Rev. Michael Malcom addresses participants in the Resilient Congregations for Dallas mini-conference: “Too often the church acts like a thermometer of justice, instead of a thermostat. We aren’t just here to report on social conditions—we are here to adjust the temperature.”
Texas Impact and Texas Interfaith Power and Light partnered with the City of Dallas Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability to host the Resilient Congregations for Dallas Mini-Conference July 15-16. The event was held at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church and showcased work by City of Dallas Office of Sustainability staff involved in issues like environmental justice, urban agriculture, energy, climate migration,weatherization and more. Reverend Michael Malcom opened each day by calling people of faith to not settle for climate resilience, which fails to address our own agency in reducing the effects of climate change and environmental injustice, but instead to work, pray, and strive for restoration – restoration of a world where all people have access to the things they need to thrive: clean water, clean air, nutritious food, and dignified work. Rev. Malcolm called for restoration in three areas: ecological restoration, economic restoration, and ecumenical restoration, noting that climate change affects us all and requires a unified, collaborative approach for a solution.
Following up Rev. Malcolm’s comments, Susan Alvarez, Assistant Director of the City of Dallas Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability, outlined the City of Dallas’s Comprehensive Environmental & Climate Action Plan (CECAP), which lays out an ambitious suite of measures designed to reduce carbon emissions, mitigate the effects of climate change, and lead the City of Dallas toward a more environmentally sustainable and just future. Susan’s talk reminded us that Texas leads the nation in billion dollar climate disasters, so all of us stand to benefit from climate mitigation strategies. The CECAP was designed to be practical, sustainable, and to benefit as many constituencies as possible. I was especially inspired by the way Susan describes the process the committee used to build consensus among a diverse group of stakeholders. The City of Dallas’s plan is a great example of the kind of good work that can be done with patience, communication, and vision.
The workshop on urban agriculture was led by Yaritza Torres Espinoza, Urban Agriculture Coordinator for the City of Dallas, and Deidra Cizon, founder of the Jill Stone Community Garden. The Jill Stone Community Garden project began when the founders heard a sermon at Temple Emanu-El about how food insecurity affected people in their community. The garden has grown to the point where it now supplies seven-thousand pounds of fresh, affordable produce for the Vickery Gardens Food Pantry. It was inspiring the way the volunteers work to source seeds for produce familiar to the recent immigrants who frequent the food pantry. What a wonderful example of hospitality to our neighbors to grow vegetables that remind them of home.
While at Lovers Lane UMC, Texas Impact staff attended Sunday morning worship, where in the sermon Rev. Dr. Stan Copeland asked us to think bigger than our own dreams and to imagine what God’s dreams might be for us. It was fitting motivation as we returned that afternoon to our work of imagining the ways people of faith can work toward a more equitable, sustainable, and just future for all. We were delighted to learn that Bishop Ruben Saenz, of the North Texas and Central Texas Annual Conferences of the United Methodist Church, was in attendance. After worship we introduced ourselves and thanked him for his faithful leadership.
We left feeling inspired by the work the City of Dallas has been able to accomplish around environmental justice and sustainability and are hopeful about the possibility of future collaborations with both city officials and faith leaders in the area.