UUA Named Top 10 Finalist in ecoAmerica’s American Climate Leadership Awards Side With Love’s Climate Justice Programming Highlighted; Award Winners to be Celebrated on March 30th

Media Contact:
Suzanne Morse
Ph: (508) 259-9354
Email: smorse@uua.org

Boston, Mass., (March 29, 2023) – The Unitarian Universalist Association’s (UUA) Climate Justice programming was named a top ten finalist in ecoAmerica’s American Climate Leadership Awards for 2023.

Climate Justice is one of the social justice priorities around which the UUA’s Side With Love campaign organizes, educates, and trains Unitarian Universalists (UUs). UUs affirm a set of Principles and values that include respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. Additionally, UUs believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person, which includes centering the needs of marginalized communities most impacted by the effects of climate change and environmental disasters.

“Side With Love organizes UUs to cultivate thriving communities that advance a just and equitable transition to a clean energy future,” said Rachel Myslivy, the UUA’s Climate Justice Organizer. “Through spiritual grounding and nourishment, political education, skill building, leadership development, and mobilization, we facilitate shared learning, mutual support, and collective action.”

In addition to the UUA, the following were named Top Ten finalists: Amazon Employees for Climate Justice; the Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s Electrify MoCo Campaign; Climate Generation: Improving Nationwide Climate Change Education, Our Teach Climate Network; Cooperation Jackson’s Jackson Just Transition Plan; Hawaii Green Growth UN Local2030 Hub; Migrant Clinicians Network: Meeting the Needs of Vulnerable Population Impacted by Climate Change; Mothers Out Front’s Organizing For a Livable Climate for All; The Wild Center’s (Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks) Youth Climate Program; and Zumwalt Acres: A Regenerative Agriculture Community.

“Unitarian Universalists – and other progressive people of faith – are an integral part of not only taking action to address the climate crisis, but providing spiritual and relational resources to ensure our movements are able to stay in this critical work for the long-haul,” said Rev. Ashley Horan, Organizing Strategy Director for the UUA. “Side With Love’s climate justice work is rooted in solidarity, with an understanding that while we are all impacted by the climate crisis, we must center the needs and the leadership of frontline communities that are already suffering the most severe effects of climate change.”

The UUA’s Climate Justice programming organizes UUs to take action – in relationship with local communities and climate justice movements – on climate change. The Green Sanctuary 2030 program equips UU congregations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions 45 percent by the year 2030 while prioritizing justice in their actions. Additionally, the program supports congregations to become hubs of climate resilience and community care. The UUA approaches climate justice organizing by following the leadership of BIPOC individuals and organizations, decarbonizing relationships, and engaging in transformative actions.

“I am so proud of the work that Side With Love is doing to promote climate justice, and so pleased that they received this recognition from ecoAmerica,” said Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. “Many thanks to the American Climate Leadership Awards for acknowledging our work and the work of so many Unitarian Universalists.”

You can read more about Side With Love’s Climate Justice programming at ecoAmerica’s blog. The winners of the American Climate Leadership Awards will be announced by ecoAmerica on March 30th during a broadcast event.

About the UUA

The UUA is the central organization for the Unitarian Universalist (UU) religious movement in the United States. Our faith is diverse and inclusive and the UUA’s 1000+ member congregations are committed to Seven Principles that hold closely the worth and dignity of each person as sacred, the need for justice and compassion, the right of conscience, and respect for the interdependent nature of all existence.