Unitarian Universalists Conclude Annual Meeting with a Resolution to Combat Global Warming
June 28, 2006
The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) concluded its annual General Assembly in St. Louis with a renewed commitment to protect the earth and to witness on behalf of liberal religious values. The convention attracted 4,300 Unitarian Universalists from across the country for the annual gathering that includes business meetings, workshops and worship services in a national celebration of spiritual community.
The Assembly delegates adopted a formal Statement of Conscience on the “Threat of Global Warming/Climate Change.” The statement culminates a two-year study process on environmental sustainability and commits Unitarian Universalists to promoting individual and collective actions to slow and ultimately reverse global warming. This religious commitment honors the seventh principle Unitarian Universalism, a “respect for the interdependent web of existence.”
The preface of the Statement of Conscience reads, in part: “We declare by this Statement of Conscience that we will not acquiesce to the ongoing degradation and destruction of life that human actions are leaving to our children and grandchildren. We as Unitarian Universalists are called to join with others to halt practices that fuel global warming/climate change, to instigate sustainable alternatives, and to mitigate the impending effects of global warming/climate change with just and ethical responses.”
The Statement of Conscience is a bold call for systemic reform at every level, with detailed action items for individuals, for congregations, for the UUA as a national body, and for civic and legislative advocacy efforts that shape national policy. At the personal level, Unitarian Universalists are called to take many measures to move toward greater sustainability, including to “reduce our use of energy and our consumption of manufactured goods that become waste” and to “determine our personal energy consumption and pledge to reduce our use of energy and carbon emissions by at least 20% by 2010 or sooner and into the future.” UU congregations are urged to “treat environmentally responsible practices as a spiritual discipline” and to “educate ourselves, our children, and future generations on sustainable ways to live interdependently.”
Advocacy goals included a call for “ratification of and compliance with the Kyoto Protocol” as well as a demand for “funding for research and development of renewable energy resources and energy-efficient technologies that includes a shift of federal subsidies from fossil fuel industries to renewable energy technologies and improved energy efficiency."
The General Assembly delegates voted to adopt several social justice resolutions known as “Actions of Immediate Witness.” Another environmental resolution is the call to “End Mountain Top Removal Coal Mining.” The resolution acknowledged a number of harmful ecological impacts from this current practice and urged passage of H.R. 2719, the Clean Water Protection Act.
Among other resolutions passed this year were calls to “Support Immigrant Justice,” “Pass the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act,” and “Stand up for the United Nations Human Rights Council.” Full texts of the resolutions will be available online shortly at www.uua.org/csw.
During the Assembly, ministers and guest speakers voiced the need for the progressive faith community to offer a powerful spiritual response to the religious right. In his annual report to the Assembly, UUA President William G. Sinkford celebrated the recent strides toward Marriage Equality, and he pledged “to continue to oppose the discriminatory, mean-spirited Federal Marriage Amendment every single time it is introduced.” Sinkford also urged Unitarian Universalists to question the religious right’s agenda, warning that “the current debate, with its fear-based focus on sexuality and gender, is designed to distract the attention of America from the far more essential conversations that we should be having.”
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Last updated on Tuesday, May 24, 2011.
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