June News & Views
June 15, 2023
IN THIS ISSUE
Top Stories
— TAF’s Signature Campaigns
— Rev. Trisha Tull’s Words of Hope
Organizing News
Third Act Central News
Summer Opportunities
News from Our Partners & Friends
Did You Know?
— Children’s climate lawsuit heads to trial
Resources
TOP STORIES
Third Act Central’s Signature Campaigns
By Jane Ellen Nickell
Following a successful Day of Action on 3.21.23 that garnered wide attention and conversations with two of the big national banks that fund fossil fuel expansion, Third Act is focusing on three campaigns — two that are familiar, and one new approach.
Fossil Free Finance
With the goal of getting the financial sector to stop financing fossil fuel expansion, this campaign will continue “Banking on our Future” strategies and encourage responsible choices for credit cards and banks. We’ll also advocate for state legislation around pension divestment and insurance; encourage large clients such as corporations, cities, universities, and religious organizations to pressure the big banks; and urge shareholders to “vote their shares” during shareholder season.
Voting and Elections
Our ongoing goal is to ensure a thriving democracy, fair elections and informed voters. We will employ a number of tactics to encourage voter registration and turnout, protect election integrity, and cultivate democratic measures beyond elections.
Our new ‘Democratize Energy’ Campaign
This new campaign seeks to expand public participation in energy decision making in order to shift climate policy. Third Act kicked this off with a PUC (Power Up Communities! Public Utility Commissions) Teach-In on June 14. This coalition with national partners will involve tactics and issues that are state-specific, along with writing letters to the editor and other national strategies.
Each TA Working Group was asked to identify one or two liaisons to work with Central on each campaign in order to share information, ideas, and opportunities with the rest of us. We are grateful to the following Coordinating Committee members for agreeing to serve as our liaisons:
Fossil Free Finance: Jim Antal and Dan Terpstra
Democratize Energy: Trisha Tull
Voting and Elections: Betsy Bennett and Mary Jane Cherry
Liaisons will begin meeting and training with TA staff in early July. Watch for more information and suggested actions related to these campaigns in upcoming issues.
‘A more rejuvenating world’
The Rev. Dr. Patricia (“Trisha”) Tull’s words of hope anchor May 31 TAF General Meeting
By Mary Jane Cherry
“I go back and forth — as probably many people do — between being really worried about what the future holds and being very excited about the future that may be unfolding before us for our children and grandchildren. Not only a world where we’ve actually grappled with something this large and have begun to pull ourselves back from the brink but also ... a world where we appreciate more thankfully what is all around us... I’m hoping that this is going to be a much more rejuvenating world that we are going to be living into. I wish that I were young enough to be able to experience it.”
Hebrew Bible scholar, author and climate activist Patricia “Trisha” Tull offered those words of hope while being interviewed during the general meeting of Third Act Faith members on May 31. The author of “Inhabiting Eden,” a GreenFaith fellow and a Climate Reality presenter, Trisha was interviewed by another TAF member and activist colleague, Dan Terpstra. (She recently joined TAF’s coordinating committee.)
Following a conversational format, their interview explored how Trisha’s vocation as a seminary professor and Presbyterian minister intersect with her climate activism personally and professionally, and through the course of the interview showed how hope can arise and friendships may be forged through the “common cause” of our work, as Trisha puts it. Their conversation was the focus of the 90-minute Zoom call, the second general meeting this year, but it also served as the springboard into breakout sessions giving TAF members an opportunity to meet each other and share their stories, prompted by the question, “How....”
A video recording of the General Meeting may be viewed here, and our latest issue of Going Deep was a transcript of Dan and Trisha’s conversation.
At the end of the interview, Trisha remarked that “successive” interviews would allow us “to get know who one another is, how we join forces, and how we make common cause with one another.” Look for future general meetings to continue featuring these kinds of “conversations” between TAF members and activists.
ORGANIZING NEWS
By Jane Ellen Nickell
Getting to know you
One thing we love about our General Meetings is getting to know Third Act Faith members in breakout groups. Feedback tells us that you appreciate those conversations as well, so we are scheduling several opportunities in coming weeks when you can join Coordinating Committee members and other TAF members on small group Zoom meetings. The purpose of these gatherings is for you to ask any questions you have about TA, TAF, and your leadership team, and for us to know more about you, what you would like to see us do, and how you might be more involved.
The first meeting is a conversation with co-facilitators Betsy Bennett and Jane Ellen Nickell on Wednesday, June 21 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. There are still a few spots, so sign up here today. We’ll offer more sessions later this summer!
THIRD ACT CENTRAL NEWS
By Jane Ellen Nickell
TAC launches teach-in for PUC Advocacy
Third Act’s newest campaign, Power Up Communities! Public Utility Commissions, aimed at democratizing the energy sector in the US (see story above), kicked off with a PUC Teach-in on June 14. If you were not able to attend, watch for the video on the Third Act website and for more news from our liaisons on what you can do in your area.
New branding for Third Act Faith…
As Third Act grows, TA Central has hired new communications staff to help our working groups enhance their digital presence. These pros will work with us to develop a graphic image that represents TAF. It can be challenging for interfaith groups such as TAF to find a visual symbol that is easily identifiable as religious but does not represent a specific faith tradition. If you have thoughts or ideas about this, please email us with your suggestions at thirdactfaith@gmail.com by June 19.
… and a new web design
The new communications staff will also work with us to redesign the TAF page on the main thirdact.org website and more easily access our member database. We look forward to being able to reach you more effectively and having a central hub where you can go for for Third Act information.
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS & FRIENDS
Our friends at Interfaith Power & Light are offering three workshops to help individuals and communities of faith move to renewable energy:
June 21: Solar Financing for Congregations
At IPL's annual Summer Solstice webinar, learn about solar financing for congregations, featuring the solar financing nonprofit, RE-volv. The webinar starts at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT. More information here. If you aren't able to attend, you can still register. IPL will send the recording out to everyone who registered.
July 18: Climate and Energy Resources for Faith Communities: A Briefing
The Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are the largest climate and clean energy investments America has ever made, providing federal funding for energy and climate resiliency improvements that can be used in houses of worship and individual homes. Join IPL for a briefing July 18 at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT with the U.S. Department of Energy to learn about clean energy tax credits for wind and solar, EVs, efficiency upgrades and heat pumps, and how nonprofits and houses of worship can access clean energy funds and tax credits through a program called “direct pay.” Click here for more information or to register for the briefing; the recording will be sent to everyone who registers.
Sept. 7: Inflation Reduction Act Resources to Help Electrify Your Home
Learn about the programs available under the new law for swapping out your old fossil-fueled appliances for new, clean electric ones: upfront discounts, tax credits, and low-cost financing. The Sept. 7 webinar is at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. Learn more here. Register to attend or to get the recording afterward.
SUMMER OPPORTUNITIES
By Jane Ellen Nickell
Summer is the season for many of our favorite festivals and conferences, offering opportunities to meet other members of TAF. Wild Goose Festival is a celebration of spirit, justice, art, and music in Union Grove, NC, July 13-16. Bill McKibben and other Third Actors will bring a message of Climate Justice to the festival. For more information, including how to get deeply discounted tickets, see our May newsletter or contact melanie@thirdact.org.
Other Third Act Faith members are going to the Chautauqua Institution in western New York for one of its events, or the Parliament of World Religions, August 14-18 in Chicago. If you plan to attend either of these events, please email us at thirdactfaith@gmail.com so we can connect with you there.
Get the flier!
In addition, many of us take part in denominational or religious group gatherings where we will encounter people of faith who share our concern for climate change and democracy and, who might be interested in TAF. We have developed a Third Act Faith flier so you can let them know who we are and what we do. You can load the digital version on your phone to text or email to folks or post it on your own social media. You can also print the flier in full size (8.5x11) or half size (2 per page). The various files will be emailed to the TAF list, and you can access them in this Google folder.
DID YOU KNOW?
Children’s climate lawsuit against Feds heads to trial
By John Kydd and Pat Almonrode of Third Act Lawyers and Third Act Faith
The nonprofit Our Children’s Trust has been litigating climate cases since 2010. Juliana v. US was filed in 2015 by 21 youths alleging that the federal government’s contribution to climate change violates their rights to life, liberty and property. They also asserted that, as young people, they were a special class because they face a longer period of damage than adults. This case originally sought to extend the “public trust” doctrine. Currently, the law recognizes that waterways are held in public trust, such that residents have a right to demand that the government address water pollution. The Juliana plaintiffs originally sought a ruling that the atmosphere is similarly held in public trust. In 2016, District Judge Ann Aiken ruled in their favor, stating, “I have no doubt that the right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life is fundamental to a free and ordered society.”
However, this ruling was reversed on appeal to the Ninth Circuit, which held in 2020 that the courts were not empowered to require the federal government to reduce its carbon emissions, and “reluctantly concluded that the plaintiffs’ case must be made to the political branches or to the electorate at large.” The plaintiffs amended their complaint and are now seeking a declaratory judgment that there is a federal right to a sustainable climate. Judge Aiken recently ruled that the amended complaint can proceed to trial, but a date for that has not yet been set.
RESOURCES
Our commitments to climate and democracy intersect in the lawsuits described above. You can learn more about Our Children’s Trust on their website, and you can follow the progress of both Juliana v. US and the lawsuit Held v. State of Montana, which went on trial on June 12.
The story of Juliana v. US is the subject of the 2020 documentary Youth v Gov, which profiles the young plaintiffs and traces the case from its beginnings in 2015. The film is available on Netflix.
For more on how to guarantee democracy, you can view TA’s Teach-in: Building the Democracy We Need, the video of a panel discussion held last September to look at how democracy does not end at the ballot box.
Send Us Your Photos and Stories
Third Acts of Faith is published the third week of each month. Please send us your news (up to 300 words) and photos by the 7th day of each month, and help keep our members updated on what you and your faith communities are doing to safeguard our democracy and beloved earth. Send the submission to thirdactfaith@gmail.com