As the climate crisis continues to worsen, religious climate justice organizations are taking a stand against environmental degradation.
GreenFaith protesting outside of BlackRock in 2022. Felton Davis. CC 2.0.
Over the past few years, the environmental crisis has begun to spiral out of control. As droughts and wildfires compete for attention with raging hurricanes across the United States, sometimes it can feel like the world is ending. But in the face of these natural disasters, people have started to come together, calling for an end to policies aggravating the climate crisis.
Religious teachings surrounding the sanctity and sacredness of Earth have long been folded into protests against the warming climate. Since the 1970s, religious organizations in the United States (primarily Christian and Jewish, although a few Islamic groups have also begun to speak out) have decried humanity’s destruction of the planet. Some, like the National Association of Evangelicals, have gone so far as to denounce those engaging in climate change-fueling activities as sinners.
It is important to note that many religious institutions remain largely disconnected from the climate crisis, with several organizations and churches denouncing it as a hoax. The groups mentioned in this article, and those like them, are largely outliers. Climate change continues to be a divisive topic at best in larger religious dialogues, as many consider the crisis a part of God’s plan or even an outright lie. However, religious climate change advocacy has grown in recent years, with small groups cropping up all over the United States.
Over the past few decades, these groups have grown more and more vocal. From organizing movements to protect the Endangered Species Act to founding an interfaith collective for climate justice, religious leaders and organizations across the United States have continued to take environmental action over the past four decades. Recently, in the summer of 2024, Christian and Jewish protesters in New York City made some of the greatest progress so far.
GreenFaith, an interfaith climate justice organization based in New Jersey, spent much of the summer of 2024 on Wall Street protesting against Citigroup. One of the largest banks in the United States, Citigroup released a statement in 2021 pledging to reach net zero emissions in 2050. However, independent researchers have pointed out that in the years since this pledge, the corporation has instead become the second-biggest investor in fossil fuels.
In response, several organizations joined together in the Summer of Heat demonstrations. Forty major protests were held outside Citigroup’s headquarters, led by a collection of religious leaders from GreenFaith, Dayenu (a Jewish organization comprised of longtime activists), and several other groups. The protests were held according to religious practices — songs replaced chanting, many of the protestors brought candles and demonstrators gathered in the early morning to block the doors of the banks. In an inspiring moment, a group of protestors arrived with signs displaying various religious symbols, representing the star of David, crosses and Islamic peace symbols.
These protests ultimately caught the attention of Citigroup’s administration, culminating in a sit-down between Citigroup’s chief sustainability officer and four leaders of the involved religious groups. According to reports, Citigroup rejected the protester’s proposals outright, refusing to answer whether or not they would change their commitment to funding fossil fuel companies.
However, this rejection does not diminish the Summer of Heat’s influence. These organizations gathered together and staged one of the longest climate protests in recent history. In addition, the actions of GreenFaith, Dayenu and the other involved groups gave a tremendously loud voice to their concerns, capturing the attention of many major news networks and eventually working their way into Citigroup itself. While their efforts may not have produced the results the groups hoped for, the Summer of Heat has nonetheless called an immense amount of attention to the climate crisis and the multicultural, interfaith movements working to protect the planet.
Ryan Livingston
Ryan is a senior at The College of New Jersey, majoring in English and minoring in marketing. Since a young age, Ryan has been passionate about human rights and environmental action and uses his writing to educate wherever he can. He hopes to pursue a career in professional writing and spread his message even further.