Climate Hope Cards
The UCC Climate Hope Cards campaign is part of an effort to save thousands of lives, address societal inequities, and get our nation on track to meet its climate goals. The Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of updating a number of protections that could significantly impact our environment and public health. Over the past several months, congregations collected more than 6,500 petition postcards urging the strongest possible protections. These postcards will be delivered to the EPA on October 13th.
On the cover the postcards was the drawing that won the UCC’s Climate Hope Art Contest for children and youth. The winning artist will travel from Ohio to Washington, D.C. to help deliver the postcards in-person. Stay tuned for more information on this campaign (as well as our next Climate Hope campaign in 2024!)
Want to see all the art contest finalists? Check out this video!
This Is Who We Are: Environmental Justice in Action
The care of God’s creation is a central calling of Christians and has found unique expression in the life of the United Church of Christ. Leaders from the UCC were integral to the launch of the environmental justice movement in the 1980s with its pioneering focus on environmental racism. Through General Synod resolutions, we have repeatedly stepped forward to lead the way as people of faith on critical matters such fossil fuel divestment, mountaintop removal, and the Green New Deal. Today, congregations throughout the country have answered our first calling as Christians in tending to God’s creation by becoming Creation Justice Churches. Through webinars, newsletters, reports, and more, we stay connected and informed. Learn more about our denomination’s Environmental Justice Ministries!
Why We Are Called to Climate Action
One could argue that all of us have a self-interest in doing everything we can to fight climate change. As Christians, however, we are called beyond our individual lives to love our neighbor and to care for all of God’s creation. To be in right relationship with our neighbors and God’s creation is ultimately at the heart of being in right relationship with God. To put it more succinctly, when we talk about what it means to be in right relationship we are talking about justice. As disciples of Jesus, we are called to put justice into action.
Today, justice takes many different and interconnected forms. We see this especially in the climate crisis. The burdens of pollution do not fall on everyone equally. Climate-related disasters do not affect everyone the same. Race, poverty, and other societal inequities all play a role in who currently suffers the most and who faces the greatest impending dangers. Often those who have contributed the least to climate change are those who are impacted the greatest.