What Kind of Advocate Are You?

by Mary Minette
ELCA Director of Environmental Education and Advocacy

RESOLVED, that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, through its Division for Church in Society, convey its concerns about mountain-top removal/valley-fill strip mining, including a copy of this resolution, to the United States Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and appropriate congressional committees; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the Division for Church in Society encourage regions, synods, congregations, and members to contact national and state legislators and prompt them to enact legislation that

• promotes deep mining rather than strip mining;
• develops alternative energy resources that do not require cheap coal; and
• requires land reclamation that renews the environment and restores ecological balance.

- Assembly Action CA99.06.30, passed by the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Denver, CO

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May's "Living Earth" reflection gave you the basic facts about mountaintop removal coal mining: it provides jobs in one of our country's poorest regions, but at the expense of the land, water, culture and community of the Appalachian Mountains. Several years ago, at the urging of several synods in the Appalachian region, the ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopted a social policy resolution that expressed great concern about the destructive practice of mountaintop removal coal mining and urged our church to advocate ending it.

In the years since that resolution passed, numerous efforts have been made to slow or halt the practice of mountaintop mining. The ELCA, through its advocacy office in Washington D.C., has continued to urge both an end to the practice and the development of alternative energy sources which could spur job growth and boost the economy in the Appalachian region and beyond.

This fall will bring some of the best opportunities in many years to help make these goals a reality. Bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate that would curtail the practice of mountaintop coal mining. A climate change and energy bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this summer. This bill would make major investments in the development of clean energy sources and the creation of new clean energy jobs.

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What Can You Do to Help?

Call or write your Representative and your Senators and ask them to cosponsor bills that would limit the practice of mountaintop removal coal mining. In the House, Congressmen Pallone (D-NJ), Yarmuth (D-KY) and Reichert (R-WA) are the sponsors of the Clean Water Protection Act (H.R. 1310). In the Senate, Senators Cardin (D-MD) and Alexander (R-TN) are sponsors of the Appalachia Restoration Act (S. 696). Find out more about both bills (and fact sheets that can help you write a letter) at http://www.ilovemountains.org. Get a copy of the bill and the most current list of co-sponsors from the Library of Congress.

Call or write your Senators and ask them to support climate and energy legislation. One that invests in clean and renewable sources of energy and creates new "green" jobs for coal miners and others. Need some talking points? Click here.

Join an interfaith week of action from October 14-21 urging Congress to support "green" jobs as a pathway out of poverty and as a way to grow our economy while caring for God's earth. "Fighting Poverty With Faith" is a faith-based effort to encourage our elected officials to make these jobs a reality - and to make sure that they go to the people who most need an economic opportunity. Find out how to get involved at http://fightingpovertywithfaith.com Web link.

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Reflection for the Journey

"Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice."

-Micah 6:1

Think about the different kinds of advocates in the Bible: Moses, a reluctant advocate, convinced by God to speak; Queen Esther, a passionate advocate, pleading for the lives of her people; Jesus, a loving and compassionate advocate for the "least of these" who are often forgotten by those in power.

What kind of advocate are you? What kind of advocate do you hope to be?