Advancing Faith-Based Environmental Advocacy

Creation Justice Ministries is one of four organizations named as an AGU/Thriving Earth Exchange Community Science Hub. Formerly known as the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Program, the 40-year-old organization has members from almost 40 different Christian denominations across the United States.

The Community Science Hubs are funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to build and support regional and topical focused hubs for community science. Each hub will receive $50,000 a year for two years to launch and support projects.

Derrick Weston, Creation Justice Ministries theological education and training coordinator

“Creation Justice Ministries helps faith communities with advocacy around environmental issues, including grassroots and federal advocacy, letter writing and other efforts,” said Derrick Weston, theological education and training coordinator for the organization. “We also carry out theological education, which involves helping faith communities gain the resources they need to think about how they can mobilize to work on ecological and environmental issues and to understand how these issues connect to their faith traditions.”

Bringing faith and science together

Creation Justice Ministries became interested in AGU’s Community Science Hubs program after thinking about how churches currently engage with environmental justice issues and considering opportunities to expand these conversations and better connect with community partners. Weston, who is the Hub coordinator, says that the program can also help the organization and its members bridge the traditional disconnect between faith and science.

“We think that faith and science can inform each other in really beautiful ways,” Weston said. “Creation Justice Ministries works with Black and brown church communities where scientific resources are in some cases the least accessible, but also the most needed. They’re experiencing firsthand challenges from extreme heat, poor water and air quality, and food insecurity.”

The first cohort of projects being launched under the new partnership includes a Detroit church that has long distributed food to those in need. The church is seeking technical assistance to assess the supply chain for that food and consider whether some of it could be grown on the church’s property in an urban garden. A second project at a different Detroit church is examining waste management tools that could be applied in the community to help with the fact that the church property has, unfortunately, become a frequently used area for improper disposal of waste.

Another project is with a Chicago church that is located in a neighborhood affected by heavy truck traffic. The church is in close proximity to the airport, and there are plans underway to build a truck stop a few blocks away. The church community wants to examine air quality issues and look at how air pollution can affect health. They also plan to examine ways to encourage more sustainable trucking practices such as electrifying trucks or creating more efficient trucking routes.

Churches as catalysts for community science

Weston hopes that the community science approach used in these projects can become a replicable model for other churches. His vision is for churches, which are strongly embedded in their communities, to utilize scientific resources to address local challenges.

“Churches have the community’s ear in a way that a lot of scientific organizations might not,” said Weston. “They have credibility and a lot of social capital that can help move the needle in some of the larger environmental justice issues affecting predominantly Black and brown communities. I would like to see this approach become the norm, with churches across the country adopting it to benefit their communities.”