Just Transition to Climate-Friendly Agriculture

Letter-Writing Documents & Resources

Expert Briefing Youtube Video

Issue Briefing – Thursday, April 15
2pm ET | 1pm CT | 12noon MT | 11am PT

UUSJ was briefed by Adam Zipkin, Counsel to United States Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ). Adam advises the Senator on issues related to the environment, energy, agriculture, and animal welfare. Also Ben Thomas, Senior Policy Director for Agriculture at the Environmental Defense Fund.

Click Here to use the online WHWN Letter Writing platform

Our faith calls us to promote bold action in response to the worsening climate crisis and the glaring racial and socioeconomic inequities revealed by the pandemic. There is growing recognition that changes in our food systems can contribute to progress in fighting climate change. These changes, if done right, can also rectify injustices in our current agricultural systems. As UUs, we insist that the transition to more climate-friendly agriculture also responds to pressing social problems like land loss, racism, unemployment, and hunger. We are urging Senators to support legislation that would make progress on both climate change and social ills, such as the Justice for Black Farmers Act (recently introduced as S. 300) and the Climate Stewardship Act (just re-introduced as S.1072).

Massive consolidation and mechanization in the agricultural sector have led to problems that include soil loss, water, and air pollution, loss of biodiversity, and economic distress among many farm owners and farmworkers. No group has suffered more than Black farmers, who have faced the additional burden of systemic racism that has reduced the number of Black farmers from one million in 1920 to fewer than 50,000 today.

There is bipartisan interest in using agriculture as a vehicle for fighting climate change by sequestering carbon in soil and trees and reducing emissions. We must make sure that Congress does not neglect the need for rectifying long-standing injustices, such as the loss of land by Black farmers. To that end, we are advocating for the Justice for Black Farmers Act (JBFA), S. 300, which would provide land grants to potentially hundreds of thousands of new Black farmers and ranchers and would help ensure their success by providing access to USDA operating loans and mortgages on favorable terms and technical assistance in sustainable farming techniques. We are also supporting the Climate Stewardship Act (just re-introduced; S.1072, HR.4269) that would support climate-friendly stewardship practices on more than 100 million acres of farmland, plant more than 15 billion trees to revive deforested landscapes, and expand urban tree cover, reestablishes the Civilian Conservation Corps to reduce youth unemployment, restore over two million acres of coastal wetlands, and invest in renewable energy for farmers and rural small businesses.

Related Periodicals:

1. This Land Is Not Your Land: A brief history of the US govt. appropriating farmland from people of color.
2. The “Machine That Eats Up Black Farmland”
3. After a Century of Dispossession, Black Farmers Are Fighting to Get Back to the Land

The following includes virtual advocacy and letter-writing tips and issue materials for you to organize a virtual letter-writing event. See item #3 below. 

1. Start here — Write Here! Write Now! 

• How do we conduct a virtual letter-writing event? Read the options for conducting letter-writing here: WHWN Virtual Letter-Writing Ideas.
• When do we conduct the letter-writing? What is the deadline for sending letters?  Letters are due April 22.
• How do I submit letters? 1. Utilize our online letter-writing platform; 2. Upload letters using the online WHWN Letter Submission Form; 3. By mail – the mailing address is in the WHWN Handout.

2. Our Earth Month WHWN letter-writing issue:  Tell Your Senators to Support a Just Transition to Climate-Friendly Agriculture.  WHWN Handout – a one-page, two-sided handout includes: background on the issue and legislative update, talking points, suggested questions to ask and a sample letter. Make it intergenerational. See idea #4 below.

3. Sign up and join our virtual letter-writing party on TBD This event is part of the Earth Day Live 2021 interfaith online convergence for climate justice. We will have an issue briefing, discuss how to conduct a virtual advocacy writing event, or just come ready to write your letter along with others.

4. Involve children and youth – Are you looking for an activity for your kids? Teach them about living out our 5th and 7th Principles: Make this a fun and intergenerational family-friendly event! If you have children or youth, give them an opportunity to write letters or draw pictures. They should print their names and include their mailing address – Hill staff will then know they are from the Senator’s state and they may get a response.

5.  More about the Justice for Black Farmers Act and the Climate Stewardship Act: 

For a summary of the Justice for Black Farmers Act, with links to the bill, a section-by-section analysis, and list of endorsing organizations, see https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-warren-gillibrand-smith-warnock-and-leahy-announce-comprehensive-bill-to-address-the-history-of-discrimination-in-federal-agricultural-policy 

For an insightful interview with Leah Penniman, supporter of the Justice for Black Farmers Act, author of Farming While Black and keynote speaker at the UU@UN intergenerational seminar, see https://www.forbes.com/sites/eveturowpaul/2021/03/09/meet-the-woman-addressing-racial-justice-and-sustainability-one-harvest-at-a-time/?sh=c0f4df681d4d

For a summary of the Climate Stewardship Act of 2021 S.1072, along with links to the bill itself, see https://legiscan.com/US/bill/SB1201/2021

For an article by Natural Resources Defense Council on the CSA, with good links about regenerative farming, see https://www.nrdc.org/experts/lara-bryant/just-time-climate-stewardship-act-farms-and-forests 

Want to write your members of Congress regularly? UUSJ offers a regular letter-writing campaigns. We send you a promotional announcement to adapt and a WHWN issue handout and offer online issue briefings. Want to explore becoming a partner? Contact us at advocacy@uusj.org.

UUSJ’s strategic location in Washington, D.C. gives us the opportunity to advocate regularly at the federal level. UUSJ is the only UU organization with a regular presence on Capitol Hill. Advocacy Corps members visit members of Congress and their staff every month. We advocate for UU values and voices and deliver Write Here! Write Now! letters on issues of UU concern from UUs across the country. UUSJ is a 501(c)3(h) non-profit organization.