The strong clean energy leadership of the New Northside Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis is the focus of a video released by the Sierra Club for Netroots Nation 2016, which takes place this week in St. Louis. The conference draws thousands of bloggers, newsmakers, social justice advocates, labor and organizational leaders, grassroots organizers and online activists from across the country and will be hosted at the America’s Center Convention Complex in downtown St. Louis, MO, from July 14–17, 2016.
Rev. Rodrick Burton and his church, the New Northside Missionary Baptist Church on Goodfellow Boulevard, have shown great clean energy leadership by installing solar panels on the church and the congregation’s community center, which Rev. Burton estimates saves the church $3,000 annually.
“I wanted this church to be a leader in the African-American community with regard to practicing sustainable stewardship by using the resources that we have,” said Rev. Rodrick Burton, Pastor with New Northside Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis. “I really wanted us to have solar panels.”
The St. Louis region is home to many coal-fired power plants, which contribute to air pollution and climate change. New Northside Missionary Baptist Church has put its environmental stewardship into action beyond their solar panels through vocal support of the U.S. Clean Power Plan, the nation’s first comprehensive plan to cut carbon pollution from power plants by shifting to clean, renewable energy.
In the video, Rev. Burton points out that St. Louis has some of the worst air pollution in the country. The toxic air pollution combined with hotter days contribute to more bad air alert days, which impact vulnerable populations like asthmatics and the elderly. The St. Louis region has seen more than forty bad air alert days this spring and summer.
“Polluters are out fighting progress on clean energy in order to protect their bottom lines. By working together with New Northside Missionary Baptist Church and other partners across the city of St. Louis to support the U.S. Clean Power Plan, we can finally clean up St. Louis’ air pollution and strengthen our economy with clean energy jobs,” said John Hickey, Director of the Sierra Club’s Missouri Chapter.
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