Faith First Beyond The Open Door

Bloomberg Goes 'Beyond Coal'; Activists Step Up Protests Against Tar Sands

As a brutal heat wave broke hundreds of temperature records across the United States, Bloomberg stood in 100-degree heat on Thursday morning outside the GenOn power plant in Alexandria, Virginia. Joined by Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune, Bloomberg said he hoped his philanthropic contribution would improve public health both at the local level—by reducing emissions of the mercury, dioxin and other pollutants that are released when coal is burned—and at the global level, by limiting the severity of climate change.

“If we are going to get serious about reducing our carbon footprint in the United States, we have to get serious about coal,” said Bloomberg, according to his prepared remarks. “Coal is a self-inflicted public health risk, polluting the air we breathe, adding mercury to our water, and [is] the leading cause of climate disruption.”

Bloomberg’s gift will help the Sierra Club build on the biggest victory against climate change scored to date in the United States: the de facto moratorium on new coal plants achieved in recent years by local activists working under the banner of the club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign . “Since we began targeting coal in 2003, we have blocked 153 planned coal plants from being built,” Brune told The Nation . “Since January 2010, we’ve shut down ninety-one existing plants. Closing those ninety-one existing plants alone will prevent 114 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from entering the atmosphere, which is about the same as taking 20 million cars off the road.”

With Bloomberg’s help, the Beyond Coal campaign now hopes to “revoke the social license for burning coal in this country, just like the social license for smoking cigarettes was revoked,” said Brune. Although many progressives have criticisms of Bloomberg—in fact, Brune notes, the local Sierra Club chapter did not endorse him when he ran for a third term as mayor two years ago—Bloomberg makes a logical partner for such an effort. As mayor, he has championed high-profile initiatives to ban cigarette smoking and slash greenhouse gas emissions. “Some things a modern society can move beyond,” Brune argued. “We don’t cut down old-growth redwood trees anymore to make decking material, and we don’t need to burn coal to keep our iPhones charged.”

The only fossil fuel more dangerous than coal to public health and climate stability is tar sands, and they too are being newly targeted by renewed grassroots opposition. Author and activist Bill McKibben said he has signed up some 1,100 volunteers, including actor Danny Glover, writer Naomi Klein and labor leader Joe Uehlein, to join him in committing civil disobedience in front of the White House beginning on August 20. Their goal is to pressure President Obama to block the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, designed to transport tar sands from Canada to the Gulf Coast. The Canadian province of Alberta has the world’s largest deposits of tar sands, a thick, sticky form of crude oil that requires vast amounts of energy to dislodge from the earth and leaves behind extensive land and water pollution.  Even more environmentally destructive is the burning of tar sands, which have a carbon footprint 82 percent larger than conventional oil, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Little Black Dresses and Pearls: Faith

As a general rule I don't go too far into Christianity on my blog. I could probably name 100 reasons why (which I won't right now). I am a Christian and that is a fact that I am proud of. I am very sure in my faith, even if I don't spout out verses on facebook every day (not that there is anything wrong with that, just not my style). I am very active with my church (CrossTimbers UMC, you should come try it because it really is the best!). I will probably be the first to invite you to church because I really think it is that great (because it is). I did not grow up going to church besides the occasional visit on Easter or with a friend, VBS at a few churches most summers and two trips to Falls Creek. It wasn't until my senior year of high school when I went with my two best friends on a random Sunday (and I'm pretty sure it was because two of the three of us felt guilty for something). After church we had lunch at El Chico and ran into our music teacher (my, now, dear friend Lisa) and she said we should come to youth choir at the Methodist church (Crystal regularly went and Heather and I are not going to be winning any talent shows with our singing ability). We went, then we went to youth afterwards. I had been to youth there a few times with Crystal, whose early high school boyfriend was a member. Clearly I loved youth choir because it was Lisa and it never failed, any time I showed up at youth it was some super serious event usually involving the lights being off and candles. That night was the exact same, specifically a feet washing thing. I spent the evening in a room with one of my childhood guy friends talking about God and life and faith and stuff. We were seventeen. From that night I went to choir and youth every week (if we had perfect choir attendance we were going to see Jekyll and Hyde in Dallas two months later!). We had our first performance at church a few weeks later. We sang a song called "Beyond the Open Door." Until I got to this point in the post I had not heard that song since that day, but I wanted to include a video, so I looked it up and through the marvel that is the internet found it and listened to it again and it was a really, really, really, really fitting song to be the first song I sang in church. We stayed for most of the service before heading out to Crystal's church.I really enjoyed the service. Kind of surprising for someone who does not attend church.

The open door, a challenge to missionary advance; addresses delivered before the first General missionary convention of the Methodist Episcopal church, held in Cleveland, Ohio, October 21 to 24, 1902

Leaps of faith, science, miracles, and the search for supernatural consolation

The open door, sermons and prayers

The holy rose

Enter the Open Door