Centering Love - Blessed Tomorrow

One of my very favorite aspects of being immersed in interfaith work for the past 30+ years is the blessing of learning spiritual insights from people of many faiths. As a Muslim woman who values learning (and teaching my children) about various faiths, I appreciate finding common values inherent to each.

In the latest Let’s Talk Climate webcast, Rachel Myslivy, a Climate Justice Organizer for the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), joined Reverend Carol Devine to discuss centering justice in faith and climate work. American Climate Leadership Award 2023 finalist for their Side with Love program, UUA is a national climate justice leader, and is pleased to share guidance to replicate their success with others.

Climate and Faith; A Call to Stewardship, Creating Refuge, and Bearing Witness says, “Children, older adults, lower-income families, and communities of color often experience the first and worst climate impacts, while contributing the least to climate change. Climate change exacerbates injustices.” Rachel reminds us of the disproportionate impact of climate change on communities that have been marginalized, and calls on us to see clean energy not as an issue for which we seek technical solutions, but rather as a moral imperative.

Creating a sustainable way of life for all is central to our faith. Our work must be in partnership with our neighbors who have been marginalized and must begin within each of us and our relationships. Watch Side with Love: A Model for Climate Justice and imagine with us how the world would be changed if our congregations were truly “hubs of community resilience and community care” and each of us worked to “decarbonize our relationships.” Love is the center of justice.

This episode is one that I know I will rewatch periodically to help ensure that I’m working to decarbonize my relationships and center love in my work. Friends, watch Side with Love: A Model for Climate Justice and allow it to move you as deeply as it moved me.

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