Iowa IPL’s mission is to empower Iowans of faith and conscience to take bold and just action on the climate crisis. I say it daily. I come back to our mission when I feel uncentered and believe in it fully. We are a climate action organization that is rooted in faith; our motivation, driver, and why.
Our Called To Climate Action student leadership program is about integrating faith and climate action at a pivotal moment in life where we can make an impact for years to come. In whatever career or path in life that our students take, they will take climate action into teaching, social work, public health, public service, and in ways that may not be obvious at first.
At the heart of Faith Farms & Climate are faithful conversations about climate in rural spaces that uplift climate-smart agriculture practices. These practices promote healthy soil, which in turn creates clean water and increases productivity, resilience for climate change adaptation, and helps mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. (And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.) Our work on the 2023 Farm Bill, a bill that will have a major impact on the next five years of climate action, is a way for us to share what we are learning from our farmers with all our supporters.
Climate action is not a silo and has never been a stand alone justice issue. As I think about our advocacy and policy work, Iowa IPL leans into how we are all connected. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
As Iowa IPL aspires to live into Dr. King’s words, we cannot take climate action without holding the fact that the climate crisis is impacting marginalized and vulnerable groups disproportionately. Therefore, we advocate for equal voting rights, racial justice, immigrants who are climate refugees, economic justice, labor rights, access to healthy and nutritious food, rural community development, land accessibility, LGBTQIA+ rights, and more… We are taking faithful climate action in ways that break down the silo.
We are a small, yet mighty organization that continues to grow, but we cannot do it all. We are proud to partner with and uplift groups in our state that are doing work we are not. I believe that Iowa IPL is more fully living into our calling and our mission as Iowans of faith and conscience by embracing the entire breadth of climate action. I know that by working collaboratively, we can turn the tide for climate action in Iowa into one that is more equitable for all.
The climate crisis impacts everyone, whether it be directly or indirectly. Iowa IPL will continue to advocate, embolden, and fight for climate action in our state and beyond. I am so grateful that you continue to take climate action with us.
Climate action is interconnected and that gives me hope for the future.