Tennessee Interfaith Power and Light, Knoxville Area Chapter, joined in the Nationwide Climate Prayer, on Friday, April 22, 2022 at noon, in Downtown Knoxville, Tennessee.

Prayers by both faith leaders and lay persons included

• Rev. Charles Fels (retired)
• Pastor Chris Battle (Battlefield Farm)
• Pastor Charley Dever (Hope Church and Ministries)
• Sue Stephens (St. John XXIII^rd Catholic Center)
• Denise Clark (All Saints Catholic Church Creation Care)
• Angela Ogle (Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd)

The weather and companionship were inspiring!  We have a new email address, knoxareaipl@gmail.com.

Our children and grandchildren will bear the brunt of climate change, and their voices have an outsized impact in the halls of power when they speak about how climate change affects their future. TIPL invites you to lean into this sobering and hopeful paradox and work alongside the youth in your congregation or community to speak up for their rights to a stable climate. Make it a focus of your Earth Day worship services and be part of the solution with suggested actions.

There are suggestions and resources for how to get engaged in supporting local climate justice action, and a call for art created by youth and children that envisions a positive future for our Earth through the #ImagineIPL campaign. Additionally, you will find faith-based discussion materials, suggested short films, and a Youth and Children Blessing ceremony.

Faith Climate Action Week Events

• Nationwide Climate Prayer  April 22, noon – 12:30 pm ET
  Charles Krutch Park Gay Street Lawn | 315 Clinch Ave Knoxville, TN 37902
  For more info: courtshea@aol.com
• Climate Change and Children’s Health Webinar April 26, 1:00 – 2:00 pm CT
  The two speakers will be Carol Ziegler, a Professor at Vanderbilt School of Nursing, and Vanessa Lynch, a field organizer for Moms Clean Air Force in western Pennsylvania. Carol is passionate about addressing climate change professionally, as a committed advocate for environmental justice, and as a mother.  She will share about some of the many health impacts of climate change on children.  Vanessa also cares deeply about the danger of climate change and has fought fracking in her community emphasizing its harm to children, including her own.  The focus of her presentation will be on advocacy opportunities. Vanessa shares that “Moms Clean Air Force is a community of over one million moms and dads united against air pollution — including the urgent crisis of our changing climate — to equitably protect our children’s health.”
• Watch these presentations on Climate Change and Children’s Health (passcode: 1+L!LGMr)
  For more info: NashvilleCreationCare@gmail.com
• Kickstand Bicycling Celebration April 30, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm ET
  Sam E. Hill Primary School | 1725 Delaware Ave Knoxville, TN 37921
  For more info: kickstandknoxville@gmail.com
• Interfaith Earth Care Celebration April 30, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm CT
  Downtown Commons | 215 Legion St Clarksville, TN 37040
  For more info: NashvilleCreationCare@gmail.com
• Interfaith Earth Care Celebration May 1, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm CT
  St. Henry Catholic Church | 6401 Harding Pike Nashville, TN 37206

Tennessee Interfaith Power and Light participated in Conservation Education Day at the Tennessee State Legislature. Several environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the Tennessee Environmental Counsel, met with our state senators and representatives to talk about environmental issues affected by current legislation.

Here members from TIPL, Sierra Club, and Tennessee Environmental Counsel meet with Representative Bob Freeman.

TIPL member Marge Davis meets with Representative Mike Sparks during Conservation Education Day at the Tennessee Legislature.

Tennessee Interfaith Power and Light welcomes our newest faith partner, Kaleo Nashville. Kaleo Nashville is a local church indigenous to the streets of south Nashville in the Woodbine neighborhood. Kaleo’s dream is to see how heaven can break into our lives, our city, and our world. Hospitality, presence, mutuality, authenticity, local, growing, and embodied are words used to describe Kaleo.

Kaleo is particularly committed to the Christian calling of serving and keeping creation. Inwardly, Kaleo is committed to a zero-waste church lifestyle and using all resources as regeneratively as possible. This commitment is expressed through everything from dish-washing together to collecting compost. Outwardly, Kaleo’s commitment to Earth-care is expressed through community gardening, stream clean-ups, and other impacts. We strive to send our resources where our bodies cannot go and use our bodies in the places where our hands can reach.

Kaleo Nashville is co-pastored by Emily and Caleb Haynes. In 2021, Caleb released his book “Garbage Theology, The unseen world of waste and what it means for the salvation of every person, every place, and every thing.” The book is a helpful resource for the people of God in reconnecting with issues of environmental justice.

Kaleo Nashville loves visitors! Kaleo is part of the Church of the Nazarene and meets Sundays at 10 am in the Coleman Community Center, 384 Thompson Lane.