The United Methodist Women logo taken from unitedmethodistwomen.org.
The United Methodist Women is the largest denominational faith organization for women. They have approximately 800,000 members whose mission is to protect spiritual growth, develop leaders, and advocate for justice. One of their main principles includes promoting economic and environmental stewardship and sustainability. In addition, The United Methodist Women’s national office has made climate justice one if its four social justice priorities. More specifically, they focus on climate change affecting people differently. Their main claim is that climate change is not an equal opportunity phenomenon. This claim is what led to The United Methodist Women establishing The Women’s Carbon Fund.
The Women’s Carbon Fund is the first organization started by a women’s group that is dedicated to carbon issues. It focuses on women and children, primarily because they make up 70% of the world’s poor, according to unitedmethodistwomen.org. Their goals are to take into account gender roles and to incorporate women’s voices because they believe policy makers fail to do so. This organization supports women-led projects that lower CO2 emissions, communities whose lives have been affected by climate change, and climate and energy advocacy initiatives led by women for women.
In order to continue supporting and educating, The United Methodist Women have a phenomenal website. Their website includes tools to aid in sustainable living and advocacy in a theological way, a carbon footprint calculator, articles on climate justice, and a simulation experience to better understand environmentally downgraded communities. Their focus on environmental justice stems from their theological belief from the United Methodist Book of Discipline, “All creation is the Lord’s, and we are responsible for the ways in which we use and abuse it. Water, air, soil, minerals, energy resources, plants, animal life, and space are to be valued and conserved because they are God’s creation and not solely because they are useful to human beings. God has granted us stewardship of creation. We should meet these stewardship duties through acts of loving care and respect (Social Principles, 160).”
To read more or explore their website, click here.