Environmental Ministries
Environmental Justice - Eco-Justice
Environment is where we live
and where our neighbor lives
The United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries has long been a leader in the Environmental Justice movement. In 1982 the UCC Commission for Racial Justice (CRJ) responded to an invitation from Warren County, NC residents to help oppose a PCB disposal landfill in people of color communities. There the terms “environmental racism” and “environmental justice” began to be used. In 1987 under the leadership of Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, CRJ produced the landmark Toxic Wastes and Race report conducted by Charles Lee. It was followed in 2007 by Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty, commissioned by Justice and Witness Ministries and conducted by Dr. Robert D. Bullard et al.
The United Church of Christ in many settings has also been active in matters of Eco-Justice. You can help us continue this important work. Submit your congregational stories of eco-passion and action in the daily lives of individual churches. Many have recognized the moral imperative to be stewards of what we have been given. As the work continues, we must combine efforts moving toward a sustainable and just future for all of God’s creation. Environmental Ministries will connect you to resources within the UCC and across nation and globe to give you information to help you take steps for the envronmental health of our planet and especially of all peoples--our neighbors.
The JWM Environment and Energy Task Force formed out of Synod Prudential Resolutions in 2005— "Call for Environmental Education and Action" and "Resolution on supporting congregations and providing guidance for stewardship of God’s creation during the coming period of declining fossil fuels" to provide educational materials and encouragement to UCC settings.
Within the Church House—700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland—there is a GreenHouse group, representing all covenanted ministries, in the process of greening our building and offering worship and stewardship and loan opportunities to congregations. A sustainable purchasing policy has recently been endorsed by the Collegium of Officers in order to encourage green and fair purchasing of all the branded items you will be seeing at Synod. Congregational Greening information is coming soon.
The UCC Washington JWM staff informs our members of moving legislation through UCC Justice and Peace Action Network (JPANet) action alerts and newsletter.
As Dr. Carlos J. Correa Bernier, JWM’s Minister of Environmental Justice has written, "The environment justice movement is as much concerned about the environment as any of the traditional environmental groups. There is only one environment. The environmental justice movement is concerned about wetlands, birds and wilderness areas; it is also concerned, however, about urban habitats, about reservations; about the things that are happening on the U.S.-Mexican border, about children poisoned by leas inside their own homes and about children playing in contaminated parks and playgrounds…"
