Category Archives: Climate Justice and Equity

Season of Creation graphic image

Recommit to Our Common Home

Recommit to Our Common Home

Season of Creation is a Time to Renew Our Relationship with God’s Earth

 

Drake Starling
September 5, 2025

Every year, from September 1 to October 4, Christians around the world unite in prayer, reflection, and action for the Season of Creation. This ecumenical season, beginning with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and ending on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, invites us to deepen our awareness of the urgent ecological crisis and to recommit ourselves to caring for our common home.

Why This Season Matters

 This year’s theme, “To Hope and Act with Creation,” calls us to more than reflection – it calls us to courage. Hope is not wishful thinking but a spiritual practice rooted in action. As people of faith, we cannot be passive as rising global temperatures, polluted waters, and disappearing species diminish the sacred gift of life. Instead, we are called to embody hope by living in right relationship with one another and with all creation. Season of Creation graphic

The Season of Creation is more than a time of prayer; it is a prophetic witness. As Pope Francis told us in Laudato Si’, “We are not God. The earth was here before us and it has been given to us.” Our responsibility is to ensure that future generations inherit a world capable of sustaining all forms of life. 

Many political leaders choose inaction in the face of climate disasters and, worse, pursue harmful policies that promote extractive industries and eliminate essential environmental protections. They disregard and exploit nature, most of the time because it enriches companies and wealthy donors. We are called to remind our leaders that creation is not a commodity but a sacred trust. 

Moving Forward

 Throughout this season, communities around the world are finding creative ways to bring the message of creation care to life:

  • Hosting prayer services outdoors, reminding us that creation itself is a cathedral. 
  • Leading educational forums on the climate crisis and Catholic Social Justice teaching. 
  • Organizing acts of advocacy– urging lawmakers to defend clean air, protect public lands, and invest in renewable energy. 
  • Choosing lifestyle changes – reducing waste, conserving water, and supporting sustainable practices in our daily lives.
  • Taking action with NETWORK – signing up for NETWORK’s alerts to engage in advocacy opportunities. Right now, that includes speaking out in the EPA’s Endangerment Finding Public Comment Period. This recent NETWORK analysis addresses the Trump administration’s move to rescind Endangerment Finding. Add your name here and tell the EPA to keep the Endangerment Finding and protect our air, water, and our climate. The Comment Period closes September 22, so make sure to make your views known this Season of Creation! 

Each of these actions, large or small, is part of a larger movement of ecological conversion – recognizing that the cry of the Earth and “the cry of the poor” are one and the same. 

Journey of Hope 

 One particularly meaningful way to embody this year’s call is through Pilgrimages of Hope for Creation, a national initiative where Catholics and faith communities journey together in prayerful solidarity with the Earth. From parish grounds to city streets, these pilgrimages offer a tangible way to pray with our feet, build community, and take steps—literally—toward a more just and sustainable world (learn more here). 

This Season of Creation, let us embrace hope as action. Whether we join a pilgrimage, organize an event in our parish, or speak up for stronger environmental protections, each step we take is part of a greater journey of faith. Together, rooted in the Spirit and in Catholic Social Justice teaching, we can witness to the truth that care for creation is care for life itself. 

NETWORK Lobby Advocates for Catholic Social Justice

EPA Tries to Make Environmental Endangerment a Non-Issue

EPA Tries to Make Environmental Endangerment a Non-Issue

We Declare: Not On Our Watch

 

Drake Starling
August 20, 2025

In a move as reckless as it is radical, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin recently announced that the EPA will revoke the Endangerment Finding, the foundational scientific determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.  

The administration’s action is a full-scale assault on clean air, clean water, clean energy, and public health – fundamental basics that we all need to thrive. If finalized, this decision would obliterate the legal basis for federal climate action and, with it, the power to protect people and our planet from pollution, disaster, and exploitation. Think drinking water that can kill you! 

NETWORK Lobby Advocates for Catholic Social Justice

Let’s break it down: 

No Endangerment Finding = No Climate Protections

 Without it, the EPA cannot limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars, trucks, power plants, or oil and gas operations. That means more tailpipe pollution, more smog, and more soot in the air our children breathe. It means more asthma attacks, more emergency room visits, and more premature deaths, especially in low-income communities and communities of color already burdened by industrial pollution. 

No Climate Rules = Dirtier Water and Weaker Storm Protections

 Warmer temperatures fueled by unchecked carbon pollution mean rising sea levels, stronger hurricanes, and intensified rainfall. This leads to flooded sewage systems, contaminated drinking water, and overwhelmed infrastructure. Repealing the Endangerment Finding weakens our ability to mitigate these impacts and leaves vulnerable communities to fend for themselves when a climate disaster strikes. 

EPA Authority = No Clean Energy Transition 

 Administrator Zeldin’s proposal not only targets car emissions, it sets the stage for dismantling rules that encourage clean energy and efficiency. That means more fossil fuels, fewer wind and solar projects, and fewer clean energy jobs in communities that desperately need them. It also means people in the U.S. will spend more to fill up their cars. This radical policy change comes just as we’re finally seeing the benefits of electric vehicles and clean technology take root. 

No Accountability = No Future

This rollback erases 15 years of progress and legal precedent. It ties the hands of future presidents, public health officials, and EPA scientists. The big institutional shareholders win again. Furthermore, it tells the world loud and clear that the U.S. is once again backing out of its moral and global responsibilities to lead in this urgent space.  

And For What?

The EPA claims this action is justified by a fringe research report commissioned from five climate denialists who say carbon dioxide helps plants grow. They argue—absurdly—that U.S. transportation emissions don’t matter because they’re “too small” to affect global temperatures. Never mind that transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country. Never mind that if our vehicle sector were a country, it would be the fourth-largest emitter on Earth. Never mind the 7 billion metric tons of emissions that were set to be avoided under the standards this would undo.  

This isn’t about science. It’s about ideology. Administrator Zeldin, once a coastal Republican concerned about sea-level rise, now says he wants to “drive a dagger through the heart of climate–change religion.” This is a far cry from the monumental progress the U.S. made in the mid-20th century by investing in efforts to clean waterways, beautify highways, and vastly eliminate environmental lead emissions. It was Richard Nixon, a Republican president, who created the EPA in 1970. 

Let us be clear!

Climate justice is not a religion, but a moral responsibility — and one we must not abandon.  

At NETWORK, we know that those of us most harmed by climate inaction are the same people our faith prioritizes: those of us in poverty, who are ill, elderly, displaced, or disabled people. We also recognize the damage future generations will inherit the consequences of our choices. 

This decision would mean more pollution in our lungs, more toxins in our water, more wildfires, more displacement, and more loss. We reject this false choice between environmental protection and economic freedom.  We reject this corrupt inversion of public service that prioritizes polluters over people.  We reject this cowardly attempt to pretend the climate crisis does not exist.  

The EPA has opened a public comment period on this proposal. And we plan to make our voices heard. In partnership with Franciscan Action Network, Catholic Climate Covenant, Maryknoll, the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, NETWORK is organizing a public comment letter telling the EPA that as people of faith, we reject the EPA’s rescission of the Endangerment Finding. Add your name here and tell the EPA to keep the Endangerment Finding and protect our air, water, and our climate.  We will not sit by while the government tries to dismantle the very laws that protect God’s creation — and all of us who call it home. The only thing more dangerous than denying the climate crisis is denying our responsibility to confront it! 

After the Budget Bill: What’s at Stake for Our Common Home — and How We Respond

After the Budget Bill: What’s at Stake for Our Common Home — and How We Respond

Drake Starling
July 18, 2025

From the coasts of California to the coalfields of Appalachia, from Midwestern farms to Gulf Coast towns, families across the country want the same things: clean air, safe water, a livable planet, and a future full of opportunity. That’s why, in 2022, communities of faith and frontline advocates alike came together to help push the historic Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) across the finish line—bringing with it groundbreaking investments in clean energy, environmental justice, and climate resilience.

But now, much of that progress is on the chopping block. The budget reconciliation bill that just narrowly passed in Congress rolls back key provisions of the IRA, gutting investments in clean energy, rescinding funds for frontline communities, and stalling the just transition we’ve fought for. Why? Because the Republican lawmakers who backed this bill chose to prioritize the profits of fossil fuel executives over the well-being of their constituents. This bill isn’t about fiscal responsibility—it’s about letting polluters off the hook.

In the wake of Congress passing the budget reconciliation bill, we at NETWORK are reflecting on the devastating toll this legislation takes on our environment — and the people and communities who bear the brunt of environmental harm. We know the true cost of this bill: polluted air, unsafe water, and a dangerous step backward in the fight to protect our climate.

A Blow to Clean Energy and Creation Care

The budget reconciliation bill strips away billions in clean energy investments that were once made possible through the historic Inflation Reduction Act. These investments supported wind and solar energy projects, domestic clean manufacturing, and affordable electricity for millions of families. Now, with clean energy tax credits rolled back and critical funding rescinded from the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, we face the chilling prospect of stalled innovation and rising energy costs, especially for low-income households.

Clean Water Under Threat

The reconciliation bill also rescinds funds meant to improve water infrastructure and protect communities from toxic pollution. The backers of this bill gutted grants to replace lead pipes, clean up PFAS contamination, and address long-standing water inequities in marginalized communities. This decision endangers public health and disproportionately harms communities of color, Tribal nations, and rural families already facing unsafe drinking water.

Sacrificing Clean Air for Corporate Polluters

Perhaps most abhorrent is the bill’s attack on clean air. The bill’s backers slashed the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget and eliminated programs designed to reduce carbon emissions and monitor air pollution near schools and ports. They also weakened enforcement of the methane emissions fee—a critical tool for reducing one of the most potent greenhouse gases—and offered new giveaways to fossil fuel CEOs under the guise of “permitting reform.”

Our Faith Calls Us to Respond

At NETWORK, we believe in a government that protects the dignity of all people and cares for our Common Home. The decisions made in this budget bill are not just policy choices — they are moral choices. Pope Francis was clear: “The climate crisis is not merely an environmental issue; it is a social issue.” But once again, the lawmakers voting for this bill were willing to sacrifice our communities—our health, our economic stability, and our futures—all in the name of profit and corporate greed.

What We’re Doing Now

We’re not standing idly by. In response to this dangerous legislation:

  • We are mobilizing our faith partners to act boldly, including through writing op-eds and letters to the editor and holding district meetings with lawmakers who supported these cuts.
  • We are defending what’s left of the Inflation Reduction Act by lobbying Congress to protect and restore funding for clean energy tax credits, energy efficiency programs, and environmental justice initiatives.
  • We are educating our supporters and all people of goodwill through webinars, briefings, and faith-based materials that explain what’s at stake — and how our Catholic values compel us to act.
  • We are building coalitions with environmental, labor, and faith-based partners to resist further rollbacks and to demand a just transition to a clean energy economy that centers workers and frontline communities.

This moment is difficult, but it is not the end. We are grounded in hope, fueled by faith, and committed to justice. Together, we will continue to advocate for policies that protect creation and promote the dignity of all people.

NETWORK Lobby's blog ends with an image that reads Act Boldly, Act UrgentlyTake Action

Contact your elected officials. Tell them that slashing climate, clean air, and clean water funding is unacceptable. Urge them to reject future rollbacks and to support legislation that heals both people and the planet.

Because justice demands it. And faith compels it.

Introducing NETWORK’s 2025 Climate Portfolio

Building An Economy for All Means Protecting Our Common Home

Drake Palmer Starling
April 22, 2025, Earth Day

Today is Earth Day! As we celebrate Earth Day and look to the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’ on May 24, join NETWORK’s Senior Advocate for Energy and Environmental Policy Drake Starling with reflections on our work for a healthy environment. We know that An Economy for All is a sustainable economy—one that ensures clean air and safe water, clean energy jobs, and healthy communities for all of us.

Earth Day time now for clean airFor decades, NETWORK has advocated for an economy that allows all of us, no matter our background, to thrive. But thriving doesn’t just mean fair wages, good jobs, or affordable housing. It also means clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, and land that sustains life, not poisons it.

The same ultra-wealthy actors who exploit workers and rig our economy are the same ones who pollute our air, water, and land. Big Oil and mining corporations exploit our common home for profit, and then use those profits to back politicians who will allow them to keep extracting profits and passing the costs of their destruction onto the rest of us. They poison our communities—especially low-income neighborhoods, communities of color, rural towns, and Indigenous lands—leaving us with a legacy of illness, environmental devastation, and economic hardship.

As people of faith, we know this is immoral. In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis reminds us that “the environment is on loan to each generation, which must then hand it on to the next.” We have a sacred duty to protect creation, to act in solidarity with the workers and families most affected by environmental harm, and to ensure clean air, water, and land for all of us. That’s why NETWORK has joined communities across the country in the work for a healthy climate, clean energy, and environmental justice.

Coming Together for Clean Air, Safe Water, and Healthy Land

This year, our advocacy will focus on three policy areas that intersect with ecological and economic justice. Our climate portfolio for the 119th Congress covers three key priorities:

    1. Clean Air and Safe Water. From oil refineries to industrial waste, pollution doesn’t fall evenly on all communities. Historically, corporations have intentionally built polluting factories and toxic waste facilities in low-income and Black and Brown neighborhoods, often leaving them with toxic air, undrinkable water, and higher rates of asthma and cancer. We’re pushing for stronger Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations to curb pollution, hold corporate polluters accountable, and ensure clean air and water for all of us.
    2. Healthy Land and Creating New Clean Energy Jobs No matter where we live, we all want safe, clean, and well-paying jobs, and we all value being able to choose to power our homes with clean energy. The time is now to make the U.S. clean energy dominant, and in a way that is just. Mining reform, responsible public land use, and protections for communities impacted by polluting and dirty industries must be at the heart of becoming clean energy dominant. We are advocating for investment in clean energy, so that we can all enjoy fresh air and healthy land and create a sustainable economy with hundreds of thousands of good, clean energy union jobs.
    3. Investing in People, Not Polluters The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) created historic investments in clean energy jobs, tax credits for families, and communities across the country — from funding new solar panel manufacturing plants in Georgia and wind energy projects in Texas, to providing up to $7,500 in tax credits for families buying electric vehicles, and delivering grants to low-income communities to replace lead pipes and improve energy efficiency in public housing. Since its passage in 2022, the IRA has spurred over 330,000 new clean energy jobs across the United States, with projections estimating the creation of more than 1.5 million additional jobs by 2030. But fossil fuel corporate executives and their paid lobbyists are trying to weaken these investments so they can cash in on taxpayer money instead. We are working to ensure these investments benefit us ordinary people and our communities—not ultra-wealthy polluters.

 

Our Shared Values Define Our Advocacy

Fossil fuel executives and the lawmakers they fund want us to believe we have no say in our future—but we know better. Faith-filled justice-seekers have always been at the heart of movements for the healthy environment we deserve. We won landmark protections like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, we set national water quality standards, and we passed the Inflation Reduction Act—the largest climate investment in U.S. history.

An economy that works for all of us can only be a sustainable, clean energy economy. The same faith that calls us to build An Economy for All calls us to be stewards of creation and ensure a livable planet for all. We are answering that call—together.

To find out more about NETWORK’s full climate portfolio and the issues we are working on to create a more sustainable planet, please visit our sister site, NETWORK Advocates.

Build Anew Series – Looking Ahead

Build Anew Series — Part 10
Looking Ahead

Virginia Schilder
December 5, 2023
Welcome back to our Build Anew Series, with weekly posts covering the people, policies, and values at the heart of the issues we work on. This final post wraps up the Series and looks ahead to more work together in 2024, including the launch of Y.A.L.L.: Young Advocates Leadership Lab. Thank you to everyone who has joined us in reading, watching, and taking action!    

Well friends, here we are: our TENTH and final part of the Build Anew Series!

Thank you to everyone who has been with us on the Build Anew Series journey. Over the past few months, we dove into each issue of NETWORK’s Build Anew Agenda. We learned from the some of the people most directly impacted by these policy issues, we confronted some tough policy facts, and, rooted in the Catholic Social Justice tradition, we reflected on the moral dimensions of these social realities.

Equipped with that knowledge, reflection, and compassion, we took action — from urging President Biden to establish an H.R. 40 Reparations study commission; to calling our Representatives in Congress to protect and expand SNAP; to learning more about Medicaid unwinding; and to watching White Supremacy and American Christianity part 3.

The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (FSPA) and NETWORK work together in political ministry for climate justice advocacyYou may have noticed that one of our key issue areas was missing from the series posts: climate justice. Earlier this year, NETWORK added climate justice to our work, thanks to an extremely generous gift from the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. Climate justice is connected to all of the issues in the Build Anew agenda, like food, health care, immigration, taxes, the economy, and more. As we move into the new year, join us in integrating climate justice more deeply into our advocacy!

2024 will also bring the launch of our exciting new initiative, Y.A.L.L.: Young Advocates Leadership Lab. Y.A.L.L. will equip and resource emerging Catholic and other faithful justice seekers to be leaders in working for a multiracial democracy. If you’re a young person (like me!) and found that even just one of these issues touched you or spoke to you or your community’s lived experience, we invite you to reach out to NETWORK’s Grassroots Mobilization and Education Specialist Chelsea Puckett to learn more about Y.A.L.L.

The Build Anew Series brought us back again and again to our foundational Catholic social teaching: that every single person has dignity and our flourishing is intertwined — meaning no one can be left out of our circle of care! To build anew, our society and communities to be more life-giving for all of us means cultivating solidarity, a daily conversion to loving our neighbor by working for their wellbeing. We are called to join in the Spirit’s liberating action all around us, and together, we have the power to build anew!

Thank you so much for joining us! Continue to be part of our community of justice-seekers by following NETWORK on social media (like Instagram (@network_lobby) and Facebook) and becoming a NETWORK member.

NETWORK Lobby Advocates for Catholic Social Justice

Ecological Justice Means Racial Justice

Laudato Si Week Calls Us To Recognize Our Interrelatedness

Virginia Schilder
May 24, 2022

This is part one in a three part reflection on Laudato Si Week (May 22-29, 2022), which celebrates the anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical on integral ecology and care for creation by inviting all people of goodwill and prayer and study to on how they can tackle the climate crisis.

Read Part Two Here |Read Part Three Here

Ecological justice is about more than ending climate change and restoring damaged landscapes. It is about recognizing our interrelatedness and interdependence with one another, with land, air, and water, and with the non-human life forms alongside us — and then creating social and economic structures that affirm this reality.

At NETWORK, ecological concern permeates all of the policy areas we work in. As we promote the Build Anew agenda specifically, what does it mean to prioritize ecological health and cultivate an ecological orientation?

On one level, it means that our policies must always keep ecological impact in mind. No policy can be fully just if it comes at the expense of our lands, waters, air, or other living beings. This is especially true for job creation, which does not truly help our communities if the new jobs are in the business of exploiting the very resources we need to live. It is critical that as communities grow – with more housing, schools, libraries, parks, and food markets – that development is focused on meeting real needs instead of ceaseless land conversion that depletes natural spaces, pushes out long-term inhabitants (both human and non-human), and accelerates pollution.

Dr. Kate Ward, assistant professor of theology at Marquette University, wrote last year in Connection magazine, “Integral development is a distinctively Catholic reassessment of economic development. Just like national budgets can be both moral and immoral documents, so also economic development can impede or impel authentic human development.”

Rather than alienate us from ecosystems, all forms of development should strengthen our ecological relationships and uphold ecological well-being. All policies have ecological effects, meaning ecological impact should be at the forefront of all policy discussions.   But going even further, an ecological orientation in our policy work means a holistic, multi-issue commitment to transforming the structures that denigrate human beings and the Earth alike.

The intertwining exploitation of people and land is evident in the way that women, the economically marginalized, and Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities are disproportionately harmed by ecological destruction. While climate change affects everyone, these populations are made especially vulnerable to inadequate infrastructure, poor water quality, deforestation, hazardous waste, and increased exposure to climate change-driven disasters and displacement.

Environmental racism refers to the reality that communities of color bear most of the burden of environmental degradation. Communities of color frequently face restricted access to clean air and water, green spaces, and nutritious and locally-sourced food. These forms of racism severely threaten the health of communities of color, especially as toxic waste facilities and highways are overwhelmingly (and intentionally) built in Black and Brown neighborhoods.

Environmental racism implicates housing, food, public health, and economic policy. Measures such as creating accessible, affordable housing and ending racist zoning practices have not only racial but also significant ecological justice dimensions.

Virginia Schilder, a graduate student attending divinity school in Massachusetts, completed a one-year fellowship with NETWORK’s Communications team in early May 2022.

Just Politics Catholic Podcast Season 2

Season 2 of Just Politics Podcast is Complete – Listen Now!

Season 2 of Just Politics Podcast is Complete – Listen Now!

August 24, 2023

After a successful inaugural season of the Just Politics podcast, produced in collaboration with U.S. Catholic magazine, we came back for an exciting second season!  

Our hosts Sister Eilis McCulloh, H.M., Colin Martinez Longmore, and Joan F. Neal spoke with more advocates, Catholic Sisters, scholars, faith leaders, and even a Vatican official about how we can transform our politics for the common good.  

In season 2, which wrapped up in May, our hosts covered topics ranging from Pope Francis and integral ecology to the urgent, Spirit-filled call for economic justice, health care access, and women’s leadership.  

You can find the podcast on the U.S. Catholic website, as well as on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t forget to subscribe, and join the conversation about #JustPoliticsPod on social media!  

Also check out Just Politics press at www.uscatholic.org/justpolitics where you can also sign up for email updates, learn more about each episode, and find additional reading on each episode’s topics. 

COMING SOON: Season 3 of Just Politics podcast drops Monday, Sept. 11!  

Sign the Petition to Lament the Loss of Transformative Policy

Sign the Petition to Lament the Loss of Transformative Policy

We suffer when Congress fails to address the crises facing people and our planet

President Biden’s ‘Build Back Better Act’ would have reversed 40 years of trickle-down tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, provided funds for healthcare, eased financial barriers to childcare and early education, invested in wildfire prevention and drought relief efforts, and more. The House passed the BBB plan, but the Senate did not.

Instead of taking moral action, the Senate prioritized the wealthy and corporations over the people and communities that would have benefited from the jobs and equitable access to life-giving resources that the transformative legislation would have provided.

Who would have benefited from BBB? Working people, school-aged children, Black and Brown people, tax payers, rural communities, the climate and ecological concerns, Tribal lands and citizens, college students, immigrants…all of us. Congress is in the final days of budget reconciliation negotiations for less impactful, piecemeal solutions as an alternative to BBB.

We lament the investments in affordable housing, support for children and families, and efforts to combat climate change missing from the budget reconciliation package. It is shameful that our country will suffer as a result of Congress’s moral failure. Join your lament with ours and sign the petition to lament the loss of transformative policy.

We invite you to sign our petition