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Member Interview: Julia Nerbonne, Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light

I had the pleasure of catching up with Julia Nerbonne, who’s part of RE-AMP’s first action team, Faith In Solar. She’s a true collaborator with great energy and we’re grateful to have her as a member of the Network. Sarah Ann Shanahan, Community Manager

 

Sarah Ann Shanahan: Tell us a little about yourself and your role at MN IPL

Julia Nerbonne: I’m the Executive Director at MN Interfaith Power and Light and have been there for almost 5 years. I came to work in the climate movement from a career as an academic and experiential educator.I have a PhD in Conservation Biology and while I spent the first part of my career studying aquatic ecology, I decided during the last years of my study to pivot and start researching social movements. In particular, I studied what it was that makes ordinary people to be motivated to take action. I joined MNIPL after serving as the founding director of MN350, so I had already been initiated into work of building a robust popular movement.  What is unique about MNIPL is that I have an opportunity to build on the energy of existing faith institutions.  Motivating faith leaders to take a lead has so much potential because they represent more than just their own voice.  At MNIPL we think of our work as two tributaries running into a powerful river.  The first tributary is leadership development.  People need skills to find their voice and to develop successful strategies for leading others.  The second tributary is creating powerful actions opportunities.  Creating connected networks that combine leadership with powerful actions is the core of my work.

 

 

Sarah Ann Shanahan: How long have you been a Network member? Why do you and MNIPL engage?

Julia Nerbonne: Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light was a member before I arrived, but I decided really to invest in RE-AMP because I believe well functioning networks are necessary to build the kind of social movement that is able to sustain change. It’s our ability to work together toward a shared goal that will help us win in the future. RE-AMP is a place where that becomes alive for me by building an infrastructure around the unique role that each organization plays. As an example, it was incredible to be part of the Clean Energy and Jobs campaign in which other organizations could help us maximize our impact by mapping out key legislative districts and helping to frame the collective message.  We could then follow up by hosting faith actions specifically in those places without building the campaign from scratch.

 

 

Sarah Ann Shanahan:You’re part of the first RE-AMP Action Team, Faith In Solar. What is your action team hoping to accomplish?

Julia Nerbonne: We believe while solar is complex, and different from state to state, there’s a lot of creative ideas we can share about how we can put regional pressure on the solar industry to pay attention to the needs of all people. The faith community is unapologetically coming at this from a moral perspective. It’s the reason we care about reducing carbon emissions because we see it as a moral justice issue, but we also want to make sure that as the solar revolution comes to the Midwest it will be in a way that all people  have access to it. We can’t afford for solar to become something only available for the most wealthy. Of course in addition to sharing ideas about how to drive the values message, working together is also helpful as we figure out just how to logistically succeed in getting congregations to invest in solar.  

 

 

Sarah Ann Shanahan: What inspires you?

Julia Nerbonne: Success inspires people to keep coming back. So I love spending time exploring what people want to do and helping them be successful.  I come to work, make a plan, figure out who are the best people to do the work and do what I can to make them succeed.

 

 

Sarah Ann Shanahan: Anything else you’d like to share?

Julia Nerbonne: It’s fun to exist in a world where people have different theories of change and are going about developing different solutions to the same vision. I think all of us in RE-AMP can  imagine a world where the people are thriving and where all communities are invested in a carbon neutral economy.  We don’t have to agree on every detail to get there. That’s why I love RE-AMP. I thought MNIPL had all the answers we wouldn’t need to work with anyone else. We don’t, but we do have a valuable perspective.  I appreciate that in a movement there are mosaic of different solutions and even when they sometimes seem messy and at cross purposes there is value in having a variety of approaches.

I want to say that I feel really supported by RE-AMP’s investment in relational organizing The climate conversations grant we got in 2014 transformed our work. Since then we have gone on to host conversations with thousands of people in which we center their experience rather than tell them what to do.  It turns out trying to tell people what to do doesn’t really work, especially in faith communities. By adopting the conversations model we have recruit a core group of social movement actors that we now work with on a daily basis. And that’s all thanks to RE-AMP and our partners!

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