Biodiversity Day, UUMFE at General Assembly, and More!
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May 9th, 2023
Dear Friends,
Unitarian Universalism is a faith tradition anchored in religious pluralism, rhythms of nature, and the inherent worth and dignity of all who inhabit Earth. The ongoing climate crisis challenges all of our core values as a faith tradition.
Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth is proud to be a key organizing partner with Side with Love, working to foster a new Climate Justice Coalition within Unitarian Universalism.
We are working with a wide range of mighty UU partners and affiliates - including Side with Love, UU Service Committee, UU Office at the United Nations, UU Animal Ministry, UUs for Social Justice, UUs for Just Economic Community, UU Women’s Federation, and more.
Beginning in 2022, our organizations formally pledged to coordinate our collective efforts and advocacy. You will see some of the fruits in the format of our newsletter. This month we highlight our programming at General Assembly (hope to see you there in person or online!), our unique activities related to our new tactics of Embodiment, Empowerment, and Engagement, and elevate the work of varied partners in the movement (Are you going to DRUUM's worship service on May 11?)
Greater collaboration and deeper coalition will anchor all of our work as we meet the challenges of this time together.
With gratitude,
Rev. Daniel Lawlor Co-Director, Fundraising and Communications
PS. Please be sure to contact the United States Congress to support the Environmental Justice for All Act! Endorsed by five national UU justice ministries, together we can amplify our values in Washington, DC!
UUMFE AT GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Workshops
All of our GA On Demand Workshops will be available to view before and during GA by going to this site.They are listed alphabetically there.
Ecology as Scripture To facilitate a shift in hearts & minds, sacred activists must bring together science and spiritual tenets to organize our choices and actions. This workshop is an exploration of climate change and how connecting the climate crisis to religious beliefs, teachings, and practices can inspire local and global actions. We encourage you to watch with a small group (pairs, trios, or more!) so you can discuss the activities during the recording. Rev. Dr. Leonisa Ardizzone. Join us in-person at GA to discuss further: Friday June 23, 11:00 - 11:45 AM ET, Room 324.
Exploring Pathways to Fossil-Free Personal Divestment Partnering with Rivers & Mountains GreenFaith Circle, UUMFE offers an on-demand workshop for individuals on how to move their finances from funding fossil fuel extraction, production, and distribution… and instead direct their bank deposits, insurance premiums, and investment portfolios to fund local businesses/farms, affordable housing, and development of renewable energy. Rev. Dr. Leonisa Ardizzone; Michael Richardson. Join us in-person at GA to discuss: Thursday, June 22, 1:00 - 1:45 PM ET, Room 323. We will also talk about congregational divestment in this session.
May You Survive and Thrive! A Biodiversity Curriculum Join UU Ministry for Earth for a workshop exploring our latest lifespan curriculum. We’ll engage with the lesson plans and share ways of bringing Biodiversity Sunday and a Procession of the Species to life each year at your congregation or community setting. Rev. Dr. Leonisa Ardizzone. Join us in-person at GA to discuss: Friday, June 23, Noon - 12:45 PM ET, Room 323
Spiritual Practices and the Climate Crisis UU Ministry for Earth hosts a restorative space to share spiritual practices and grounding experiences for all of us who grapple with the worries and pressures of ecological flourishing and our commitment to justice. We hope you'll use the practices again and again. Lindsay Donnelly-Bullington; Rev. Dr. Leonisa Ardizzone; Rev. Daniel Lawlor; Rev. Kelly Dignan. Join us in-person at GA to discuss and practice further: Friday June 23, 1:00 - 1:45 PM ET, Room 323.
Visit our booth
Wednesday, 3:00 - 3:30 pm ET, July 21, 2023
Celebrate Summer Solstice and participate in a joys and sorrows ritual
Thursday, 11am-11:30am ET, June 22, 2023
Preview our new and updated lifespan curricula
Friday, 2pm-2:30pm ET, June 23, 2023
Preview our free monthly worship resources
Join online discussions on Whova:
Wednesday, 4:30 - 5:00 pm ET, July 21, 2023
Summer Solstice joys and sorrows ritual online
Thursday, 2:00 - 2:30 pm ET, June 22, 2023
Open discussion about climate justice
Saturday, 10:00 - 10:30 am ET, June 24, 2023
Preview our free monthly worship resources
Volunteer at UUMFE’s booth!
Explain our great work in the world and meet all the people at GA excited about environmental justice. You can sign up for a shift at the booth here: UUMFE 2023 GA Exhibit Booth Signup. We will provide training the week before GA! Thank you in advance.
EMBODIMENT
Monthly Musings
Each month, you and/or your congregation will receive a collection of materials focused on a different theme and filled with ways to help with your EMBODIMENT, EMPOWERMENT, & ENGAGEMENT in the face of environmental injustice. We hope you use these resources for worship, contemplative practice, and religious exploration in your congregation. You can find past issues here.
Meditate with Dandelion and receive strength from its perseverance, and its ability to loosen, fertilize and reduce erosion - all things our spirits need for the environmental justice movement. Led by our Co-Director, Programs - Rev. Kelly Dignan.
Our Monthly Spiritual Gatherings help us ground, recenter, and imagine what is possible in a world in need of repair. To draw us more closely into alignment with Earth-based philosophies, we follow the Lunar Calendar. We will gather each month, via Zoom, on the Full Moon to nourish our spirit. Our next gathering with be on June 1st at 4 pm PT/ 5 pm MT/ 6 pm CT/ 7 pm ET. Bring a pen and paper. We hope you join us!
P.S. We will take a break in July and August, resuming in September.
Shine on Resilient and Beautiful People Is a DRUUMM Virtual Public Worship via Zoom and is open to all
Shine on resilient and beautiful people with DRUUMM for our annual public worship featuring a festival of Black and Brown joy and resilience through original works of music and preaching. Musical director Amanda Thomas and guest minister Rev. Katie Romano Griffin are joined by gifted black and brown colleagues from across UU-verse to help bring some shine to your day including The Rev. Dr. Kristen Harper, Nasreen Khan, and Cassie Montenegro. We will feature original works of music, prayer, and poetry.
To celebrate International Biodiversity Day, join us on May 10, 2023 to preview our new curriculum: “May You Survive and Thrive”. It is a multi-generational, arts-based family ministry curriculum designed to cultivate and sustain ecological awareness within and between congregations and communities. This event will be a chance for you to learn more about how to use this resource in your congregation, family, and community.
From Our Partners, UUJEC: The Makings of A Climate Action Warrior
Thursday, May 25th 5pm PT/ 6pm MT/ 7pm CT/ 8pm ET
Miriam will share her experiences as a climate activist and some adventures and lessons learned along the way. She'll share her mottos: "Action is the antidote to despair," and "Everything we do matters" and how they have guided her life as an activist.
Miriam Kashia is 80. She’s been an honor student, a struggling single parent who finally finished her undergraduate degree at age 42 and then went on to earn 2 master’s degrees and became a psychotherapist. Add a stint in the Peace Corps in Namibia, Africa at 62, and for the past 10 years, a climate activist.
From Our Partners, 8th principle Community: Meeting with Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt
Here is the video recording from the 8th Principle Community's April 12th Meeting with UUA presidential candidate Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt on Beloved Community and Environmental Justice. UMFE & the 8th Principle Community encourages you to listen!
End the Era of Fossil Fuels! Mobilization Call for UUs!
Thursday, May 11th 4pm PT/ 5pm MT/ 6pm CT/ 7pm ET
Biden promised to be a climate president – yet under his watch, the U.S. continues to be the biggest producer of oil and gas in the world. In the first few years of his term, he approved more lease sales for new oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters than Trump. And his administration has approved new oil and gas projects, like the Willow oil drilling project in Alaska and multiple oil and gas export terminals in the Gulf. Global scientists have been abundantly clear – we cannot avoid the very worst impacts of the climate crisis if we allow for any more fossil development.
UUs, it’s time to show up! This June, People vs. Fossil Fuels are mobilizing to turn up the heat and make Biden take real climate action – by ending the era of fossil fuels. Join us for a national week of action June 8th - 11th 2023 to demand Biden use his executive powers to end the era of fossil fuels and declare a climate emergency!
Join Side With Love, UUMFE, and People vs. Fossil Fuels for a conversationon May 11 about the campaign, distributed actions, and supports available, including coaching and movement chaplaincy for UUs. This will be an open space for UUs to come together and discuss plans for End the Era of Fossil Fuels Distributed Actions
From Our Partner, GreenFaith: No Faith in Fossil Fuels, A Climate Finance Summit
From May 8-11, people of faith will gather to learn about how banks and asset managers continue to invest in the fossil fuel industries that are destroying communities in the U.S. and around the world – and then find out how to hold these financial institutions accountable. Together, we can commit to taking the bold steps necessary to effect real change.
This summit is for you if you’re just making the connections between faith, finance, and climate, if you’re a money manager rooted in just climate values, or if you are part of a community wrestling with these questions.
UUMFE is a partner of this event and we would love to see our constituents there!
From Our Partner, Side With Love: IRA Funds and UUs -- Funding Clean Energy and Climate Solutions
Wednesday, May 17th 4pm PT/ 5pm MT/ 6pm CT/ 7pm ET
UUA’s Executive Vice President, Carey McDonald, will share UU-specific funding mechanisms to use in conjunction with the Federal Funding opportunities to advance equitable clean energy and climate justice. We encourage you to watch the recent webinar on Planning the Energy Future of Your Congregation to prepare for this conversation.
From Our Partner, Side With Love: Skill Up, What Do Impacted Communities Need? How Would I Know!?
Sunday, May 21st 1pm PT/ 2pm MT/ 3pm CT/ 4 pm ET
As local governments are wielding extreme power over weak and vulnerable people, we need to be efficient and precise in our efforts to fight back and protect at-risk communities. Oftentimes, those who are in a position to support those who are at risk are not directly impacted by the harms that put them at risk. This can result in wasted energy, time, and resources.
In this Skill Up, we will explore how we might ensure that our organizing/strategy efforts are rightly aligned so that impacted communities get what they need and that our energy, time, and resources are most effective. This session is led by Rev. Michael Crumpler.
From Our Partner, Side With Love: Abolitionist Visions on Climate Justice
Imagine it's 2050 and we've achieved all of our wildest hopes for climate justice...what does it look like? The abolitionist movement imagines a future without police and prisons, drawing on deep convictions, faith, imagination, and hope to do so. The climate justice movement is diverse, vibrant, and equally hopeful: but do we UUs have a vision of what a just climate future is? Without a clear vision of a world where all can thrive, we run the risk of prioritizing short-term gains, false solutions, legislative goals disconnected from cultural shifts, and distractions that divide our focus.
Join Side With Love for this radical gathering of thinkers for abolitionist visions of climate justice. Facilitated by Side With Love Climate Justice Organizer Rachel Myslivy, the panel will include Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, Ecowomanist theologian and sole candidate for UUA President; Dr. Rashid Shaikh, director of science emeritus at the Health Effects Institute in Boston and co-convenor of the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Caucus on Climate Justice; and Antoinette Scully, Faith-Based National Organizer for the UU Women's Federation.
From Our Partner, UUs for Social Justice: Environmental Justice for All Act
We still want Congress to act on "the moral principle that all people have the right to pure air, clean water, and an environment that enriches life." We still agree "Federal policy can and should seek to achieve environmental justice, health equity, and climate justice for all underserved communities." Let's urge Congress to do so.
UUMFE is a partner with UUs for Social Justice to advocate for the Environmental Justice for All Act.
From Our Partner, UUs for Social Justice: Farm Bill
We have a critical opportunity to advocate for a climate-smart agricultural sector that advances justice. The five-year proposal now being drafted offers the chance to reduce hunger, promote environmental stewardship and promote fairness to all farmers and farmworkers. Our UU values call on us to advocate for a Farm Bill that brings about fairness, especially to farmers and farm workers of color who have been left out of earlier bills, and that encourages the production of sustainably grown, healthful food rather than commodity crops grown in ways that deplete the soil and pollute our waterways.
From our UUMFE administrator Sabrina Louise: "I love fresh spinach so much that I rarely bother to "cream" it, but when I do, this recipe is so delicious. I often make a double batch so I can have it on toast with white beans for breakfast, or saute and stir in some fresh mushrooms, and add it to my morning scramble."
Zoë Johnston, our Communications Associate and Young Adult for Climate Justice Network Coordinator at UUMFE, gave the Earth Day sermon at Fourth Universalist Society. Titled "Lessons from Spring Flowers," Zoë shares how she feels connected to the cycles of the seasons, reckons with our colonial past, and grows through climate grief. You can watch the recorded video of the sermon on Youtube. Happy belated Earth Day!
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