Jeff Allen, Katie Sexton-Wood, and Warren H. Stewart – November 23, 2021
It often feels like we live in a country rife with division, but faith communities have shown that we can come together and work towards the common good no matter our differences. When we understand our common humanity and our common needs, we can truly begin to heal our country and move our nation forward — and that’s exactly what we must bring to the climate crisis, which poses a threat to us all.
Just last month, faith leaders from Arizona and West Virginia held a virtual town hall to discuss climate justice and our call to love our neighbor and be stewards of God’s creation. Together, we agreed that Congress needs to enact legislation that invests in fighting climate change and ensure that communities that are already burdened are not burdened disproportionately all the more.
From our ministries, we see climate change is neither far off nor far away, and it is already impacting health and livelihoods in our communities. We know that people of color and low-income communities become ill and even die as a consequence of environmental racism and injustice. Children of color or living in poverty have to drink bad water, breathe bad air, live on bad plots of land and survive in omnipresent food deserts. Extreme weather events, which are fueled by the climate crisis, are more frequent and severe, and nearly one in three Americans experienced extreme weather this past summer, ruining homes and businesses.
In our homes of Arizona and West Virginia, these impacts are all too apparent. West Virginia is seeing a drastic increase in heavy downpours annually, and more than 150,000 residents live in areas at elevated risk of inland flooding. In Arizona, extreme heat is already taking lives, and by 2050, the Phoenix area is projected to experience 147 dangerous heat days per year.
To remedy environmental injustices and protect the sacred planet we live on, Congress must pass legislation through the reconciliation process that actualizes the promise to those historically harmed by oppressive systems and environmental racism; that we can boldly address climate change and begin to reverse the damage done to so many of our sacred spaces and precious communities. That is why we are calling on our states’ leaders in Congress, including Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., to listen to the needs of their constituencies and deliver on climate action.
We must, at a minimum, have a 45% reduction in our carbon pollution by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. However, a national solution to the problem of climate change cannot be done by sacrificing communities. A critical component of any climate response must include not only a just, but true, transition for both the people and the land. Employment, economic opportunities, infrastructure support and most certainly reclamation of lands damaged by fossil fuel extraction are important elements of a holistic climate response. We must not only provide clean energy jobs but uplift communities that are suffering from environmental injustices.
We are hopeful. And, yet we are vigilant and will continue to pray and speak out until policies boldly address this climate crisis, promote justice and provide hope for all. For people of faith there is no other option. We have a moral mandate and spiritual obligation to future generations.
The Rev. Jeff Allen is the executive director of the West Virginia Council of Churches.
The Rev. Katie Sexton-Wood is the executive director of the Arizona Faith Network.
Warren H. Stewart Sr. is the chairman of Arizona-based African American Christian Clergy Coalition.
[click here for the original Charleston Gazette-Mail article]