Send page to a Friend Churches flock together to protect God’s green Earth  Rabbi Eric Gurvis speaking at the event By Laura Crimaldi   Sunday, January 27, 2008   A coalition of interfaith religious leaders are banding together in prayer and action to rally their flocks to combat climate change. "This issue I think is a moral imperative of our time for people of faith," said the Rev. Jack Johnson, director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches. Religious leaders statewide will descend on Beacon Hill Tuesday to push lawmakers to launch a fierce fight against global warming.                                                                                                                                         They are calling for an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the Bay State by 2050, increased use of clean renewable energy, and state investment in opportunities for low-income residents to adopt green practices, said Nancy Banks, executive coordinator of the Massachusetts Interfaith Climate Action Network. The environment has skyrocketed to prominence among religious leaders' platforms in the past year. Pope Benedict XVI, for example, has repeatedly warned that environmental damage hurts God's creation and poses a threat to the poor. In 2002, Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light was established in Brookline to help houses of worship become energy-efficient. Banks said her church, First Parish Church Unitarian Universalist of Stow and Acton, recently completed renovation projects that used recycled wood flooring and wool carpeting. "It's at the core of all our faith beliefs that when each of us talks about the great gift that is the Earth, each of the faiths talk about why we have to maintain the Earth community," Banks said. Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1069218