I come from people who say “uff dah”—a Norwegian American exclamation you might use when finally sitting down to relax after a long day, or when several inches of snow have fallen and you’re imagining the effort it will take to bundle up and shovel. It’s a flexible expression that can be used across a range of circumstances (good and bad), but mostly describes something remarkable, surprising, or overwhelming.

Now that you’ll know what I mean, I’ll begin my year-end reflection in my native parlance:
Uff dah. It’s been quite a year.

We’ve had some setbacks as a nation and as an organization. You might say that Michigan IPL’s setbacks mirror a slice of what our country as a whole is facing. Exciting legislation was passed, funds were appropriated, contracts were signed, and meaningful investments into our communities were promised… then taken away.

The cancellation of federal grants cut Michigan IPL’s budget this year by 40% and prevented us from hiring two additional full-time staff members who would have empowered more congregation partners to better serve their communities—especially those on the margins.

Our financial outlook for next year is even more challenging.

I'm writing this to share the goodness we’re still sowing in the world—in spite of all this—and also to ask: will you consider including Michigan IPL in your year-end giving?

The Trump administration is slashing budgets, clawing back funding for our communities, and taking us backwards on climate action. It is hard to know what to do, and where to begin, in the midst of this chaos. 

Action is an antidote to despair. Here are some things that you can do right now.

Leave us a note if there's an action you'd like us to share. 

Join us on the first Tuesday of each month from 8-8:30pm as we call our lawmakers!  Each month, we choose a timely issue, provide a sample script and lawmaker phone numbers, and Call for Climate Justice. Together!  RSVP here to get the standing Zoom link.

Across the country, climate change are communities are putting lives at risk while facing record heat, devastating wildfires, severe floods, and other extreme weather disasters that are growing more frequent and destructive. Proactive climate action is needed to deliver justice for the communities that were hit the hardest by weather disasters. Join us in signing this petition demanding that Congress takes urgent action against climate change.

The Trump administration intends to open up 13.1 million acres of federal land to coal mining, which threatens local economies and public health. Trump is forcing coal plants to remain operational beyond their scheduled retirement dates and has announced $625 million in investments for these plants, which will cause our electric bills and pollution levels to skyrocket. Join us in signing this petition demanding that Trump retire the coal plants!

President Trump's "Polluter First" agenda favored costly coal power for billionaires at the expense of our health and environment. Renewable energy, on the other hand, has delivered $300 billion in health benefits, saving money and protecting families from pollution. We oppose coal bailouts that increase our bills and pollution levels and demand a transition to renewable energy for a cleaner future. Sign this petition to tell Trump's administration that we oppose coal bailouts.

We can't wait to get started!

This historic initiative, led by EcoWorks, in collaboration with Solar Faithful, will help 15 community-serving houses of worship and food assistance programs in environmental justice neighborhoods become climate resilience hubs.

We hosted an announcement and surprised our community partners with the news at St. Peter's. Joining us were dignitaries including Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and Regina Strong, the Environmental Justice Public Advocate at EGLE.

Earlier this year, I was mistaken for someone famous. 

A restaurant worker approached me as I waited for lunch: “I just want you to know… I’m such a huge fan," she said, looking at my very intensely. "I love your work." 

For a split second there, I sure did think: “Whoa! Michigan IPL is so much higher profile than I realized! How amazing that our good work is being seen by the public and that faithful climate action is on their radar…” 

Look at our beautiful Board! 

In my hometown of Detroit, everything revolves around the automotive industry—the steel mills, the oil refinery, the plants that create the plastics and the parts to build our cars. Dubbed the "Motor City," the auto industry is woven into Detroit, for better – and for worse – to power American-made automobiles.

Raised as a lifelong Detroiter from zip code 48217, my roots connect back to the auto industry, too. Like many in my community, I worked in the auto industry as a tenured worker at General Motors (GM) for over 15 years.

Unbeknownst to me, as I played my small part in GM's success, my health was deteriorating both physically and mentally.

The dirty, gas-powered cars and trucks popularized by companies like GM pollute our air and greatly contribute to our growing climate crisis. In the United States, the transportation industry is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, so it comes as no surprise that 48217 is the most toxic zip code in Michigan. Air pollution is not only a contributing factor to climate change; it is a national public health concern.

When I left GM, I didn't set out to be an environmental advocate. I had been earning a middle-class living, but despite my experience and years of work, at the time, there was little opportunity to grow as a Black woman in the auto industry. I had to continue working in the plants, and eventually I was forced to leave because of my health.

Don't wait to access energy savings and efficiency options for your community of faith! Put your faith into action and take steps today that will benefit your congregation and creation tomorrow!

Top places to start with energy efficiency:

1. Lighting upgrades often pay for themselves in a year or two and result in significant electricity savings. In addition to changing out incandescents for LEDs or fluorescents for T-LEDs, consider motion sensors. 
   
   
2. Weatherization such as caulking and air sealing is relatively low-cost and can reduce drafts, improving comfort and reducing heating costs.
   
   
3. Boiler tune-ups can yield savings with relatively low initial investment, and your utility may offer attractive rebates that cover the majority of the cost (see University Lutheran's story below). 
   
   
4. Wi-Fi thermostats can help you reduce energy waste by increasing your ability to control your building's temperature at a distance and on-demand (through your smart phone).  
   
   

University Lutheran Church, East Lansing accessed huge savings and rebates through their utility.

St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Detroit found denominational grant funding to replace crumbling, single-paned wood windows in their historic building.  As a result, the congregation has been better equipped to generate revenue by offering more comfortable and functional space to tenants (like Michigan IPL!). 

As 2021 draws to a close, I'm writing this to share with you where our issues stand and what I believe our movement of people of faith and conscience for climate justice must do next.  

The possibility of a world where all beings can thrive has taken some big hits recently.

The agreement coming out of COP 26—November’s global climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland—has been called a “death sentence” for the poorest people on our planet. Our nation’s most ambitious investment in climate and communities to date, the Build Back Better Act, is now stalled in the Senate. Meanwhile, earlier this fall, a military budget that dwarfs any proposed climate spending was rubber stamped with bipartisan support and without fanfare.

Thousands of starlings move together as one before resting for the night. Scientists hypothesize that they may do this to confuse predators and minimize individual risk. 

At Haven House, every dollar saved on utilities can be put toward sheltering families and helping them on their paths toward stable homes. 

Founded in 1983, Haven House’s emergency shelter facility was built in the 1950s, which meant there were a lot of opportunities to improve improve comfort and efficiency and lower operating costs.  

If we can save money on our electric bill, then we can spend that money on helping our clients with moving costs.

Representatives from Michigan IPL, the Islamic Center of East Lansing, Haslett Community Church, and University Lutheran Church present Haven House with a donation of $5,500 to be used toward energy improvements. 

With a $5,500 donation from Haslett Community Church, University Lutheran Church, the Islamic Center of East Lansing, and Michigan IPL's Carbon Fund, Haven House made energy upgrades to its facility. They upgraded the lights in their emergency shelter to LEDs, installed energy efficient air conditioning, new windows, and additional insulation. 

I had never thought in depth about my relationship with nature or anything having to do with the environment until the summer of 2013.

At the time, I had just finished my second year of Rabbinic School and was spending the summer working as a Young Adult Interfaith Coordinator at the Chautauqua Institution, an education and arts community in southwestern New York state. Each week, we heard from speakers from around the country, who addressed themes from various religious and scientific perspectives. From clergy and scientists, we learned the creation stories of different cultures and about our roles at this point in the Universe’s history.

One idea changed the trajectory of my life: humanity’s resourcefulness, creativity, and wisdom have not only brought unimaginable blessings to the world, but these same strengths have made us so destructive to other species and our very own habitat that we are unleashing a global extinction.

At Sunnyside UMC, garden manager Rachelle Yeaman tells the story of the Growing Community Garden, a collaboration with Fresh Fire AME Church, as tour-goers gather under the welcome shade of a centrally located maple tree.

Recognizing that, in work at the intersection of racial and environmental justice, trusting and mutually beneficial relationships are key, Hope for Creation (MIIPL’s southwest Michigan affiliate) is building connections around shared interests in working the soil.

With the support of generous grants from the Congregation of St. Joseph and the Mesara Family Foundation, we are engaging master gardeners and other volunteers in our member congregations to develop partnerships in neighborhoods facing food insecurity, with the twin goals of expanding capacity to produce healthy food and safe neighborhoods and of building lasting healing relationships between people of faith from diverse communities. Our focus in 2021 is supporting collaboration in neighborhoods that are environmental hot-spots in Kalamazoo and fostering connections between established and emerging gardening efforts.

What is our response, as people from faith communities, to the challenges of climate change and racial injustice? Individually, our houses of worship have already begun to highlight a path to a renewable future. Together, we can do much more! 

Project highlights

In 2022, the Capital Area Chapter (CAC) raised funds for a solar installation at the South Side Community Coalition. The array was installed in the spring and celebrated on Earth Day! Read more about that project here. In 2023, the group raised money to fund the installation of a solar array for an all-electric home in a new affordable housing development not far from the South Side Community Coalition. 

In 2025, volunteers with the CAC completed phase two of the Attwood Park pocket forest project, planting 28 trees (provided by Lansing Parks and Recreation Department) under the leadership of Forestry Supervisor Irene Cahill and cooperation with Peoples Church Earth Stewardship Committee, Lansing's Forestry Service and the city's Operations and Maintenance Department. Volunteers also performed major upkeep on the 20 trees (all are doing well) planted earlier this year during phase one of the pocket forest, located in the south Lansing 25-acre park. Over the past two years, the MIIPL sponsored event in Lansing has seen the area's canopy grow by over 200 total trees within two city parks.

Each month, CAC joins Hope For Creation for Calling for Climate Justice, a virtual action event where community members spend 30 minutes contacting their elected officials about key climate justice issues. Join them the first Tuesday of each month - register here. 

Members of congregations from the Lansing area are joining together to promote transformative climate action in our community. The Capital Area Chapter's efforts currently involve members from:

• Presbyterian Church of Okemos
• Haslett Community Church UCC, Edgewood United Church (E. Lansing)
• Islamic Center of East Lansing
• First Presbyterian Church of Lansing
• Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lansing
• All Saints Episcopal Church (E. Lansing), University Lutheran Church (E. Lansing)
• Kehillat Israel (Lansing)
• Community of Christ (Lansing)
• People's Church (E. Lansing)
• Faith Lutheran (Okemos)
• Charlotte Congregational UCC

Today, I spoke at an EPA hearing about the draft Clean Car standards proposed earlier this month. This is my testimony:

My name is Leah Wiste, and I’m the Executive Director of Michigan Interfaith Power & Light. We work with over 300 member congregations throughout the state, which comprise thousands of people of faith and conscience committed to bold climate action and protecting our communities.  Thank you for allowing me to offer testimony today.

When President Biden announced the draft tailpipe emissions standards earlier this month, Michigan Congressman Dan Kildee offered a strange kind of praise, saying “This is sort of a Goldilocks goal… Not too much, not too little. It’s just right.” But it’s clear that the time has passed for moderate, “not too much, not too little” policy.

At Sunnyside UMC, garden manager Rachelle Yeaman tells the story of the Growing Community Garden, a collaboration with Fresh Fire AME Church, as tour-goers gather under the welcome shade of a centrally located maple tree.

Recognizing that, in work at the intersection of racial and environmental justice, trusting and mutually beneficial relationships are key, Hope for Creation (MiIPL’s southwest Michigan affiliate) is building connections around shared interests in working the soil.

With the support of generous grants from the Congregation of St. Joseph and the Mesara Family Foundation, we are engaging master gardeners and other volunteers in our member congregations to develop partnerships in neighborhoods facing food insecurity, with the twin goals of expanding capacity to produce healthy food and safe neighborhoods and of building lasting healing relationships between people of faith from diverse communities. Our focus in 2021 is supporting collaboration in neighborhoods that are environmental hot-spots in Kalamazoo and fostering connections between established and emerging gardening efforts.

Cultivating Community
Posted by Joan Hawxhurst · July 15, 2021 9:49 AM

Michigan Interfaith Power & Light is helping congregations who have already received a free Energy Analysis take the next steps in your energy stewardship journey: