments out of fossil fuels and into more sustainable, just, and economically viable investments.

This year, the Divest Oregon team is backing a bill put forward by Rep. Pham, Rep. Holvey, and Sen. Golden, co-sponsored by Sen. Frederick, regarding Treasury Transparency. This is a first step toward fossil fuel divestment, requiring an annual disclosure of investments. It also sets up a workgroup to consider fossil fuel investment legislation and a plan for decarbonization of our state's assets. See a one-page explanation here, and look around the website to learn more about divestment and our coalition partners.

We are supporting the work of environmental justice partners on emerging bills regarding more energy efficient buildings, farmworker rights and safety in extreme weather events, and more equitable and livable policies relating to home heating and cooling.

Though this short session will be brief, there is much to do, and your voice is important as we speak up for equitable and sustainable policies to care for our common home!

The theme for Interfaith Power & Light's Earth week materials for April 2022 will be "Sacred Trust." Sign up here to receive a resource kit to support your faith community in creating educational opportunities, worship elements, and activities relating to caring for our planet as people of faith.

Youth v. Gov will be available for faith communities to host virtual and in-person screenings. The film features young people from Oregon and around the country working with Our Children's Trust to sue the government in Juliana vs. The United States, claiming the legal right to a healthy atmosphere and livable planet for future generations. More information will be available soon about how you can host a screening!

On November 20, the House of Representatives passed the federal Build Back Better Act. If this passes in the Senate, this will represent a huge step for addressing the climate crisis, creating clean energy jobs, and advancing environmental justice. Leading up to the vote, members of EMO/OIPL met with Congressman Schrader’s staff, delivered a faith-based letter to Congressman Schrader, circulated a 100+ organization sign-on letter to the entire Oregon US Congressional Delegation, and co-hosted a press conference in front of Congressman Schrader’s Oregon City office. Next, it’s up to the Senate to ensure that Oregon benefits from these critical investments in a more sustainable future.

In September and October, many of you spoke up with us to the Department of Environmental Quality to pass the Climate Protection Program. Over 7,600 Oregonians sent public comments and gave testimony. This is one of Oregon's biggest climate pollution mitigation policies ever! Here are some of the highlights:

Thank you for speaking up through our Faith Voices for Clean Air event and sending your own emails and public testimonies. We did our part to take this step toward the health of those breathing our state's air, with a focus on equitable impact and economic benefit for all Oregonians.