Whitney Terrill was our inspirational Forum Presenter on Earth Day at Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Saint Paul. She is the Environmental Justice Organizer, North Star Chapter, Sierra Club.

You may know Whitney from when she served as the Environmental Justice (EJ) Program Manager at Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light (MNIPL) where she created and led community-based programming and partnerships for MNIPL and individual faith communities.

Of note from her bio: Her work over the years has focused on many topics in the EJ movement: just solar and clean energy; fossil fuel resistance and clean water; equitable planning, policy, and advocacy; interfaith dialogue; and racial justice. She works to strengthen and empower communities most impacted by environmental injustices.

Those jobs, as well as holding leadership roles at Minnesota Environmental Partnership, Cooperative Energy Futures, Women’s Environmental Institute, IPL, City of Hopkins, and MN Multifaith Network, gave her plenty of stories to share with us! She’s from Minneapolis and received her undergraduate degree from Hampton University (VA) and an executive certificate in conversation and environmental sustainability from Columbia University (NY).

Whitney started the presentation by playing a song by Mayyada: “Mississippi.” Search those two words in your browser, and you will hear a wonderful song of the river and a song of our personal strength and growth.

She continued her presentation by stressing the need for connecting with stories, and through stories, as ways to head toward environmental justice. So, of course, she told us stories accompanied by photos of events, ritual, songs, smiling volunteers, and of people conversing.

We discussed advocacy setbacks. After losses, there can be a climate grief that needs to be woven with celebration for the good being and effort of people working for justice. She emphasizes beauty and art -- and working together to stay committed. Whitney also encourages volunteers to “have your ‘Why’” and to remember the whys when you see injustices continue; they help you stay resilient. Also, we can continuously ask the “What ifs,” to keep our imaginations alive. Ask children to talk about their visions of a green future and about what community means to them.

We can fit in any of four categories of leadership: Elected/Appointed, Grass Roots, Public Administration, and Artists! Whitney enthusiastically highlighted artists – Curators of Beauty, who help with resilience.

Whitney’s stories and advice come back to me daily as I make decisions about what to do to promote environmental justice and watch what others do.  Just this week, these four things came to my attention to make me think of her and her presentation and information:

Advocacy and Hope:

Here’s a blurb from the ELCA Advocacy Email for this week:

https://blogs.elca.org/advocacy/may-update-advocacy-connections-2023/ 

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE EXECUTIVE ORDER: President Biden signed an executive order directing every single federal agency to work toward “environmental justice for all” and improve the lives of communities hit hardest by toxic pollution and climate change. Among other things, the order will establish a new Office of Environmental Justice within the White House to coordinate efforts across the government and requires federal agencies to notify communities if toxic substances are released from a federal facility. This rule is especially poignant as a response to the February train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

Conversation:

The Yale Center for Climate Change Communication tells us about how important climate conversations are – since they don’t happen frequently.  https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/  They say:

One of the most important actions people can take to address global warming is to talk about it, says Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, climate scientist and Chief Scientist at The Nature Conservancy. She says positive conversations about the climate can help people connect over shared values including family, community, health, and religion. In turn, this can help people think more deeply about how a changing climate affects who and what they care about, and support changes in beliefs and attitudes about global warming. 

Research has found that non-judgmental one-on-one discussions (e.g., deep-canvassing) can lead to enduring opinion changes about emotionally and politically charged topics by providing an opportunity to exchange personal stories without judgment. Talking about an issue – including global warming – can also lead to deeper processing and understanding, which can motivate people to talk about it with others.

However, most Americans rarely or never talk about global warming currently. According to our latest Climate Change in the American Mind December 2022 survey, only 37% of Americans say they discuss global warming with family and friends either “occasionally” (29%) or “often” (8%), while most (63%) say they either “rarely” (30%) or “never” (33%) discuss it. 

Storytelling:

In addition to The Sierra Club and MNIPL, other MN climate organizations emphasize storytelling. This week’s email from Climate Generation https://climategen.org/talk-climate/ has an upcoming Talk Climate Program.  This virtual three-day event, May 23–25, offers a space to celebrate and connect around “the transformational power of climate storytelling.”

Register

General Faith and Climate Justice Training: