Reflecting on Our Year

Dear Joan,

As we celebrate Hanukkah, move deeper into Advent and toward Solstice, we are so aware of the difference light makes in dark times. We are reflecting on our year and are grateful for the bright light of our interfaith community. We invite you to join us in a moment of reflection and read this year's highlights below as you consider your end-of-year giving.

In September we convened a group of faith leaders from our region and around the country (left) to bear witness to the health and creation care concerns of extraction in the Permian Basin through healing rituals, prayers, education, and sharing. We witnessed the damage that extractivism and colonialism have inflicted on the people and land of our region.

Cynthia Gonzalez, IPL board member and advocacy coordinator for the Missionary Society of St. Columban, El Paso, said,

"The extractivism immersion retreat was a life-changing experience for the participants, including me! We were able to hear and learn from front-line community advocates, indigenous peoples, and community members who shared with us their experiences and showed us the devastating realities of extractives in New Mexico.

The experience was eye-opening, and it helped us reinforce ties of solidarity and friendship. This was an experience that many of us will remember forever."

The experience of our 15 plus group included prayers for healing with a sacred earth treasure vessel that was planted in the Permian for healing. Very important experiences along the way included indigenous friends and others in Los Alamos, where women elders prayed for their sacred place contaminated from nuclear weapons production, Red Water Pond in Navajo land where Edith Hood spoke of waiting 44 years for uranium clean-up, Laguna Pueblo, Bosque de Redondo the site of Ft. Sumner which was the internment location of Navajo who survived the long walk of suffering, and finally to the Permian Basin near Carlsbad where oil and gas extraction is beyond imagination in scope and violations of health and environment.

The Immersion Tour is one powerful way that we do the work we do. We trust that experiences like Cynthia’s will reverberate into sanctuaries, homes, and halls of Congress to amplify the call for urgent action on behalf of our planet and our siblings. Other examples of our work are below—we hope they inspire you to join us in the New Year with our calls for right relationship with each other and the planet.

Could you help us spread this call by making a donation this season?

Blessings,

Sr. Joan Brown, osf, Exec. Dir., Clara Sims, Asst. Exec. Director, Hayley Hathaway, Admin. Coord., Carlos Navarro Media and Data Admin.

Board of NM & El Paso Interfaith Power and Light

Donate to New Mexico and El Paso Region Interfaith Power & Light

OUR WORK IN 2023

EDUCATION & INSPIRATION

Creating Spaces for Education and Renewal: IPL offers numerous films, resources, on-line webinars and presentations, meetings with congregations, presentations in New Mexico and nationally, as well as work with the Catholic encyclical Laudato Si, especially in Southern NM and El Paso. Each month IPL hosts an online “Earth & Spirit Sharing,” a deep and reflective space to support our community’s spiritual well-being in the face of ongoing crises. Lisa Leahigh, a Buddhist practitioner and eco-chaplain-to-be, hosts this event that all are welcome to attend.

Work in the Permian Basin and Immersion Retreat Experiences: IPL works closely with Citizens Caring for the Future in the Permian Basin of SE NM. In addition to collaborating on numerous educational events online and calls to action, we organized three immersion retreats in the Permian Basin in 2023 that were attended by some 40 people. These multi-day visits for community members and faith leaders incorporate prayer, ritual, reflection, and education; participants learn from frontline communities in Carlsbad, Hobbs and Jal, visit the oil fields, and then return home to engage in solidarity action, such as advocating for improved methane rules from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Land Management through testimonies at hearings, written comments, and letters to the editor.

Building Young Adult Community & Leadership: We are thrilled to be growing a team of young adult board members and paid staff, and welcome others who are interested into this community. IPL is working with young organizers Kayley Shoup and Jozee Zuniga with Citizens Caring for the Future. This summer, Hayley Hathaway joined IPL as part-time Administrative Coordinator and Clara Sims as Assistant Executive Director. Young adults serve on the IPL board and engage in retreats and lead programs like the study of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass and an intergenerational women’s retreat for our staff, board, and volunteers.

Strengthening National IPL Network for Action: Our local IPL works with the national office to share valuable resources, and engage in federal public policy advocacy. In addition to promoting films, and Faith Climate Action Week themed “Common Ground: Cultivating Connections between our Faith, our Food, and our Climate,” we have worked together to share resources and funds for solar and energy efficiency from the Inflation Reduction Act. NM & El Paso IPL also took part in the national IPL meeting and lobby effort in May and is part of a national public policy advocacy advisory group.

SACRED LAND & WATER

Our Interfaith Forest of Bliss tree planting project distributed 200 + tree seedlings to individuals and congregations for planting around the state.
A board member of IPL serves on the Middle Rio Grande Water Advocates and IPL has co-sponsored monthly educational events geared toward implementing 2023 water legislation.
New relationships were forged at on-hands learning events around food, composting, water harvesting, and caring for earth with the Little Sisters of the Poor in Gallup (whose residential program for the elderly is nearly half Navajo), Covenant Pathways (a Navajo nonprofit that teaches about and engages in traditional Navajo agricultural methods for growing healthy, culturally valued foods), East Central Ministries, and in Vanderwagen at Spirit Farm with James and Joyce Skeet of Covenant Pathways. A wonderful community relationship is growing.

COOL CONGREGATIONS

Our Cool Congregations program offers free energy audits for houses of worship by expert retired volunteers, advice on solar projects, and a $10,000 no-interest loan for renewable energy projects. In the past year, IPL offered information and guidance for 2 congregations who obtained solar; offered free extensive energy audits for 4 congregations, and has about 8 on a wait list; offered information on the Inflation Reduction Act Fund for solar and energy efficiency including a November webinar.

PUBLIC POLICY ADVOCACY

IPL’s Advocacy committee, comprised of volunteers across the region, meets monthly to learn about federal and state public policies and to engage in opportunities to organize action, write letters to the editor, speak at hearings, plan meetings with public leaders, and join in solidarity with frontline communities.

Building Grassroots Support for a Better Future: This year we worked in coalition to advocate for better legislation at the NM statehouse on budgets, oil and gas reform, climate change, clean water, the Green Amendment, just transition, and concerns of environment for vulnerable communities and people. In addition, we organized a faith leader letter with some 100 faith leaders and shared it with legislators calling for strong action on climate, water and funding for agencies.

Educating on Critical Public Policy & How to Be an Effective Advocate

As part of our Clean Vehicle Campaign in New Mexico and at the federal level, we organized an October webinar on the Advanced Clean Vehicle Standards; gathered faith leader signatures, organized a postcard drive, and invited our community to make public comments on new rules. And the rules passed!
PL, Citizens Caring for the Future and Physicians for Social Responsibility hosted a webinar on the issue of PFAS (forever chemicals) in preparation for a hearing on rules in NM for February 2024.
Other areas addressed included making comments regarding oil and gas regulations, lease sales, federal EPA and BLM rules on pollution, bonds and leases and so much more.

Sharing a Faithful Perspective: Throughout the year IPL gathered faith leaders’ signatures to 4 different policy advocacy letters and the IPL team offered presentations and religious voice at over 50 hearings and meetings.

Making Voices of Faith Heard in the Media:

Our staff and volunteers regularly place letters to editor and op-eds in local papers, offer quotes and interviews for articles on these critical environmental issues. Our social media presence helps increase our impact and encourages others to join in these social change efforts.

Building Capacity in the Permian Basin: In collaboration with Citizens Caring for the Future in the Permian Basin, we work to educate and engage faith communities, faith leaders, and people of conscience. Our solidarity work is for stronger protections for health and environment and the climate as we work for an energy transition.

And more! Thank you for joining us this year.