Climate & Environmental Justice
The Earth is sacred. Our communities are interconnected. And our future depends on how we respond—together.
Climate disruption affects all of us but some communities are hurt worse than others. Marginalized communities are hurt first and worst by climate disruption and are often least resourced to adapt and respond to changing climate conditions — and that’s usually by design.
With deep roots in extractive systems of harm, systemic oppression, and exploitation, climate justice is an intersectional justice issue that we must respond to as a complex crisis with the same root causes as the systems of oppression we fight so hard against.
Climate justice calls us to respond with urgency and moral clarity. Honoring the interdependent web of existence, we commit to cultivating communities of care so that all beings can flourish and thrive. This is not simply an environmental issue. It is a spiritual and ethical commitment to one another and to the Earth itself.
Side With Love organizes Unitarian Universalists to move from concern to collective action. Through spiritual grounding, political education, leadership development, and mobilization, we equip congregations and communities to build a just transition to a clean energy future, one rooted in abundance, interdependence, and care.
Our work is deeply relational. Climate impacts are lived locally, shaped by neighborhood, geography, and existing inequalities. That means our response must be rooted in listening, community care, and mutual supports, especially in times of disaster and disruption. When we center those most impacted, we build stronger, more resilient communities for everyone.
We partner with movements and coalitions working on the frontlines of climate justice, and we support congregations to transform their communities through our Four Essentials of Climate Justice: Congregational Transformation, Justice, Community Resilience, and Mitigation. Through initiatives like Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice and the UU Climate Justice Revival, communities are coming together to reimagine what is possible, breaking down silos, deepening faith, and stepping into collective power.
Climate justice is not only about preventing harm. It is about building something new.
Together, we are cultivating a future beyond extraction and exploitation, where all communities thrive.
What We Are Doing
- Green Sanctuary Program
Our congregations demonstrate their commitment to environmental justice by aligning their values with their actions through becoming certified Green Sanctuaries. For 15 years the Green Sanctuary program has helped more than 230 UU congregations live out this commitment through spiritual connection, education, sustainable living, and social justice. Newly updated since 2012! - President’s UU Climate Justice Working Group
The group was established to identify where our faith calls us to lead, beyond narrowly defined “net zero” goals towards equitable decarbonization, community resilience, and a just transition from fossil fuels to a clean energy future. - UU Climate Justice Revival
UU Climate Justice Revivals invite congregations to collectively reimagine a spirit-filled and liberatory future. Through conversations, worship, and advocacy, congregations come together to realize climate justice and collective liberation in our communities. - Divestment and Socially-Responsible Investment
In 2014, Unitarian Universalists became one of the first religious groups to commit our financial investments to environmental justice. We have called on our denomination, our congregations, and our individual members to engage with how investments can be socially responsible, using available SRI resources.
Worship, Learn, and Live Your Faith
Worship
- UU Theological Grounding for Climate Justice: How do we make our interdependence faithful and value-driven? This question was posed by UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt during the fireside chat with UUSC President Rev. Mary Katherine Morn. These two theologians and leaders discussed the UU theological grounding for climate justice. Interdependent doesn’t always mean something positive, as Rev. Betancourt noted. Someone upstream polluting has an interdependent relationship with those downstream. So: how do we make our interdependence faithful and value-driven?
- Spiritual Nourishment and worship resources for climate justice work from Side With Love
- UU Climate Justice Revival Worship Service for congregational use
- Worship Web: worship materials for Earth Day
- Webinar: Earth-Aware Worship Beyond Earth Day
Religious Education
- Climate Justice Revival curriculum for K — young adult
Education
- UUA statements on Climate Justice
- Climate at the Intersections Video Series: how does climate justice intersect with other justice ministries, like democracy, gender justice, economic justice, trans liberation, and more?
- Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care Toolkit: How can we center the inherent worth and dignity of every person in climate disasters? Every community is different, and climate impacts will vary at the hyper-local level. Some neighborhoods may be devastated by a hurricane while others experience only minor impacts. Adequate preparation and response for climate disasters must center the lived experiences and impacts of climate disasters on those most at risk.
- Abolitionist Visions on Climate Justice: The abolitionist movement imagines a future without police and prisons, drawing on deep convictions, faith, imagination, and hope to do so. The climate justice movement is diverse, vibrant, and equally hopeful: but do we UUs have a vision of what a just climate future is? Without a clear vision of a world where all can thrive, we run the risk of prioritizing short-term gains, false solutions, legislative goals disconnected from cultural shifts, and distractions that divide our focus.
- Climate justice and Green Sanctuary trainings and webinars from Side With Love, including:
- Climate Justice books for readers of all ages from inSpirit: UU Gift and Bookshop
- Resource Guide (PDF) for the 2006 “Threat of Global Warming/Climate Change” Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Statement of Conscience