Did you know that in the 1980s there were 5 staff members at the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) who worked on issues of Environmental Justice full time? And, in 1986 there were 46 people who chaired Environmental Justice efforts in United Methodist conferences. At this last August Movement Café, Jaydee Hanson spoke about his own role at GBCS at that time as manager of a program called Environmental Justice and Planetary Survival.

However, at the end of the 1990s, program funding was cut and most staff positions were eliminated. As a consequence, many of our annual conferences now have no one and no budget assigned for this urgent work, even as the climate crisis worsens and now impacts millions of people every year.

At the 2024 General Conference, the groundswell for action brought change and approval of a mandate that every annual conference shall identify a Caretaker of God’s Creation Coordinator to address creation care and environmental justice in their context. This newsletter celebrates this outcome and is full of great resources to help your conference begin, or strengthen, their efforts for renewed attention to environmental justice, creation care, and yes, planetary survival.

Rev. Richenda Fairhurst and Jaydee Hanson
Richenda Fairhurst is an elder in the Pacific Northwest Conference and hosts the UMJCM Movement Café. Jaydee Hanson serves on the board of directors for Caretakers of God’s Creation based in Virginia.