You're Invited to our 5th Annual Winter Solstice Ritual!
Blanketed in Beauty: A Winter Solstice Ritual Honoring the Gifts of the Darkness
December 21, 2025 7pm ET / 4pm PT (Click here if you want help translating to your time zone.)
Winter Solstice offers an opportunity to pause at a pinnacle, honoring Earth's longest night. For many moons leading up to this darkest moment, trees have been baring themselves of their leaves, offering a blanket to the Earth below. How can we as humans enter into the energy of this sacred time, using it as medicine, and aligning with the season's offerings? Join the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth for our 5th annual winter solstice service so we can share a ritual moment that honors the energy and teachings of this season that encourages us to rest, lie fallow, and wait in the Earth's pregnant pause.
Congratulating Swamini Adityananda Saraswati as New Board Chair
The Board of Directors of UU Ministry for Earth (UUMFE) is pleased to announce that Swamini Adityananda Saraswati has been appointed as the new Board Chair, bringing decades of global leadership in climate justice, interfaith work, and spiritual care to the role.
Over her life of service, Swamini Adityananda has worked from the grassroots to international policy spaces on human rights issues, including climate change, hunger, water scarcity, education, and global poverty. She previously served as Interim Executive Director of United Religions Initiative, the world’s largest interfaith organization, active in 112 countries, and as Associate Executive Director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute, which partners with global faith leaders to build friendship and mutual understanding across traditions.
“As Unitarian Universalists, we know that our Earth is not an ‘issue’ but a beloved relative,” Swamini said. “To me, living out our shared values for the sake of a more just and sustainable Earth is an act of worship, solidarity, and love.”
Looking ahead, Swamini emphasized the urgency and possibility of this moment, saying, “This is a time for bold spiritual imagination. Together, we can nourish resilient communities, defend the rights of nature, and remember that a just and thriving Earth is still possible.”
Do you value the time you spend with Unitarian Universalists from across the country during our UUMFE gatherings? Have you enjoyed the facilitated discussion of our first community read? Are you appreciative of having UUMFE at the table with other partners, such as the UUA's Side with Love and UUs for Social Justice to advocate for earth-centered care?
If so, then please consider making a year-end donation to help support our work. Look soon for a summary of accomplishments during 2024-25 in your in-box. And thank you for your past support through your financial contributions and your attendance at our events.
A Letter About COP 30 from Swamini Adityananda Saraswati (Chair, UUMFE)
"Last month, global leaders came together for climate justice at the United Nations’ COP30 meetings in Brazil. What they left behind were empty promises in a time when we quite simply don’t have time.
We sadly can’t pray the situation away. We can only act. And I firmly believe each action does count."
The next discussion is set for the evening of January 27th, which will focus on the fourth section, “Follow the Money”. You only need to register once to attend all remaining sessions. Click here to print a poster for your congregation’s bulletin board.
This section includes contributions from organizations who are partners with UUMFE in the intersectional work of climate justice in Unitarian Universalism or interfaith work, such as the UU Climate Justice Coalition.
The UU Justice Ministry of CA, California Interfaith Power & Light, and Greenfaith:
MAKE POLLUTERS PAY Info Session
December 11, 2025 10pm ET / 7pm PT
California is paying the price for climate chaos — from wildfires and floods to record heat — while oil and gas corporations continue to profit. The Make Polluters Pay California campaign calls for justice: requiring the biggest fossil fuel companies to pay their fair share for the damage their products have caused.
Join us for an evening of learning, reflection, and action. We’ll briefly share about the Make Polluters Pay campaign — why it matters, and how people of faith can help pass this historic legislation in 2026. Then, we’ll hear from faith and advocacy leaders about how our shared values of justice, compassion, and stewardship call us to act — and how your congregation can make a difference.
Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community (UUJEC):
Building through multilateralism & sustainable development
December 11, 2025 8pm ET / 5pm PT
UUs Report Back from the United Nation’s COP 30 with International Convocation of UU Women’s, Carmen Capriles and Cindy Piester. Carmen is a UU from Bolivia and a COP negotiator. Cindy is an author-researcher-activist in her fourth year as an NGO delegate/observer or badged virtual attendee. Her latest article on COP is here: PPN-15-sm.pdf
Side With Love/Unitarian Universalist Association (SWL/UUA):
Save the Dates: 2026 Green Sanctuary 2030 Meetings
This section includes events and news UUMFE wants to share from the greater climate justice advocacy community.
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson's Podcast Episode: The Current Politics of Food and Farming 👨🌾 with Dave Herring
Her guest this episode was Dave Herring, executive director of Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment. It’s is a farm-based education, research, and visitor center set amidst more than 600 acres of conserved open space on the coast of Maine’s Casco Bay. They discuss helping farmers make the transition to regenerative practices, getting involved in environmental policy, running a farm camp so kids understand how their food is grown, and working to make our food system a part of our climate solutions.
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