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53 items

  • Profile: Rev. Deborah Conklin

    The Rev. Deborah Conklin is pastor of Peace Lutheran Church, Bowling Green Ohio and is the Executive Director of a transitional housing program for homeless women recovery from chemical dependency. Her advocacy work began in 1988 working for the Toledo Metropolitan Mission where she led an Employment Readiness and Placement project for African American young men, the highest unemployed population in most communities.

  • Profile: Rev. Frank Edmands

    Born in Massachusetts, Frank fell in love with Creation wandering the woods and exploring the beaches of Onset and Buzzards Bays, fishing and sailing. As a sonar technician in the US Navy, deep ocean sounds, chirps, clicks, and whale songs introduced him to marine science and oceanography… Father Edmands has served primarily in parish ministry in upstate NY, PA and Ohio for the past twenty-one years and has enjoyed being a chaplain, assistant coach and teacher of Biology, General Chemistry and Religious Studies for three years at Trinity Pawling, Pawling NY (a boys boarding school) for three years

  • Profile: Jared Howard

    Jared Howard is a 3rd year Master of Divinity student at Trinity Lutheran Seminary and Pastoral Intern at Peace Lutheran Church in Gahanna, Ohio. At Trinity, Jared is actively involved in the Eco Justice and Spirituality group, SEEDS (Sustaining Earth and Environment Daily and Sustainably), serving as a Student Intern

  • Profile: Rev. Meribah Mansfield

    The Rev. Meribah Mansfield has been involved with Ohio Interfaith Power and Light since its initial meeting in October 2007. She served on its founding board from 2008-2011, and rejoined the board in 2016. Care for creation is fundamental to her faith…

  • Profile: Jessica Shimberg

    Jessica K. Shimberg, joined the board of Ohio Interfaith Power and Light in 2014 as a natural progression within her “rabbinistry.” A lifelong learner, advocate, and partner with the earth, Jessica has long been associated with Jewish organizations that offer environmental education and advocacy and assist Jews in recognizing Judaism’s sacred relationship with the environment. She is fond of noting that before we were a “People of the Book,” we were a People of the Land – the Hebrew word for man (adam) shares its root (aleph-dalet-mem) with the word for earth/land (adamah). And although very comfortable in sacred indoor spaces, she feels most connected to the Divine Source of Life when among the trees or in the desert southwes

  • Profile: Sara Ward

    Sara Ward, Executive Director of Ohio Interfaith Power & Light since August of 2011, is one of its original steering committee members and previously served as the Advocacy Chair of the Board. She is a recipient of the 2013 Living Faith Award and is a Green Faith Fellow, a comprehensive education and training program to prepare lay and ordained leaders from diverse religious traditions for environmental leadership.

  • Profile: Marti Hunter

    Marti Hunter is the Communications Consultant for Ohio Interfaith Power and Light. She has a background in both religious education and communications work.

    “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”-William Shakespeare

  • Profile: Nigel Savage

    Nigel Savage, originally from Manchester, England, founded Hazon in 2000, with a Cross-USA Jewish Environmental Bike Ride. Since then, Hazon has grown the range and impact of its work in each successive year; today it has more than 60 staff, based in New York City, at Hazon’s Isabella Freedman campus, and in other locations across the country. Hazon plays a unique role in renewing American Jewish life and creating a healthier and more sustainable world for all.

    Hazon is one of a tiny handful of groups to have been in the Slingshot 50 every year since inception, and in 2008, Hazon was recognized by the Sierra Club as one of 50 leading faith-based environmental organizations.

    Nigel has spoken, taught, or written for a wide and significant range of audiences. He has twice been named a member of the Forward 50, the annual list of the 50 most influential Jewish people in the United States, and is a recipient of the Bernard Reisman Award. He has given Commencement speeches at Wagner (NYU, in 2011) and at Hornstein (Brandeis, in 2014). In 2015 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Jewish Theological Seminary.

    Before founding Hazon, Nigel was a professional fund manager in London, where he worked for NM Rothschild and was co-head of UK Equities at Govett. He has an MA in History from Georgetown, and has learned at Pardes, Yakar, and the Hebrew University. He was a founder of Limmud NY, and serves on the board of Romemu.

    Nigel executive produced the British independent movies Solitaire For 2 and Stiff Upper Lips and had an acclaimed cameo appearance in the cult Anglo-Jewish comic movie, Leon The Pig Farmer. He is believed to be the first English Jew to have cycled across South Dakota on a recumbent bike.

  • Profile: Katherine Hayhoe

    Dr. Katherine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist who studies climate change. She is an associate professor in the department of Political Science and is the Director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University. Her research at Texas Tech University focuses on assessing the impacts of, and solutions to, climate change at the local scale. She also researches language so that her message on climate change reaches listeners with various backgrounds. Katherine was one of Time Magazine’s most influential people of 2014. She is a part of several organizations including her own, ATMOS Research. Along with her husband, who is the author of eight best-selling books, she wrote “A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions”.

  • Profile: Jim Rogers

    An A.B. graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and J.D. graduate of George Washington University, Jim Rogers has a varied background working in law and the non-profit and for-profit sectors, with notable tours as a Legal Aid Attorney, lobbyist and public relations staff for the ACLU of Ohio, and a program reviewer for United Way of Greater Cincinnati.

    For the last four years he has served on the Green Team of the Community of the Good Shepherd Church in Montgomery Ohio and the Greater Cincinnati Archdiocese Task Force on Climate Change. For the latter, he has served as Chair of the Legislative Advocacy Committee which has built a relationship with several green businesses in Greater Cincinnati and has had meetings with legislators and government officials on both sides of the aisle in Columbus.

    Though a life-long Christian, Jim is a committed ecumenist, believing that we will be able to address the environmental crisis and other challenges of our time only when we unite the forces of the world’s great religions. Jim serves several faith communities and supports his Christian walk with the regular practice of Yoga and “Light” energy through Sukyo Mahikari.

  • Profile: Caroljean Willie

    Caroljean Willie is a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, a Master’s Degree in Reading and a Ph.D. in Multicultural Education. She has extensive experience working cross-culturally throughout the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America. She is a frequent speaker at regional and national conferences and has also given presentations in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America. She recently completed two terms of office as the NGO representative at the United Nations for the Sisters of Charity Federation and currently serves as the program director at EarthConnection, her congregation’s environmental center in Cincinnati.

  • Profile: Tony Stieritz – Honoring Faith Traditions and Shared Values

    Tony is the director of Catholic Social Action of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. He helped the Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati form a network of climate change leaders. He inspired leaders by connecting their faith and climate solutions. Through a partnership with the Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance (GCA) 10 archdiocesan parishes, schools, and other facilities received over $290,000 in incentives to implement over $1.4 million in energy efficiency upgrades. Though Tony has had much success with climate change initiatives he still wants more people in the Archdiocese to make climate change a priority.

    “We took climate change out of a political conversation and put it into a personal values conversation.”

  • Religion-Environment Photo Contest Winner: Jacob Taylor Biography

    Jacob Taylor is a lifelong resident of the Mill Creek watershed in SW Ohio. He earned his BA at the University of Cincinnati for literary and cultural studies, and is currently studying environmental theology at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio. His interests include community gardening, herbalism, reading the mystics, and pining for the revolution.

    Jacob’s photo won first place with the title, “Theotokos in the Apothecary.” He states this about his photograph: “The guiding question behind my work concerns what it means to live incarnationally & eucharistically in the age of the Anthropocene. How can I, with Mary as a model, bear Christ into a world where the heavy foot of human domination and extractive economics has driven our common home into a mass extinction event? I continue to draw strength and meaning from my tradition’s central sacred story of incarnation — it gives me the courage to keep moving and struggling towards shalom against the odds, trusting the mystery of “God with us” as we face this bewildering moment in human/geological history. Theotokos calls me to remember that something profound occurs when we consent to the invitation of God. At the core of the Christian eschatological vision is the unwavering assertion that all things are being made new and that human beings are invited to conspire with God in this process of restoration. May we, with Mary, have the courage to say yes, come hell or high water. ”

  • Religion-Environment Photo Contest Winner: Tony Losekamp Winner

    Tony Losekamp is a second year seminarian in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in Environment and Natural Resources in 2017. He has been Catholic his whole life and chose to study environmental sciences out of a love of science and nature and a desire to help make the world a better place. While in college his faith became his own when he had to decide for himself to go to Mass on Sundays, go on retreats, join Bible Studies, go to adoration to worship Jesus in the Eucharist, and build a personal relationship with Jesus. At some point he realized that if he was going to be Catholic, he was going to have to give everything to the one who gave him everything. In giving himself completely to Jesus, he became more free to love. He finished his degree while giving more and more time to Saint Paul’s Outreach and the Newman Center, gaining missionary experience and building a love for life. That is what brought him to Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary of the West.

    Tony’s photo won second place in the Religion-Environment photography contest with “Spiritual Tree.” Tony stated that, “I took this photo in Hocking Hills, Ohio, on the trail between Old man’s cave and Cedar Falls. It was spring and the forest was exploding with life. The air hummed with excitement and power that is comparable with excitement and power of a rich spiritual life in communion with God.”

  • Good Friday Meals and the Environment

    Sustainable fishing has been a huge topic for the past decades. One man, Neville Palmer, makes nets that are specifically designed to capture prawns without harming other aquatic life such as sea turtles or tuna. Making nets that specifically capture prawn can help to restore ecological balance to the food chain, while still having a sustainable food source for a Good Friday meal.

  • Water, Walking, and Spiritual Journeys

    Sharon Day, a member and leader in the Ojibwe community, has started a movement to raise awareness for the water issues in the United States. She, as well as anyone who wants to join, are walking hundreds of miles on the banks of the Minnesota River. As they walk, they are praying to and for the water.

  • Religious Groups Combatting Rising Sea Levels in Louisiana

    Donald and Theresa Dardar have made it their mission to save the the susceptible coasts of Louisiana from rising sea levels due to climate change. Joining forces with the local Presbyterian church, Donald and Theresa have preserved sacred mounds, refilled oil field canals, and have built elevated greenhouses. Numerous faith groups in Louisiana have prioritized saving the environment as impoverished people experience heightened effects of climate change. Preserving the community around these faith groups drives individuals to maintain the unique and celebrated environment of Louisiana.

  • International Indigenous Youth Council

    The International Indigenous Youth Council is a youth-led organization of 9 chapters across Turtle Island. They seek to protect Indigenous land and culture through spiritually-guided community organizing and nonviolent direct action. IIYC was founded after the Standing Rock Indigenous Uprising of 2016, and is credited with successfully defending protecting the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers from the Dakota Access Pipeline construction. Today, they spearhead actions against policy, pipeline construction, and climate finance contributing to the climate crisis directly effecting their communities.

  • Profile: Paula Penn-Nabrit (Founder of The Charles Madison Nabrit Memorial Garden)

    Paula Penn-Nabrit's autobiography (from her website):

    "Spiritually, I’ve been blessed as a practicing Christian, a 4th generation member of The Church of Christ of the Apostolic Faith, the same apostolic/pentecostal church my great-grandparents joined 100+ years ago.

    Physically, I’m blessed as an 8th generation, native-born American of the African diaspora. I’m blessed to be a widow who was happily married for 36 years, 8 months and 22 days to an incredible man, Charles “CMadison” Nabrit. And CMadison and I were incredibly blessed by the opportunity to parent and then homeschool three fabulous sons, twins Charles and Damon who arrived in 1980, and Evan who arrived in 1982.

    Academically, I’ve been blessed by my parents’ willingness to help pay for my education first at Columbus School for Girls and then Wellesley College. And I was further blessed by their willingness to help CMadison fund my quest for that terminal degree at the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University.

    Professionally, I continue to be blessed by decades of successful operation with my consulting firm, PN&A, Inc. www.nabrit.com/pna. I started PN&A, Inc. in 1986. Next in 1990 I convinced CMadison we could stay married and work together, then in 2007 we welcomed first Damon our tech guru and later Charles as researcher and presenter into the business and finally in 2009 Evan, our youngest and a freakishly brilliant artist, agreed to manage our freelance graphics and client videos. I’m blessed to see PN&A, Inc., a black, women-owned, family-run, information-based business moving into the 2nd generation.

    Intellectually, I’ve been blessed to write several books, including Morning by Morning: How We Home-Schooled Our African-American Sons to the Ivy League @2003, Random House and most recently The Power of a Virtuous Woman @2012.

    Personally, I’m blessed by my extended family. In 1980 with the birth of their first grandchildren my parents began a tradition of gathering their children, their children’s spouses and their grandchildren for dinner each Sunday after church. Attendance at Grandmother and GrandDad’s Sunday dinners has grown to include nine grandchildren. We miss CMadison and Daddy, but we continue to be blessed by their memory and their legacy."

  • Profile: Kyle Meyaard-Schaap

    Kyle Meyaard-Schaap is the National Organizer and Spokesperson for YECA (Young Evangelicals for Climate Change). Meyaard-Schaap helps unite Evangelical youth to focus national efforts on climate actions. He works to promote awareness of the Christian duty to take care of our neighbors and planet. Meyaard-Schaap has given numerous interviews to publicize YECA and has written numerous advocacy articles for the YECA blog.

    Meyaard-Schaap's educational background includes Holland Christian High School, Calvin College (B.A. '12), and Western Theological Seminary (M.Div. '16). He is also ordained by the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA).

  • Profile: Jerry Freewalt

    Jerry Freewalt is Director of the Office for Social Concerns of the Catholic Diocese of Columbus, Ohio. In this capacity, he serves as an educator and advocate to further the understanding of the Church’s social justice teachings. Jerry joined the office in 1995 as the respect life coordinator. Jerry also administers the respect life program, parish social ministry, rural life, jail and prison ministry, advocacy for persons with disabilities, and other education and advocacy efforts.

  • St. Patrick Parish Green Kits

    "St. Patrick Parish in Iowa City, a participant in the Victory Noll Sisters Small Grants Program, offered each household in the parish a free kit with native plant seedlings, a kitchen compost container, and LED bulbs.

    The 162 native plants arrived just in time for Laudato Si Week in late May, and more than thirty households signed up in this inaugural effort."

  • South Side Family Farms, Columbus Ohio

    Minister Aaron K. Hopkins started Southside Family Farms as a way of addressing the food desert on Columbus's South Side. The farm utilizes Columbus's Land Bank program to grow fresh produce for distribution within the community. The farm works to connect locals to their land and grow their appreciation for fresh food and the growing process. The farm is rapidly growing and has plenty of volunteer projects to help out with.

  • Rabbi and Eco-Chaplain Katy Z. Allen

    Rabbi Katy Z. Allen is the founder and spiritual leader of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope. She began her career as a biology teacher, turned to writing and editing educational materials, then started teaching Hebrew school and became involved in family and adult education before entering rabbinical school. She received a Masters of Arts in Jewish Studies from Hebrew College in Newton, MA, in 1999, and rabbinic ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion in Yonkers, NY, in 2005 and is a Board Certified Chaplain through Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains. For ten years, Katy served as a staff chaplain at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and then as a hospice chaplain. She is the co-founder of the Jewish Climate Action Network and consideres herself an eco-chaplain.

    Rabbi Katy writes about matters of the spirit and the world (and encourages others to write) and blogs at here. She is certified as a Bibliodramatist by Peter and Susan Pitzele, and has published Loss and Transformation: One Women's Journey Out of Grief to Opportunity, which is based on her senior rabbinic project, and Earth Etudes for Elul: Spiritual Reflections for the Season, with reflections on Earth and t'shuvah by many writers. She is a member of the Advisory Boards of Jewcology.org, Jewish Veg and Shomrei Bereshit: Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth.

    Rabbi Katy's most recent book, A Tree of Life: A Story in Word, Image, and Text is “a meditation on our universal journey through trauma toward healing.” A series of about 60 double-page spreads unfolds a story from innocence to despair to understanding through a combination of poetic moments, quotes from Jewish tradition, and black-and-white photographs of trees.

  • Vermont Tibetan Buddhist Center to Host Commercial Solar Array

    The Milarepa Center, a Tibetan Buddhist retreat located in Vermont, is entering the clean energy scene through their partnership with a local solar panel company. The proposed initiative is to host approximately 500-kilowatts of solar panels on the retreat's property, an endeavour that will provide clean energy to 135 homes in the neighboring area. The retreat center is a force for sustainability in the region, not only with this initiative, which passed unanimously by its board members, but in its commitment to the Buddhist tradition of bodhicitta, which is to bring peace and good will to all. It is important to note; however, that the Buddhist community, while being present within the environmental movement, does self-proclaim their need to improve, such as in attending protests or furthering initiatives like these solar panels on a greater scale.