Arizona Interfaith Power & Light

09/09/2026

Last week, the UN reported that we’ve passed the 1.5° global warming threshold. It’s not a point-of-no-return, but it is a rude awakening. This news failed to reach beyond the 24 hour news cycle, but this is a headline we can’t ignore. How would you like to share the story in your faith community?

Record heat waves, deadly flooding and extreme weather reflect an ever-warming planet poised to soon breach safe temperature limits, according to a UN report released on Tuesday, but doubling down on climate action now could avoid a climate catastrophe.

08/27/2026

"Arizonans should take the health threats of heat seriously, 'None of us is smarter or stronger than this heat, we are all at risk.’" - Kelli Donley Williams, deputy director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health.

The Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner has confirmed 81 heat-related deaths so far in 2026. At the same point last year, 35 deaths had been confirmed.

08/27/2026

"Arizona knows heat. But in recent years, even long-time residents have felt the difference between a hot summer day and the kind of extreme heat that stretches household budgets, tests local infrastructure and makes reliable electricity a matter of public safety."

Arizona's record summer electricity demand shows why battery storage is becoming an important tool for reliability, affordability and grid flexibility

08/27/2026

Looking for a Good Story to brighten your day? Look no further!

"In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world. . . .

This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud. . . . I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.

Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed. . . . But this cannot be seen, only believed and ‘understood’ by a peculiar gift.”

-

This Good Story is brought to you by Thomas Merton: Trappist monk and author of "Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander”.

To see more stories of connection - to our deepest selves, our neighbors, the wider natural world, and the Holy - follow the Sacred Earth: Common Ground page! You can visit azipl.org/subscribe to join the AZIPL mailing list and receive Good Stories directly to your inbox every two weeks.

If you have a story of your own you’d like to share, please reach out to Rev. Doug Bland ([email protected]).

08/07/2026

Here is a Good Story from Mike Sills-Trausch, President of the AZIPL Board of Directors! Read on for a story of hardship and adventure with a dash of nostalgia.

07/16/2026

Solar energy brings benefits for the environment and local economy, but that’s not all! Turns out solar panels also make great owl habitats… who knew? Check out this article for a bit of good news, and to see a burrowing owl up close!

A solar farm and nonprofit built artificial burrows for burrowing owls at a solar farm in Arizona. The site gave displaced birds a new home. Researchers are now working on ways to help them thrive in the environment.

07/10/2026

"State leaders, environmental groups and consumer advocates say these two repeals will cause energy demand and electricity rates to go up while committing the state to decades of unnecessary climate-warming air pollution from additional fossil fuel infrastructure." Read Joan Meiners' article on reactions to the Corporation Commission scrapping energy efficiency programs.

Since 2011, the statewide standards have saved ratepayers an estimated $1.7 billion on electricity costs, while preventing pollution and grid strain.

07/07/2026

Follow AZIPL's Sacred Earth: Common Ground page!

Right in the middle of our wedding vows, surrounded by the natural beauty of Boyce Thompson Arboretum, a dozen uninvited guests crashed our wedding. They were dressed all in gothic black with bald heads and twisted, ugly faces. They arrived just as Amy and I were promising our love. At that sacred moment, we could feel friends and family losing interest in the ceremony. Wedding guests nudged each other and pointed up. Our beautiful wedding was crashed by a wake---that’s what you call a group of vultures.

At the time, I resented their interruption. Ugly buzzards! But we’ve since come to recognize them as heaven’s holy wedding gift. Now wherever we go, when we see the buzzards surfing the air, we remember our wedding and think about the gifts the vultures give us.

Vultures eat death, cleaning up what would otherwise poison the land. God knows that every relationship has some dead things, some old hurts and putrefying anger that need to be cleaned up before new life can thrive and new love can stand a chance. The turkey vulture that is common in our area, has the scientific name Catharies aur. (Greek catharsis, “to purify,” and Latin aureus, “golden.” “The golden purifier."

Now Amy and I are thrilled to watch buzzards soar. Unlike the eagle that depends on its own superior strength to fly, vultures have learned to rely on the energy that is available to them in the universe. Solar energy warms the ground, which in turn heats up the air. The warmer air expands and rises. Lots of birds ride the thermals, but the vulture is a master surfer.

In Hebrew, the word nesher is often translated as “eagle,” but many scholars agree that “vulture” may be a more accurate translation. “They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings…like vultures” (Isaiah 40:31).

Of all the gifts we received at our wedding, we’ve come to treasure the gifts of the vultures most. We’re grateful that their wake crashed our wedding.

-

"Wedding Crashers” by Rev. Doug Bland, AZIPL Ambassador, is part of our series of Good Stories. To see more stories of connection - to self, nature, and the Holy - follow the Sacred Earth Common Ground page!

06/22/2026

Have you heard? Our new story endeavor, Good Stories, is featured on our new page Sacred Earth: Common Ground. Follow the page; read the stories; share with friends and family. And "like"! 👍💚

We invite you to join us for Good Stories, a storytelling journey into connection, wonder, and the sacred.

“It’s all a question of story,” said cultural historian and Catholic “geologian” Thomas Berry. “We are in trouble just now because we do not have a good story.” Berry believed that the stories we tell shape the way we live on the Earth and with one another. When our stories are rooted in fear, separation, consumption, or despair, we lose our sense of belonging. But stories of connection, wonder, compassion, mystery, and sacred presence can help restore and renew us.

For three years, Arizona Interfaith Power & Light (AZIPL) has produced “Sacred Earth: Common Ground” events where we have invited people to tell stories about times and places where they were deeply connected to themselves, their neighbors, nature and/or the holy. The Celts called these mysterious encounters “thin places,” where the veil between the physical and the spiritual became thin, and distinction between the ordinary and the sacred became indistinguishable. We would like to share some of these good stories with you, hoping that they will inspire your own good stories.

Neuroscience and ancient spiritual traditions alike teach us that storytelling helps human beings connect, something that facts and arguments alone cannot do. When we hear someone speak honestly about awe, wonder, grief, gratitude, or transformation, something deep inside us is awakened. We remember that we, too, have stood under a night sky and felt humbled. We, too, have sensed mystery in the natural world. We, too, have experienced moments of insight, awe, and invitations to transformation.
In a time of ecological crisis, polarization, and disconnection, these stories matter. They help us reconnect with what is sacred. They nurture compassion and resilience. They remind us why the Earth is worth protecting and why community is worth cultivating. They remind us that we are not alone.

Follow the “Sacred Earth: Common Ground” page. Read the stories. Share them with friends and family. Sit with the memories they awaken in you. And perhaps ask yourself:

"When have I experienced a deep connection?”

"When has the world felt luminous, alive, holy, or mysteriously whole?”

"What story within me is waiting to be remembered?"

Through Good Stories, we can rediscover common ground, resilience, and a passion to care for our Mother/Sister Earth.

05/27/2026

We hope you can join us this Thursday evening!

Join us in the S'ed̲av Va'aki Community Room on May 28, 2026 from 6:00PM to 7:30 PM for the Phoenix premiere of Ways of Knowing, an immersive documentary redefining nuclear history with Navajo perspectives. Co-hosted with Arizona Interfaith Power and Light.

𝗪𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 is an immersive short documentary about Navajo resilience to protect health, tradition, and land after enduring extensive uranium mining by the United States, leaving abandoned mines and other nuclear legacy sites containing toxic waste. This film challenges us to think differently about our relationship with land, and illuminates a path towards hope and healing.

Join us after the screening for a Q&A session with the film's executive director Sunny Dooley!

From 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm, enjoy our Thursday Evening reduced museum admission.