Every faith tradition has a mandate within sacred texts to care for creation. Clean, renewable, solar energy is a critical component of creation care in the 21st Century.
On April 26 NC WARN’s Faith in Solar effort, endorsed by the North Carolina NAACP, the Ministers’ Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity, and 150 individual faith leaders, wrote to Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good. The letter calls for Duke Energy to partner with them to help slow climate change by facilitating the installation of solar power systems on houses of worship around the state. The alliance, led by Rev. Dr. Rodney S. Sadler, Jr. of Charlotte, asked for a meeting to discuss ideas it has developed for a new program that would help faith organizations overcome obstacles to going solar, such as the upfront cost.
A part of the letter reads:
“In this time of enormous challenges, we feel that this partnership is urgently needed. Earth Care and stewardship are an integral part of our purpose, and climate scientists’ increasingly dire warnings require that we contribute as much as possible, as quickly as possible, to help solve the climate crisis.” Rev. Sadler noted today: “God has given us an ample supply of energy from the sun. Shouldn’t houses of faith take the lead in using it?”
In response to the letter, Duke Energy is working to set up a meeting with the group and Susannah Tuttle will participate in the meeting as a representative of the NC Council of Churches and director of NC Interfaith Power and Light.
As an alliance member, Rabbi Jen Feldman of Kehillah Synagogue in Chapel Hill, which put solar panels on its roof in 2015, said “We were fortunate to be able to install solar. We are happy to be doing our part to promote a clean energy future. But we realize not everyone has this opportunity now, and we would like to see all North Carolina houses of worship have the option to install solar, making a contribution to the climate solution and saving money to help fund the other important work they do.”
Mitigating further climate change through development and dissemination of renewable energy is part of our faithful response to preserve and protect the beauty and goodness of the Sacred Earth upon which we are all interdependent.
