Last week was the one year anniversary of the most ambitious climate policy and clean energy investment in history. The Inflation Reduction Act includes incentives to make the clean energy transition and a decarbonized life easy and financially smart. With discounts and tax credits for home owners and renters and a 30% direct pay option for congregations, the IRA is a game changer. I’ve heard from so many UU congregations looking into solar, energy efficiency, and our IRA Peer Learning Circle Team of energy wonks are hard at work figuring out the best options for our people. Go team!
Friends, I invite you to think even bigger. What about all of the things we can do to decarbonize our communities to make sure that these federal funds help our neighbors most at risk of climate disruption? Always when we’re doing climate work, we need to think about what climate injustice looks like in our communities. Who are the most impacted by climate disasters, extreme heat, winter storms, or floods? Where are the “sacrifice zones” in your community? Who is impacted and how? Who are the people organizing in those communities? Find the harm, then ask those closest to it how you can help. Racial justice is climate justice. Although the IRA has tremendous potential, we’ve got miles to go to achieve the equitable transition to a clean energy future we need.
We need to embrace a visionary approach as we put our faith into action to ensure those most impacted by climate disruption benefit the most from federal clean energy funding.
New Date: Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding Webinar
![](../themes/icons/grey.gif)
Image description: Graphic with an illustrated planet Earth in shades of green, placed in a bed of leaves and flowers, with smaller leaves and stars swirling above it. Dark blue and black text says, "Webinar. Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding. Date TBD" Logos: Create Climate Justice, Interfaith Power & Light, Blessed Tomorrow, Unitarian Universalists for Economic Justice, Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice, Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth, Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice.
We are working on a new date for our Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding webinar, which will provide a framework of abundance with justice at the center.
Learn about the ways your congregation can advocate to electrify low-income neighborhoods, partner to weatherize low-income homes, and leverage our power to ensure that federal clean energy funding decreases disparities, builds community resilience and advances clean energy as a human right.
RSVP now to be notified when we finalize the date in September!
Tell Your Elected Officials: End Fossil Fuels!
If you aren’t already, start talking to your elected officials about climate justice. As we mobilize to end the era of fossil fuels, the People vs. Fossil Fuels Elected Officials pledge is a great way to connect with city, county, and state officials to build relationships for ongoing engagement on local climate action, energy, pollution, and climate disaster preparedness plans.
Use the Side with Love Click to Call to connect with state senators and representatives, and reach out personally to your city and county officials to sign this pledge. We need as many elected officials as possible to join us in pushing President Biden to end the era of fossil fuels ahead of the UN Climate Ambition Summit and March to End the Era of Fossil Fuels in New York this September. Learn more about these efforts at https://SideWithLove.org/UUClimateJustice
Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregational Community Training in September
![](../themes/icons/grey.gif)
Image description: Graphic with a white background and a paint smear in the upper lefthand corner. Green text reads: Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting with the logos for Green Sanctuary and Side With Love on each side of the text. In blue text, it reads Navigating Conflict in our Climate Work with Restorative Conflict Circles. In black text, it reads September 20 4PT / 5MT / 6CT / 7ET. There is the logo for Create Climate Justice and then a light green paint smear in the lower righthand corner.
This work is hard, but together we can shape a future with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all communities thrive. Our last Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, Surprise Lessons in Congregational Transformation, provided excellent perspective on ways to work together to advance climate justice and increase collaboration in our congregations and communities.
Although no one likes to talk about it, conflict is inevitable when working together. Next month’s discussion will cover Navigating Conflict in Our Climate Work with Restorative Conflict Circles. If you’re ready to learn more about the new Green Sanctuary, I invite you to attend a monthly orientation session on the first Wednesday of the month. Join the conversation!
As Unitarian Universalists, our faith calls us to be agents for change. However, sometimes this work can feel lonely, draining, daunting, or disconnected from our spirituality. UUMFE’s Action-Reflection Circles address both the yearning to tie our work to Unitarian Universalism and the call to transform ourselves and the world. Join with other UUs on a regular basis to share stories about your actions and strategies, restore your resilience, deepen your solidarity skills, and tap into our UU faith tradition as a source of strength.
There is so much to be done, and it is so much more joyful when we do the work together.
In community,
![](../themes/icons/grey.gif)
Image description: A white person wearing dark frame glasses, with shoulder length light brown hair, stands surrounded by tall ferns. They are wearing a black Side With Love t-shirt and a jacket. They are smiling.
Rachel
Rachel Myslivy
Climate Justice Organizer, Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team
Unitarian Universalist Association
Embrace a Visionary Approach to Clean Energy as a Human Right