Welcome Sarah Ogletree

The Council is excited to welcome Sarah Ogletree as an intern with NC Interfaith Power & Light (NCIPL) this academic year. Sarah is currently a student at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. She introduces herself and the work she will be doing with NCIPL below:

I was raised in the mountains of western North Carolina and am currently working toward my Master of Divinity, with a concentration in religious leadership and ecology, from Wake Forest University School of Divinity. I am a graduate of the sustainable development program at Appalachian State University, where my minor was in Appalachian studies with a focus in environmental justice. As a person of faith, and a student of sustainability, I am passionate about the care of both human and natural systems. In the past, I have worked closely with organizations like the Creation Care Alliance of Western North Carolina, United Methodist Women, Creation Justice Network (UCC Southern Conference), and Presbyterians for Earth Care. I am excited to be joining NCIPL and the North Carolina Council of Churches as an intern where my primary focus will be on further developing the Sacred Foodscapes for All Creation program of NCIPL.

Sacred Foodscapes for All Creation seeks to educate, inspire, and mobilize congregations to do the work of climate justice by making the food-faith-climate connection. Agriculture presents significant challenges to the achievement of climate justice––and we all participate in agriculture through the act of eating. Additionally, many congregations regularly make use of food in their spaces of worship and fellowship. The Sacred Foodscapes for All Creation program aids faith communities in forming sustainable and just relationships with food as a means of achieving carbon neutrality as a moral imperative. Through educational campaigns, walking alongside communities adversely impacted by industrial agriculture, advocating for legislative change, and reducing food waste, Sacred Foodscapes for All Creation equips people of faith to respond to climate change in a hope-filled and holistic way.

When I am not studying for exams or thinking about food and climate justice, I enjoy playing the fiddle and singing with my husband, walking our nine-pound “dog,” writing poetry, and collecting eccentric salt and pepper shakers.