The North Georgia Conference United Methodist Women (UMW) has recently partnered with South Georgia UMW and Georgia Interfaith Power and Light (GIPL) to inform and challenge women of faith in Georgia around the topic of Just Energy in Georgia. With funding provided by the national office of UMW in January, several new community engagement projects have already been launched.
The Georgia Just Energy for All project was initiated by Rev. Beverly Marshall-Goodell, BS, MS, PhD, MDiv. Rev. Marshall-Goodell is a retired UM elder from the Iowa Conference. She currently serves as Social Action Coordinator for the North Georgia Conference UMW. Rev. Marshall-Goodell studied physics and philosophy at FSU before completing her graduate work there in experimental psychology. She conducted animal learning research and taught at The University of Iowa for 19 years and served as the founding director for their Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Program. In 1998 she accepted a call to ordained ministry and completed her MDiv at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 2001. For 20 years she served UM churches in Illinois and Iowa. She retired to Georgia in 2018 to be close to her two sons and two grandsons. There she established the Table at Tillman dinner church and has recently started a community garden at the Tillman House Resource Center, a ministry of Smyrna First UMC. A trained spiritual director, she also offers individual and group spiritual direction.
This year, we have a unique opportunity to pursue federal legislation related to climate change and just energy. On April 15, as part of the UMW Federal Legislative Day, we met with staffers for Senator Raphael Warnock and five Georgia Representatives in 15-minute virtual meetings to encourage them to implement legislation designed to support a shift to 100% Renewable Energy and Clean Transportation as well as planning a Just Transition to these goals. These meetings helped us establish connections with legislators that we hope to maintain.
Our second project was a shared Spiritual Growth and Social Action Event on May 1, called, “For the Beauty of the Earth.” This free, 90-minute virtual gathering attracted nearly 200 participants, as we learned: 1) What Our Faith Tells Us About Creation Care, 2) the Story of Just and Unjust Energy, and 3) How Our Faith Calls us to Action. Our Presenters included Rev. Jenny Phillips, Senior Technical Advisor for Environmental Sustainability at UM Board of Global Ministries; Hannah Shultz from Georgia Interfaith Power and Light; Pamela Perkins Carn, a Georgia writer and community organizer; and Rev. Millie Kim, UM EarthKeeper working on a recycling project in Rome, Georgia. A video recording of this event is available on the North Georgia Conference UMW website (www.ngumw.org) under the Media, Videos and Webinars tab.
We are currently developing a series of three 90-minute virtual workshops to be presented this summer, designed to inspire local UMW units to develop their own Just Energy Projects.
Workshop 1, scheduled for June 26, will focus on What Our Faith Tells Us About Creation Care. Following an introductory consideration of what the Bible and UM Social Principles and Resolutions tell us about the goodness of creation and our role in caring for the earth and its people, four women of faith will share why they care about God’s creation by focusing on the problems that result from our failure to care. Rev. Millie Kim will discuss the problem of garbage. Rev. Rachel Collins will discuss the problem of monocropping in large-scale food production. JaMell R. Hill will share about the problem of air and water pollution, Finally, Hermina Glass-Hill will discuss ways to manage the ecological grief caused by environmental destruction.
Workshop 2, scheduled for July 24, will expand on Stories of Just and Unjust Energy in Georgia. Our faith calls us to be caretakers of our planet and to listen to the stories of those who suffer the impacts of unjust systems. Hannah Shultz, Program Associate at Georgia Interfaith Power and Light will address the environmental and public health impacts associated with our current energy generating sources by looking specifically at the improper storage of coal ash, the issues with biomass energy, and the factors contributing to energy burden in our communities. Participants will also hear stories from residents in frontline communities who have been directly impacted by the threats associated with energy inequities in GA.
Workshop 3, scheduled for August 7, is titled Changing the Future: Just Energy for All. As people of faith, we are called into action to envision and enact a future where all of God’s people are protected from environmental threats and injustices. In this workshop, Hannah Shultz, Program Associate at Georgia Interfaith Power and Light, will explore clean energy options such as energy efficiency and solar and ways your faith community can advance clean energy as individuals and a congregation. Participants will receive tools for engaging in advocacy, information on enrolling in GIPL’s Power Wise program, and an invitation to schedule one-on-one consultations with GIPL staff to learn more about developing clean energy solutions for your congregation.
Workshop participants will be encouraged to develop a Just Energy Action Plan for themselves, their local units, and their congregations. In the fall, Georgia Interfaith Power and Light will begin scheduling one-on-one workshops with groups interested in establishing their own Green Team to address concerns specific to their church or community.
We are excited about our work thus far, and we continue to learn more about what individuals and small groups of believers can to do to make a difference both locally and globally. We expect to post links to videos of the summer workshops on our web site once they have been completed.
In Christ, Rev. Beverly Marshall-Goodell