This Month: Learn, Act, and Reimagine for Climate Justice
The Side with Love Team is hosting our annual 30 Days of love, and this week’s theme is Reimagining: Climate Justice. Reimagining encourages us to shake off our can’ts and embrace our coulds. What could the future hold if love was at the center of our selves, of our relationships, of our actions, of our world? When we embrace reimagining, we move past myopic, my-way-or-the-highway thinking and into the space of possibility; shifting from scarcity into abundance.
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. Without a clear vision of the world we want, we prioritize short term gains and false solutions; we advance goals disconnected from cultural shifts, we divide our focus, and our movements are out of alignment with justice. If we reimagine a world with justice, with love at the center, we cultivate communities of care where all beings thrive. Read Side With Love Climate Justice Organizer Rachel Myslivy’s full 30 Days of Love, Reimagining: Climate Justice reflection.
We’ve got loads of opportunities for you to learn, act, and reflect on climate justice in the coming weeks, including:
Reimagining with Energy Democracy this Thursday, January 25
Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 on February 21
Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle on February 28
In between these amazing events, watch the recording of last week’s Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration! We heard from almost 20 congregations actively engaging in the Green Sanctuary 2030 process designed to transform our congregations through climate justice. Get inspired, then get involved!
Reimagine with Energy Democracy
Please join us for Reimagining with Energy Democracy this Thursday, January 25, to explore the ways Energy Democracy reimagines a world where everyone thrives and recreates the systems we need to bring about that future.
Energy Democracy helps frontline communities build power and liberation by reimagining how we organize our lives toward new systems that support the health and wellbeing of our communities and ecosystems. We invite you to explore the power of Energy Democracy and the ways our congregations can reimagine energy for our communities.
Join Side With Love and special guests from the Energy Democracy Project, Cleveland Owns, People Power Solar, and POWER Interfaith for a webinar on Reimagining with Energy Democracy on January 25 at 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET. Register to join us!
Get inspired with the Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration!
During our January Community Meeting, we hosted the annual Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration. Almost twenty Active Green GS2030 congregations shared highlights of their current work. Green Sanctuary 2030 teams engage in intersectional actions that align with our Four Essentials of Climate Action: Justice, Congregational Transformation, Community Resilience, and Mitigation. Learn from your fellow UUs transforming our congregations through climate justice! If you’re ready to join the community, sign up for an orientation and join us for our monthly community meetings. The GS2030 orientations are the first Wednesday of each month, and the community meetings are the third Wednesday, both events are at 7ET.
Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 - Green Sanctuary Community Meeting
Join our next Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 on February 21. The Green Sanctuary 2030 process provides congregations with an accessible and impactful framework to advance climate and environmental justice. Learn from the recently recognized Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregation, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, about the ways their congregation renewed their environmental justice commitments through the GS2030 process. Register to join us!
Our monthly Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings celebrate success, build capacity for teams, elevate how the local context of oppression shapes our climate action, and celebrate the ways the Green Sanctuary 2030 process supports our work on climate justice, community resilience, congregational transformation, and mitigation - all balanced with the faith-filled call to impactful action on climate. Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET.
Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle
We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! If this sounds like you, we invite you to join the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle on Wednesday, February 28 at 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities. Get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations, then bring your questions and good ideas to the PLC!
The IRA Peer Learning Circle is a place for congregational leaders to come together to brainstorm, get into the weeds, and figure out the best way to access these funds for our congregations and our communities. RSVP today!
For a deep dive on how one congregation is reducing emissions, check out Net Zero by 2030 with the People’s Church of Kalamazoo.
Join UUSC on the Hill!
Join the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee in Washington, D.C on Wednesday, January 31 to visit Members of Congress to advocate for solutions to the climate crisis.
We will be demanding that Congress take action to protect vulnerable communities from the devastating effects of climate-forced displacement:
Advance community-led solutions to climate-forced displacement in the United States; those closest to the problems are experts on the solutions.
Ensure Indigenous communities have the resources they need to apply for federal funding from bills like the Inflation Reduction Act.
Take accountability for the damage caused by U.S. fossil fuel dependency by increasing U.S. funding for the Loss and Damage fund.
Please visit bit.ly/UUSCHillDay to let us know if you’ll be attending and for a more comprehensive schedule. Please feel free to email Ivanna D’Alencon at idalencon@uusc.org if you have any questions.
Join the UU Ministry for Earth Board!
If you have a deep and embodied commitment to uplifting the need to face and adapt to the climate crisis, counter environmental injustice, and support the flourishing of all life, and if you feel drawn to support and contribute to the many offerings of the UU Ministry for Earth (www.uumfe.org), please reach out to the UUMFE Nominations Committee to share your strengths and desire to be part of the team. UUMFE is looking to develop a dynamic, multicultural, multigenerational anti-oppressive Board, inclusive of people of color, trans and gender-nonconforming people, young people, people with disabilities, people living in poverty, and/or frontline communities; people who self-identify with such identity are especially welcome to apply. Please contact SearchTeam@UUMFE.org to submit your resume and letter of interest. For details on roles and responsibilities of Board members, go here.