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  • Iowa Interfaith Leaders and Earth Day 2016

    A group of religious leaders met at the Iowa statehouse today to discuss a call for action on climate change. The event was organized by Reverend Susan Hendershot Guy, the executive director of Iowa Interfaith Power and Light. Regardless of the political debate between the two parties regarding climate change, Gerald Sorokin of the University of Iowa Hillel Foundation said he and the other faith leaders at the capitol that day can find some consensus on the issue.

  • Hitzhusen to Deliver Lecture on Spirituality and Sustainability on Sept. 20 in Sylvania, OH

    The Science Alliance for Valuing the Environment, an “educational consortium for environmental concerns” affiliated with Lourdes University in Sylvania, OH, will host Dr. Greg Hitzhusen to deliver a lecture on “Spirituality and Sustainability: Hope for All Creation” at the Franciscan Center from 7:30-9:00pm on Tuesday, Sept. 20.

    Attend this FREE public lecture hosted by S.A.V.E. – Science Alliance for Valuing the Environment.

    To read more about this event please click on the link below:

  • Dalai Lama's Message to World Leaders

    Before COP-21, the Dalai Lama recorded a message for all people to see, addressing the world leaders who were going to meet in Paris. In his message, he urged people to take responsibility for what we have done to the planet and start to live more sustainably. He also noted that Tibet is effected much more drastically by climate change than other regions of the world. Tibet has long been considered the rooftop of the earth, and is much more susceptible to environmental degradation.

  • Today is registration deadline for Columbus Diocese Creation Care Conference on Oct. 8

    The Columbus Diocese is offering a day of reflection, inspiration, study, and sharing of resources to help Columbus area Catholic communities respond to Pope Francis’ environmental urgings in his recent encyclical, Laudato Si: Caring for Our Common Home. The conference: “Enlivened by Laudato Si’: We Care for our Common Home: Our practical response to care for God’s creation” will be held at the Martin De Porres Center in Columbus from 10am-2pm on Saturday, October 8.

    The conference will feature creation care team building sessions, spirituality and worship, education, sustainability information for energy savings, and advocacy to care for creation and the poor. Dr. Greg Hitzhusen of the School of Environment and Natural Resources at Ohio State will deliver a keynote address.

  • Ohio Interfaith Power and Light offers advocacy training

    Event Announcement: Ohio Interfaith Power and Light will offer Advocacy Training as part of a faith based response to climate change issues in Ohio on Saturday, October 15, 2016.

    OhIPL Director Sara Ward and Coordinator Deb Steele will be reviewing legislative policies at the state and national level with a focus on what constituents can do to advocate for laws that will better care for our collective home.

    – Help Ohio end the “freeze” on our energy efficiency & renewable power legislation

    – Learn more about the national Clean Power Plan

    – Take action at the end of the training by calling your legislator and submitting a Letter to the Editor

    If you’d like to attend please contact Deb Steele by email: Dsteele@ohipl.org or cell 614.323.1703

    Saturday October 15th 2016
    10am to Noon @
    First Unitarian Universalist @
    93 W Weisheimer Rd, Columbus, OH 43214
    Light refreshments will be provided

  • Christian Communities Respond to Trump’s Executive Order

    President Trump signed an executive order on March 28 directing the EPA to review the Clean Power Plan. This executive order has the possibility to dismantle important climate change protections and fails to offer an alternative plan to protect our air quality and climate stability. Many Christian communities have responded to this action and made official statements on their thoughts and about protecting the Earth.

  • Episcopal Diocese of Ohio: Bellwether Farm

    Bellwether farm is a new camp and education center of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio. It is meant to provide leadership development and teachings through sustainable farming, food production, and care of the environment. It is located in Wakeman Ohio, with the goals of informing, inspiring, and empowering leaders for a sustainable future. The buildings are models of green technology featuring passive buildings, renewable energy, and water reclamation systems.

  • 6 Ways to Green Your Holiday

    6 Ways to Green Your Holiday is a graphic made by the Sierra Club. It gives 6 easy ways make Christmas traditions more sustainable. To view the image, click below or *download*

  • The Regeneration Project

    The Regeneration Project was created as the parent project of Interfaith Power&Light. It is meant to help deepen the connection between ecology and faith and to help people of faith recognize and fulfill their responsibility for the stewardship of creation. They do so through educational programs for clergy and congregations

  • Start 2018 by Speaking Up for God’s Creation

    Young Evangelicals for Climate Action posted an article on how to speak up for God’s creation. The article focuses on The Clean Power Plan and how to effectively speak up to stop the repeal and replace of the plan.

  • Sikh Statement on Climate Change

    EcoSikh has created the groundwork for a Sikh environmental theological foundation, and the inspiration to connect Gurbani (hymns in the central text of the Sikhs) to the state of the environment today. This is the first of its kind from the Sikh community and it outlines new actions Sikhs can take to strengthen their connection to their faith through environmentalism. The following quote is an excerpt from the statement:

    “You, Yourself created the Universe, and You are pleased…You, Yourself the bumblebee, flower, fruit and the tree. You, Yourself the water, desert, ocean and the pond. You, Yourself are the big fish, tortoise and the Cause of causes.”

  • Global Faith Leaders Unite to Restore our Earth’s Balance

    A campaign by Religions for Peace, worldwide religious leaders call on heads of state to respond urgently to the threats of climate change, commit to 100% renewable energy by 2050, and build a more flourishing, inclusive, and balanced world. Leaders of the Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Indigenous, Islamic, Jain, Jewish, Shinto, Sikh, Taoist, and Zoroastrian faiths pledge to do their part by embracing the moral responsibility to care for our world.

  • Catholic Bishops Push Ohio Towards Clean Energy

    The Catholic Bishops of Ohio are against an indefinite freeze of Ohio’s clean energy target standards. The Ohio Mandates Study Committee has called for this freeze due to a need for continual studying of energy standards and their impact on the state. The Bishops, however, feel that there is no need to freeze the standards, as alternative energy sources benefit the environment as well as society.

    This is not the first time that the Bishops of Ohio have voiced such a stance. Back in 2014, a similar issue arose with SB 310, which proposed the original freeze of Ohio’s advanced energy portfolio standard that was established by SB221. The Bishops voiced opposition to SB 310 at that time.

  • The Supreme Court and The Clean Power Plan

    The Clean Power Plan was designed to allow states the greatest flexibility in implementation, attempting benefiting the health of individuals by improving the quality of the air for everyone. The Supreme Court has ruled to stay the implementation of the Clean Power Plan (5-4 ruling). Many churches and faiths have banded together to express their dissatisfaction with this decision. A predominant tenet of most religious organizations is their concern with protecting the health and well-being of vulnerable communities and God’s Creation.

  • United Methodist Agency Green Roof

    John Hill, from the Board of Church and Society at the United Methodist Agency, narrates the video below about their recent green roof addition. The series of squares used covers the entire area of the flat roof, reducing energy consumption, making the building cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. In addition, and equally important, it reduces storm water runoff. When it rains, the water remains in the roof rather than adding pollutants into the nearby watershed, which feeds into the Chesapeake Bay.

  • Love and Environmentalism

    This chapter from the student-written book “Emerging Perspectives on Religion and Environmental Values in America” explores how love and care impact how people interact with the environment, and how spirituality views and impacts this. It discusses how religion encourages love and how love encourages environmentalism, and how the three work together. Below is the first paragraph of the chapter to introduce the discussion.

    "My mother had one general rule for me as I was growing up: to respect others, respect myself, and respect the environment. Obviously there were more rules that fell under this— 'clean the dishes after school' being one I was just as frequently reminded of—but they all fell under this principle in some form. This was also the basis of my environmental education: respecting the environment, showing it the care, love and awe that it deserved, was a fundamental aspect of our lives. Every time we would go outside or take a hike, I would be reminded not to touch anything I didn’t have to, to leave things the way I found them, and to appreciate the beauty of our surroundings. These ideas of respecting others and your surroundings are common themes in religious doctrines as well—'love thy neighbor' is a common refrain, and one that is often used in religious environmental arguments. As can be seen in many religious statements on environmental crises, protecting those less fortunate than yourself (respecting others) and protecting the gift of creation (respecting the environment) are the focal points of religious arguments in support of environmental action. Yet the love of nature is often underappreciated or overlooked when it comes to discussions of the environment, despite its universality. Perhaps because the concept is emotional rather than scientific, love is more easily dismissed as a weak persuader, but because it is so basic to humans it stands to be one of the more powerful forces we have available to us. As a common religious and moral value, the love and respect that people are asked to treat their surroundings with is a significant driver in environmentalism, both to better understand the environment and to create a sense of responsibility in preserving it."

  • Origins of the Pro-Religion, Anti-Environmentalist Conservative Stereotype

    This chapter from the student-written book “Emerging Perspectives on Religion and Environmental Values in America” explores the relationship between political affiliation and environmental values, as well as the stereotypes surrounding them. It examines how religion interacts with political views and the evolution of environmental values thoughout political and religious history. Below is the first paragraph of the chapter to introduce the discussion.

    "The conception of someone who is 'anti-environment' usually evokes one of two images: 1) a fat cat in a suit, smoking a cigar while lining the pockets of the fossil fuel industry, or 2) a truck-driving rural American scoffing at the Prius-driving liberals in the cities who preach about their recycling practice. This chapter focuses on the second image...The distinction has been made clear in our minds: liberals care about the environment and conservatives don’t. This, along with another common conception that conservatives are religious while liberals aren’t, paints an inaccurate picture that drives religious conservatives out of the environmental conversation. How did this happen?"

  • An Analysis on the Climate and Energy Provisions of the IRA

    "The purpose of this research report is to provide an advocacy tool to Indigenous Peoples and environmental justice communities to help develop strategies, as well as to foster inquiry and information gathering regarding many of the IRA programs and funding schemes. Indigenous Peoples have recognition in the colonial legal system of Tribal Sovereignty, inherent customary rights, and Treaty reserved rights. In addition, Indigenous Peoples also have their respective Traditional Indigenous Knowledge which serves as a foundation among other things of their legal systems, inherent responsibilities to land, air and water, and the inherent relationships embodied in all of this. If unchecked, and without Free, Prior and Informed Consent, or at the very least meaningful consultation standards that are legally enforceable, much of what is in the IRA will potentially have impacts on many Indigenous Tribal interests."

  • Don’t believe the “Hydrogen Hype” - Reject all applications for Department of Energy Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs) funding (DE- FOA-0002779)

    "Dear Secretary Granholm and Director Crane,
    We urge you to reject all hydrogen hub applications, as has been repeatedly requested by environmental and environmental justice organizations nationwide. Here, we write in solidarity with the 2023 letter from the New Mexico No False Solutions Coalition (NMNFS), building on the points they have raised and the fights ongoing in communities from the Southwest to the Northeast. A large-scale buildout of hydrogen infrastructure will further exacerbate the climate crisis and disproportionately harm people of color, low-income communities, and Indigenous peoples..."

  • Sustainability Photo Contest

    This RESTORExchange photo contest is being brought back from the pre-COVID era, and with an added collaboration with the Sustainability Institute. It's based around the question "What does sustainability look like?" This can include sustainability in environmental justice, technology, energy, lifestyle and wellbeing, society and culture, economy and politics, and any other context where you see sustainability in action. We want to see your perspectives and show all the different places that sustainability is practiced! Winning photos will be decided by a panel of judges (yet to be determined), and the top four photos will win a prize! First place will receive $400, second place will receive $300, third place will receive $200, and an honorable mention will receive $100. Submissions will be accepted through March 15, 2023.

  • MLK Day 2024

    "ServeOhio Funds 19 Statewide Service Projects Taking Place in celebration of MLK Day

    These grants support more than 1,300 volunteers engaging in local community service projects across fifteen Ohio cities

    ServeOhio, the Governor-appointed commission on service and volunteerism, announces grant awards to support 19 local Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service projects throughout January totaling more than $25,000. Much like Dr. King’s legacy, these grants will help nonprofits across the state improve their communities through service and volunteer activities. The grants will fund service projects in fifteen Ohio cities led by more than 1,300 volunteers.

    Each project commits to bringing volunteers together to create or improve community assets or infrastructure and supports local community engagement and impact. Additionally, every project includes an education component based on Dr. King’s message of peace, unity, and service to create long-term, sustainable change.

    ServeOhio awards these grants with support from the American Electric Power Foundation. Each grant totals between $250 - $1,500."

  • Congregational Solar Resources

    "This is a great time to put solar on your church, synagogue, mosque, or other faith community property with the new federal funding available for nonprofits through the Inflation Reduction Act. It’s like a sale on solar, a 30% discount! The 1300 IPL congregations listed in the directory below have the combined capacity of 105 Megawatts of solar – approaching the amount of FaceBook, the 10th largest commercial user. Save on your energy bill and have more for your mission. Read below to find out how to fund solar on your church building, find a solar installer, and get an award."

  • A Walk with Sustainability…and the Bolivian Llamas

    "In this picture, I am working alongside two rural Bolivian community members (and a llama), collaborating on the design of a water system. The community had no running water, phone service only on hills, cut plastic liter bottles in half for gutters, and still gave me soups and meals as a welcoming and thankfulness. Their kindness, harmony with the land around them, and joy radiated, deeply resonating with my idea of how to live a sustainable, happy life. Sustainability is not buying a reusable water bottle…every 3 months because a new, better, more cool version is here. It is living in gratitude and simplicity with the people and nature around you." Taken by Megan Oleksik. Submitted to the RESTORExchange Sustainability Contest.

  • As Dusk Dawns

    "This photo was taken in Paulding County Ohio. In the back ground is Haviland Tile and their new small ethonal plant. All bringing sustainability together." Taken by Jamie Merriman. Submitted to Sustainability Photo Contest.

  • Windmills of Northwest Ohio

    "Windmills of Northwest Ohio" Taken by Townsend Wilkinson. Submitted to the Sustainability Photo Contest.