Even before he saw Al Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," the Rev. David Turner's friends were jokingly calling him a "tree-hugging wacko."

A former Punahou chaplain (1994-2005), he's putting his love of all things nature into saving the planet for the next generation, as well.

On Wednesday, the United Church of Christ minister addressed faith leaders — about two dozen of them — and asked them to help him create Interfaith Power and Light.

Interfaith Power and Light grew out of efforts by Episcopal churches in 1998 to educate and advocate for clean energy and conservation. The efforts were taken up by several other ecumenical denominations and eventually to non-Christian faith groups, as well.

Here in Hawai'i, Turner was given a nudge by Chuck Burrows, an eco-justice activist with the Church of Crossroads, who suggested he start an affiliate here. So Turner headed to the monthly meeting of the Interfaith Open Table, which draws leaders from all walks of faith life.

"There was good receptivity," said Turner, who was glad to have "an openness from those represented from other than the Christian community."

Church of the Crossroads has already committed to the program, and he's begun talking to his own church, Kailua Christian, as well as Christ Church Uniting Disciples and Presbyterians on the Windward side. But he wants to branch out.

"Before we had too many Christian churches on board, we wanted to make sure we had conversations with members of the Jewish community, the Buddhist community, the Muslim community and the Hawaiian spiritual community," Turner said.

And he hopes to turn attention to the evangelical groups here, since national efforts are under way to bring diverse Christians to the table as "stewards of creation," as he put it.

"I have not had a whole lot of conversations (with evangelical leaders) — not by intention, but a matter of time and timing," he said.

"It's very interesting that within the evangelical Christian community, the whole 'creation care' concept is taking hold. ... One of the things I'm convinced is that caring for God's creation is one of the issues where we can build bridges rather than create chasms."

The program offers churches a checklist to be used to take stock of where they are, a sort of environmental baseline, and a plan for an energy audit.

Turner said many congregants can also be taught how to take the next step in their lives to become more eco-conscious.

"There's a fairly consistent consensus that we're aware the Earth is in trouble and something has to be done and humankind created that problem," said Turner.