Do you know where your energy comes from when you turn on a light switch in your own home? Our climate is changing because of how we harness and use energy and we are causing harm to our planet, our communities, our neighbors, and our future. We need to stop the harmful effects of practices like mountaintop removal, hydraulic fracturing, mining, and drilling. They are hurting all of our communities, and most especially, communities of color, low-income neighborhoods, and rural towns. We can find new ways forward together. But in order to change how we get our energy, we must first use the energy within all of us to make a change.
One of the most highly anticipated events every year at UUA General Assembly (GA) is the Public Witness event. This year, the witness event will focus on Environmental Justice. It is scheduled for the evening of Thursday, June 20, (6:15 – 7:30 p.m. Eastern), right after an all-GA worship in the Louisville, KY, convention center.
UUA President the Rev. Peter Morales will join poet Wendell Berry, activist Tim DeChristopher, interfaith and community leaders, GA attendees and members of the local community in this public witness for our Earth, our communities, and our future.
Demonstrators will leave GA’s Plenary Hall together and proceed to the Belvedere Plaza for this witness event where all will gather at the river. The Belvedere outdoor facility is located on the riverfront 
in downtown Louisville. It is an open park with ample cement paths, grassy areas, some benches and low cement walls for seating, though with very little shade. Terrain is sloped but not steep. Restrooms are located in the park, as well as at the Galt House, accessible through the pool area.
Participants will hear testimonies, join in song, prayer, and a reverse water communion. Attendees will learn practical ways to make a difference in their lives and their communities.
Remind your congregation’s delegates to wear their bright yellow “Standing on the Side of Love” t-shirts and related gear! And when they return, ask them to share what they’ve learned about finding a sustainable way forward together.
Visit the UUA website for more information.
Justice General Assembly has come to a close, but that’s only the beginning of the story.
The Rev. Kathleen McTigue has been selected to serve as the inaugral Director of the new UU College of Social Justice. The college is a formal collaboration of the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Its mission is to increase the capacity of Unitarian Universalists to catalyze justice. Building on several years of successful UUA-UUSC partnership, especially in the area of disaster response, the College will combine resources of both organizations to offer current leaders and future activists of any age a broader and more effective portfolio of service learning and justice education experiences.
Colonization, Privilege and Resistance: Preparing for Justice GA 2012 is the title of this year’s annual Unitarian Universalist