Welcome to the Action Center Weekly Update. Each week, we will provide a brief analysis of critical issues in this political moment, share immediate actions you can take, and provide helpful resources to deepen knowledge and practice of our collective work to side with love.
Nothing is inevitable. All justice movements are powered by ordinary people who come together to defeat oppression and build a loving world. You are not alone. We have power. Together we can practice and win a just and loving world where all of us thrive.
Remember we build strong movements when we take action together. Organize teams and networks that can take these actions together. For support on practical organizing skills and support check out our Organizing School and Skill Up resources.
Top lines for this week:
Amidst the escalating crises from DC to Gaza, Side With Love offers The Gathering to collectively rededicate ourselves to love, joy, and justice. Watch the recording from last week, where, we gathered to stoke that fierce love and rekindle our collective hope and dream of a world of beauty, love, peace, and respect.
Workers over Billionaires: Labor Day Sept 1st
Labor and community are planning more than a barbecue on Labor Day this year because we have to stop the billionaire takeover. Billionaires are stealing from working families, destroying our democracy, and building private armies to attack our towns and cities. Just like any bad boss, the way we stop the takeover is with collective action. We are May Day Strong, working people rising up to stop the billionaire takeover–not just through the ballot box or the courts, but through building a bigger and stronger movement. On September 1st we will continue the movement we launched on May 1st. Thousands of communities across the country are taking a stand on Labor Day, join us! Attend or host an event. Watch last weeks’ mass call.
Climate
A just and loving world is a flourishing world. If we are to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive, we need new systems, norms, approaches, and ways of being to bring that world into existence.
The Update: For the last three weeks, the Trump regime has been trying to delete EPA’s ‘endangerment finding’ that provides the language to regulate environmental pollution. This is but the latest attack on environmental protection, environmental justice, and climate action efforts in the United States.
In March, Trump’s EPA canceled grant funding to numerous environmental justice organizations across the deep South, where the toxic environmental burdens are high and African American communities have an overwhelming share of that burden, manifesting in chronic health disorders and higher mortality rates. The long-standing legacy of racist policy in the South targets these communities as frontline recipients of industrial dumping and wholescale infrastructural divestment. In 2023, a landmark settlement took place in Alabama when the Department of Justice “found that the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) had systematically failed to tackle the raw sewage - a public health crisis exposing mostly Black families, but also low-income white, to health hazards such as hookworm…commonly found in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia. Instead, authorities threatened residents with fines, jail time, and losing their homes.”
In April this year, Trump’s Justice Department “tore up the settlement, claiming it violated the president’s Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing executive order.” The result has been ADPH reverting to its pre-settlement pattern of low-to-no investment in the majority-Black Lowndes County water infrastructure.
Now, Trump’s EPA rejected a Louisville community’s appeal last week to receive the $1 million funding promised during Biden’s administration to conduct a much needed air pollution study. The city’s predominately Black West End higher rates of fatal cancer and hospitalizations for asthma than other parts of the city. “EPA officials contended the city’s arguments about DEI are irrelevant to why the agency canceled the funding.” The EPA said, instead, their reason for ending Louisville’s award was that it “no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.”
Amidst this clear statement of environmental assault and disregard for human health, a coalition of non-profits, tribes, and local governments are suing the EPA to “force the EPA and Zeldin to reinstate the program and each individual grant.” It’s the first class-action lawsuit of its kind in the United States, and the Trump administration filed a motion to dismiss. We will soon find out if the courts have the moral courage to land on the side of environmental health and justice.
Act:
If you haven’t already, submit a comment to the EPA to challenge the proposal to remove the endangerment finding.
Read:
Administrator Zeldin’s “EPA Priorities”
First-of-a-kind US class-action lawsuit would force EPA to reinstate $3bn climate program
Collecting Oral Histories of Environmental Racism and Injustice (2022-2023)
Trump EPA rejects appeal to save west Louisville air pollution study
Join:
Creating A Hub of Community Resilience in Clemson, SC - Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting
Climate: Training
August 20, 2025 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM ET
Online
Turning our congregations into Hubs of Community Resilience is an opportunity to steward our resources for the good of our broader community. Learn how the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Clemson is exploring the possibilities of installing solar with battery backup to turn their congregation into a Hub of Community Resilience when the power goes out, as recently happened with hurricane Helene. Come together for shared learning and mutual supports with other UUs transforming our congregations through climate justice. Green Sanctuary 2030 community meetings take place on the third Wednesday of the month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET for 90 minutes.
Decriminalization
The Update:
The UUA joined the chorus of condemnations of the deployment of National Guard troops in Washington, DC — another alarming escalation of federal force against civilians, following last month’s actions in Los Angeles. These moves target communities already made vulnerable by systemic oppression, eroding trust and weakening democracy. As people of faith committed to equity, dignity, and the common good, we will continue to resist state overreach and organize for justice.
FreeDC reminds us to “Remember what works” – in DC and for all of us everywhere :
Do not obey in advance.
Prioritize joy.
Take up space.
Be in solidarity.
Organize.
Act:
Free DC Project has clear calls to action no matter where you are:
Outside DC: Four members of Congress have introduced "termination resolutions" to end the emergency period in DC and stand down the federal escalation. Tell Congress to stand down the federal escalation and respect DC
In DC: Make noise every night at 8 PM, and join Free DC’s many events
For all: Get to know your rights
Free Xochitl Network is making a National Call To Action
Many of you are actively engaged in solidarity with folks in ICE detention – thank you! If you are not locally connected, take action here! DACA recipient and community organizer Cata “Xochitl” Santiago has been in ICE detention for 15 days. Her detention is part of a larger attack on immigrants’ rights and community leaders—fighting for her is fighting for all of us. We demand Xochitl be released!
Read:
Waging NonViolence article about DC: Free DC models effective resistance to Trump’s takeover Washington, D.C. residents’ rapid response to Trump's National Guard deployment is a masterclass in how to prepare for crises and fight authoritarianism by Daniel Hunter
ICE Deportation Airline Avelo Relies on Blue-State Subsidies. Will Dem Governors Do Anything About it? From the Intercept. Get involved in the Stop Avelo Campaign here.
Learn:
More about the long fight for DC statehood and Racial Equity
Join:
Fourth Amendment Workplaces Training for Trainers, Wed. 8/20, 7pmET
Here you’ll learn how to lead in-person trainings for workplaces in defending their rights.
The Organizing Center’s online trainings for anyone and everyone looking to gain skills for building up our organizations, religious communities, and campaigns. This is great for groups of friends, comrades, co-workers to do together.
How to bring more people in and help them get meaningfully involved
How to build effective and positive coalitions that work
How to build up our movements so we can win
Watch/Listen:
One Million Rising’s 3-session training in the strategic logic and practice of non-cooperation