Partners for Environmental Quality, Inc. (PEQ)
| Abstract | A non-profit corporation composed of members of diverse religious communities in New Jersey, Partners for Environmental Quality (PEQ) works to foster ecological stewardship and sustainability within religious congregations, judicatory bodies and other religion-based organizations. Currently, PEQ members represent fifteen different religious traditions and denominations, including Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism, and Judaism. Since 1992, PEQ has collaborated with state, national, and international environmental organizations to sponsor conferences, programs, training seminars, advocacy campaigns, publications, and projects on a wide range of environmental and public health issues. PEQ educational programs provide opportunities for reflecting on the spiritual dimensions of environmental protection as well as information about environmental health, sustainability, and environmental justice. The Reverend Fletcher Harper, executive director of PEQ, preaches and teaches in various settings on topics related to environmental stewardship. Through its sustainability consulting services, PEQ helps congregations become better stewards of their land and resources while also cutting expenditures through energy and resource conservation and environmentally-conscious purchasing programs. Through a new initiative called “Lighting the Way,” PEQ is helping to install solar panels on twenty-five houses of worship. Since 1999, PEQ has promoted the use of renewable energy to New Jersey’s religious community and has successfully urged many denominational leaders to adopt the New Jersey Covenant of Sustainability—a New Jersey version of the Kyoto Accord. |
| Religion | Inter-religious (Jewish and Christian) |
| Geographic Location | United States of America (New Jersey) |
| Duration of Project | 1992–Present |
| History |
Partners for Environmental Quality (PEQ) was founded by Jewish and Christian leaders in New Jersey after the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro as a state-wide inter-religious coalition on the environment. In 1994, PEQ worked with the New Jersey Commission on Environmental Education to develop a plan for environmental education in New Jersey in schools and in non-formal educational settings, and joined an inter-religious environmental advocacy mission to the nation’s capital. Since the mid-1990s, PEQ has undertaken a variety of initiatives concerning climate change, energy use, air quality, and environmental health and justice. It helped facilitate focus groups in religious congregations on sustainability and energy consumption as part of New Jersey Future’s Sustainable State project, whose culminating 1999 report on the quality of life in New Jersey established eleven goals for attaining a more sustainable society. In addition to planning a statewide or regional interfaith summit on environmental justice, health, and stewardship in 2004–2005, PEQ is currently exploring the possibility of developing energy conservation consulting service for houses of worship. |
| Mission Statement | “To inspire and equip faith-based institutions and people of faith to become leaders in the development of an environmentally just and sustainable society.” |
| Partner Organizations | Coalition on Affordable Housing and the Environment Green Mountain Energy Company Community Energy New Jersey Commission on Environmental Education New Jersey Future New Jersey Global Climate Change Work Group New Jersey Minority Health Asthma Network New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance High-performance Building Design Working Group New Jersey Board of Public Utilities Clean Energy Council New Jersey Deptartment of Environmental Protection Site Remediation Advisory Group |
| Long-Term Goals | None Listed |
| Bibliography | None Listed |
| Additional Research Resources | None Listed |
| Contact Information | Partners for Environmental Quality, Inc. 204 West State Street Trenton, NJ 08608 Ph: 609.394.1090 Fax: 609.394.2199 Email: Rev. Fletcher Harper, President Natalie Shapiro, Director of Programs Eric Anderson, Action Coordinator |