Dateline Sacramento – More than 100 clergy members from across the religious spectrum have joined 600 people of faith calling on state leaders to support SB 32, a bill before the state Assembly that builds on the pollution reduction gains made by California’s clean air laws.
In a letter delivered yesterday to key Senate and Assembly leaders, members of the state’s faith community reference the moral responsibility to act on climate change and the protection of vulnerable communities as they called on leaders to support enforceable limits on climate pollution.
SB 32 requires slashing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
“I was grateful to stand next to former Gov. Schwarzenegger when he signed AB 32 into law,” said the Rev. Canon Sally Bingham, president and founder of Interfaith Power & Light. “Thirty-two represents people of faith who are profoundly concerned about the climate crisis.
“I am proud to support the continuation of this work to reduce pollution in California. It will protect our state’s most vulnerable communities.”
Rev. Bingham was joined in signing the letter by the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California, as well as bishops, rabbis, evangelical pastors, Buddhist and Catholic monks and nuns, seminary faculty and lay leaders from every part of the state.
This show of interfaith unity on pollution reduction comes after calls from global religious leaders as diverse as Pope Francis, the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu to the world’s faithful to take action on climate change and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The mission of California Interfaith Power & Light is to be faithful stewards of creation by responding to global warming through the promotion of energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. A network of 650 congregations statewide, it is an affiliate of the national Interfaith Power & Light campaign.
For information, contact Program Director Rev. Will Scott at will@interfaithpower.org
