10.14.26 Action Center Update

Written By Side With Love

Welcome to the Action Center Weekly Update. Each week, we’ll share:

  • A brief analysis of critical issues in this political moment

  • Immediate actions you can take

  • Resources to deepen knowledge and strengthen our collective work to side with love

Nothing is inevitable. Justice movements are built by ordinary people who come together to defeat oppression and nurture a loving world. You are not alone. We have power. Together, we can create a just and thriving future.

Movements are strongest when we act together. Organize with your teams and networks and take these actions in community. For practical tools, see our Congregational Organizing and Trainings & Webinars.

Climate Justice

Core Principle: A just and loving world is also a flourishing one. A fossil-free future is possible, where clean energy is a human right and all beings thrive. To get there, we must create new systems, norms, and practices.

The Update:

The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act is being touted as a bipartisan “permitting reform” bill that seeks to streamline the approval process for major energy, utility, and infrastructure projects across the United States.  In what functions essentially as a deregulation push, it will make it easier to fast track permitting for fossil fuels, data centers, and other major infrastructure projects.

It comes at the expense of several established environment policies, Tribal rights and sovereignty, and historic preservation by weakening critical laws that our communities depend on, including:

  • National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

  • Clean Water Act

  • Endangered Species Act

  • National Historic Preservation Act 

These laws require the government to assess the environmental and related social and economic effects of proposed infrastructure projects and to share those  environmental impact reports with the public.  They are a critical way that we protect our communities.

The bill is very complex and incredibly divisive among groups who should be aligned.  “It is an understatement to say the bill has created a division with clean and green energy groups aligning themselves with the fossil fuel industry and labor against organizations working to protect wildlife, natural resources and Tribal rights”, Deb Cruz with JUUstice Washington explains. The bill is being rushed to get passed before a thorough review can be conducted.

What we need to ask ourselves is this:  Who and what are we willing to sacrifice for this fast-tracking?  Do we trust that corporations will do the right thing if we weaken laws that protect our water?   

With AI data centers spreading like wildfire, this bill will add kindling, making it easier to build them and the fossil fuel infrastructure to power them while our communities bear the cost.  Proponents argue that this reform will benefit clean energy projects, which would be wonderful.  But, when we consider the Trump Administration’s opposition to renewable energy and affection for fossil fuels, it seems much more likely that oil and gas, mining, timber harvesting and related fallout will happen - and we will have no say in what damage is inflicted on our communities.

The bill is “a legislative assault on the sovereignty of Tribal Nations and, if enacted, would be an egregious violation of the federal government’s trust and treaty responsibilities,” Dr. Valerie Grussing, Executive Director for Legislative Affairs & Strategic Partnerships at the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (NATHPO) explained as they announced their strident opposition to the bill. Proposed changes to the National Historic Preservation Act, specifically section 106, will have a huge impact on Tribes.  “Section 106 is a critical tool for ensuring Tribal Nations have a meaningful voice in federal decisions that may affect sacred sites, historic properties, cultural resources, and places of profound cultural and spiritual significance,” according to the National Council of American Indians.  “Tribal Nations should not have to choose between infrastructure development and the protection of their cultural heritage. Early, robust, and meaningful Tribal consultation can lead to stronger projects, faster decision-making, and more durable outcomes.”  

In our congregations, we strive to prioritize justice.  And it’s easy to think that we do this because justice is woven into our faith.  The reality is that without an intentional, active commitment to centering justice, it becomes much more likely that our efforts will unintentionally uphold injustice.  This is one of the reasons it is so important that we ground our work in the context of oppression in our communities, follow frontline leadership, and advance their priorities.  That is why we pay close attention to Tribal Nations and related organizations and groups like the Climate Justice Alliance when divisive issues like this emerge, and we ask, “who will gain the most, and what communities will be sacrificed to make that happen?”

We can find solutions for permitting reform that protect Indigenous sovereignty, protect our environment, protect our right to know how infrastructure projects will impact our communities, protect our right to weigh in on federal decisions AND that prioritize renewable energy projects that lead to a thriving future.  

Contact your Senators and urge them to not support this bill.  Encourage them to continue prioritizing building clean energy infrastructure but not at the expense of our environment, not while greasing the wheels for rapid fossil fuel development.  Be curious.  How could we work together to make this bill better?  What needs to change to make this advance responsible infrastructure development?  How could permitting reform improve conditions for impacted communities and embrace the democratic process instead of weakening our ability to affect decisions that impact our communities?  

At General Assembly last summer, Unitarian Universalists affirmed a “covenant to protect Earth and all beings from exploitation, to create and nurture sustainable relationships of care and respect, mutuality and justice and to work to repair harm and damaged relationships through our Seven Principles and our newly adopted Shared Values”  

We should all ask ourselves if this Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act aligns with this covenant, and, if not, what needs to happen to make it so.  

We are on the side of love, aligned with justice.  

Take Action:

  • Learn more first.  Watch or listen to the resources below to understand this proposal quickly.  

  • Then, contact your Senators and encourage them to not support this bill right at this time and continue to work on building clean energy infrastructure but not at the expense of opening a door to expanding fossil fuel development and closing the door on the environment and historical preservation efforts both Tribal and non-tribal.  Work needs to continue to reverse the current administration's hostility towards alternative energy and its aggressive movement to advance fossil fuels. 

Read:

Watch/Listen:

Join:

October 21, 2026 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM ET Online The Trump Administration has removed protections from more than 86 million acres of public lands, and millions more of our beloved landscapes and wildlife are in imminent danger of expanded mining, drilling, and timber harvests with limited consultation with Tribes and Nations and public comment. As our lands, waters, and habitats are under attack, UUs passed the 2026 AIW to Defend Against the Assault on Environmental Protections: Public Lands Rules and the Endangerment Finding. As part of our Standing Rock Anniversary events, join Deb Cruz from JUUstice WA, for a discussion about current issues and how we can protect public lands from the onslaught of logging, fossil fuel and other extractive industry projects.---Guided by UU values, the Green Sanctuary community nurtures resilient, thriving communities through climate actions that prioritize justice. All are invited to join our monthly community meetings to learn together, support each other, and celebrate progress.

Decriminalization / Immigration

Core Principle: Criminalization and dehumanization deny the dignity of our communities. Safety cannot come at the expense of others. As people of faith, we proclaim a future of care, abundance, and mutuality—not domination.

The Update:
Ice is escalating, and so are we.  Martin Soto, one of the leaders of the hunger strike at Delaney Hall in NJ was released on bond this week after community pressure.  

Last week, Vermonters of faith and conscience held an interfaith funeral to mourn the 95 people whose deaths have been caused by ICE (through shootings, neglect, and deportations to dangerous circumstances) in the past two years. The next day, they installed a permanent vegetable and flower garden to block the road leading to the ICE Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC). The LESC not only responds to tips, but it also performs “proactive targeting” of individuals. It houses ICE’s central database of information on 340,000 targets for arrest, and answers about 55,000 calls per year from local law enforcement to help them identify people that ICE wants to arrest. 

On Thursday, 200 community members shut down the ICE tipline and turned the LESC into a noncompliance and community center. Protesters prophetically asked, “which side are you on?” and reminded ICE agents that they can say no to perpetuating this violence and say yes to loving our neighbors. 

These actions have been a part of a week of activities organized by local groups, including Shut Down ICE VT, to bring attention to unjust and inhumane ICE practices nationally. Along with protests in Austin, Minneapolis and Lochiel, AZ, last week marked a period of renewed organizing nationally against ICE after a quiet ramping up of their activities throughout the summer.

Take Action:

  • Vermonters are calling on folks to flood ICE’s National Tip Line (1-866-347-2423) with tips on how to build a better world. ICE’s National Tip Line is central to their ability to surveil and kidnap our beloved immigrant neighbors. By flooding the line last week, civilians created a wait time so long that the line was essentially unusable.

  • Unshackle Springfield Pilgrimage Oct 21-24: Many of you have been standing with our Haitian neighbors for months. And it is working. Pastor Joubert Adrien has been released from ICE detention and is home with his family. DHS also appears to have stopped putting GPS ankle monitors on new people. These wins belong to the Haitian leaders who refused to be silent and to everyone who stood with them. But the work isn't finished. Many of our neighbors are still wearing ankle monitors, and the policy has not officially ended. Families still live with ICE raids and the fear of losing loved ones to detention. They are our neighbors, our coworkers, and members of our congregations. And they have asked us to take the next step with them.  On Wednesday, October 21, we begin a four-day, 43-mile pilgrimage along the historic National Road from Springfield to the Ohio State Capitol in Columbus. We walk as a sign of the choice before our nation: will we choose welcome, mercy, and love of neighbor, or isolation, fear, and dehumanization? We choose love of neighbor. Will you walk with us?

  • FreeDC calls on us to #DeleteDoorDash until DoorDash joins the chorus of leaders and community members demanding the release of Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, who was shot by ICE two weeks ago while working for DoorDash in Austin, Texas. Let this make it undeniably clear that consumers have the power to hold companies accountable for their behavior and demand changes. It's still #DeleteDoorDash until they meet our last two demands: (1) issue a public statement against ICE, and to (2) state publicly that the “DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force” should end.

Read:

Democracy

Core Principle: Democracy is not a destination but a practice rooted in interdependence and the worth and dignity of all. While authoritarianism consolidates power, we are the majority—and we must organize to build a truly multiracial democracy.

The Update:
At the heart of democracy is a recognition of our shared humanity; one that affirms our collective dignity. The DOJ's spurious raid on Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's home and the President's inflammatory verbal attacks on Somali Americans are the latest escalation in a long campaign of inflammatory rhetoric, political retaliation, and intimidation. These attacks are a flagrant abuse of power designed to incite threats and violence in order to silence people, discourage voter participation, and undermine the work of building a democracy where everyone has a voice and the opportunity to thrive.

This is not new. From violence against elected officials fighting for the Affordable Care Act to attacks on Black voters throughout the Civil Rights era, the goal has always been the same: to create fear. Fear is the tool of those losing their grip on power. It is how authoritarians attempt to govern when they can no longer earn the consent of the people. 

But faith is abundant. Faith in our people, our possibility, and our power is the wellspring that movements return to again and again. Faith has fueled generations of people who achieved what once seemed impossible. 

Today, we once again choose faith in our collective power and our shared work. None of us can do everything, but each of us can do something. Let this moment be an invitation to act.

Take Action:

Read:

 Together, we practice the world we long for. Together, we win.

Side With Love
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Action Center Update 10.6.26