No one said that advocacy for climate justice was easy. In fact, successful advocacy takes many forms and requires patience, perseverance, and above all else, flexibility. That is especially true in Texas, a red state where there is considerable denial of the dangers of a changing climate and where politicians have made profits for oil and gas companies more important than the health and well being of Texas’ citizens as well as the air, water, and land of our state.
When most people think about advocacy, their thoughts go first to meeting with legislators. While this is a popular form of advocacy, it is far from the only way to be a successful advocate. Contact with legislators is vitally important and relationships with them and their staffers can never be neglected, even when their views are diametrically opposed to yours. And while many of them profess to be Christians, I always emphasize my faith as I begin my conversations with them. Due to the basically unfriendly atmosphere in our gerrymandered Texas, while we do maintain contact with our legislators, we focus more energy on faithful witness at legislative committee hearings and regulatory agency hearings. A good example of success in this arena is the recently released methane regulations from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). I have testified on methane at EPA hearings for the past fifteen years, and these recently released new regualtions are the most stringent yet. While they only apply to new oil and gas production, it is a start. Now we are focused on the next round of hearings on capping old and leaking wellheads as well as non oil and gas produced methane, primarily from agriculture and landfills.
Each year for more than thirty-five years, United Women in Faith (UMW) have sponsored a Legislative Event at the state capitol in Austin in partnership with Texas Impact. They meet the last week in January for two days of advocacy training on policy issues as well as advocacy tools, and then spend the third day at the Capitol meeting with legislators and staffers. Their agenda is based on climate change, healthcare, migration, education, and voter participation. Past speakers have included policy experts as well as United Methodist leaders including Past CEO Harriett Jane Olson and GBCS Interim CEO John Hill among others. One of the purposes of this annual event is to train faithful advocates and to raise up new leaders. One if thos new leaders who got her start at the Legislative Event as a high school student is Ilka Vega, the head of UWF’s climate and justice advocacy work.
Another effective form of advocacy is writing letters to the editor and penning op-eds on climate justice related issues. These letters and op-eds have a broader audience than merely contacting a legislator, and they have the ability to influence greater numbers of citizens.
As I said at the outset, faithful advocacy requires patience, perseverance, and flexibility. Understanding the interconnections between climate justice and healthcare justice, racial justice, economic justice, and migration justice among other justice issues is the key to successful advocacy. Linking all these justice issues together helps broaden the climate justice playing field and leads to successful faith based advocacy. In Texas, this is how we approach our advocacy efforts.
Rev. Mel Caraway is a retired clergy member of the North Texas Annual Conference who has been engaged in faith based climate advocacy for over 25 years. He is an active member of the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement and its Advocacy Team, Green Team, and Solar Team. He is also the Interfaith Climate Coordinator for Texas Interfaith Power and Light and its parent, Texas Impact. He is a commissioned EarthKeeper with the General Board of Global Ministries.