Renew Your Commitment to Climate Justice: October 2025 Update from Create Climate Justice
For 35 years, the Green Sanctuary program has supported UUs in protecting our environment. We honor that work and we need to transform our commitments and actions to respond to the challenges of our times.
That’s why we completely revitalized the Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice process for “more action, less paperwork,” encouraging congregations to “do what works for your team”. There are Four Essentials for Climate Action, Five Approaches to support your team, and just requirement for yearly recognition. The goal of our Green Sanctuary work is no longer accreditation; it is creating climate justice in our communities. This is part of our denomination-wide culture shift from environmentalism to climate justice.
In her call to all congregations to renew their commitment to climate justice, UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt reminds us, “This is a time to focus on renewal, to commit together to the work that lies ahead. For more than three decades, our congregations have been imagining that renewal through their engagement with the Green Sanctuary program.This year, the Green Sanctuary 2030 process and congregational materials have been revitalized to reflect our faithful ability to continuously reimagine that renewal, rejuvenation, and resistance.”
This week, your congregation should receive a poster to educate your congregation on the Four Essentials of Climate Action, track your progress, and celebrate your climate justice ministry from now through 2030 - a major milestone for our climate. When you achieve Recognition for each year, we’ll send you stickers to put on your poster for each of the Essentials. You can receive recognition for all four Essentials or just certain ones. We encourage you to do what works for your team. The new process and materials encourage ongoing actions that deepen over time - exactly what we need to consistently advance our climate justice goals.
The Four Essentials for Climate Action present unique, but interconnected, areas that are critical to advancing climate justice. You can think of these like: how do we reduce the pollution that drives climate change (Mitigation), while nourishing and strengthening our communities (Community Resilience) in ways that prioritize those most harmed (Justice) while improving the ways we work together (Congregational Transformation).
The commitment to yearly recognition is a commitment to a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of our justice ministries, to increasingly more intentional collaboration, and to long term goals and transformation over time. Your Green Sanctuary team can and should collaborate with other justice teams to achieve Recognition. Much of what you’re already doing will count for Recognition.
Instead of a linear process where you have to get approval from the UUA at every stage, we have shifted to offer Five Approaches to support your congregation. These resources and activities are designed to help you:
Nourish your team
Ground in the context of oppression in your community
Reimagine your community thriving
Explore opportunities
Mobilize for Action
The materials are designed to support your congregation, but you do not need to use them to receive Recognition. Do what works for your team!
You can receive yearly recognition once your team has completed at least one action per Essential WITH plans for ongoing action.
To receive recognition, you simply complete a very short form. If you’re already doing significant work on each of the four Essentials, share your work and apply for Recognition. Easy as that!
The UU Climate Justice Revival encouraged us to break down the siloes between our justice teams, to understand climate justice as interconnected to all of the other justice priorities we care so deeply about, and to take actions that are grounded in the challenging realities and opportunities for community care. The Green Sanctuary 2030 program supports us to carry forward these commitments.
In solidarity, Rachel
Rachel Myslivy
Climate Justice Strategist, UUA Side With Love
