December News & Views
TAF NEWS
Third Act Faith Is Regrouping
SINCE THE ELECTION, TAF HAS OFFERED OPPORTUNITIES for healing and support, acknowledging that the dark days of winter coincide with a dark period in our country. You can read a reflection by co-facilitator Betsy Bennett on finding guidance in the night sky, read about our recent General Meeting on “Learning to Live in Darkness,” or view recordings of that meeting and a contemplative practice led by Dan Quinlan on our Youtube channel.
The Coordinating Committee is taking some time to rest and regroup in January, and we will have a retreat in early February to plan for the coming year. We will continue offering regular General Meetings with guest speakers, updates on our plans, and time to get to know our members. We are also pleased that Martin Wagner, who led several healing sessions for us this fall, will be leading a small group to plan contemplative practices and healing sessions.
Some of the other ideas we will be considering are:
Launch an Education Committee, as well as re-forming committees to help with communications and planning general meetings.
Work with TA Upstate New York and GreenFaith to offer “Investing Your Values,” training for fossil free banking targeted to faith communities.
Provide resources for local congregations in moving towards clean energy and clean banking and taking other climate action.
Support Third Act Central campaigns (see below).
One of our goals is to engage our membership, so if any of these ideas resonates with you, email us at thirdactfaith@gmail.com. And watch for more information as we plan for the coming year.
Books for Difficult Times
IN OUR CONVERSATIONS ABOUT DARKNESS AND LIGHT, Third Act Faith Coordinating Committee members have shared resources with each other that seem especially helpful in these challenging times. We thought you might want to check some of them out. Here’s a beginning list, and we will continue to build an annotated list on our website.
Learning to Walk in the Dark: Because Sometimes God Shows up at Night, by Barbara Brown Taylor. Drawing on her own experience, Barbara Brown Taylor describes how we learn to fear the dark and encourages us to explore the gifts of darkness, where we may have some of our most profound spiritual experiences. Her insights can guide us through these challenging times, where we may find unexpected blessings and deepen our encounters with God, each other, and ourselves. —Jane Ellen Nickell
Life after Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart, by Brian McLaren.
Brian McLaren shows us how to face the worst outcomes of climate catastrophe and emerge fiercely defiant, brave and kind. A must read for anyone seeking to live faithfully. —Jim Antal
Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred, by Victoria Loorz.
Finding solace in nature is an antidote for our difficult times. With an eco-spiritual lens on biblical narratives and a fresh look at a community larger than our own species, Victoria Loorz uncovers the wild roots of faith and helps us deepen our commitment to a suffering earth by falling in love with it—and calling it church. — Ruah Swennerfelt
Night Magic, by Leigh Ann Henion. In order to “know the night with greater intimacy,” nature writer Leigh Ann Henion takes us on hikes through mountain, woods and ponds, to see salamanders crossing rural roads to return to mating streams, glowworms under leaf mold, and moths disoriented by artificial light. Her book is a wake-up call to push back against the ever-increasing light pollution that endangers their lives. — Mary Johnson
Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures, by Katherine Rundell. This is the perfect book to read in the aftermath of a planet-threatening election. In times like these, terror and rage will carry us only so far. We will also need unstinting, unceasing love. For the hard work that lies ahead, Ms. Rundell writes, “Our competent and furious love will have to be what fuels us.” This is a book to help you fall in love. —Margaret Renkl, The New York Times, 11/18/24
For an ongoing list of our book recommendations, click here.
TA CENTRAL NEWS
Third Act Looks Ahead to 2025
IN CALLS WITH WORKING GROUP LEADERS AND AN ALL-IN CALL this month, Third Act Central revealed its priorities for 2025. While the planning process continues into the new year, here are some of the highlights:
Work on state-level legislative and Public Utility Commission projects along with IRA implementation to hasten the conversion from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Some of the work on climate finance and democracy will be integrated with state legislation efforts.
Build Third Act’s base and continue to develop its infrastructure. This includes training and tools to support Working Groups like Third Act Faith.
Mobilize across the country, especially in areas like the Rust Belt and Appalachia.
Bill McKibben announced that September 21, the autumnal equinox, will be “Sun Day,” with actions across the country to drive home the message that solar is no longer an “alternative energy,” but is a fast-growing, affordable reality.
Watch for Third Act Central’s All-In Calls, where they will share details of the work ahead. There is much work to do, and Third Act Faith will be looking at what people and communities of faith can do in 2025 to support this work.
NEWS FROM PARTNERS & FRIENDS
United Methodist Creation Justice Tips Can Help Your Congregation
MANY OF YOU HAVE ASKED FOR IDEAS TO HELP YOUR local faith communities become more sustainable, so this month, we’re highlighting the “Monthly Tips” provided by the United Methodist Creation Justice network. You can sign up to receive these free tips each month (click here and scroll down to the subscription form) and share them with your congregation through emails, bulletins, newsletters, social media, or websites. Many are specific actions your congregation can take, and most are easily adapted to non-Christian contexts.
January’s tips fit in with Third Act Faith’s focus on darkness and light, reminding us that “January is just a few days past the darkest day of the year … and it’s hard to not let our disposition and energy darken too. But January is ever inching forward into the light.” The ten tips that follow can serve as resolutions as we enter a new year, for yourself, your family, or your congregation.
IN CLIMATE NEWS …
Biden Dept. of Energy loans moving fast
“The Loan Programs Office at the Department of Energy is hustling to get money out the door before Donald J. Trump returns,” reports The New York Times. The money is from a $400 billion lending program for clean-energy projects. READ STORY (free link).
No end in sight for plastics pollution
What was was supposed to be “the fifth and final negotiating session to create a binding international treaty to end plastic pollution” simply stalled out. What happened? READ MORE FROM INSIDE CLIMATE NEWS.
Three fourths of the planet is drier now, says report
“The global threat of drying lands,” a new study released by the United Nations, says the planet is rapidly drying. “From the American West to eastern China, more than three-quarters of Earth’s land became persistently drier in recent decades,” writes New York Times environmental reporter Raymond Zhong. The United Nations report calls the shift a “global, existential peril.”. READ U.N. REPORT.
Enjoy 120 years of British environmental history
The newsletter Country Diary — from the British publication The Guardian — has been publishing for 120 years. Now digital, it’s “one short piece each day, from a different writer in a different part of the UK, each focusing on a different aspect of nature.” “One of the true values of the diary is that, having run for so long, it is now a vast document that tells the story of British wildlife and rural affairs over the past 120 years – from the modernisation of agriculture to the winners and losers in our index of species,” says current editor Paul Evans. Interested? It’s free. READ IT HERE.
Practicing what he teaches
Read what Princeton engineering prof Forrest Meggers, who teaches a course called “Designing Sustainable Systems,” is doing with his own house. From The New York Times. READ ARTICLE (free link).
‘Let your garden go feral’
“My vegetable garden is a jungle. The grass is waist-high, the weeds have consumed my gardening tools and representatives from all classes of the animal kingdom … are enjoying a comfortable existence in there, eating my salad greens and each other,” writes Bianca Nogrady in The Guardian. “Letting things go feral seemed like a good idea. I had recently learned about carbon-positive agriculture, sometimes called carbon farming, and wanted to apply those principles on a smaller suburban scale …” READ ARTICLE (free link).
UPCOMING EVENTS
Keep an eye on the Third Act Events page for 2025 events to be announced
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