Upcoming Climate Justice Events

Join the Unitarian Universalist Association, UU Ministry For Earth, UU Service Committee and Love Resists for a letter writing campaign to show solidarity with Steve Martinez, a NoDAPL political prisoner who has been recently incarcerated after refusing to face a grand jury for a second time. Steve, an Indigenous water protector, was first subpoenaed to a federal grand jury in 2017 for his participation in the NoDAPL resistance movement and refused to comply then as now. This recent targeting came as a disconcerting surprise to many who have been supporting water protector political prisoners for the past four years. On the call, hear from Water Protectors and UU organizers about Steve’s current legal situation, and write your own letter to Steve and other NoDAPL political prisoners. Register here Another way to support is to DONATE to Steve Martinez’s GoFundMe.  

Electric Vehicles are touted as a key component to solving our climate crisis. Many consumers are jumping on the EV bandwagon, and companies like Amazon are building a fleet to ship goods by electric truck. Likewise, national environmental organizations are pushing EVs as key to lowering GHG emissions and transitioning to a green economy. But are EVs a real climate solution? They can be, but ONLY if they coincide with mode shift from roads to rail, mass transit and passenger rail development, redesign of communities, battery recycling technology, and mitigation of lithium mining impacts. Anything short of these co-occurring developments is contrary to the Green New Deal vision. We need to ask:

• How do we avoid trading one extractive model with another?
• How do we center community self-determination and localization, instead of furthering the worst aspects of globalization?
• How do we invest in public works in a way that is just, reduces harms, and addresses historic harms?

Thursday, Feb. 18th 1pm Pacific / 4pm Eastern RSVP TODAY

Climate change promises not to be kind on anyone, least of all on us in the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. Time and time again, we have witnessed the disproportionate and disastrous impacts of climate change on communities of color – whether it is from storms, floods, heat waves, or the everyday injustices, amplified by the challenges faced by people of color and exacerbated by unique circumstances of marginalization or pandemics such as Covid.

A small group of us, working collaboratively with the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth, are moved to form a new community: A BIPOC caucus focused on the intersections of racial, environmental and climate injustices.  Our thinking is inspired by the UU Seventh Principle (respect for the interdependent web of all existence) and the Eight Principle (accountably dismantle racism and all other oppressions).

This is a call to invite all people who identify as belonging to any of the communities of color to join hands and gather to reflect on the current moment of climate emergency, exchange our aspirations and learn how our UU values can strengthen our commitments. Paula Cole Jones and Rashid Shaikh are honored to take on the inaugural planning of this caucus (see bios below).  The dates and proposed topics for discussion of the initial meetings are given below. If you fill out this form, we will gladly send you details about how to join the meetings on Zoom. The BIPOC Caucus will feature presentations and opportunities to work in small groups.

Session 1:

Thursday, February 18 at 5pm PT/ 6 MT/ 7CT/ 8ET Connecting with the UU 7th and 8th Principals

Session 2:

Thursday, March 18 at  5pm PT/ 6 MT/ 7CT/ 8ET Lessons from the book Justice on Earth Session 3:

April – Date TBD The Green New Deal and the Biden Plan on Climate

The UU Young Adults for Climate Justice, UUA Green Sanctuary Program, Elders Climate Action, & UU Ministry for Earth are collaborating to host a series of intergenerational climate justice dialogues. The first session occurred in November, but it’s not too late to sign up for the remaining two sessions in January and March. Sign up here.

The Washington State Senate will be meeting virtually this year and next. In preparation for the session that begins in January, the Senate Environment Committee met virtually on December 1, 2020 at 10:30 a.m. The following topics were be discussed:

What's Next: Moving Into the Great Turning WWFOR Fall Retreat, November 21, 2020

Register Here

How can organizers of nonviolent mass protest actions help ensure those actions won't be "hijacked", and thus made less effective, by violent flanks, outside groups, and covert provocateurs?  How can we help ensure that health guidelines are followed during protests, to minimize the risk of harm from a deadly virus? Basic Training for Peace Teams: Keeping Non-Violent Discipline October 25, 6:30 to 8:30 pm     Dr. Tom Hastings, of Portland State University Conflict Studies Program and Adam Vogal of Portland Peace Team will provide a Zoom training on basic peacekeeping and de-escalation theory and skills to keep mass protests nonviolent. This training is designed for those who want to be trained to serve in a "peace team."

This Saturday, September 26th from 5-8pm, Sunrise Seattle will be holding a hub strategy session. If you have an interest in helping our hub to craft a strategy for the months leading up to January 2021, we would love for you to join us! You can register here.

Why: We’ve done amazing work since Sunrise Seattle began, especially in the last few months. In order to continue showing up for the uprising for Black Lives and other movements across the city and organizing our generation, and do it even bigger and better over time; we need to unify our work around a long-term strategy.  We need a clearer vision for how the Seattle hub will work towards building people power, political power, and the people’s alignment for a Green New Deal this fall, and Sunrise National just released a toolkit to help us do just that.

How: We'll be having a participatory session open to our entire hub, and we're also setting up systems for everyone to give input without having to make the meeting. To facilitate that, we're sharing the agenda for the strategy session, a shorter version of the Sunrise National Fall Strategy Guide, and an example strategy so every member can be involved and propose strategies. 

There will be 3 more days for people to develop proposals for strategies or specific goals. These proposals will be discussed in the first strategy session to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and develop our hub strategy and goals.

Once we have a first draft of our hub's strategy, it will be posted in the #strategic_planning_session channel on our Slack, and hub members will have a week to provide feedback in that Slack channel before our second strategy session, where we'll incorporate any feedback and come up with a final strategy. (Slack is a messaging tool we use to share ideas and collaborate - everyone is welcome to join.)

Please join the #strategic_planning_session channel on our Slack! The channel will be a place where people can discuss strategy, view other proposals, and build off each others’ ideas. Even if you can't come to the strategy session, you can develop proposals or explain your vision for our hub this fall in that channel, and your contributions will be taken into consideration during our planning session.

Excited but unsure of how to draft your own strategy proposal?: The Sunrise National fall strategy guide is a great resource for drafting your own proposals. In addition, our Trainings Team put together a document explaining the Act-Recruit-Train cycle that Sunrise uses, our theory of change, and key questions to keep in mind when drafting a proposal for a strategy or goal. 

The 2020 General Assembly Ware Lecture, held online, featured remarks on the Green New Deal by Naomi Klein. She has authored books on the economy and climate change, including This Changes Everything, and attended the 2015 Convention of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which negotiated the Paris Agreement. Klein's Ware Lecture noted that the COVID pandemic has changed many people's orientation to change, and opened possibilities for addressing climate, economic and racial issues. The Green New Deal is designed to address these issues on a multi-tasking basis, Klein notes, and would provide a framework for government policy in a post-COVID world. Klein commends UUs for our "respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part," our Seventh Principle. Although she does not explicitly mention it, UUA has endorsed the Green New Deal and our actions will fulfill many of its goals. The Ware Lecture by Naomi Klein can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/showcase/7462757/video/433421388

It’s finally here. WINNING THE GREEN NEW DEAL is out in the world today! If you haven’t yet picked up a copy, you can get one here.

I am so excited to share this book with everyone. Guido and Varshini worked very hard to gather brilliant people together and make this the definitive guide for what the Green New Deal is, why we need it, and how we win it. This book is a chance for us as Sunrisers to reground in what we’ve been working toward and an opportunity to invite others into the movement in a new and exciting way.

Our Climate Leaders Live! series is back (August 13th, 10:00 am) with a look at the future of the built environment.  While they don't move, buildings still emit pollution and emissions from buildings are growing at a faster rate than any other source of carbon pollution in Washington. Why? This increase is largely due to our use of fossil gas in homes and buildings (called "natural" gas by utilities). Burning fossil gas not only contributes to climate emissions, but also poses significant health risks for our communities, including children and other vulnerable people. But there is good news! Many cities across the country are increasingly looking to ensure all new buildings are powered solely by electricity. Electrifying buildings is critical to addressing climate change; it is also achievable, affordable, healthy, safe, and creates a more resilient energy system. This webinar will look at the use of gas in buildings, its impacts on our health (especially indoors), climate, and the prospects and implications of phasing it out. Join Climate Solutions and guests to hear about action taking place around the state, why we need it, and what comes next. 

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Food is a basic need, and healthy local food should be a fundamental right. At the heart of the food system is the seed.  Our current food system is so broken - in most all ways. Join Backbone for two events, this Friday and next Wednesday. We will talk about the effects of racism and colonization on our food system and how those oppressive systems relate to growing a garden and saving your seeds.  

Scroll down for detailed info on each virtual event and to register.

Join UUs for a Just Economic Community for a webinar:

Climate Crisis, like COVID-19, is a Global Health Threat; & Managing the Health Effects of the Climate Crisis. Thursday June 11, 5:00 pm PDT

To join our Webinar, please click here.

Brief Bio: Julia Ying is a volunteer public speaker trained by former US Vice President Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project. She is Co-Chair of the Climate Reality Northern New Mexico Chapter. She is also a member of 350 Santa Fe. She is a retired General Medical Practitioner from Sydney Australia, and is a happy grandmother to 5 grandchildren. She is now living in Los Alamos, NM. She is passionate about taking care of Mother Earth, to preserve the beauty of nature she loves, and to know her grandchildren can grow up in a safe, sustainable world.

Julia Ying can be contacted on: climaterealitynnm@gmail.com     Website: ClimateRealityNNM.org

Too often the argument “How can we possible pay for it?” stops any further discussion of implementing the Green New Deal. Join UUJEC for a webinar on how to change conventional thinking. A “can do” attitude can make impressive headway, both against global warming and the social, economic, political gridlock that stymies us. Join Zoom Meeting Adam Wasserman, host; Thursday, May 14, 5 pm PDT https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6687480796 Meeting ID: 668 748 0796 +13462487799, 6687480796# US

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Buildings have a big impact on climate, and cities can shrink that impact. Find out how at this event! Saturday, May 2, 9:30 - 11:00 am PDT.    Additional Q&A: 11:00 - 11:30 am PDT Join us to hear Vincent Martinez and Erin McDade, national leaders in this field, describe the work that their organization, Architecture 2030, has done with a few U.S. cities to address the buildings emissions challenge through public policies.

Learn more                         Sign up here 

Thank you to the over 200 supporters who joined our COVID-19 Solidarity Webinar on April 7th. If you weren’t able to join us live, you can watch the webinar recording here! We know that the impacts of both the climate crisis and COVID-19 are disproportionately felt by lower-income, communities of color, and working people. Our labor union and community of color based partners are working tirelessly to support their members who are working on the frontlines of this crisis. Here are ways you can support their calls for emergency justice! 

• Got Green: Sign the Emergency Justice Petition
• Community to Community & Familias Unidas Por La Justicia: Call your electeds and ask for Farmworker protections!
• Give to Front & Centered’s Frontline Response Fund
• Give to the Washington State Labor Council’s Foundation for Working Families
• United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21: 
  • Sign the petition: Gig companies must provide essential protections for essential workers
  • Sign the petition: Support our nurses and healthcare workers
  • Sign the petition: The federal government must release supplies from the National Strategic Stockpile of protective equipment immediately
  • Sign the petition: Grocery Store and Pharmacy workers need childcare support.
  • Sign the petition: COVID-19 relief for Macy’s workers!
  • Donate unused personal protective gear for healthcare workers.
  • Sign the petition: Demand Action and protections for grocery store workers

April 15-18 -- All In for Climate Justice: People. Power. Planet. UU United Nations Office Intergenerational Spring Seminar - New York, NY Send an Intergenerational team from your congregation!! The cost of Early Registration (December 2 - February 3) for all attendees is $375. Regular registration is open February 4 - March 2 at an increased rate. This year we have a new model in which all attendees pay the same rate, regardless of age. This adjustment moves the Seminar towards being more sustainably funded, with all costs shared between attendees. Apply by January 27 for a reduced registration rate. Registration

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