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Franklin Fire in Malibu explodes to 2,600 acres; some homes destroyed; Colorado health care costs rose 139 percent between 2013-2022; NY, U.S. to see big impacts of Trump's proposed budget cuts; Worker-owned cannabis coops in RI aim for economic justices.

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Debates on presidential accountability, the death penalty, gender equality, Medicare and Social Security cuts; and Ohio's education policies highlight critical issues shaping the nation's future.

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Limited access to community resources negatively impacts rural Americans' health, a successful solar company is the result of a Georgia woman's determination to stay close to her ailing grandfather, and Connecticut looks for more ways to cut methane emissions.

Pope's Visit Inspires Climate Change Activism in Arizona

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Thursday, September 24, 2015   

PHOENIX - Today, as Pope Francis addresses a joint session of Congress, a group of religious leaders in Arizona is pressing America's leaders to take the pope's call to action on climate change to heart.

The pontiff released an encyclical in June that called climate change a global problem with grave implications. Pastor Doug Bland is executive director with Arizona Interfaith Power and Light, a group of congregations from multiple religions that works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Grand Canyon State.

He says fixing climate change is a moral issue.

"We're hoping and praying his message about caring for the poor, the least of these, and caring for the planet will be heard by our nation's leaders and other nations' as well," he says.

Bland led dozens of people in a rally in front of Senator John McCain's office Wednesday evening, calling on political leaders to support the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, which calls for a 30 percent cut in carbon-dioxide emissions from existing power plants by 2030 as compared to their 2005 levels.

Arizona has eight coal-fired power plants, facilities that Bland says should clean up their act.

"We do have power plants impacting especially the Navajo reservation and also polluting the air at the Grand Canyon," says Bland. "So, we see a higher incidence of asthma among children near coal-fired power plants."

Interfaith Power and Light's founder, the Reverend Canon Sally Bingham, was part of the religious delegation that greeted the pope at the White House on Tuesday.


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