Student Engagement in Climate Justice

For his Sacred Action Project for the Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith, Larry Ryan set out to help congregations throughout his synod start conversations around climate justice. As a member of the ELCA Maryland-Delaware Synod’s Creation Care Team, Larry was interested in hearing from synod members about their thoughts on creation care. To gather their input, Larry led small group conversations with four congregations via zoom where 26 participants discussed the church’s role in creation care, shared their visions for how the church could be more engaged, and voiced their concerns about the future.

During World War II, the U.S. Navy built a fuel storage facility into a hill in the Kapūkakī (Red Hill) area on Oʻahu, near Pearl Harbor, in order to save these fuel reserves from aerial attack. Nearly 80 years later, fifteen of these tanks are still in operation directly above one of O’ahu’s main freshwater aquifers.

Since 2014, more than 55,000 gallons of fuel from these tanks have leaked into the surrounding ground and groundwater.

Everywhere you look in Zimbabwe, you are reminded of the climate crisis. From shrinking lakes to parched farms to electricity shortages caused by low water flow, everyone is impacted by a devastating, climate change-induced drought. In a nation where an estimated 40% of the population lives below the poverty line (less than $1.90 per person per day), these impacts are especially hard hitting.

Sabi Elizabeth Aitiya began her Sacred Action Project for the Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith by bringing together frontline congregations and faith-based organizations in her community in Yola, Nigeria to mobilize for education, reflection, action, and advocacy for climate justice. So far, her initiative, Love for Creation, has brought together more than five congregations.

Two students from the Climate Justice and Faith Concentration, Kelly Miller-Sanchez and Julie Gerrish, were official members of the ELCA delegation to the UN Climate Change Conference known as COP 26 (the Paris Climate Summit was COP 20) in Glasgow, Scotland October 31 – November 12, 2021.

Thousands of delegates representing NGOs (non-governmental organizations, what we in the U.S. call non-profits) from around the globe were present to influence negotiations. Julie and Kelly were among these NGO representatives pressuring governmental representatives to make bold commitments to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions AND support policies that prioritize the well-being of climate vulnerable people, particularly Indigenous communities.