As an organization, Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power & Light is intentional about how we actualize the values imbuing our mission “to transform faith and conscience into action for the well-being of communities and the environment.”
How will we do this in 2025?
1. Focusing on 3 key areas. (Energy, Health, and Water)
When we look at our work, we see that the bulk of it falls within these three areas, and most of our activity addresses two, if not all three, areas simultaneously. For example, for years we have worked to restore salmon populations, an activity that touches all three.
This is also true for a new Water Foundation funded project to discern how Earth Ministry/WA IPL’s network of sacred communities can support the Quinault community of Taholah and the Lower Snake River, two watersheds being critically stressed by climate change. The watershed issues facing these communities are complex—hydrologically and relationally—and the first stage of this project will be a process of active listening to understand them fully. Only after this, we will begin to discern with these communities how Earth Ministry/WA IPL’s network can help.
Another example is our four Washington State Legislative priorities for the year, one of which is the CURB Act (Cumulative Risk Burden), which if it passes, will safeguard communities—especially those that are historically most adversely impacted industrial activity—from the cumulative affects of pollution and toxins.
The donations we receive this year will support our work on each of these projects and on other projects like them that focus on energy, health, and water.
2. Updating our advocacy program to engage Millennials and Generation Z
When we look at our work, we see that the bulk of For thirty-one years, Earth Ministry/WA IPL’s core advocacy volunteers have primarily come from two generations: the Boomer Generation (people born from 1946-1964) and the Silent Generation (1928-1945). We are grateful for our Boomer and Silent generation’s ongoing commitment to our work and for the environmental justice gains they have been instrumental in securing.
However, to keep our advocacy program sustainable, we need other generations to come on board and team up with them, specifically Millennials (born 1981-1996) and Generation Z, a.k.a. “Zoomers” (born 1997-2012). Pew Charitable Trust research found that these two generations more actively champion environmental justice causes than any other generation in history. Underlying their strong commitment to this work may be the fact that they are also more likely to experience climate catastrophe than any previous generation.
So, no wonder they—we, for I am one—are more likely to show up at environmental justice rallies, contact our elected official about environmental justice issues, and donate to the environmental justice causes that move us. Our way of engaging, however, differs from previous generations. We are also less likely to be members of spiritual communities. To successfully engage people from these generations in our advocacy work, Earth Ministry/WA IPL needs to implement new strategies to help identify and involve them. This will require thoughtfully expanding our digital presence, and developing new advocacy strategies tailored to their unique zeitgeist. The donations we receive this year will enable us to take this critical work on.
3. Augmenting our support of faith communities.
This year, we are piloting a new program to establish regional, multifaith networking groups across religious traditions to promote broader collaboration among Green Teams. Our goal is to increase the spread of good ideas by making it easier for people to access them from each other, hearing from their peers what is working and what is not in their own areas—and critically where to secure the resources they need to pursue them! We will also be establishing a resourcing hub for sacred communities wanting input from experts and consultants as they develop their plans.
Through the hub, they will be able to access Earth Ministry/WA IPL’s local, regional, and national partners to help them bring to life projects ranging from energy upgrades to figuring out how to use under-utilized spaces to support their neighbors to exploring becoming a resiliency hub. We will also be developing new place-based programming for sacred communities, programming intentionally designed to encourage connection and engagement with the creatures and natural wonder shaping their unique locales. These three tracks are additions to our existing programming and will be co-created with the support we receive from grant makers and our donors.
Our ambitious work plan for 2025, and we cannot do it alone! We need the partnership of people like you and sacred communities across the state to bring them to life. In 2025, let’s co-create an environmentally just Washington together!
