Faith Climate Action Week Aims to Preserve Our Climate Laws

Blessed Tomorrow is proud to name Interfaith Power and Light (IPL) among our many inspiring partners. Since 2000, IPL has assisted thousands of faith communities to address climate change through acts of better stewardship. Founded by Blessed Tomorrow leader Rev. Sally Bingham, IPL’s goal is to mobilize a faith-based response to climate change while instilling strong solutions along the way, including energy audits and solar panels for faith facilities across the U.S.

From their Cool Congregations program to their Paris Pledge, IPL has designed some amazing avenues for new and seasoned climate leaders to begin or enhance their efforts. Among the many awesome programs IPL offers is their annual Faith Climate Action Week (previously known as the Preach-In on Global Warming), scheduled for April 17 – 23, which will encompass seven days surrounding Earth Day to encourage people of faith to act on climate.

This year, the national event will place a special emphasis on “protecting our climate laws,” and encouraging our “senators to share their climate action plans” with their constituents and fellow legislators. It’s no secret that U.S. laws and regulations designed to protect God’s creation from the harmful impacts of climate change have faced their fair share of hurdles over the last few months. And faith leaders are stepping to tell legislators that they want action now.

As a faith leader, it's sometimes difficult to have your voice reach all the way to Washington, but when combined with our moral call to act on climate, our sacred values will shake the halls of our nation’s capital. Together, across faith traditions, we may choose to put our politics aside in favor of God’s gift, because when we protect His creation we are fulfilling our responsibility to love thy neighbor, care for the least of these, and ensure transgenerational health.

Our climate laws and regulations are the only things standing between the impacts of climate change and our children. But our actions now will have a longer trajectory than one or even two generations. Climate laws protect many generations to come by ensuring a healthy world for them to prosper in, and preserving laws designed to protect our climate is fundamental to this process.

Join IPL April 17-23 to tell our legislators that people of faith insist on a healthy world for our child and future generations. Here’s how you can get involved:

Begin by finding an event in your state or registering your own event with IPL

Gather resources to host or join:

IPL supplies are available for order

The first step in promoting climate solutions is to get involved, but there is a spiritual component to these efforts. As a person of faith, you not only hold an imperative to care for creation but to pray as well. Prayer means different things to different people, and whether you lay prostrate on the floor or raise your hands to the heavens, your prayer is important. During Faith Climate Action Week, individuals and faith communities across the U.S. will offer a collective prayer for the climate. But don’t worry, God’s line of communication can handle the flood of requests, unlike Pruitt’s phone line.

Find out how you can get involved in IPL’s Nationwide Climate Prayer

Calling on our political leaders to act on climate change and preserve America’s lifesaving laws is invaluable, but simply speaking about climate change to your congregants can also make a real difference. During this week, faith leaders will deliver sermons to inspire, motivate, and call their congregations to action. And this year, it’s your turn!

Check out these videos from last year's sermons

Get inspired and then start writing with Blessed Tomorrow’s guide to crafting a strong and effective creation care sermon, designed specifically for your community. Let’s make this year’s Faith Climate Action Week the best ever!


Ryan Smith is a writer at Blessed Tomorrow. He received his master's degree in Religious Studies with an emphasis on faith and climate change from the University of California, Riverside.

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