Georgia Faith Communities Organize at Summit to Build Local Climate Resilience

Feb 7

Decatur, Ga. — Saturday, Feb. 3 Georgia Interfaith Power and Light (GIPL) hosted its sixth annual Green Team Summit at Oak Grove United Methodist Church (UMC) in Decatur, Georgia focused on climate resilience. Over 230 faith leaders and environmental advocates came together to learn and grow, considering how they might weather the effects of global warming together.

Dr. Debra Rienstra, professor at Calvin University and author of Refugia Faith: Seeking Hidden Shelters, Ordinary Wonders, and the Healing of the Earth (Fortress 2022) offered the keynote, emphasizing the importance of resilient faith in addressing environmental injustices in Georgia and beyond. She invited participants to contemplate how congregations might “transform despair into preparation, alienation into kinship, consumption into healing, avoidance into lament, resignation into gratitude, passivity into citizenship, and indifference into attentiveness.”

Following her talk, there was a panel response from local faith leaders and a climate scientist offering context from their traditions and backgrounds. Participants continued exploring resilience concepts over lunch and in two separate breakout sessions. Workshops during breakouts explored everything from “Advocacy During the 2024 Georgia Legislative Session” to “Greening Sacred Spaces: Practical Climate Solutions for Congregations.”

The summit also formally recognized GIPL’s 2024 Power-Wise Grant recipients and introduced GIPL’s revised mission, vision, and purpose statements. A testament to GIPL living out its values, the event was nearly zero-waste, sending a mere 16.2 pounds of waste to the landfill.

“I am walking away from this weekend inspired by the people in this network,” says Codi Norred, Executive Director of GIPL. “I am so proud that together we continue to be people who see all that is possible and who actively work for a world in which every living thing can thrive.”

The date and location for next year’s Green Team Summit will be announced in Summer 2024.

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Georgia Interfaith Power and Light (GIPL) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that inspires and equips communities of faith to organize, implement practical climate solutions, and advocate across Georgia on issues of climate change, environmental justice, and community resilience. An affiliate of the national Interfaith Power and Light movement, GIPL envisions a Georgia where all people can flourish in a healthy environment, a stable climate, and resilient communities. Learn more at gipl.org.