Creation Care Advocates Report Faith-Based Climate Activism Increasing

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A United Methodist Insight Special

People are "fed up" with fossil-fuel companies’ failure to take responsibility for the climate crisis, and they're acting locally, nationally and internationally to demand moves to renewable energy, say faith-based advocates.

Creation care advocates reported increasing grassroots efforts on climate during a 90-minute "Conversation on Divestment" webinar sponsored March 7 by Fossil Free UMC and United Methodist Creation Justice Movement. Their stories of greater climate change activism came after a keynote talk by world-renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben, a United Methodist layman considered the "godfather" of today's environmental movement.

During a segment of the webinar, California environmental activist William Morris, also a United Methodist layman, interviewed McKibben on divestment for local churches and individuals. Morris focused on how to talk about money, often a "taboo subject" in local churches.

"Money is the perfect way to talk about climate change because it's the way most people and institutions are complicit in climate change," McKibben told Morris. "If an individual has $100,000 in a bank and the bank invests in fossil fuels, that investment produces more carbon emissions that one individual does in a year."

Morris concurred with McKibben, nothing that his Los Angeles organization sponsors "toxic tours" to show people how much pollution exists in their neighborhoods and how money invested in fossil fuels funds those toxic emissions.

"People are very moved" when they realize how close they are to deadly emissions that are causing the climate crisis, Morris said.

A third speaker during the webinar, Steve Hucklesby, described the United Kingdom movement called Operation Noah, a Catholic environmental group that worked across denominational lines to get all churches in England, Scotland and Wales including the Methodist Church of Great Britain to divest from fossil fuels. The British Methodist Church is one of the "concordat" churches that has a formal relationship with the UMC and sends voting delegates to the United Methodist General Conference.

Hucklesby said the UK movement organized around three principles:

  • Creation care theology presented by "key scholars with good standing."
  • Grassroots-up movement-building, based in part on the model used by 350.org, an environmental advocacy organization that McKibben co-founded.
  • Clear and intentional descriptions about change and how to get there. This step involved church members working with key activists who educated each denomination about government structures and how to use those structures to bring about climate crisis mitigation.

Hucklesby explained that the British Methodist Church handles its investments similar to that of the UMC, where Wespath Benefits and Investments manages clergy retirement and church agency investments. In the UK, Epworth Investment Management handles British Methodists' money and are constrained by secular investment standards and benchmarks, Hucklesby said.

Hucklesby said the UK divestment happened when climate activists proposed to the churches that they opt out of fossil-fuel investments not aligned with the Paris Accords, which call for 50 percent decrease in carbon emissions by 2050. In the British Methodist Church, the president of Methodist Youth proposed the divestment resolution, which was seconded by "an establishment figure" so the proposal was seen as people of all ages working in cooperation, Hucklesby saifd.

He said that when the British Methodist Conference approved fossil-fuel divestment in 2022, a headline read, " Methodist Church Dumps Shell over Inadequate Climate Plans."

Kathleen Dickson, who volunteers as an organizer for Third Act, an activist group for elders founded by McKibben, said she became involved out of personal faith motivation.

"I just wanted my little church to pay attention to climate change," Dickson said.

The Third Act organizer said her local group participated in last year's campaign that challenged banks to divest from fossil fuels by targeting credit cards.

"We said 'cut it out or we'll cut it up,'" Dickson said, referring to the campaign's aim that participants would close their bank credit card accounts from which banks derive a lot of income if banks didn't divest.

Dickson said that Third Act's efforts are interfaith and ecumenical.

"We support and encourage members to urge their churches and denominational bodies to promote renewable energy over fossil fuels," Dickson said.

The webinar's moderator, the Rev. Richenda Fairhurst, a United Methodist clergywoman, cited the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement as another way individuals and churches could get involved with climate crisis activism.

Cathy Velasquez Eberhart, a United Methodist EarthKeeper and a leader of the UM Creation Justice Movement, said the organization is rooted in the UMC's Social Principles, a set of guidelines for faithful living "that commit us to working for God's creation."

Eberhart said the movement has a website and a newsletter for participants and that it also has work teams that collaborate with UMC agencies to create an online library of resources. The teams work with Discipleship Ministries on worship resources, with Church and Society on advocacy, with United Women of Faith through its Just Energy for All program and with the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry to coordinate with colleges and seminaries.

Eberhart said her organization plans to hold an Earth Day worship service April 22 in Charlotte, N.C., in advance of the UMC's General Conference, which begins in that city April 23.

The Rev. Sharon Delgado, a longtime creation care advocate and convenor of the Fossil Free UMC campaign, said her organization has posted a letter on its website asking General Conference to instruct United Methodist agencies to divest from fossil-fuel companies. The letter is available to sign on the Fossil Free UMC website.

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, a media channel for marginalized and under-served United Methodists that she founded in 2011.