Author: Cheryl Pyrch

People’s Climate March – NYC – 9/21/2014

image-1-f255b6faYesterday Rev. Cheryl Pyrch (a member of the PA IPL Board, and a Philly PA IPL leader) attended an organizing meeting for the People’s Climate March, initiated by 350.org and now sponsored by dozens of organizations, from the Sierra Club to churches and synagogues and labor unions.   The occasion is a United Nations summit on the climate crisis, called by  Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.  It’s our chance to show the world we care, and we need to make it BIG:    “to change everything, we need everyone.”  It will be peaceful and inclusive — join us for this historic event!

Faith voices:
Faith advocates have been working with world leaders for years on climate change and climate treaties.  We’ve recently learned that the World Council of Continue reading People’s Climate March – NYC – 9/21/2014

Renewing the Covenant

At our Annual Conference on October 26th, Climate Justice: Faith in Action, one of our presenters will be Victoria Furio, who is on the staff at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and convenes the Climate Justice initiative there.  Union made the news recently as the first seminary to divest from fossil fuels.  With Victoria’s permission, we’re reposting this lovely piece she wrote for the Union Forum.  Join us on October 26th, from 2-6 p.m. at Summit Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia to hear more. 

"Storm" by Fanny Schertzer - Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Storm.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Storm.jpg

by Victoria Furio

When we see the water ─that most sacred of elements─ disappear from rivers and streams
When we hear the wind howl in yet another massive storm
We will know the future is here.

For many, that future is now, whether it be India, Australia, the Philippines, or the Mid-West, repeatedly ravaged by floods of biblical proportions; or relentless drought creating deserts in Africa, famine in Somalia, and fears of a new Dust Bowl in California and the Southwest. As a warming earth melts Himalayan glaciers, the water of life will cease to trickle into the great Asian rivers from the Ganges to the Yangtze. Where will 1.5 billion people flee to in their desperation?

Not only are humans at risk, but every animal and plant, bird and fish, will soon face the struggle to survive. With predictions of global temperature rises approaching 3ºC as early as 2030 , erratic, extreme weather events will become the norm, coupled by water scarcity and the collapse of food
Continue reading Renewing the Covenant