Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light

Join us for our first ever Drag Queen Bingo Fundraiser with local legends Nina DiAngelo and Monica West on July 30 at 6:30 at Roxy’s Cabaret!

All proceeds from bingo and the raffle will go directly to MNIPL! Space is limited, so make sure you RSVP!

Note: When you RSVP, you’ll have to select July 30 from the calendar to get tickets to this specific date.

https://www.exploretock.com/the-nicollet-diner-and-roxys-cabaret-minneapolis/event/373276?date=2024-07-30&size=1&time=19%3A00

So proud and thankful for our summer interns from the University of North Carolina: Varun Varadarajan, Alexandra Newmark, Anisha Musti, Alena Thomas, and Atef Mohamed!

They've worked hard over the last 8 weeks to research and develop a tool for people to use to get clear recommendations on how to decarbonize their homes and buildings. More on that soon!

Thank you interns!

If you're in the Twin Cities, check out this Thursday's Movies for Resilience at Sabathani Community Center: The Lorax!

MNIPL's own Joshua Lewis will be facilitating a discussion after the movie on how communities can be more resilient in the face of climate disruption. Check it out!

Register here!

Movies for Resilience - Registration

📣 Urgent Action Alert! 📣

Thanks to people like you, MN passed legislation that requires us to get 100% of our electricity from carbon-free sources by 2040. Unfortunately, polluters are now pushing to Public Utilities Commission to consider things like burning garbage or emitting CO2 but using it to push oil out of the ground as "carbon-free".

We need you to tell the PUC that carbon-free means carbon-free!

Send them a comment here:

Carbon Free PUC

Tomorrow is the big day! 🎉

There's still time to get tickets to Laugh & Learn: Grammy's Climate Ride with the Theater of Public Policy!

Come enjoy some improv and support Donna Minter as she prepares for her bike ride across the county to raise money for climate action organizations! We hope to see you there!

Laugh & Learn: Grammy's Climate Ride with the Theater of Public Policy Laugh & Learn: Kate Nelson's Sustainability Program at the UMN & Grammy's Climate Bike Ride Across the USA with T2P2 Improv Comedy

Eid Mubarak!

From our friends at Minnesota Multifaith Network:

Eid al-Adha, also known as the Festival of Sacrifice, is a significant holiday in the Islamic calendar. The second of the two major annual festivals, Eid al-Adha takes place on the 10th of the lunar month of Dhul-Hijjah, coinciding with the third day of the annual Hajj (pilgrimage) ritual. This Eid celebration lasts for three days, earning the colloquial name “big Eid” in various cultures. This year, depending on the sighting of the moon, Eid al-Adha will begin on June 16th or 17th.

This celebration is rooted in the story of Prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God's command. Muslims who can afford to are instructed to sacrifice an animal and distribute some of the meat to those who cannot afford it.

The spirit of this holiday is thus reflection, gratitude, and sharing blessings with others. It's a time when communities come together, families bond over delicious feasts, with acts of charity and kindness abound.

The first day of Eid begins with a special communal prayer, after which it is traditional to visit friends and family, exchange gifts, and distribute meat from the sacrificial animals to the poor. Be sure to wish a happy Eid to your community members this weekend!

We’re excited to see the work People Not Polluters covered in the Star Tribune this week and we're excited to be part of this coalition! 🎉

Historically, Minnesota has been a national leader in environmental protection. But for years now, state agencies have routinely sided with polluters, not people. Polluters in our state have had an outsized influence on our regulators' decisions, and it's hurting people across the state.

Read examples of how polluters have benefitted at the expense of Minnesotans here: www.peoplenotpolluters.com

https://m.startribune.com/environmental-groups-say-minnesota-failed-to-stop-polluters-should-hold-statehouse-hearings-on-enforcement/600372422/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=politics&clmob=y&c=n&clmob=y&c=n

Environmental groups say Minnesota failed to stop polluters, should hold statehouse hearings on enforcement From industrial plants to farm country pollution, the MPCA, DNR, MDH and MDA have lapsed in environmental enforcement, a coalition of environmental groups claims.

The quarterly public input meeting for MNCIFA is today at 5:30! Feel free to hop on and offer your thoughts on this important work!

You can find the Zoom link near the end of this website!

MN Climate Innovation Finance Authority / Minnesota Department of Commerce - Energy During the 2023 Session, the Minnesota Legislature passed bills that created and funded the Minnesota Climate Innovation Finance Authority (MnCIFA). The mission of MnCIFA, a publicly-accountable financing authority commonly known in other states as a “green bank,” will be to accelerate the adopt...

Wondering what happened this legislative session, especially for Indigenous rights and climate justice?

The Rise & Repair Coalition has you covered!
Join us Friday for a post-session debrief!
RSVP here: riseandrepair.org/debrief

Check out this article about how MNIPL and other groups like Clean Energy Resource Teams , COPAL MN, and the Just Solar Coalition are helping low-income immigrant neighbors use the IRA and other incentives to transition to safer and more sustainable forms of energy!

Energy-efficiency benefits and rebates abound. How to connect with them? Many groups are helping lower-income and immigrant Minnesotans save money and cut carbon emissions through the Inflation Reduction Act.

An MNIPL and Rise and Repair crew will be heading up to Giiwedinong this weekend. Excited to see the installation of the Afraid Not to Look Sculpture in Park Rapids. Message Julia Frost Nerbonne if you'd like to meet up. We will be camping weather permitting.

Charles Rencountre “Not Afraid to Look” sculpture — Giiwedinong Treaty Rights & Culture Museum “Not Afraid to Look” is a sculpture erected at the Sacred Stone Camp on the Missouri River during the Standing Rock resistance gathering. The sculpture emerged from an “effigy pipe," originally carved and used at the end of the 17th century.

Omnibus on Ag, Commerce, Energy, Enviro, Climate started today. You can follow along here: https://www.senate.mn/schedule/live/18806/20240514

Our very own Sara Wolff will be testifying.

Note that Rise and Repair has various positions on bill: https://riseandrepair.org/conference-committees
Please let your legislators know these positions!

Join us tonight in Duluth!

From Sierra Club North Star Chapter:

Push back on Minnesota Power's rate hike! 💵📈 Join us tonight!

Do you get your electricity from Minnesota Power? If yes, then you have a stake in our utility's request to raise your electric rates. 🔌

We're teaming up with Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light to host information sessions.

TONIGHT Monday, May 13th 6pm at First United Methodist in Duluth or Wednesday, May 15th at noon online.

Learn more & RSVP here: https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=7013q000002Jy1WAAS

[Duluth] Info Session: MN Power's rate increase Learn about Minnesota Power's latest request to raise electric rates and how you can push back!

📣Action Alert!📣

We need you to ask your legislators to oppose changes to permitting laws that benefit fossil fuels and false solutions!

The permitting reform bill moving through the Minnesota legislature has some harmful provisions that would make it easier to build pipelines and undermine environmental review.

Please take action by using this link to send a letter to your legislators today!

Permitting Bill 2024 Please enter you address and select your group below. Once you do that, an auto-populated email will come up to your legislator(s). You can hit preview to see the final email (which will include their name at the top of the email). 

The Rise & Repair alliance has been working on a number of bills supporting Indigenous rights and climate justice, many of which have been rolled into Omnibus bills that are being considered today!

Interested in tracking on these bills? Check out the live stream!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2ETJT0T3ew

Check out the Rise & Repair policy positions on some of these bills here: https://riseandrepair.org/conference-committees

Senate Floor Session - 05/06/24 Agenda:S.F. 4942 (Frentz) Omnibus Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Utilities, Environment and Climate supplemental appropriationsH.F. 5237 (Kunesh) Omnibus Edu...

The State of the Water: White Earth Water Summit
Thursday, May 30th
8:30AM-4:30PM

REGISTRATION IS OPEN:
https://z.umn.edu/WhiteEarthWaterSummit
REGISTER BY MAY 24th

Check out the agenda at: https://z.umn.edu/WhiteEarthWaterAgenda

White Earth Tribal and Community College
2250 Mahnomen College Rd
Mahnomen, MN 56557

For more information or to register by phone contact 218-935-0417 EXT 8349 or email [email protected].

URGENT ACTION ALERT!

Permitting reform can help streamline solar and wind projects, but the MN Senate permitting reform bill also contains a number of add-ons that could benefit fossil fuel companies and make environmental reviews of potential projects less transparent.

Please contact your state representative with this link TODAY to ask them to make sure permitting reform is focused on green energy and to keep environmental review where it is!

Permitting Reform Bill 2024

We have been disheartened by the misinformation on Land return bills proposed at the MN Legislature this session. We provided this insightful letter to every single member of the Legislature as part of Rise & Repair: https://riseandrepair.org/news/letter-of-support-for-legislation-returning-land-to-indigenous-nations-in-minnesota

This is a good opportunity for us all to understand why Minnesota must return land to Tribes.

Please share this letter with your legislators.

Big news from the national Interfaith Power & Light! These national guidelines are going to have some immediate impacts in Minnesota: they should be helpful in the effort to block the new NTEC gas plant in Superior, and also in accelerating the closure of existing coal generation plants in the state.

This is a big win! 🎉

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized stronger protections for pollution from power plants to protect our health, climate, + communities. 👏 The updated standards:
✅
✅ Reduce mercury pollution
✅ Require power plants to clean up toxic coal ash
✅ Limit wastewater pollution

https://interfaithpowerandlight.org/blog/2024/04/25/interfaith-power-light-celebrates-epa-finalization-of-power-plant-pollution-rules/

Happy Earth Day, friends! 💚🌏💚

Today, we invite you to join us in reflecting on this important question: How can you show your love for our world today?

Need some ideas? Check out our Earth Day toolkit with three tangible actions you and your community can take to demonstrate your love for our planet!

https://www.mnipl.org/take-action/earth-day-2024/

This looks so fabulous! Come on out you all.

Come out, drink fancy coffee and eat bars (MN does them best, just sayin'), and enjoy a fun variety of songs this weekend!! You can feel the love in every rehearsal, so the concert itself is bound to be a delight. PLUS-all monies raised are going to Isanti County Parksand Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light!

We're so excited to be supported by Donna Minter and her GRAMMY Ride this year! Donna is planning to bike 3200 miles from San Diego, CA to Saint Augustine, FL in order to raise $500K to support 5 organizations, including MNIPL.

Check out this article Donna wrote about why this work is important to her and why she's going to ride 3200 miles this fall!

https://climategen.org/blog/get-outside-with-grammy/?utm_source=Climate%20Generation&utm_campaign=de8d6961d4-CLIMATEGEN_APRIL-GIST_2024-04-16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4574e77afe-de8d6961d4-260280490&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2LALQRH5ETcDRUJaOEZntyu1mtTnVynfooog6CcEREE-R4ZvPBW7p73eA_aem_ASn5dDaOb9J1lDg0iqAsM_knai5GsdTrag6fuCwgVfVdLSKutGmgA_RwipNletCPtvqusqMU8ra9sQ_RbWs5ps8c

Get Outside with Grammy - Climate Generation Several years ago, at our annual family reunion, while tucking my seven-year-old granddaughter Hawith into bed, I laid down next to her for a goodnight grammy chat. She leaned close to me and intently said, “Grammy, I want to do adventures with you!” Immediately I responded, “Hawith, you do no...

So fun to check out the Mount Zion's Climate Action Resource Fair!

Excited to see real progress on Clean Cars!

'This will be something that people see and feel’: What to expect from Biden's clean car push The Biden administration is launching its most aggressive regulation to stem tailpipe pollution.

Yesterday's Rise & Repair Rally + Lobby Day for Indigenous Rights and Climate Justice was absolutely incredible! ✨

We're filled with so much gratitude for the hundreds of folks who showed up, for all the amazing speakers and advocates, for the Rise & Repair partners, and all the legislators who met with us.

We got things moving yesterday, y'all! Thank you so much for your continued support of Indigenous rights and climate justice – let's keep up the good work! 🌎