Witness and Action for Earth Care
Vermont Interfaith Power & Light Seeking New Board Members
If you have a passion for effecting climate change and understand religious or spiritual faith's connection to Earth stewardship you may be a candidate for Vermont Interfaith Power & Light's Board. Information about our current board and its work can be found below on this page.
A detailed description of the position of a Board Member can be downloaded here:
ABOUT VTIPL
Vermont Interfaith Power and Light (VTIPL) is a faith-based organization formed by about a dozen people from different faith communities who wanted to take action to address the climate crisis. They began meeting late in 2002 to begin laying the necessary groundwork for an Interfaith Power and Light organization in Vermont. The Environmental Ministry Team of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont, with the support of Bishop Thomas Ely, provided the impetus to get this started.
In June 2004, VTIPL officially formed after the officers and Board of Directors were chosen. The Vermont Ecumenical Council (VEC) helped to launch VTIPL and it operated under VEC’s non-profit umbrella for four years. VTIPL was incorporated in the State of Vermont in September 2008.
The Interfaith Power and Light (IPL) movement began in the mid 1990’s. It was started by an Episcopal priest, The Rev. Canon Sally Bingham, and others, including Steve MacAusland, who went on to form Massachusetts Interfaith Power and Light, and helped VTIPL get started. Interfaith Power and Light is the campaign and main activity of The Regeneration Project, based in Vermont; Sally Bingham served as President for the first decade and a half.
Forty states have IPL organizations, and each one is different because each state is different. What all the IPL organizations have in common is that they work with faith and spiritual communities to address global climate change. They are not "chapters" of the national organization. The state IPLs and national IPL are affiliated in a network that shares goals, resources and information.
Presented by Sam Swanson at the Shelburne Methodist Church for the Shelburne Thanksgiving Interfaith Service, sponsored by Shelburne Methodist Church, St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, All Souls Interfaith Gathering, and Trinity Episcopal Church.
Shelburne Interfaith Thanksgiving
Worship Service Message - Sam Swanson
November 19, 2023
Thank you very much for inviting Vermont Interfaith Power and Light to join with you in this interfaith celebration of Thanksgiving
This afternoon we pause to give thanks for all that we have and commit to helping those who struggle.
Vermont Interfaith Power and Light exists to give voice to a multi-faith commitment to address the immediate impacts of a changing climate, in Vermont and beyond and to support action needed now to avoid worse impacts in the future.
So what is Vermont Interfaith Power & Light . . .
We are volunteers from Vermont’s many different faith and spirit traditions. Our Board of Directors over time has included people from Jewish, Episcopalian, Methodist, Catholic, United Church of Christ, Lutheran, Unitarian Universalist, Islamic, and Budhists congregations.
Vermont Interfaith Power and Light exists to support individual congregation action to confront the climate crisis.
Leaders of our major faith traditions are speaking out, calling for climate action, the action required ● to halt the now rapidly increasing global temperatures, and ● to remedy the already apparent injustice being meted out by the impacts of a changing climate, and ● to ensure the climate remedies address the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable. Faith leaders recognize that the rapidly warming planet is at heart a spiritual crisis.
We celebrate the Earth as a precious gift. We acknowledge our responsibility to care for each other and for the other creatures with whom we share this precious planet.
It has become abundantly clear that the impacts of climate change .... the flooding of streams and rivers close to home here in Vermont, the extreme heat waves in the south and west, the growing number of forest fires in many parts of the world, rising tides that flood coastal communities . . . hurt most the vulnerable among us. The injustice is stark - the most vulnerable have done the least to cause a warming planet but are impacted the most and are least able to recover from the hurts that befall them.
Clearly, the drivers of a rapidly changing climate and its impact on life systems are based on the science of a changing atmosphere and the complex chain of cause and effects that are disrupting life systems. It is all too clear that the actions of the more than 8 billion people who live, love, and work on Earth that are driving these changes. The climate crisis is ultimately a moral crisis that confronts all faith traditions.
This is about the choices we make, in our individual lives, in the businesses that provide us with products and services, and in the policies and programs our government leaders plan and adopt.
Climate scientists now tell us that we have only a short time to slow and reverse global temperatures. In the words of climate scientist Michael Maan, we now find ourselves in what may be termed a fragile moment, a very brief remaining time when we have the opportunity to take bold steps to avert increasingly severe climate changes, to sustain the climate conditions that have over eons enabled human civilization to prosper.
VTIPL exists to empower our Vermont faith and spirit community to act. By working together as a multi-faith community of congregations committed to taking action, we aim to improve the quality of the work each of us is doing, helping each other, empowering the communities of faith to act effectively.
VTIPL exists to empower our Vermont faith and spirit community to act. By working together as a multi-faith community of congregations committed to taking action, we aim to improve the quality of the work each of us is doing, helping each other, empowering the communities of faith to act effectively.
The first pathway . . .
Empowering our community to advocate
We are most effective when voices from individual congregations are advocating action. VTIPL works to help us do this work effectively.
VTIPL participates in the community of public interest organizations, working to make sure that faith community is at the table when plans are being made and key issues evaluated. The Vermont Clean Heat Standard legislation developed and adopted last year provides a good example. Faith community voices successfully pressed for ensuring that the needs of people with the fewest resources, people already struggling to feed and house their families will be addressed in plans to accelerate a switch from fossil fueled heating to clean energy sources
Again and again we hear from legislative leaders that they listen to faith community voices because our views are credible and tied to deeply held values. We have learned that the letters and phone calls to our local representatives are effective at influencing outcomes at key moments in the legislative process. VTIPL works to ensure that your advocacy is timely and connected to the important climate program decisions our government leaders are making.
On this upcoming February 28th Vermont Interfaith Power and Light with Vermont Interfaith Action will host a Faith Climate Action Day at the Vermont Statehouse. We invite you to join us for this day of meetings and conversations with our elected representatives.
This gathering of people from diverse Vermont faith communities communicates powerfully our message that we need to act, and that such action must address the needs of those who are hurt most by a changing climate, the people who are least able to protect themselves and their families. Plan to join us on February 28.
While much of our work is focuses on Vermont, we also track national policies and programs that are being put forward to address climate justice nationwide. VTIPL is part of a national network of more than 40 state IPL organizations that are supported by thousands of faiths communities nationwide. This network enables Vermont congregations to speak effectively on national policy and programs.
Transition The second pathway for our work....
Helping congregations walk the talk on climate change
Vermont Interfaith Power and Light has from our start worked at helping individual congregations to make improvements in their buildings and operations that will reduce their carbon emissions, what we call the carbon footprint.
We have provided more than 200 free energy assessments to congregations statewide. These on-site assessments help congregations identify action opportunities for carbon emission reductions in their buildings.
We also help congregations with funding support to make these improvements. VTIPL’s Climate Action Grant program offers matching grants to enable Vermont faith and spiritual communities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. For example, these grants can help congregations
Obtain professional energy audits of their facilities,
Reduce energy use by weatherizing congregation building and purchase high efficiency heating equipment, and
Switch from using fossil fuels to renewable energy.
VTIPL’s Climate Action Grant program has awarded more than $200,000 in 40 matching grants to Vemont congregations. We have provided grants that range from a few hundred dollars to obtain a professional energy audits to grants of several thousand dollars for actual building improvements.
These grants are having a big impact. I offer the example of my home congregation, Ascension Lutheran Church in South Burlington. With funding help from this Climate Action Grant Program Ascension has successfully cut by half our climate emissions. The resulting energy bill reductions have repaid the cost to our congregation many times over, freeing up funds we now use to support our church life.
Transition
The third component of our work Supporting congregation volunteers who are stepping up to do this important work extends to everything VTIPL does.
All of our work in one way or another aims to support these congregation volunteers who have embraced this commitment to confront climate injustice, to advocate for community action that will halt reverse the increasing global temperatures, and to help congregations reduce their contributions to the problem.
Beyond communicating news about emerging issues and new action opportunities in newsletters, email communications, and workshop and webinar meetings, VTIPL is also recognizes that this is difficult work. Our work brings us very much in touch with what has already been lost or what we may soon lose: clean air, cool waters, beloved birds, treasured forests, vulnerable communities, not to mention our own optimism and innocence. It can be difficult to sustain hope in the face of accumulating reasons to despair.
In September VTIPL convened a gathering at the Rock Point Commons, Finding Balance in a Times in Time of Darkness: An Equinox Lament & Celebration of Earth. This gathering was facilitated by Jewish, Christian and other spiritual leaders from the VTIPL community. The gathering sought to connect us with nature and one another in ways that leave us newly energized for this important work.
WRAP UP
In closing I want to acknowledge and thank you for support VTIPL has received over the years from people in the Shelburne community.
We have only one part-time staff so much of the work we do is performed by volunteers, especially members of our Board of Directors, which is comprised of clergy and congregation lay leaders. Rev Dick Hibbert, a member of your Shelburne Methodist congregation, plays an important role in sustaining the work of VTIPL. on our Board. Rev Hibbert led the VTIPL as Board President for several years and continues to contribute to supporting the multi-faith community of congregations VTIPL serves.
And, the donations Shelburne’s faith and spirit communities make each year help us to sustain the work we do . We have a small operating budget, depending heavily on volunteers. Your donations make a large contribution to our work.
Thank you.
VTIPL has active and dedicated officers and board members who are committed to working with Vermont’s faith communities and individuals to take action on the climate crisis. Our network of members is growing (the faith community member list is posted on this website under “Membership”, and individuals are also encouraged to join). If your faith community is not yet a member, please ask them to join! Together, we can take meaningful steps and have an impact. Global climate change is a moral and spiritual crisis; it is right that faith communities set an example and take an active leadership role in addressing it.
VTIPL Officers and Staff
Sylvia Burkman
Richard Butz
Professor Rebecca Gould
Betsy Hardy, Past Coordinator
The Rev. Richard Hibbert, Webmaster
Amy May, Secretary
Ron McGarvey, President
The Rev. Sister Laurian Seeber
Sam Swanson, Treasurer
Harris Webster
The Rev. Nancy Wright, Vice-President
Donna C. Roberts, Coordinator
Meet Our Board and Staff
Board President
Ron McGarvey
Ron has been a member of Vermont Interfaith Power and Light since 2005. As a volunteer, Ron has provided free energy assessments for over 200 Vermont faith communities. These assessments identify opportunities for energy efficiency improvements and referrals to resources that can provide technical assistance and/or financial incentives. He has also been involved in the development and operation of the Katy Gerke Memorial Program which can provide matching grants for energy audits, efficiency and renewable energy projects.
Prior to joining VTIPL he was the Director of Residential Energy Services for Efficiency Vermont and prior to that Manager, Energy Conservation Service for MichCon, a natural gas distribution utility in Michigan.
Board Vice-President
The Rev. Dr. Nancy Wright
The Rev. Dr. Nancy Wright is the pastor of Ascension Lutheran Church, S. Burlington, Vermont, and the Environmental Liaison for the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She received the M.Div. degree from Union Theological Seminary, New York City, and the Doctorate of Ministry degree in Leadership Studies from Boston University School of Theology. Pr. Nancy worked as a congregational coordinator at Earth Ministry, Seattle, and as a Program Associate at CODEL--Coordination in Development, which supported sustainable development projects around the world. Wright coauthored Ecological Healing; A Christian Vision (1993, with Fr. Donald Kill), "Christianity and Environmental Justice" (Crosscurrents, June 2011), and the chapter "Living Water" in Living Cosmology: Christian Responses to Journey of the Universe (2016). She and her congregation, with the support and cooperation of Vermont Interfaith Power and Light, created the Congregational Watershed Discipleship Manual, which she and fellow Board member Richard Butz co-authored . It is available in both Christian and interreligious versions.
Treasurer
Sam Swanson
Sam is Senior Policy Adviser at the Pace Energy and Climate Center at the Pace University Law School; Vice Chair of the Vermont Clean Energy Development Board; Member and Past Chair of the South Burlington Energy Committee; and Chair of the Care for Creation Committee Chair at Ascension Lutheran Church in South Burlington, VT
Secretary
Amy May
Amy May is the current secretary of VTIPL's Board.
Board Member
Sylvia Burkman
Sylvia is a junior at South Burlington High School with a passion for the environment and human rights. She has worked with 4H Teens Reaching Youth for the Environment as a teen educator, written for Protect Our Wildlife Vermont, and is a Vermont Youth Conservation Corps alumni and a trained Climate Reality Leader. She enjoys reading and playing sports. Currently, Sylvia is volunteering with the Red Cross, at her local library and is working on painting utility boxes in South Burlington.
Board Member
Richard Butz
Richard retired to Vermont after 46 years of college teaching in areas including ceramics, design and engineering technology. A Lutheran minister father and nurse/administrator mother who both loved fishing and nature, imbued in him an obligation to serve and a passion for the environment. Believing that people will care for the quality of water if it drips in their laps, he initiated a boat building program in Buffalo for urban youth and their families, coupled with water testing, to give them access to and perspective of local waters in which they fished and played. This led to a popular manual, Building the Six Hour Canoe, that gave amateur builders a simple and inexpensive way to get on the water and provided a model that could be used to create similar programs around the world. He has served as president of the board of Buffalo Niagara River Keeper, The Maine Crafts Council, and is on the Bristol Energy Committee, and the boards of The Addison County River Watch Collaborative, Vermont Interfaith Power and Light and the Church Council of Ascension Lutheran Church in South Burlington. Along with his pastor Nancy Wright, he coauthored the Congregational Watershed Discipleship Manual sponsored by VTIPL. He also volunteers as teacher and worker at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.
Board Member
Prof. Rebecca Kneale Gould
Becky is a Professor of Religion and Affiliate in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College. She is a graduate of several training programs at Elat Chayyim Center for Jewish Spirituality. Becky is a member of the Addison County Havurah.
Board Member
Betsy Hardy
Betsy Hardy served faithfully and passionately as Coordinator of VTIPL for 14 years, retiring in January 2020. After a year away, she now serves on the Board, having been involved with the organization from its beginnings. Betsy lives in Richmond and is a member of the Richmond Climate Action Committee (town energy committee) and Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church.
Board Member, Webmaster
The Rev. Richard Hibbert
Dick Hibbert is a retired United Methodist pastor who last served the First United Methodist Church in Burlington. It was during that ministry that he joined the board fo VTIPL, serving at times as oits secretary and president. In retirement, he took up the responsibility of managing the organizations website, taking a break from active board membership. He has recently fejoined the board as a full member and is continuing to serve as its Webmaster.
Board Member
The Rev. Sister Laurian Seeber
Sister Laurian is an Episcopalian nun and retired priest. She began working for Creation more than a quarter century ago in work to prohibit aerial spraying of forests. In one way or another, she has been working for Creation ever since.
Board Member
Harris Webster
"For 40 years, I was essentially a secondary social studies and English teacher mostly in Lansing MI. I started off teaching in a UCC mission school in Turkey for 3 years, and ending up teaching in Japan as sister-city teacher for three plus years.
For the last 24 years I've been in retirement in Montpelier, active in the Unitarian Church of Montpelier, but also taking short stints of teaching in India and Cambodia.
I've had several social justice passions over the years. The first involved race relations playing a challenging role in helping integrate an all-white high school. The second was a passion for being a world citizen. The last major passion was about the abuse of our Earth and how we can bring about a Sustainable Age. I'm very pleased to have recently joined the VTIPL Board.”
(Harris is also a great fan of walking and self-described “awe-walking”!)
Our Coordinator
Donna C. Roberts
Donna’s academic, professional, and service work has focused on environmental education, advocacy, and communication. Her degrees include an M.S. in Environmental Science and a B.A. in Journalism/Mass Communication. Prior to joining VTIPL in January 2020, Donna taught courses in Social Justice & Sustainability and Restorative Environmental Justice at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA (Rachel Carson’s alma mater). Donna has served with several non-profit boards and organizations from Montréal to São Paulo, Brazil, including work with the Earth Charter Initiative. Among her TV and independent film work is the award-wining film, Yemanjá: Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil, exploring the Afro-indigenous Candomblé culture, narrated by great writer Alice Walker. A lover of Nature and Spirit, Donna is honored to be working with VTIPL to contribute to what Thomas Berry called the Great Work of our time.