Become a Climate Champion: Faith Pilot

At this month's Climate Champions meeting, we'll focus on the Clean Cars campaign. Join us on Wednesday, June 14 at 10:00am. We will hear from Peter Banwell, EPA's expert on electric vehicles and lighting, as well as a member of Daniels Run Peace Church which has installed EV chargers and hosted EV ride and drive events for the public. Register here.

Although this faith sector pilot is focused on Fairfax County, we welcome everyone to join us in implementing these solutions across Virginia. Next month we'll meet on Tuesday, July 11 at 5:00pm, we'll discuss progress on all five campaigns, funding opportunties, and next steps. 

Join us for the 2023 Sustainability Champions Awards!

Our annual Sustainability Champions Awards celebrate and recognize the contributions of individuals, faith communities, elected officials/public sector employees, and businesses in Northern Virginia. These individuals and organizations in our community work tirelessly toward improving the environment, contributing to a healthy, livable climate. Congratulations to all our winners! Read more about them here. 

Register today and save the date, June 8 from 7:00pm to 8:00pm, for the celebration!

Book Discussion: Windows of the Heavens 

Join us on Tuesday, June 13 at 7:00pm via Zoom for a book discussion on Windows of the Heavens with the author Henry Brinton, senior pastor of Fairfax Presbyterian Church. The story explores how people can coexist in an interfaith, multicultural community, and how humans can establish a sustainable relationship with the natural world around them.

FACS Awarded Sternberger Social Justice Award

FACS was honored to receive the Sternberger Social Justice Award from Temple Rodef Shalom's Social Action Committee. The annual TRS Social Justice Award recognizes FACS for its work on local climate solutions. 

Nature Corner 

Common within many faith traditions is a call to care for creation. This includes caring for both ecological and human health. Read here to find a short compilation of illustrations and links about how to help creation. 

Central Valley Hub Updates

Welcome FACS’s newest hub, the Central Valley Hub! The Central Valley Hub, locally known as Shenandoah Valley Faith and Climate, has been working at several initiatives in the past month. We collaborated in an effort to make low income households aware of the opportunity to have Community Housing Partners (CHP) weatherize their houses, enabling them to lower their utility costs while reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. Harrisonburg Unitarian Universalist Church gave a grant of $3,500 to a local Latinx organization to recruit applications for this CHP service. We also helped facilitate a public advocacy event at Shalom Mennonite Congregation where adults and children wrote letters to local and statewide public officials encouraging them to respond to our climate crisis and thanking them for various responses they have made. They also made phone calls to Gov, Youngkin’s office encouraging him to keep Virginia in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Fairfax County Hub Updates

In mid-April, we testified at the budget hearings about FACS priorities: free public transportation, the urgency of funding the Green Bank strongly to address inequity and make use of Federal money, and the need for leadership in the Office of Energy and Environment with cross-department authority. Along with many groups (including Cindy Speas of LFA), we rooted for the Park’s tree canopy funding. These positions weren’t surprising to the Board, because our advocacy teams meet with each of them several times a year. And this year, they had new voices to hear! It’s clear that building these relationships, and repetition of our priorities makes a difference: Fairfax just added free rides on public buses for children accompanied by a paying adult. People who receive public benefits also have free transportation, as of this year. Inch by inch, we’re getting there.

If you are not already on our list, sign up for Fairfax updates here. If you have any questions, please email kristin.rosenthal@gmail.com.

City of Alexandria Hub Updates

Energy and Climate Change Action Plan approved! - On May 23, City Council approved this updated guide for Alexandria city government and community efforts to reach 2030 and 2050 greenhouse gas reduction and resilience targets. 

No June hub meeting - the FACS ALX hub will skip its regular June monthly meeting so members can attend the FACS Sustainability awards June 8 (info above).

Alexandria Climate and Sustainability 101 webinar - FACS ALX will provide an overview of key city policies, plans, and programs and how you can make a difference. Date this summer to be announced.

Sign up for Alexandria updates if you are not already on our list. If you have any questions, please email info@faithforclimate.org.

Northern Valley Hub Updates

The Northern Valley Hub met in May with FACS executive director, Andrea McGimsey, to share more about the recent news of federal funding made available for solar specific projects.

Loudoun County Hub Updates

We had a presence at the recent Loudoun County Environmental and Energy Forum and were acknowledged for our testimony before the BOS Budget Hearings in favor of the Environmental and Energy Work Plan. Several of us were included in an recent article entitled: “How Do Vegetarians Fare at Ashby Ponds?” My comment was: “Meat production contributes about 15 percent of global greenhouse emissions, almost the same amount of carbon pollution as transportation. Reducing our carbon footprint on the individual and social level is of high importance due to climate change.” We are collecting signature’s on a petition to the BOS for our preferred location for placement of the funded bin for our district. We are preparing for the June 8 Ashby Ponds Environmental Fair we are organizing; 15 vendors will be present.

Sign up for Loudoun updates if you are not already on our list. If you have any questions, please email info@faithforclimate.org.

Arlington County Hub Updates

The focus of the FACS Arlington Hub in May was Arlington County's new Stormwater Utility and how we can help congregations learn about climate change and storms and implement mitigation projects that will lower the impact of the new fee. We also talked about the importance of our Nature Centers and ways we will advocate for increasing funding for these key educational resources.

We meet on the 1st Wednesday of each month at 7pm via Zoom. 

Sign up for Arlington updates if you are not already on our list. If you have any questions, please email info@faithforclimate.org.

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