Nick Slabaugh and Eric Riddle talk before a town hall event last year. Riddle, now with an organization called Faith in Place, will speak Sept. 29 at the Universalist Congregation of Columbus.
Story source spellings: Richard Boyce; Eric Riddle
Columbus resident Richard Boyce recently made phone calls to area houses of worship to personally invite people of faith passionate about environmental issues to join him at his church’s upcoming national event billed as a Climate Justice Revival.
He struggled to find many who fit the bill of what and whom he was seeking.
“That’s not at all a condemnation,” Boyce said. “It is simply a realistic observation.”
All the more reason for Boyce and organizers of the free conference “Reimagine Together: From an Extractive Age to a New Era” Sept. 28-29 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbus to work with even more fervor to spread a message of stewardship of nature and the plane in general to make a world of difference — now and in the future.
Boyce, the chairman of the church’s environmental action team, understands that climate issues may not quite be on the radar of many spiritual seekers.
“But even if they themselves are not yet concerned, I hope they would wonder ‘What about for the sake of my children or grandchildren?’”
The gathering, open to all, will include a video message from the Rev. Sofia Betancourt, president of the national Unitarian Universalist Association. Her thoughts are particularly relevant to the event because she is trained as an environmental ethicist.
“This work, this calling, this shared leadership, is central to my hopes and dreams for us,” she said in an online video message promoting the weekend, adding that she sees climate efforts through a broad prism. “… Let me remind you that the work of climate justice is the work of disability rights. It is the work of gender justice and immigrant rights.”
She went on from there, seeing connections in a wide-ranging scope.
Columbus resident Eric Riddle, a member of the long-climate-conscious First Presbyterian Church locally, will speak during the church’s Sunday morning service that is a part of the weekend revival. Riddle is also speaking as a member of the Sierra Club Winding Waters chapter.
He plans to touch on a theme of reconciling where people of faith have missed being responsible environmental caretakers and where they might begin anew to become good environmental caretakers.
He also will include a confession of sorts in his remarks.
“I am grieved by the lack of climate action within the Christian church (at large),” he said, referring to assemblies beyond his own. “It is the sign of our collective forgetting, especially in the Western world, of our role as caretakers for creation. In the Biblical creation story, literally the first thing that man is asked to do is naming creation (in Genesis 2:20-21).”
Riddle offered one current, practical idea of climate justice that could be pursued with solar farms, a hot topic here for some time. He liked the idea a solar farm proposed to local officials and landowners of using deep-rooted native plants as any proposed farmland for solar lays fallow — all to improve soil health during the lease. Riddle also liked the idea of shade-loving vegetable crops to improve soil health.
“Environmental justice at the intersection of rural economic needs places prime importance on the cultivation of the land,” Riddle said. “Justice seekers can advocate to encourage small businesses to collaborate with a solar company to continue cultivating the land during the 30-year lease.
“Imagine a future in which there is a trust between the energy corporation and the rural farmers so that … acres can support new ways of farming.”
About the conference
What: Climate Justice Revival “Reimagine Together: From an Extractive Age to a New Era.” Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbus.
When: Sept. 28-29.
Where: Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbus, 7850 W. Goeller Boulevard.
Information and registration: https://uucolumbia.net/climate-justice-revival-registration.
