New Haven Independent

The group met on Monday afternoon at Christ Chapel on Dixwell Avenue. Attendees included bicycle advocates, bio-regionalists, environmental justice activists and representatives from Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the Peabody Museum. Also, members of several faith communities.

They were inspired by a talk at the recent Gospel Fest in New Haven by Jerome Ringo, an African American who is chairman of the board of the National Wildlife Federation and executive director of the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of unions and environmental organizations to create jobs while addressing global climate change. He spent last semester at Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and is coming back for the fall semester.

The call went out for a follow-up meeting to discuss ways to “meet the challenges of global warming and just participation in creating a healthy future.”

The group is planning education and action steps to reduce global warming, including a multi-racial bike ride on the Farmington Canal and environmental youth groups in churches, synagogues and mosques, mentored by environmental studies students.

Robin Schafer (pictured above with Bishop William Philpot — note the bicycle and the fans, two energy-efficient accessories) is affiliated with the New Haven Environmental Justice Network and Elm City Cycling. She is the organizer of the Earth Prayers Service held every other Tuesday evening at St. John’s Episcopal Church. She said she spoke with Ringo after his talk regarding the concerns of environmentalists and Hill residents about the impact of Yale New Haven Hospital’s expansion in the Hill. She wants to organize a walk in the Hill neighborhood to address these issues.

“He was quite excited about it,” she said. “He was talking about organizing a walk across America, and he wants to see how our little walk goes.”

Bishop Philpot, pastor of Christ Chapel, graciously passed around trays of fruit and chips to the 15 or so people in attendance. He said his congregation is dealing with many problems, and climate change is just one of them. Click here for more.

Nate Bixby (pictured) chaired the meeting. He is founder of Network for a Sustainable New Haven and membership director at the Peabody. He said he hoped the love shown by Bishop Philpot and his congregation “can take root and continue to grow, because it’s going to take continual nurturance and attention. It’s not going to grow on its own.”

Rachel Novick is earning her doctorate at Yale in ecology and evolutionary biology, has a new baby, and will - in her spare time - be providing some of the organizational energy for this as yet unnamed group. “This committee has brought religious and environmental leaders in New Haven together for the first time,” she said. “These are people who otherwise would never have met and are working together and enriching each other.”