Obstacles in Environmental Justice Organizing

Challenges with Environmental Justice Work:

 Several congregants noted, with disappointment, that environmental justice has become relatively stagnant with regards to its volunteer and participant base. Stan Sattinger said, “Probably the most significant challenge is getting people’s attention about events we hold. We recently invited Paula Maccabee, WaterLegacy’s Advocacy Director and Counsel, to speak about Minnesota’s first proposed copper-nickel mine, the PolyMet sulfide mine project and its threats to environmental justice, human health, and our climate. I’m told that she was disappointed at the turnout. You would have thought—this was in the news--why aren’t more people here? Paula’s disappointment is understandable because she sees this as a large church. We publicized it as much as could, but maybe not soon enough.”¹

Stan said that even though the Environmental Justice team publicizes its events, there are so many groups at the church, each with their own events. Stan laughed as he said that each group says, “Come on, come on, come to our meeting!”²

 Environmental Justice Team member Joy Throm also expressed concern about the lack of consistent participants in environmental causes. She said, “We used to be forty or fifty strong; now we have ten active members who come to our meetings.” Joy also noted that most of the environmental participants at the church are in their fifties or sixties. She said, “We know it’s not because young people aren’t interested-- they are. I understand that young people with young families don’t have a lot of time to volunteer.”³

I steadfastly tried to explain that environmental justice work is racial justice work. That’s not well recognized in our congregation. We’ll work on that.

A Shift in Emphasis:

 When asked whether or not environmental issues emerge often at the church, Stan said that the issues used to come up often, but that “the church’s priorities have shifted over the years.” Several environmental activists at the First Universalist pointed out this change in focus. Stan said, “They’re very active in Black Lives Matter, and that’s a big priority.”⁴

According to Environmental Justice team member Joy Throm, when Reverend Justin came to the First Universalist, "He wanted to rebuild things his own way, so Ecominds, a group that used to exist at the church, lost its ability to operate...We were not given a budget line, we were no longer recognized as a church group, and we couldn’t get space in the church. I don’t understand why it happened, and I never heard a satisfactory answer, but it was a choice made by Justin right after he got here.”

For many members of the church, the shift away from environmental issues caused tension. Joy said that many of her friends left the church as a result of this change. In order to reconcile, she said, “We had a healing meeting led by Reverend Jen Crow, and she opened up the door for people involved in environmental action to have a talking session about what we were interested in doing. She said in that meeting, ‘We know mistakes were made and we apologize, but we want to move forward.’ According to Joy, “there’s been a lot of healing in the last three years.”

Now that Joy has reconciled her differences with Justin, she is pleased by the renewed focus he has given to environmental issues. She said, “I’m really proud of his efforts with regards to Bde/Mde Maka Ska. I also think he’s been supportive of our desire to act on climate change. He signed up for the solar garden program and has given pulpit messages on that.”

He[Justin] has been supportive of our desire to act on climate change. He signed up for the solar garden program and has given pulpit messages on that.

Intersection between Environmental Justice and Racial Justice:

Although some congregants felt that the church’s focus on racial justice meant a shift away from environmental justice, some congregants have an understanding that racial justice and environmental justice go hand in hand. Joy said, “I steadfastly tried to explain that environmental justice work is racial justice work. That’s not well recognized in our congregation. We’ll work on that.”⁶ Kate Eubank of the Heather Hackman Consulting group said that in order to better collaborate, the environmental justice leadership team and the racial justice leadership team could meet regularly and coordinate their work.⁷ The ongoing challenge of integrating these two efforts persists, but activists at the church are eager to tackle the challenge.