February News & Views
February 22, 2024
IN THIS ISSUE
Top Story
— Hear Brian McLaren March 19
Organizing News
Third Act Central News
News from our Partners & Friends
— Climate Action Week Kit
Did You Know?
Resources
Upcoming Events
TOP STORY
March 19 General Meeting to Feature Brian McLaren
By Rev. Jim Antal
TAF Coordinating Committee Member
Mark your calendar for Tuesday, March 19, at 8 p.m. EDT (5 p.m. PDT), when Third Act Faith will host author and activist Brian McLaren, who will talk about how people of faith can engage the dominant realities of our time: ecological overshoot, economic injustice, and the increasing possibility of civilizational collapse.
Brian discusses these realities in detail in his forthcoming book, Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart, as he invites us to live into a new and redemptive story.
Bill McKibben says McLaren’s book is “as rich and thoughtful as all of Brian McLaren’s work, but with a particular urgency!” and Rabbi Sharon Brous calls Life After Doom “Riveting. Challenging. Brave. Devastating. Hopeful.”
Life After Doom will be released in May, and we look forward to hearing Brian talk about the book, after which Bill McKibben will join him for short conversation about the issues facing our country at this critical moment.
Register in advance at this link for the General Meeting, which will also include an update on Third Act Faith campaigns.
Brian McLaren began his career as an English professor, and then served as a pastor for 24 years. Now a public theologian and an author of over 15 books, including Faith After Doubt, he speaks and writes on the intersection of religious faith and contemporary culture. His work has been covered in TIME Magazine, Newsweek, USA Today, The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and many other media outlets. He lives in Florida and serves as Dean of the core faculty of The Living School at the Center for Action and Contemplation and is a podcaster with Learning How to See.
For more information on McLaren and his work, visit brianmclaren.net.
ORGANIZING NEWS
Building Community in The Coming Year
By Rev. Jane Ellen Nickell
TAF Communications and Membership Chair
Your Coordinating Committee’s virtual retreat held in January deepened our sense of community, so we committed to finding ways to build that connection for the larger TAF community. We recognized the need to provide support and connection as we engage in challenging work around climate and democracy, and we know that for elders with health or mobility limitations, stress may be exacerbated by isolation.
In addition to continuing our Meet & Greet events, we came up with two new ideas: a series of online gatherings where folks can talk about the emotional aspect of climate action, led by trained facilitators; and virtual contemplative sessions, starting later this spring.
If you are interested in helping to plan either of these initiatives or could lead a short guided meditation (15-20 minutes), please email us at thirdactfaith@gmail.com.
While our online Meet & Greet sessions will continue, we’ll be targeting each one to either new members who would like an introduction to TAF or to folks who joined a while ago but may be ready to become more involved.
Our next Meet & Greet for new members will be on Tuesday, February 27 at 4 p.m. EST (1 p.m. PST), and is open to anyone who joined in recent months and is still getting a feel for who we are. The conversation will be hosted by Coordinating Committee members Jane Ellen Nickell and Ruah Swennerfelt. Register for the Zoom gathering at this link.
Third Act Central will also be hosting online gatherings to address similar needs. These “Hope & Joy" sessions are designed to support folks in this difficult work, cultivate community, and encourage contemplative practice. Offered monthly, these 90-minute interactive programs will feature speakers from neuroscience, psychology, religion, sociology, philosophy, and other fields. The guest speaker for the first session, on March 12, is Shaylyn Romney Garrett, coauthor with Robert Putnam of The Upswing. Watch your email or the Third Act Events page for details.
As we seek to build a stronger sense of community among the 375+ members of TAF, our membership team is available for one-on-one conversations with anyone who wants to know more about us or talk about how you could become more involved. To set one up, please complete this short form or email us at thirdactfaith@gmail.com.
THIRD ACT CENTRAL NEWS
Third Act Scores Wins in Three Campaigns
News out of Third Act Central this year has been good, to say the least, with progress on two major actions and a successful fundraising campaign. Now over 100,000 members and still growing, Third Act is making a difference and gaining notice.
Costco: Clean Up Your Credit Card
Launched in October, the “Costco: Clean Up Your Credit Card” campaign culminated on January 17 when Third Act and its partner, Stop the Money Pipeline, delivered a petition with over 40,000 signatures urging Costco to drop Citi as its credit card provider if it doesn’t stop funding fossil fuel expansion. A last-minute push for letters to the editor and emails to new Costco CEO Ron Vachris amplified the in-person delivery to Costco's headquarters on a cold, rainy day in Issaquah, WA, one day before the annual shareholder meeting.
Third Actors were hard to miss as they threw a party for Vachris, complete with sheet cake and party hats, a giant congratulations card, Costco members in red aprons, large scissors cutting up a Citi credit card, and a dancing hotdog, a nod to Costco’s famous $1.50 hotdogs. Other Third Actors delivered petitions and cards to Costco store managers across the country.
The effort drew the attention we hoped. “Citi is indeed a key partner for Costco Wholesale, and we are aware of those petitions that were signed,” Vachris said at the shareholder meeting. “We are going to continue moving forward with our climate action plan, and have been in discussions with Citi about their carbon reduction plans in the future. We’re going to focus on our efforts, and we'll stay close to Citi and their efforts as well.”
“Having this public acknowledgement of our petitions indicates that we are on their radar,” TA Campaign Strategist Deborah Moore wrote to working group facilitators. “That's some progress! And having Costco be ‘in discussions with Citi’ also was one of our goals: to have a big bank client talk to Citi directly about their poor record on climate change.”
Read a blog about the event and watch a great video of TA and STMP folks singing farewell to Citibank.
#STOPLNG Sit-in Win
Last month as Third Act was preparing for a February #STOPLNG Sit-in at the Department of Energy in Washington, DC, to protest planned exports of liquified natural gas (LNG) —which would have been the world’s largest fossil fuel buildout, and would have endangered the health and environment of frontline communities on the Gulf Coast — news leaked on January 24 that the White House was pausing new LNG permits to allow for environmental review. Right away, Bill McKibben blogged, “Um, I think we all just won ….”
Two days later, when the news was confirmed, he followed up with more details.
The sit-in ended up being canceled, and a pre-action “hype call” became a #STOPLNG Celebration Call for one of our most important climate justice victories.
‘No Time to Waste’ Campaign Raises $500,000
Along with these exciting wins, TA announced that its No Time to Waste fundraising campaign met its $500,000 goal, thanks to thousands of donors, including 1,000 first-time contributors. The funds allowed TA to hire additional staff, so we can build on the great work of our first two years.
To learn more or to make a gift, visit thirdact.org.
Campaign to Advance Fossil-Free Finance
Valentine’s Day video reminded us to “break up with bad banks!”
Submitted by Dan Terpstra, Banking Campaign Liaison
Valentine’s Day was last week, and even though the connection between St. Valentine and romantic love may have no basis in history, Third Act Central decided to use that Valentine tradition to suggest we “break up with our dirty banks” by distributing a video featuring Game of Thrones stars and real-life couple Kit Harrington and Rose Leslie. Produced by TA partner Make your Money Matter, the short skit calls on TA members to take action to “get our planet out of this toxic relationship.”
“In the past two years, the Big 4 Wall Street banks—Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, and Wells Fargo—have provided $349 billion to fossil fuel companies, fueling the climate crisis,” they say.
Visit the Valentine’s Day Break Up with Bad Banks page and explore the embedded resources there.
As Third Act Faith members, many of us are part of faith and worshipping communities. In addition to taking personal action to move your money, this year might be a good time to take it to the next level and find out where your congregation or faith community does its banking. Even if it isn’t one the Big 4 Wall Street banks listed above, you can find out whether your congregation’s bank has significant fossil fuel investments. The annual Banking on Climate Chaos report is a great place to learn more about your bank. PNC and USBank, for example, are in the middle of the pack for assets, but punch way above their weight in fossil fuel investments.
Once you have that information, you can work with your congregation to move its accounts.
Campaign to Uplift Democracy & Voting
TAF makes plans for election year
Submitted by Mary Jane Cherry, Democracy Campaign Liaison
In conjunction with Third Act Central’s Uplift Democracy and Voting Campaign, Third Act Faith will focus this year on “The Sacred Right to Vote,” encouraging our members and their faith communities to be involved in this year’s election process. We encourage church leaders to preach “election sermons,” which you can read about in Rev. Jim Antal’s “Going Deep” article, and we are making plans for a panel discussion with ministers, an online workshop, and other events.
Working solo or in groups, TAF members can help with Activate America’s targeted phone bank and postcard campaigns to get out the vote in upcoming races in California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
Only 30% of 18-year-olds are registered to vote, so through its “Senior to Senior” initiative, TA encourages us to help with The Civics Center's effort to “make voter registration part of every high school in America.” Third Act Massachusetts has shared their guide for organizing voter registration campaigns at community colleges.
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS & FRIENDS
IPL offers ‘Faith Climate Action Week’ kit
Interfaith Power & Light’s “Faith Climate Action Week” is coming up April 19-28, with the theme “Common Ground: Cultivating Connections between our Faith, our Food, and our Climate.” IPL is offering $26 kits you can use to help your congregation “examine our responsibility to use agricultural practices that safeguard our Sacred Earth.” Besides providing a Guide “with information on the faithful call to care for our soil through regenerative agriculture practices,” the kit offers suggestions for short films, a climate change fact sheet, “faith-based discussion materials on faith and agriculture, and suggestions and resources for how to engage in supporting local action.” They also have “postcards to gather signatures from the members of your congregation to pledge to vote with the climate in mind.”
Find out more here, including ordering information.
DID YOU KNOW?
Here comes the sun!
Did you know that power provided by the sun is the world’s cheapest form of energy? The sun’s energy costs nothing; the cost is in the structures — the solar panels of photovoltaic cells that collect the energy that gets turned into electricity. Prices for these systems dropped more than 50 percent in 2023, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. China, Europe, and the U.S. each set solar installation records last year.
In the U.S. California has the most solar energy, followed by Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona. And one day a few weeks ago, Texas surpassed even California, generating a third of its electrical power from the sun. A Generation180 study showed that in 2022 one in ten K-12 schools were using solar, and solar houses of worship are growing as well. Last year saw the launch of over 60 new manufacturing facilities for solar panels. And it’s reported that one in three homes in Hawai’i are powered by rooftop solar.
But clouding the sunny future are large utilities’ recent efforts to rein in rooftop solar installations, which they see as cutting into their profits. Loan sharks are circling the new and mostly unregulated industry, too, so despite the price drops for panels and cells, advocates say consumers are running into roadblocks when trying to switch to solar power.
The federal Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 has provided both tax credits for businesses and, more recently, direct payments to nonprofits to switch to solar systems. The Federal Emergency Management Agency recently announced it will pay to install solar panels on schools, hospitals, and other public buildings that are rebuilt after disasters. And, as The New York Times noted, “The number of billion-dollar weather disasters keeps rising.”
RESOURCES
Discover what’s fueling the growth in rooftop solar, why big utilities are fighting it, and how consumers are pushing back
Read this New York Times free article about schools across the U.S. that have “gone solar.”
This New York Time free article looks at what’s stalling solar growth; Time Magazine reports on scams and exorbitant pricing dogging homeowners who want to switch to solar.
Find out about funding for installing solar systems
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute explains how “direct pay” funding from the IRS can help nonprofits, including schools and houses of worship. Learn more here.
Learn more about the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022’s provisions related to renewable energy.
And check out this Sept. 2023 update from The Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Visit Interfaith Power and Light’s Solar Congregations webpage to learn about the many houses of worship who are converting their buildings to solar power, and to discover programs that will help fund these conversions.
View/download this PDF from IPL affiliate Faith In Place to see about specific loan programs offered by various denominations.
Visit this Energy Star site to learn how to determine how much energy your facility uses. Energy Star is administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Feb. 27: Third Act Faith Meet and Greet (Zoom), 4 p.m. EST (1 p.m. PST). Register here.
Mar. 4: Welcome to Third Act: Let’s Get Started (Zoom), 7:30 p.m. EST (4:30 p.m. PST). Register here.
Mar. 19: TAF General Meeting with speaker Brian McLaren (Zoom), 8 p.m. EST (5 p.m. PST). Register here.
Apr. 4: Senior-to-Senior Spring 2024 Voter Registration Ambassador Training (Zoom), 4 p.m. EST (1 p.m. PST). Register here.
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
