LOCAL
THE CHAMPION, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15 -21. 2024 • PAGE 3
Summit explores how the faith community
should respond to climate change
Attendees representing many faiths gathered at Oak Grove United Methodist Church Feb. 3
to discuss how the faith community can address environmental issues. File photo
BY KATHY MITCHELL
Freelance Reporter
As organizations and individuals
consider ways to protect and pre
serve the environment, what role
does the faith community play in
the effort? Georgia Interfaith Power
& Light (GIPL) held a Green Team
Summit at Oak Grove United Meth
odist Church in the Northlake area
on Feb. 3 to consider that question.
Participants included representa
tives of the Christian, Jewish, and
Islamic faiths.
In his message of welcome, GIPL
Executive Director Codi Norred
said, "In 2023, as a part of our 20th
anniversary, GIPL went through a
strategic planning process with a
primary question in mind: What will
the next 20 years require of us? ...
We decided that while it is true that
we must continue to take action to
limit greenhouse gas emissions, we
must also prepare our communities
to weather the effects of a warming
world—in short, to be more resil
ient." The theme of the 2024 sum
mit was Rooted in Resilience.
The keynote speaker, Debra
Rienstra, a professor of English at
Calvin University in Michigan, said,
"If you look at the history of the
role religion has played in societal
change, it's not a pretty picture.
Often the tendency has been to re
sist, ignore, or double down on the
past." She cited statistics from Pew
Research Institute that indicate that
people who describe themselves as
"highly religious" are the least likely
to believe that human activities
are having a negative effect on the
planet.
Georgia, she said, should pay
special attention to environmental
issues because it has coastline and
the Okefenokee Swamp, which re
quire particular stewardship.
Rienstra told the audience,
"You're going to learn a new word
today—refugia." It refers, she ex
plained, to locations that support
isolated or relic biological popula
tions from which a species can re-
emerge.
She offered as an example the
1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens
in Washington state. Described as
"the deadliest and most economi
cally destructive volcanic event in
the history of the contiguous United
States," the eruption left a deep
pile of ash from which no life was
expected to emerge for 100 years,
she said. "But 25 years later, plant
life was back and flourishing be
cause refugia tucked within the ash
held samples of the plant life that
had grown before in the area. This
sometimes happens in disasters—
not always, but sometimes," she
explained.
The author of Refugia Faith-
Seeking Hidden Shelters, Ordinary
Wonders, and the Healing of the
Earth, Rienstra said, "The Bible is
filled with examples of times when
God took a small remnant and built
great things—Noah's family who re
populated the Earth after the flood,
Abraham, whose descendants out
numbered the stars, the Israelites
wandering in the desert after fleeing
Egypt."
Rienstra continued, "You were
probably wondering why an English
professor is talking about the envi
ronment. Well, there's a really good
metaphor here. While there are
some huge churches in the United
States, most have congregations of
fewer than 200 members, but small
numbers can do great things. Your
faith organization may not have the
resources to install solar panels or
electric vehicle recharging stations,
but you can start a recycling pro
gram or create a community garden.
The good news is that you don't
have to do it all. Just do what you
can."
Headquartered on South Colum
bia Drive in Decatur, GIPL, described
on the summit program as "a col
laborative, interfaith organization
that exists at the intersection of
environment, science, and faith,"
was founded in 2003 by Woody and
Carol Bartlett as part of the national
Interfaith Power & Light movement.
"They believed strongly that faith
communities have the power to
change the world and a mandate to
care for the Sacred Earth and all its
inhabitants. They envisioned a Geor
gia where all people would live safe
ly in a healthy environment, a stable
climate, and resilient communities.
Today, GIPL's purpose is to live out
this vision," the program states.
Paid internships available
for DeKalb teens
interested in agriculture
BY CHRISTINE FONVILLE
CHRISTINE@DEKALBCHAMP.COM
DeKalb County Commissioner Lorraine
Cochran Johnson is sponsoring a new paid
internship opportunity for some local teens
with the goal of "cultivating and nurturing a
community hub for high school students to
grow, harvest and sell healthy produce and
to engage in entrepreneurship and sustain
lasting skills."
The program, which will last for 10
months, will help participants
ages 15 to 18 learn what it takes to pursue
a career in the field of agriculture through
hands-on education and marketing, accord
ing to a press release.
The program will take place at
E.M.B.A.R.C. Youth Farm, located at 1185
Rock Chapel Road in Lithonia. According to
the farm's website, E.M.B.A.R.C. Youth Farm,
which is still being developed, will feature a
state-of-the-art greenhouse, interactive bee
farm, henhouse, organic compost station
and raised farm beds. There are also plans
Commissioner Lorraine Cochran Johnson discusses E.M.B.A.R.C. Youth
Farm with DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond. File photo
SEE FARM ON PAGE 8
