Every month, a webinar organized and hosted by Karen Brammer (Green Sanctuary Program Director) and Aly Tharp (UUMFE Programs Director) provides an opportunity for UU environmental justice practitioners to engage in reflection and education, deepen their faith grounding for environmental justice, and build their skills. Guest speakers share on wide-ranging, cutting-edge environmental and climate justice topics, giving participants the chance to witness essential models and build skills for partnering with people in front-line communities.
Join the network in order to receive invitations to forthcoming webinars, and scroll down to view past webinars available online, or access them all through the YouTube channel.
Webinar Recordings
“An Indigenous Peoples History of the United States with Gail Forsyth-Vail (January 23, 2020)
Gail Forsyth-Vail, about engaging your congregation with the 2020 UUA Common Read, An Indigenous Peoples History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, with an environmental justice lens. This webinar program will discuss the original book as well as the newly released young people’s adaptation by Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza.
“As Long as the Grass Grows,” A Conversation with Dina Gilio-Whitaker (May 23, 2019)
“As Long as Grass Grows,” is a comprehensive history of the native peoples of North America and their struggles; beginning with colonization and land confiscation, to forced displacement and genocide, and continuing to the present day where the Federal government and corporations claim rights to native lands. This book provides the history of Native peoples’ resistance to environmental injustice and is a call for environmentalists to learn from the Indigenous community’s rich history of activism. By viewing climate change from an Indigenous perspective, Gilio-Whitaker points to a way forward beyond Western conceptions of environmental justice — toward decolonization as the only viable solution.
A Conversation with Fred Lane, Lummi Nation Tribal Council Member (April 25, 2019)
Perhaps you remember attending one of the Lummi Nation totem pole journeys, or the Public Witness with members of the Lummi Nation at the 2015 General Assembly in Portland, Oregon? Unitarian Universalist relationship and solidarity with the Lummi Nation has rippled across the nation over the years — and many of these ripples can be traced back to dedicated relationship building and solidarity from members of the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship. This webinar shares updates about the Lummi Nations sacred activism and builds upon stories shared in the UUA Common Read, Justice on Earth: People of Faith Working at the Intersections of Race, Class, & Environment.
“St. James Parish Rising: Environmental Racism in Louisiana,” with Sharon Lavigne (March 27, 2019)
St. James Parish is also known as “Cancer Alley,” an 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans where despite decades of resistance to dangerous petrochemical pollution, facilities continue to be built. Sharon discusses the reality and fight against environmental racism in her community.
Sharon Lavigne is founder of RISE St James. RISE St James is a grassroots, Christian faith-based environmental justice organization based in St. James Parish, Louisiana.
“The Formation of the Environmental Justice Movement”, with Paula Coles Jones (February 28, 2019)
Paula will build upon her chapter about the historical formation of the environmental justice movement in the book “Justice on Earth: People of Faith Working at the Intersections of Race, Class, & Environment”
Paula Cole Jones is the founder of ADORE (A Dialogue on Race & Ethnicity), a former president of DRUUMM (Diverse and Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries) and an independent consultant specializing in multicultural competencies and institutional change. Paula is also a founding member of the UUMFE People of Color Caucus.
“Water Unites Us”, with Reverends Rose Edington and Mel Hoover (January 28, 2019)
This webinar will build upon the “Water Unites Us” chapter “Justice on Earth: People of Faith Working at the Intersections of Race, Class, & Environment”
Clergy couple Mel Hoover and Rose Edington are co-ministers emeriti of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Charleston West Virginia. Their shared connection to Appalachia with its beauty and challenges led them to the Charleston congregation in 2002. Rose grew up in the Kanawha Valley, often referred to as the “chemical valley” for the plants that lined the Kanawha River; and Mel had relatives in the Charleston area that were an easy visit from his Columbus Ohio home. Both remember gagging from the chemical plants’ emissions that highly polluted the air, a factor that contributed to their environmental justice activism.
Colonization & Unitarian Universalism”, with Rev. Clyde Grubbs (November 29, 2018)
Rev. Clyde Grubbs honors his Texas Cherokee heritage which informs his spiritual understanding and practice, and his anti-racist commitment. He has worked on questions of colonialism’s impact on American Protestantism especially Unitarian Universalism over several decades.
Rev. Clyde Grubbs is a Unitarian Universalist minister who served congregations in Indiana, Quebec, Massachusetts, Texas, Florida, and California. He presently serves as Minister at the All Souls Church in Braintree, MA, He recently received his D.MIn. degree from Andover Newton Theological School.
“Prophetic Imagination”, with Pamela Sparr (September 26 and October 24, 2018)
Pamela Sparr expands upon the points made in her chapter of Justice on Earth: People of Faith Working at the Intersections of Race, Class, and Environment.
Pamela Sparr has served many key leadership roles in Unitarian Universalism; most recently, she served as UUSC’s Associate Director for Justice-Building. Pamela also helped lead the Commit2Respond campaign, co-authored the UU Ministry for Earth’s “Our Place in the Web of Life” curriculum, and was a lead organizer of the 2014 UUMFE Collaboratory event that inspired the creation of the Justice on Earth book.
“Beautiful Solutions: a Conversation with Elandria Williams” (April 26, 2018)
Elandria Williams, training director at PeoplesHub, an interactive online training school that supports people and groups where they live. Elandria also provides cooperative development support to cooperatives mostly in the Southern United States and is a co-editor of Beautiful Solutions, a project that is gathering some of the most promising and contagious stories, solutions, strategies and big questions for building a more just, democratic, and resilient world. Beautiful Solutions has a web platform, trainings and a book soon to be released. Elandria most recently for the last eleven years worked at the Highlander Research and Education Center first as the youth/inter-generational programs director and then helping co-coordinate the Economics and Governance programs including the Mapping Our Futures Curriculum and the Southern Grassroots Economies Project. Elandria also serves on the boards of the Southern Reparations Loan Fund (SRLF), US Solidarity Economy Network, Appalachian Studies Association, the Movement for Black Lives Policy Table and are one of the Co-Moderators or Chief Governance Officers of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Speaking on a wide range of topics — from examples of inspiring community solutions to human and Earth exploitation, to the future of the Unitarian Universalist Association — you don’t want to miss what Elandria has to say on this episode of the Environmental Justice Practitioners Network webinar series!
“Get Ready for CreateClimateJustice.net!” (March 22, 2018)
Aly Tharp, Program Director of UU Ministry for Earth, & Rev. Karen Brammer, Manager of the UUA Green Sanctuary Program
Aly and Karen give a presentation about a new web platform being developed by the UUMFE and UUA to enhance and support UU networking and community organizing for climate and environmental justice.
“Rising Together: Lessons from the UU Justice Florida Climate Resilience Ministry”(January 25, 2018)
Jan Booher, Director of UU Justice Florida’s Climate Resilience Ministry
Jan Booher shares amazing stories and lessons from her work organizing congregations to form community partnerships for public health and climate resilience throughout Florida.
“Just Transitions from Extreme Extraction” (November 30, 2017)
Kandi Mossett (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara – North Dakota), lead organizer with Indigenous Environmental Network and Indigenous Rising
Kandi Mossett speaks for about 30 minutes about her work with Indigenous Rising and Indigenous Environmental Network, followed by Q&A and group conversation. Kandi “has emerged as a leading voice in the fight to bring visibility to the impacts that climate change and environmental injustice are having on Indigenous communities across North America.”
“NAACP Environmental & Climate Justice Program Overview” (October 26, 2017)
Jacqueline Patterson, Director of the NAACP’s Environmental and Climate Justice Program
In addition to her role at the NAACP, Jacqui Patterson also serves on the leadership bodies for the US Social Forum, Interfaith Moral Action on Climate, Center for Earth Ethics, Institute of the Black World, Center for Story Based Strategy, and US Climate Action Network. On this webinar she presented about the work that the NAACP does to advance environmental and climate justice.
*Note: The recording of this webinar does not include the first 5 minutes or the discussion portion.
“Environmental Injustices of Mass Incarceration” (September 28, 2017)
Candice Bernd, editor/staff reporter at Truthout.org and co-producer of the film “Don’t Frack With Denton”
Candice Bernd is a contributor to Truthout and Earth Island Journal’s investigative series on America’s Toxic Prisons. Candice has researched and reported on issues such as systemic high levels of arsenic in prisons across the USA and the recent incidents of prisoners stuck in terrible conditions in hurricane evacuation zones. This webinar shines light on the connection between environmental injustices and the prison industrial complex and gives recommendations about how faith groups and coalitions can organize locally to advocate for justice around these issues.
“UU and Indigenous Solidarity” (August 24, 2017)
Elder Johnnie Aseron, Director of the InterNational Initiative for Transformative Collaboration, and Rev. Karen Van Fossan, minister for the Bismarck-Mandan UU Fellowship and Church
Johnnie Aseron and Rev. Karen Van Fossan share stories from the faith mobilization to support the resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) at Standing Rock, and share about news and praxis of ongoing UU collaboration with Indigenous leadership. Johnnie served as the Wellness Initiative and interfaith prayer coordinator for the Oceti Sakowin prayer camp, and Karen’s church was the only congregation in North Dakota that publicly supported the camp. Through many months of working together, Johnnie and Karen bring diverse experiences and insights describing transformative collaboration practices and processes for our reflection.
“Art & Storytelling for Community & Justice Building” (April 13, 2017)
Jayeesha Dutta, National Community Arts Program Manager for the People’s Climate Movement and co-founder of the New Orleans’ Radical Arts and Healing Collective
A tri-coastal artivist-scholar pursuing a doctorate at the University of New Orleans, Jayeesha Dutta specializes in using art and relationship building for intersectional social justice movements. She has been organizing with nearly 100 organizations across the Gulf Coast through the Gulf Future Coalition and Another Gulf Is Possible since 2013. In 2016, Jayeesha co-founded the Radical Arts and Healing Collective, an arts-based direct action & healing justice support hub in New Orleans.
“Grounding for Escalation” (February 9, 2017)
Caitlin Breedlove, Campaign Director, and Nora Rasman, Campaign Coordinator, Standing on the Side of Love
Caitlin Breedlove and Nora Rasman from the Standing on the Side of Love campaign start the conversation with some personal background about where they have found their energy and sustaining values for engagement with justice work, followed by time for questions and small group work for our own explorations. This webinar will help you engage with what kinds of grounding and energizing work can make you feel ready to stay in this work for the long haul and bring others along as well.
“Widening the Circle: Learning from the Community & Creating Climate Justice” (January 12, 2017)
Dr. Janice Marie Johnson, UUA Multicultural Ministries and Leadership Director
In her time with the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, Dr. Janice Marie Johnson has advised many congregations and organizers on ways of working in collaborative efforts with people from marginalized communities as individuals and in groups. This is the kind of deepening work that can grow a climate justice ministry from a charitable or assumptive model into a truly relationship-building and spiritually grounded working relationship.