Our Staff
Joelle Novey
Director
She/Her/Hers
Joelle @ ipldmv.org
Joelle has served as IPL-DMV’s Director since the fall of 2009 and speaks widely on the role that faith communities can play in the climate movement. She grew up in Baltimore at Chizuk Amuno Congregation and is now active in several Jewish communities in the DC area, including Minyan Segulah, and serves on the advisory board of Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action.
Joelle finds communities of faith and spirit to be among the most powerful places in the world to talk about the climate crisis and why it matters to each of us. She loves opening conversations with people of all ages and backgrounds about what is happening to our world, and how we are each called to protect the people, places, and creatures we love. She is grounded in her own Jewish tradition’s fierce spirit of intervention which demands that we act boldly even when we feel uncertain, if life may be at stake.
Prior to coming to IPL DMV, Joelle worked at Green America, where she screened applicants to the Green Business Network and wrote dozens of articles about greener living for the organization’s newsletter and magazine. For more than a year, she counseled hospital patients of all backgrounds and led interfaith worship services through a chaplain training program at Washington Hospital Center.
Joelle is a graduate of Harvard University where she received a BA in Social Studies, and completed the coursework for a minor in the Study of Religion. There she sang with two soulful singing groups, Mizmor Shir and the Kuumba Singers, and subsequently was a founding member of Songrise, DC’s all women’s social justice singing group.
Joelle loves that the co-housing building she calls home is both LEED Silver certified and solar-powered!
She is a recipient of:
- The Bethesda Magazine Green Award (2017)
- Sustainability Advocate of the Year from Pearlstone Center (2017)
- The Maryland Clean Energy Advocacy Award (2014)
- The Heschel Vision Award from Jews United for Justice (2008)
Robin Lewis
Director for Climate Equity
She/Her/Hers
Robin @ ipldmv.org
As the Director for Climate Equity at Interfaith Power and Light DMV (IPL DMV), Robin Lewis believes that she has been called as a Christian to be a voice for environmental justice and equity in her community. After working in business for a long time, she found satisfaction in helping to educate others, in particular Black, brown and underserved communities, to engage and advocate for environmental policies that promote justice, wellbeing, and a better quality of life. As a result, she shifted her career focus to community engagement and organizing with various local grassroots and faith-based organizations to help to promote collaboration on environmental justice and equity issues.
In her current role at IPL DMV, Robin has convened and now facilitates Beloved DMV Environmental Justice Collective for Black church leaders. Robin is the Director of Social Justice for her church, Beloved Community Church UCC in Accokeek, MD. She also serves on the board of WhyHunger and Baltimore
Green Justice Workers Cooperative, and as a member of the Advisory Committee for the DC Contractor Incubator convened by Emerald Cities Collaborative.
In addition to obtaining her BA in Economics and MBA from Rutgers University, Robin has a Masters in Sustainable Urban Planning with a concentration in Climate Change from George Washington University. Robin’s research has focused on the socio-economic aspects of sustainability in urban revitalization,
such as issues relating to displacement, gentrification, and affordable housing. Robin feels blessed that she can combine her faith with her passion for environmental justice to her work at IPL DMV. She is excited to work with other faith traditions in the spirit of cooperation and harmony.
Lindsay Estes
Operations Manager & Executive Assistant
She/Her/Hers
Lindsay @ ipldmv.org
Lindsay minds the details and systems that support our sacred work.
She comes to IPL-DMV from operations and compliance roles in the medical cannabis industry. At Remedy Columbia, she managed a team of over forty agents and led efforts to establish the business as a trusted community wellness resource and ensure safe access to medicine. Prior to that work, Lindsay planned exhibit logistics for several high-profile clients as Client Services & Logistics Coordinator for Hatch Exhibits.
Lindsay grew up in a log cabin in southeastern Pennsylvania, where she spent most of her time barefoot and outdoors. She is an initiated Wiccan in the Reformed Celtic Tradition, and is grateful to her community of practice, Sylvan Circle, for grounding her in the magic of ancient ritual and the rhythms of the natural world. Lindsay brings her tradition’s belief that “nature is the perfect teacher” to IPL-DMV’s work to attend to and protect our damaged climate.
Lindsay is excited to put her logistics chops to work in support of IPL-DMV’s grassroots climate work. “Climate change is a problem that affects everyone,” says Lindsay, “so it makes sense to solve it together. This isn’t only an immediate threat to our welfare but also an opportunity for us to transcend differences in background, to get to know one another, and to learn how to live together.”
She still spends most of her free time barefoot and outdoors, often with her dog, Willam.
Noam Shapiro
Program Associate
He/Him/His
JCAN @ ipldmv.org
As Interfaith Power & Light DMV’s Programs Associate, Noam mobilizes Jewish communities around climate change. Noam facilitates IPL’s Dayenu circle housed at IPL-DMV, the Jewish Climate Action Network DMV, and works with congregations of many traditions to save energy and shift to cleaner power.
Noam comes to this work after several years as an immigrant rights organizer with New Sanctuary Coalition, where he supported asylum seekers, undocumented individuals, and climate refugees. Prior to working with Interfaith Power & Light, Noam served as The Slifka Center for Jewish Life & Yale’s Social Justice and Arts Coordinator, where he formed a partnership with the Mill River Project, an environmental justice initiative to clean up the Mill River and create accessible green spaces for the residents of Fair Haven.
Noam also brings to his work his experience as a theater director and producer. Noam’s artistic practice focuses on social justice and he is currently adapting Pultizer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas’s critically acclaimed memoir Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen into a musical.
Noam grew up in New York City and is a graduate of Yale University, where he studied History and Theater Studies. Noam feels drawn to IPL’s advocacy because he believes that religious communities can provide powerful pathways for people to move from anxiety over the climate crisis to courageous action.
Joshua Long
Congregational Organizer
He/Him/His
Joshua @ ipldmv.org
Joshua is a recent graduate from Wesley Theological Seminary, an award winning public theologian, and an inspirational musician. His musical thesis on climate and faith explored how sacred music can foster spiritual experiences and build communities of hope and justice. Joshua feels called to work in building climate justice and sustainable communities and he hopes to bring his many gifts in his work with Interfaith Power & Light.
His work as congregational organizer will help IPL-DMV build new relationships with faith communities all over the metro area as well as nurture existing ones. Joshua brings a pluralist theological perspective with a background in several Christian denominations, interfaith work, and Unitarian Universalism. Josh has served on the board of directors for the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth (2020-22) and through his internship at Rock Spring United Church of Christ has worked with Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions on several projects and events.
Josh loves to spend time with his wife Tabitha, their son Elijah, and Cat Calypso. He enjoys music, hiking, sushi, and nerding out on Linkin Park, Star Wars, and Dragonball.
Andrea Orozco
faithful advocacy lead
She/Her/Ella
Andrea @ ipldmv.org
As IPL-DMV’s Faithful Advocacy Lead, Andrea is working to advance our mission of connecting faith communities and leaders to environmental movement campaigns.
Originally from south Texas, she comes to IPL-DMV from political organizing and legislative roles across the Lone Star State. Andrea made the move to the DMV for a legislative role with MAZON, A Jewish Response to Hunger where for two years she saw first-hand the critical role faith-based advocacy plays in federal lobbying efforts. She put together and ran lobby days for board members, a Hunger Seder for members of Congress and USDA officials, and developed lobbying materials for meetings with Hill offices.
Andrea is the daughter of two immigrant parents and grew up right on the U.S.-Mexico border. She grew up in a Protestant church whose teachings and community built the foundation for her advocacy work. At the University of Houston, she continued learning how her faith called her to advocacy through her involvement in United Campus Ministries.
Shaped by her time at the Texas Capitol’s 87th Regular Session, Andrea is excited to dig in and support the work IPL-DMV is doing at the state and local levels. The fight for our planet cannot be left up to the glacial pace of Congress.
When not working, Andrea spends her time reading Chicano literature and watching reality television with friends.
Maddie Smith
Clean energy shepherd
They/Them/Theirs
Maddie @ ipldmv.org
Maddie is thrilled to be back at IPL-DMV after previously serving as Program Associate through the Lutheran Volunteer Corps from 2017-2019 and will be supporting IPL’s advocacy and solar work. They have spent the last four years at IPL’s sister organization in Washington state, Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power & Light. Maddie is passionate about grassroots climate work and fighting the greenwashing of fracked/natural gas. They are a Unitarian Universalist and member of University Unitarian Church in Seattle, WA. In their spare time they love bird watching and petting cats.
Anjali Gulati
Green Dharma DMV Organizer & Climate Equity Associate
She/Her/Hers
Anjali @ ipldmv.org
Ethan Lucas
Maryland Climate Corps Fellow / Service Year Option Member
He/Him/His
Ethan @ ipldmv.org
Our Maryland Climate Corps Fellow for 2024-25 is a lifelong Marylander who has already spent many years volunteering in nonprofit organizations. Ethan and his family were deeply engaged in growing the local Little League program, in which Ethan played and eventually coached both baseball and softball. Later, Ethan’s family was instrumental in making So What Else into one of the largest food providers for struggling families during the pandemic. Since 2023, Ethan has both ushered and taught Sunday school in his church, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gaithersburg (which went solar with IPL’s help in 2017!).
Ethan’s faith is grounded in morality, family, abounding love, and altruism. He believes our rapidly changing climate is the most dangerous and existential threat our world faces today. Ethan has always been dedicated to doing purposeful work in service of others, and is glad to now be working to do that by protecting the future of our planet.
Ethan hopes to continue making a difference by serving Interfaith Power & Light’s righteous work. You can also catch him with his amazing family, listening to music (especially U2), watching sports, or relaxing with dog Snowy.