The young evangelicals fighting for climate action from within the church.
News of the world environment
NEWSLETTER | DECEMBER 22, 2023
Climate Crusaders
ONE WOULD BE HARD-PRESSED to find a better motivator for climate action than the oil refinery in Torrance, California. The sprawling complex of towers and tanks spans 750 acres in Los Angeles County. The Torrance Refinery can process 155,000 barrels of crude oil per day and 1.8 billion gallons of gas per year — enough to supply a tenth of California’s demand, it claims — along with diesel fuel, jet fuel, liquefied petroleum gases, coke (used in the production of steel), and sulfur (which is needed for sulfuric acid, a key ingredient for fertilizers, lead-acid batteries, matches, explosives, cement, and glass). Like a smoldering black heart, the refinery pumps these products into the world via pipelines, railways, barges, ships, and trucks, all while spewing pollutants on the residents below.
One of those residents is William Morris, who went to school in the shadow of the refinery, and, along with both his parents and sister, worshipped at the evangelical Baptist churches here. On a warm Thursday this fall, I met with Morris at a coffee shop not far from the refinery, curious to learn how people of faith, especially in evangelical congregations, might offer solutions to the climate crisis.
From a certain perspective, after all, it would appear the climate fight has an evangelical problem. White evangelicals made up more than 20 percent of the electorate in 2022, according to the exit polls. Only one in three of these voters believes climate change is being caused by human activity, and more than 80 percent voted for Trump in 2020. Meanwhile, right-wing Christian nationalists have captured headlines, bringing strict religious thought into local, state, and national politics.
But Morris and other evangelicals like him offer a counternarrative. He’s one of the leaders of Young Evangelicals for Climate Action (YECA), a small group of climate activists fighting an uphill battle to convince members of their faith that the Gospel can be green. With the US presidential election just one year away, in a country with the potential to make or break our future climate, YECA could be one of the most important activist groups on Earth.
Journal Associate Editor Brian Calvert’s cover feature in our Winter 2024 print issue highlights the challenges facing the young evangelicals fighting for climate action from within the church, which is better known for right-leaning politics and climate denialism.
READ MORE
PS: Our office will be closed through the rest of the year so we won’t be sending out our regular Friday newsletter next week.
Photo by Mor
TOP STORIES
Defiantly Disruptive
“Direct action shows that [climate chaos] is an existential issue,” Climate Defiance Co-Founder Michael Greenberg says in this interview. “And it puts our opponents in a real double bind, because, either they crack down [on us], which gives us more attention, or they let us continue doing the disruption, which also gets us a lot of attention.”
READ MORE
Tree Keepers
The Kakamega, Kenya’s last tropical rainforest, once stretched across much of Central Africa. Today, it has been reduced to less than 100 square miles, and local defenders are fighting to save what's left.
READ MORE
People-Powered Journalism
Because of generous reader donations, Earth Island Journal can say things that corporate media won’t say.
Reader support gives us the independence to amplify voices and perspectives that strengthen communities, especially communities that don’t have access to corporate media.
Your support is essential to our long-term success. And with your help, we can reshape the media landscape. Won't you join us today?
I Support Earth Island Journal
State of Grace
In her final column for the Journal, Carolyn Finney reflects on the upcoming 60th anniversaries of both the Wilderness Act and Civil Rights Act, and on what she believes is at the core of both documents: "the belief by all parties that we can do better because we can be better as a people."
READ MORE
ICYMI
In Sync
We don’t often hear about wild animals and humans working together, but in Africa, the greater honeyguide recognizes calls made by local community members, and will respond by leading them to nearby trees filled with honeycomb.
READ MORE >>
Photo by Michael Heyns
Tragic Outfall
In December 2022, seven chimpanzees at Sweden’s Furuvik Zoo escaped their enclosure. This heartbreaking reconstruction of the incident — and the decisions that followed — speaks of the incompatibility of zoos as theme parks or, for that matter, sanctuaries.
READ MORE >>
Photo by Johan Hansson
Did a thoughtful friend forward you our newsletter? Keep up with the latest from Earth Island Journal!
SIGN UP TODAY
Follow
Follow
Subscribe
You are receiving this email newsletter because you signed up on our website.
If this newsletter was forwarded to you, you can sign up to the email newsletter here.
Support our work by subscribing to our quarterly print magazine.
Copyright © 2023 Earth Island Journal, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
Earth Island Journal
2150 Allston Way Ste 460
Berkeley, CA 94704-1375
Add us to your address book
Want to change how you receive these emails?
Update your preferences
