10.14.25 Action Center Update
Welcome to the Action Center Weekly Update. Each week, we’ll share:
A brief analysis of critical issues in this political moment
Immediate actions you can take
Resources to deepen knowledge and strengthen our collective work to side with love
Nothing is inevitable. Justice movements are built by ordinary people who come together to defeat oppression and nurture a loving world. You are not alone. We have power. Together, we can create a just and thriving future.
Movements are strongest when we act together. Organize with your teams and networks, and take these actions in community. For practical tools, see our Organizing School and Skill Up resources.
Decriminalization & Immigration
Core Principle: Criminalization and dehumanization deny the dignity of our communities. Safety cannot come at the expense of others. As people of faith, we proclaim a future of care, abundance, and mutuality—not domination.
The Update:
Communities keep rising up to counter ICE in Chicago, Memphis, and around the country. We know that when we build resilient and thriving communities of people who care about the inherent worth and dignity of all people, locking people in cages becomes unnecessary. In order to get there, we need to organize block by block and town by town. The best time to organize ICE watch and mutual aid in your community is past, but the next best time is now! Get in where you fit in because our future depends on all of us.
Take Action:
Donate to Free Jackhi McCray. Jakhi is facing a federal sentence ranging from 5-20 years after he was accused of setting fire to several NYPD vehicles in Bushwick, Brooklyn. In fact, this young, black political actor is someone, who, unlike the state, is standing on the right side of history. Read more here
Close the Camps: Demand Congress End the Detention of DACA Recipients and All Immigrants
Dig into immigrant defense in your area – join a local solidarity fund, ICE watch, or 4th amendment workplace/Signs of Solidarity campaign. If you don’t have one in your area or want to skill up, check out Defend and Recruit’s upcoming Immigrant Defense Strategies trainings Oct Oct 21, Oct 23, Nov 17, Dec 10
Resources:
Read: [Analysis/Story]
Some good news in Canada: Immigration Detention Ends in Provincial Jails Across Canada: In a major victory for migrant and refugee rights, on September 14, Ontario became the last province in Canada to block the Canada Border Services Agency from using provincial jails to incarcerate migrants and asylum seekers on administrative grounds. The border agency said that “as of September 15, there are no people detained in a provincial correctional facility.”
Learn:
Communicating Palestine, a new Palestinian-led toolkit on how to talk about Palestine responsibly, with practical guidance for ethical and accurate storytelling.
Join:
Defend and Recruit’s upcoming Immigrant Defense Strategies training Oct 23 8pm ET (also Nov 17, Dec 10) This introduction training will cover the basics of your immigration defense, including starting an ICE watch, launching a solidarity fund, building Fourth Amendment Workplaces, winning municipal resolutions and legislation to support our communities, and taking on the corporations enabling ICE, like Avelo Airlines.
Climate Justice
Core Principle: A just and loving world is also a flourishing one. A fossil-free future is possible, where clean energy is a human right and all beings thrive. To get there, we must create new systems, norms, and practices.
The Update:
In the ongoing assault on climate science and environmental protections, the Environmental Protection Association wants to make it easier for large, industrial polluters to pollute. Since 2009, the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program required thousands of coal-burning power plants, oil refineries, steel mills and other industrial facilities across the country to report their annual emissions. This effort aligns with the EPA’s recent move to eliminate the Endangerment Finding which affirms that greenhouse gas emissions harm public health. The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is critical to measuring the pollution that drives climate change and disruption; repealing it would hamper climate progress and endanger public health.
Emboldened by the Trump Administration’s efforts to roll back pollution monitoring, the Alabama Surface Mining Commission has “indefinitely suspended” methane monitoring requirements the agency agreed to in 2024. In March 2024, an Alabama man was killed after methane gas seeped up from the Oak Grove Mine beneath his house, and residents continue to worry about their safety. For decades, Alabama has left citizens unprotected so the mining industry can continue business as usual, regardless of the risks.
Is this how we want to live? Is this how we keep our communities safe? As UUs, justice, and equity are among our primary values. Prioritizing profits over people and the planet leads to inequitable health impacts and exacerbates climate injustice. That’s why we need to tell the EPA to uphold the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program for our health, for our communities, and for our future.
Submit a public comment today.
Take Action: (2–3 partner actions)
Public Comment
You may send comments, identified by Docket Id. No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0186, by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0186/document. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket Center, Office of Air and Radiation Docket, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460.
While it’s best to submit a personal public comment via the instructions above, you can also submit a pre-written comment at the Climate Reality Project.
Resources:
Read:
Learn:
Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice supports UUs to prioritize justice in their climate actions; it’s a critical shift that is increasingly more important with each passing day.
Join:
Claiming Our Power to Fight for a Clean Energy Future - Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting
October 15, 2025 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM ET Online
Advocating at Public Utility Commissions is an incredibly impactful way to shape our energy future. It's also a hugely overlooked opportunity! Public Utility Commissions (PUCs) regulate utility prices, resource planning and acquisition, reliability and quality of service regulation. If you’re not sure what that all means, you’re not alone! Advocating for fair utility regulations can be intimidating to outsiders, which benefits those who are more concerned with profit than people. PUCs wield significant power and their decisions affect clean energy and air quality, impacting both greenhouse gas mitigation and climate resilience. Learn how the UU Georgia Legislative Action Network is making good trouble for climate justice as they remind the Georgia Utility Commissioners and Elected Officials that people have the power to choose a just and moral path for our energy future.
Watch/Listen:
American Public Health Association’s “Why is Climate change a Public Health Issue?”
Gender & LGBTQ Justice
Core Principle: Every body is sacred. We affirm that trans people are divine, abortion is a blessing, and no one is disposable. Attacks on identity are designed to divide us—solidarity is our moral and strategic mandate.
The Update:
“Sacred bodies, sacred choices, sacred lives. UUs rise, resist, and thrive.”
The American College of Physicians (ACP) affirms that individuals have the right to make their own reproductive health decisions in partnership with their healthcare providers and opposes medically unnecessary government restrictions, advocating alongside more than 75 organizations to protect patient-physician autonomy and access to abortion. Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has prioritized targeting left-leaning and transgender groups over addressing urgent issues like the state’s unstable power grid, highlighting the dangers of political harassment of marginalized communities. In response, Unitarian Universalists, such as the First UU Society of Syracuse, continue building beloved, inclusive communities through programs like Building Beloved Community Beyond the Binary, supporting trans and non-binary people. Stories of resilience, like Ray Sunshine’s journey through cancer, queerness, and faith, further inspire collective liberation by showing how community, creativity, and authentic living can sustain and uplift us all.
Take Action:
“ACP (American College of Physicians” believes that individuals have the right to make their own decisions, in partnership with their physician or health care professionals, on matters affecting their individual reproductive health, including about types of contraceptive methods they use or whether or not to continue a pregnancy. ACP strongly opposes medically unnecessary government restrictions on any health care services and has joined with over 75 health care organizations to oppose such legislative interference.
ACP encourages members leaders to advocate with state officials to restore and protect access to abortion services under state law and oppose interference with the patient-physician relationship.
ACP tracks state legislation related to reproductive health proposed across the country. Review what bills are being considered in your state: State Reproductive Health Bill Tracking 2025.”
Resources:
Read:
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced this week that he will launch undercover investigations targeting left-leaning and transgender organizations, calling them “demented” and “a cancer on our culture.”
Meanwhile, real crises—like the ongoing instability of Texas’ power grid—go ignored. Prioritizing harassment of marginalized communities over public safety is not just misguided; it’s dangerous. Read more in Them.Join:
“First Unitarian Universalist Society of Syracuse, New York, was among the very first congregations to be designated a Welcoming Congregation by the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1990. The Welcoming Congregations Program was created to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people are fully embraced as members of UU faith communities.
Today, the Syracuse congregation—though located in a state not currently facing overt anti-trans legislation—recognizes the growing hostility many LGBTQ+ UUs continue to face. In response, since 2017, they have hosted Building Beloved Community Beyond the Binary, an annual conference dedicated to supporting and uplifting trans and and non-binary communities.
You can learn more about Beyond the Binary and discover ways to get involved by reading the latest article by Rev. Jami Yandle in the Fall/Winter 2025 edition of UU World.
Watch/Listen:
“In this episode Athena, Caroline, and Kevin are joined by artist and educator Ray Sunshine, whose story of survival and self-discovery invites us into a conversation about creativity, healing, and identity.
Together, we explore how Ray’s journey through cancer, queerness, and faith reshaped their understanding of purpose. They share how art became both a coping mechanism and a form of spiritual expression, how community sustained them through illness, and how living authentically later in life opened new dimensions of joy and belonging.”
Learn more about Ray Sunshine’s journey on Spotify via The Trans Narrative Podcast