Sustainable Futures Task Force

New Mexico Conference of Churches
Albuquerque, NM

The New Mexico Conference of Churches (NMCC) sees their involvement with issues of environmental justice as going hand-in-hand with the proper practice of their faith, seeing advocacy for sustainability and environmental justice as “spirit in action.” And in action they have been, especially since July 2002, when the group launched its extremely ambitious environmental initiative, the Sustainable Futures Task Force (SFTF): an advocacy organization that has grown from 30 original members to a thriving group of 150 activists bringing a moral and prophetic voice to environmental advocacy in New Mexico.

The membership of the SFTF is a blend of congregants from the NMCC and representatives with expertise in environmental and public policy, and the task force has witnessed the creative synergy that resulted from this blend of backgrounds, which has often given the “secular” members a renewed connection to the moral drive behind their long-time advocacy work, and has introduced the “faith-based” participants to the world of tactical public advocacy and complicated issues regarding policy change. The monthly meetings of the SFTF therefore provide an important bridge between two different groups striving for the same goal: environmental sustainability.

The accomplishments of the coalition task force are impressive, including the publication and dissemination of the group’s resounding charter statement, the “New Mexico Sustainability Energy Charter: A Citizen Initiative (PDF),” in 2003, which calls on civil society to respond to global warming by moving to sustainable energy and demanding that the political system respond to their concerns.

SFTF has also participated in numerous other initiatives, including filing an amicus brief in a successful federal appeals court case defending the Endangered Species Act; testifying and writing papers to the New Mexico Legislature and Albuquerque City Council supporting sustainable state and city water policy; sponsoring a major conference on global warming and energy policy that again joined scientists and congregants in calls for reform, and which directly resulted in the convening of the New Mexico Sustainable Energy Campaign; organizing New Mexico’s participation in the Interfaith Climate Change and Energy Campaign and New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light; leading religious efforts in the state to defeat the Bush Administration Energy Bill with editorials and communications with the Congressional delegation; and participating in the New Mexico Environmental Health Council, Environmental Legislative Coordinating Group and the steering committee of New Mexico Livable Futures Coalition.