United Women in Faith Encourages Four Climate Actions

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In the wake of significant setbacks from the federal government in climate crisis measures and amid record-breaking U.S. heat waves, United Women in Faith is encouraging participation in four actions seeking to influence policies to protect the earth and relieve the climate crisis. 

An email from Elizabeth Chun Hye (Liz) Lee, director of mobilization and advocacy, and Maryann Verghese, Just Energy for All coordination consultant urged church women to participate in the following actions.

1. Submit a public comment to reform the 1872 Mining Law to the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Many of the critical minerals needed for renewable energy technologies in the U.S. are located within 35 miles of Native American reservations, threatening their sovereignty, sacred sites, water, and health. The current mining law in the United States has not been updated in 150 years. Contact the U.S. Department of the Interior to revise the mining law to center on equity for Native American communities, frontline communities, and creation care in the transition away from fossil fuels. 

Use this link https://p2a.co/FQOsWwX or text UWF Mining to 52886. A sample comment has been provided for participants to edit. Comment deadline is July 31. 

2. Encourage school districts to apply for electric school bus funding.

For many years, United Women in Faith has been advocating for electric school buses. Last fall, through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, advocates succeeded in getting seed funding for electric school buses. Through the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program, priority school districts now have the opportunity to apply for the $1 billion per year program to replace polluting diesel school buses. The deadline to apply for 2022 is August 19.  

"Please join us and the Breathe Again Collaborative by contacting priority school districts and urging them to apply for this funding with this simple toolkit here," says the email. "And don’t stop there! Please invite your friends, family, and community to take action too! See our amplification kit here.

"A quick email to a school district is an important step to make sure electric school buses become a reality."

3. Join the #Post4thePlanet postcard campaign to tell our leaders that access to healthy air is an inherent human right! 

"Let your senators and governor know you want them to act for climate justice and health care by making ambitious climate investments through our postcard campaign!" says the email. "Print out our postcards and use the instructions to send them to your senators and governor.  

"Be sure to post on social media and record your postcard actions (links and information in the toolkit). We will recognize the top three states who sent out the most postcards. Currently, North Carolina is leading with the highest number of postcards sent! This action will still be relevant through the fall and for annual meetings. Postcards have been updated."

4. Ask Congress to invest in climate justice.

"Please continue to call, email, and tweet your representatives and ask them to pass $550 billion in investments that will deliver on climate justice, jobs, and clean energy and protect our health and environment," says the email. "Use this link: https://p2a.co/fpd9ujd or text UWF Climate to 52886.

Email climatejustice@uwfaith.org with questions.